Serendipitous San Francisco

📖 Note: This post is from the archives. It may reflect outdated views or a previous name.

I have been to San Francisco twice over the past year. I was awarded a student scholarship that allowed me to attend Apple’s world wide developer conference in 2014. During my first trip to the bay area, I did not receive that many opportunities to explore San Francisco because I was busy with sessions, labs and networking events for WWDC.

I was staying in the Civic Centre Holiday Inn with my grandparents, which was roughly two kilometres away from Moscone West. On the first night of the event — I left my hotel room at two thirty in the morning, walking alone to the event centre to line up. On my way, I couldn’t help but notice that there was a man following me, gripping a metal baseball bat. I started to quicken my pace, as did he which resulted in a fast paced run down Mission street. I flew around the corner and dove into the massive WWDC line. Maybe I dropped my EarPods and he was just trying to return them? Probably not…so I did not want to let him get close to me. This was my only negative experience while at WWDC.

Later that year — I was supposed to check in at CalHacks, a hackathon held by UC Berkeley. The school decided to discriminate against minors, blocking my entrance. I wasn’t allowed to attend and UC Berkeley would not issue a travel reimbursement — so I decided to make an adventure out of the mishap.

While exploring San Francisco in October — I was staying in a startup house directly in the heart of the Castro. Between my weeklong trip, I slept on their couch and in one of their extra bedrooms. I was surrounded by awesome developers and designers who were anxiously working on their projects with sticky notes everywhere. I was leaving the house, early in the morning to explore different districts and landmarks while returning to the house around eleven at night. I explored all day and night, without problems.

I really enjoyed the vibe in San Francisco. I arranged to meet a variety of people I’ve met on Twitter and meetups around the bay. San Franciskies are upbeat, spontaneous people who know how to have fun. These people made my time in SF amazing and to say the least — it was one of the craziest weekends in my life. I really felt at home because everyone is super friendly, unique and filled with happiness. If you enjoyed this article, I’d really appreciate a recommendation! ☺