Visiting San Francisco.

As a late birthday gift to myself I decided to go to San Francisco to try something new. I have never been to San Francisco, California. Heck I have never flown to anywhere on the west coast; the last time I was on a plane, I was going to New York with my mom to visit family upstate. Since I did not visit any of the boroughs nor the city, I do not really count that as a trip to New York. Also, that was YEARS ago, the summer before my freshman year in high school. A lot of people ask me “Why San Francisco”? At first, I wanted to go to L.A, but there is so much to do in L.A and I did not want to rush my trip, plus we (me and Carson) have friends who live in San Francisco so we visited them while we were there. This may sound crazy to say but going to California really opened my eyes to a lot. When you do not travel a lot you miss out on seeing what the other side of the country look like. I live in Florida and there is not much to see or do, well for me there isn’t. I have been living in Florida since I was 5. Before I moved to the United States, I lived in Haiti. I do not see myself living in Florida for long; it is time for me to expand my horizon .

Before the plane took off, I was SCARED! Terrified to be honest. I am terribly afraid of heights, yet I sat by the window. The turbulence was a little scary but I said a small prayer and then watched a movie. When we arrived at San Francisco International airport, a friend picked us up and dropped us off at our Airbnb. It was my first time staying in an Airbnb and it was amazing. Way cheaper than a hotel. It was a one bedroom apartment and the owner did a fine job in renovating the apartment. Shortly after our arrival, we went to bed. We were tired! The time difference and the long plane ride left us exhausted. We woke up every day at 4am, which is 6am Eastern Standard time, the time difference was real.

During the next few days, me and Carson saw so much to do and see. We got a tour of Facebook thanks to Amber our friend who works there and it was amazing. Facebook has a beautiful campus, they treat their employees very well. They have so many amenities such as a gym, free valet parking, a spa, nail salon, transportation to work, bicycles to ride around campus, an arcade and so many restaurants that are free. The work environment does not seem stressful at all, but hey that is just me looking from the outside in. Afterwards we passed through downtown San Francisco to get to the Golden Gate Bridge, such a beautiful site to see in person. The city is overall beautiful and busy. When we got to the residential area we went over so many steep hills, minus the ruggedness it felt like we were going up a mountain.

I am not sure if it was the excitement of being there but everyday felt different, I woke up with such a positive attitude an outlook towards life. It is hard to explain but the vibe in the west coast is different, I would say it is relaxing yet motivating at the same time. When I went back home that same attitude and outlook remains still till this day. This year I vowed to myself that I would take a different approach towards life in every aspect. Sometimes in life in order to advance yourself you need to let go of old habits and thoughts. If that means turning into a new person it must be done, sure people may look at you differently or doubt you, but none of that matters. I used to make some decision in my life and I did not include God in them. Doing the same thing constantly and expecting different results is insanity.

This trip to San Francisco was like a recharge for me. It opened my eyes to the unlimited possibilities out there, going out and actually seeing the world really changes the way you think. Post grad depression is REAL, but we as people need to stop thinking that if we do not have it all together in our twenties we will never have it together. Instead this is the time when we have to hustle even harder, raise the bar for ourselves and go out there, explore, learn and live. Your life is not going to change until you do.