luckyduckysyd

San Francisco Trip Reflection

This year, the seventh and eighth grade went on a seven day class trip to San Francisco. Last year, after reflecting on our trip to Los Angeles we decided to go on another urban adventure to San Francisco. In my opinion, our San Francisco was completely different for Los Angeles. This year we split up into three separate groups, hoping we would be more productive getting to our destinations. The group names were, Moose, TGTDATAIBTY (or the unspeakable) and The Brother Hood of Steel. I also think that splitting up into groups helped the cost. The total cost of the trip individually was 700 dollars. That amount of money for each person put us at a constraint, but also helped us in the long run. 

This year, instead of staying at a hotel, we stayed at a hostel. I think this had its advantage and disadvantages. I liked how we got to see and interact with a different group of people, even though we didn’t really get to know them as well as I wish I did.  I also liked how the hostel had shared spaces like the common room, theater, and kitchen, and that we weren’t just stuck in a hotel room for the remaining of the day. Another positive thing about staying at the hostel was the locations. We had an amazing view and Fort Mason was walking distance from many different nieghborhoods. Of course, there were cleanliness and issues and the fact that we had to share the restrooms but the price of the hotel was much cheaper than the price would have been at a hotel. Overall, I think that staying at a hostel was not a bad idea. I got to experience something that I probably wouldn’t ever do or wouldn’t do anytime soon. 

Before we went on the trip, I thought that seven days was a really long time but now, I think that it was a reasonable amount of time for the trip. Although we possibly could have subtracted one or two days from the trip I think it was nice to every once in a while to relax at the hostel or at a park. I don’t think we would have done that as much if we only went for five or six days. When we were planing our trip, I think that we almost “over planned” because we thought that seven days was a really long time. Some days we had to alter our schedule because we crammed too many events into our days. At the end of the trip we realized that we didn’t really get to do everything we planned to do, mostly because of time constraints, but I think that all of the things that we didn’t get to do are things we could do another time. 

I definitely liked some days better than others. I think that the days that were less structured and had less  on our agenda were the days that I enjoyed the most. Also, I think that we realized that we had some problems with planning while we were on the trip. We didn’t really plan for transportation time or any other things that might have held us back like the bus being late or bathroom breaks.  We thought that everything was going to go smooth and we would get to see everything on our agenda. To be honest, I think that the day that I enjoyed the least was monday in Berkley. Before we went, we had a whole plan but when we got there we got lost and ending up just walking around UC Berkley. Although it was fun, I feel like we could have done and learned so much more. 

Throughout the whole trip we used public transpiration. This had it’s advantages and disadvantages. I think one big advantage to it is that we got to see and in some cases interact with different people, kind of like the hostel. Riding on public transportation is a great place to people watch. Public Transport also had it’s disadvantages. One was that we were held back a lot of the time because of the bus schedules. A few times we missed the bus and had to either walk a far distance or wait until the next bus came. Sometimes, another disadvantage was the actual “pubic” part of public transportation. To be honest, there were a few situations in which I was a little scared to be sitting on a bus. Overall I am really glad that I got to really experience public transport. It put me out of my comfort zone. Although we used it in Los Angeles, I think that this time, in San Francisco, I got a better view of what it is like. 

I think that throughout the trip I really got to know my classmates better and in a very different way. It was nice to see and interact with them outside of school. I’ve known a lot of my classmates for a while now and from going on this trip I think that I know at least one thing about them that I didn’t know before. We got to interact and work together in ways we probably would have never done if we were not on a week long class trip.

My group, group moose, decided to host a scavenger hunt for the other groups on our way to dinner on friday night. We planned most of it before we went on the trip and finished it off the day before, on thursday. We chose the destinations by mapping out where the other groups were going to be that day and finding a destination that was in the middle. From there we looked up destinations that were on our way to dinner that night. The places we used for the destinations were The Asian Art Museum (the starting place) The Painted Ladies, The Rare Device Store, and Roxie Theater. The scavenger hunt stated at 4:00 and when we got to our first destination we were worried that we wouldn’t have enough time to place the clues in there spots. About half way through the placing of the clues we felt secure that they other group wouldn’t catch up to us. Now looking back at it, I think that the scavenger hunt went very well. The other group had a lot of fun doing it and my group learned a lot from the experience. 

Our dinner choice for that night (the last destination) was originally going to be a place called Cha Cha Cha’s. When we were on our way there we called and asked for a reservation but we found out that it would cost twenty dollars a person if we were to eat there. So, we walked down the street a bit and saw a few places that we could go to. We picked one called “Gracias Madre” without knowing that it was vegan mexican food. In the future I think that we could have planned a bit better and called the restaurant in advance. 

I think that group participation was a big issue for my group and the two others. During the trip, we made up the term “piggybacking” because a lot of group members (including myself) liked to step back and let other peers take the responsibility of leading the group. I have to admit, I was a piggy-backer. I can’t say that I didn’t help at all but I wasn’t as much as a leader as I could have been. I think part of the reason why is because I felt a little overwhelmed, as i’m sure every one else was. I stepped back and let another group member take charge. Now looking back, I fell bad that I didn’t help my group as much as I could have and wish I became more of a leader on the trip. 

I think that the places we went to eat on the trip were very unique and most of the things I have never tried before I liked. Sometimes, the places we were planning to go to to eat were not open or had food restrictions, so we worked around it and found other places. I am actually glad these issues happened because every time, I liked the substitute place a lot and maybe even more than I would have liked the original places. I think that my favorite place that I ate at would have to be Buckhorn Grill. I also really liked the Crepe Cafe. My least favorite place was probably Gracias Madre. I didn’t like the meal that I ordered and wasn’t a big fan of the vegan menu. I think that my experience at the restaurant reassured me that the vegan diet would not be very good for me. 

I really enjoyed the whole San Francisco trip. Yes, there were things that I didn’t like but the fun I had and the learning  experience over rules the negative things.