San Diego

Well, will you look at that? I'm in San Diego!

Admittedly, I have been for a few weeks. I'll be transferring in a little over a week, actually. But someone suggested that I should make a few notes about life here.

For starters, one must recall that I spent the last year and more in Great Lakes. Widely held to be the single most stressful Naval base on the planet. And then transferred...to San Diego. For atmosphere, this feels like I went from The Green Mile to Sesame Street.

It is BEAUTIFUL here. I live in a three-story apartment building that appears to be carved out of tofu. There are palm trees everywhere, and these great purple flowers and ferns in the courtyard. Growing up in the Midwest, I'm internally confused by the weather; I'm accustomed to adjusting for the changes as part of the challenge and flavor of Today.

The weather doesn't change. There have, admittedly, been two overcast days in the time that I've been here, and then the temperature dropped to 65. But, every day, it is sunny, partly cloudy, sunny, 70 degrees, with a constant gentle sea breeze coming in from the harbor. It has the little inner me confuzzled. "HOW can it do that? How can it be the same every day? How does it keep from changing??"

School is a sight less stressful than A School. Actually, this could very well be the easiest assignment I will have in my entire time in the Navy. My instructor is pretty much the male equivalent of where I'd like to be in life in six years. I find this very encouraging, because it feels like most of my friends back home are getting settled at about my age, and I know I won't be settling for some time.

There is SO much to do in San Diego. I have

Gone to Sea World (free once/year to military. Penguins. Arctic everything. Dolphins, dolphins, orcas are so cool. Penguins. Pen-ga-wins. Penguins. Bring sunscreen.)
Spent a day at Mission Beach with friends (tasty ice cream, worst fish tacos I've ever had, the Pacific throws me around much more than the Atlantic, go to the bathroom BEFORE you find yourself half a mile out on a rock jetty barefoot with the tide coming in, and apply sunscreen WAY more often than I think I need to - I got a second-degree sunburn that day).
Spent the next two days incapacitated by said sunscreen. Learning a lot about ways to deal with sunscreen. Somehow, I forgot that SoCal is closer to the sun than, say, Chicago.
Found a Zumba class. I am in the minority here, not because I am female, but because I am a) active duty, b) under 30, and c) Caucasian. I am seriously the ONLY white girl in this class. This is cool.
Found a fun pool class. With a fun, cute lifeguard.
Went to Old Town, found an amazing pizza place.
Went to the San Diego Zoo. Always free to military. Pandas, giraffes, flamingos, a random peacock, elephants, lions, jaguars, snakes, cheetahs, new guinea singing dogs, bears bears bears, takins...for starters. We spent the entire day there, and only saw half of it. We will be returning this Saturday. Note to me - LOT of walking (because we have no interest in taking the helpful express bus that runs around the park), hydrate like crazy.

I had the option for getting my SCUBA cert, but it's not going to happen before I leave. Kinda bummed about that - it's a cool thing to have, and can open up a few random doors in the Navy. Hoping I get the chance later - San Diego seemed the ideal place for it.

We found a very loud pizza place downtown. Terrible for socializing, but the food's fantastic. I give you the following: Italian style crust, olive oil, garlic, parmesan, mozzarella. Chicken bacon gorgonzola. YUM. Learned after it arrived that the ingredients I thought I'd chosen at random were in fact what my friend used to make macaroni & cheese when he was younger. Cool.

I have a very cool roommate. By this I mean that she's nice, we get along, we stay out of each other's space, and there are no battles about cleaning or food. Realized only NOW that, of the five roommates I've had since getting free of Boot Camp, at least 4 of them have been smokers. Odd trend, because from what I've seen, less than 15% of the people in our barracks were smokers.

The one downside to this place is that it induces you to sleep - and eat - a LOT. I get to class, and I'm hungry at 0900. I get out of class, and the first thing I want to do is take a 2-hour nap. I don't have early mornings - 0600 is the perfect time to wake up in my world (Great Lakes, it was 0500 every morning - not pleased), and I get to have the morning the way I like it - shower, breakfast, devos, out the door.

I really can't get over San Diego. Being stationed in San Diego. There's so MUCH to do here. I have a list that might...MIGHT...peter out two weeks before Halloween, if I didn't find anything else to add to it. If I was here a week longer, I'd be able to do the SCUBA thing. Month longer, safari park, and...and...And hit the museums. And kayak at La Jolla. And go wine-tasting in Temecula. And go up to Carlsbad with my roommate and see the caverns. And go spend a weekend with my buddy's family and see Disneyland. And Magic Mountain. And...okay, Tijuana's sort of roped off to us military folk, forget that. And hike Three Sisters. A lot. There's Just So Much!!

So, I'm having fun here. :)