Tag 15 - Silicon Valley (2)

In order not to have too little time, I have planned 2 days for Silicon Valley.

I drive to Stanford Campus and take part in a free tour. (That something is free in the USA is rather unusual and is generally promoted with FREE, in capital letters).

It takes about 30 minutes to walk across the Stanford Campus.

A local student leads the tour and does not hesitate to share insights about admissions interviews and study costs. He is eager and hungry for the career that awaits him after graduation. He studies computer science and business administration (not exactly, those would be the German equivalents), I bet he will go to Wall Street with economics, he's actually not a techie.

Stanford must have endless money, they boast about Nobel laureates and what they have and offer.

I am looked at strangely, why as a German am I visiting a university in the USA and whether I want to study here. Only a few understand why I am doing this...

At some point, I get tired of the university stuff and have to get out of there.

(Regarding the plastic cup: why do they boast about recycling? How about not producing the cup at all? Almost all cafeterias or restaurants have disposable cutlery and dishes. Apparently, they don't have the infrastructure for dishwashers).

Next stop: lunch and the Seti (search for extraterrestrial intelligence) Institute (the ones who listen to see if there really is ET somewhere, a coincidence that they are also located in Silicon Valley?). It gets a bit awkward because I show up there unannounced and only receive a scornful look from the receptionist (we don't offer tours for the public, you have to ask in advance..).

Nevertheless, the walls are full of formulas and pictures of astrophysics. A world that I would have liked to explore further. But it is not surprising that Seti is not particularly open to the broad, entertainment-savvy American public. They were probably the nerds in high school..

Finally, I stop by EA, but there is not much to see.

In the Lonely Planet, Silicon Valley is mentioned in just one sentence, no points of interest are shown.

I drive to SF to the very nice hostel in downtown, the drive alone is already worth an experience in traffic.

In the evening, I immediately meet people in the hostel and then we go to the gay bars - something you have to see, it's a bit scary at first, but then you get used to it. The gay people leave you completely alone, by the way.

We have a few too many drinks with thick shot glasses and I feel like I'm in the Hollywood movies when they party (bow chicka wow wow...)

The next day, a city tour is planned for 10 o'clock...