Landing in San Francisco

Getting up at 5 a.m. was difficult. I did not hear my alarm, but, thankfully, Nadine called me and woke me up. I did not have strength to wash my teeth. I just pulled on a sweatshirt and grabbed my bags and made my way from Noyes to Ferry House, where everyone was meeting. Vassar Campus looked desolate at this time in the morning. At Ferry, though, the girls were up and running. Danielle arrived with her car and soon, way before sunrise, we were on the highway to JFK. We listened to the Beatles on the way (Help! I need somebody… Help! Not just anybody… but the Bioneers, haha). Danielle had not gone to bed at all that night, so we tried to stay up and cheer her on. We were at the airport before 8. We had time for a chill long breakfast; munching on toast with jam, we discussed the strengths and limits of academia, food policy, co-ops and all kinds of inspiring topics.
On the flight, we slept. We needed it. Then, before we were even able to realize it, we had arrived from midterms and rushed ACDC meals to a whole new world of sunny skies and smiling people. We landed in San Francisco! “California skies got room to spare,” like that Red Hot Chili Peppers song goes. The sun felt like heaven. My friend Zach texted me saying that it snowed in Poughkeepsie that day. Well, lucky us.
We will stay with Vanessa´s sister, Kyyio, who lives and works in a nature preserve in the hills right above the Golden Gate. Kyyio´s fiance, Sam, picked us up from the airport with a rickety car that runs on home-made biodiesel (it´s from used cooking oil he gets for free at restaurants). We listened to West Coast reggae on the way. Two of us – Nadine and I – had to travel in the trunk with the luggage, which was great. We made funny faces at people in the cars behind us. The San Francisco suburbs we drove through looked so beautiful: stuccoed houses in earthy colors like ochre and brown and pink, with windows of all shapes and sizes – pointed-arch and crenellated, and wrought-iron railings… As if the buildings had absorbed the warmth of the south and the spirit of the people. Or maybe it was just that I was so happy to be in California.
After a turn in the road, we found ourselves right above the Golden Gate. And the bay, and the ocean! And the San Fran skyline! And hills covered in eucalyptus trees and pines and palms here and there… We stopped for pictures and we told each other how great it is to be alive.


At Sam and Kyyio´s place, we got a short tour of their organic garden. We met Ember, their bright, fiery red-headed, three-year-old daughter. We walked down to a small beach; I took my shoes off and I felt the sand between my toes and the biting cold of the waves. Sam gave us a rite of passage: we got to touch sea anemones, which gently closed around our fingers, giving us a sticky, cold sensation. The mist and the rocks looked ages old and magical.


As a nice end to the day, we all cut up local veggies and we made a stir-fry together. Zucchini and eggplant and fresh basil and mushrooms… Savory.
We are here to talk about the planet´s most pressing problems. We are here to hear about the threat to civilization´s very existence. We are here to be scared and terrified and urged to act fast. But to be able to deal with that, you have to start with a drive over the Golden Gate and a walk on the beach and a home-made communal meal. You have to see how incredibly beautiful this world is. It is so beautiful. Ember´s red hair and the sea foam and the sunshine and the ochre and pink earthy houses… It´s a perfect place. Now I really want to save this world.