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SO.

I just found out that I'm moving to San Francisco!

I'M MOVING TO SAN FRANCISCO.

Whaaat? *flail* My boss took a job at UCSF and the lab is moving there. I am definitely going to go, and probably most of the lab is too. He just dropped the bomb on us out of the blue today, then took us all out for lunch (and beer) as a sort of - apology? Heh. Some people are taking it much worse than others. I personally am getting to a quite okay place with it, mostly because I'm already far along in my PhD and will only be in SF for 1.5 years, and I was planning on making a big move from Ann Arbor after grad school anyway, so this just accelerates the timeline.

Still, it's a pretty big shock. The worst part is that I'll be moving away from my dad, and it's been so wonderful being in the same city with him again. I never got a chance to tell him today and I'm kind of dreading it. But I think he'll be excited for me too, because it really is a special opportunity.

SO. FLIST. Whoever is still out there. Who knows anything about San Francisco or California? General advice on moving out there? Thoughts, warnings, anything? I know I haven't been around at all but I still consider you a great source of advice and comfort.

I'M MOVING TO SAN FRANCISCO HOLY SHIT!

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oh man i am so jealous!!! all my college friends are in sf. :(

first and foremost: how much do you like sunlight? how much do you mind commuting to campus? b/c sunlight & not commuting are mutually exclusive... ucsf is in the sunset aka my old roommate jokes slightly despairingly that she moved from pittsburgh to the area of sf that is just like pittsburgh! (she goes to ucsf for pharmacy.)

if you want to talk to people who knows sf, lemme know. i can hook you up w/ my rl friends who live there. :)

Well actually I'll be on the Mission Bay campus of UCSF which has only been built in the last 10 years, and the site says it's pretty sunny there, though I don't know if they're lying haha. It's over on the east side just south of the Bay Bridge, near Potrero Hill. But I am personally not a huge fan of sunlight so foggy and cool is totally fine by me. :)

I may just hit you up for those contacts! Of course UCSF students will be very helpful in particular.

Have you been to SF yourself? If so what are your impressions of it?

Ooo yes that area is much better. I don't know the area TOO well, as I've only been around the Caltrain station & a fried chicken place around there, but my friends might know it more.

Yes! I go to SF at least once a year. I'll probably visit again in November, but nothing is set yet.

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Thank you! And I appreciate that! I'm still sort of wrapping my head around things but I'm sure I will need help in the future so I may take you up on that. :) Do you have any general impressions about SF itself to share? I'm getting all sorts of different ones and I'm not quite sure what to think!

How exciting!!! You are going to LOVE SF!! Let's definitely plan to get together for lunch before you leave, y/y??!

You know I think I will!! :) Thanks dear! And I concur completely, I would love that. :) Would some time during the summer be best for you or wait until the fall rolls around?

Summer is good, but we're heading out on vacation all of next week. I'm actually only on campus Mondays and Wednesdays, but we could do the 18th or 23rd this month, or the 6th of August, if any of those work for you! <3

The 18th would work well for me! You name the time and place and I'll pencil you in. :)

Hey, honey! Are you still interested in lunch today? I'd totally forgotten that it was Art Fair this week, so we may be hard-pressed to find a place that isn't packed. :P

I'm still available today if we want to try, otherwise, I can do next Monday or the 30th or sometime in August. Just as long as I catch you before you head out.

Gosh, it's the 18th already? Where does the time go? Today wouldn't be great because of an experiment but I think Monday should be good! I'll pencil you in and let you know for sure?

Yes, just email me on Monday to let me know if that will work for you. I have to be back here for a 1pm meeting, so if we can do 11:45-12:45, that would be perfect! <3

Sooo, I hate to keep being so flaky but once again science intervenes. My student and I signed up for an instrument to do a very important experiment Monday and I can't really leave her unattended. And I'll be in Vermont on the 30th! Alas. But we will make something happen in August, I promise!

No problem at all. I totally understand, hon. Shoot me an email when you get back in August!!

woooo, exciting!!!

Whee! Thanks! Hey girl how are you? Long time no talk!

Omg Harvey stop looking at me like that I'm blushing. :D

Ahahahaha, Harveyyyyyyy <3333 ilhsfm.

I'm good! You know, pottering away, working and obsessing over fictional things, same as always :)

And you! Things look like they're about to get very exciting!!

Are you still in Brighton or are you somewhere else now? Glad to hear things are going smoothly. :)

They aaare! I've just been chugging along at grad school, with all its highs and (some very) low lows. This will certainly give my life a kick in the pants!

I'm still down in Brighton! Managed to get a job as a lead developer at a software company, negl I love my job, I build websites, apps and facebook stuff all day for fun things, we got to do something Monty pyton related last year! Hectic, but overall comes out int he fun column.

SF is a big thing, right over the other coast from you, right? I can't believe they just sprung it on you! How the heck does a lab just ...move?! (Also, are we friends on facebook? we should be)

Wow, that's fantastic! Congratulations! I knew you'd kick butt.

Yep, it's waaaaay over there. I'm a third of the way across now in Michigan so it's about 2000 miles away, which is pretty insane. Of course, I moved further to move to Dublin and that worked out pretty well. :) Labs move all the time - most academic professors in the sciences don't stay at one school their whole career and so a necessary step is to move your whole lab from one school to another. This is a really prestigious move for my boss so I'm very happy for him! It does suck for the grad students who get stuck with the moving process, but hey, life goes on. We'll pack up all our shit in trucks and send them across the country, then reassemble it once we get there! It's gonna be a helluva process but we'll all do it together.

We should be! Friend me!

Ahaha, I've got to find you, I'm sas stevens if it helps, looking for you now.

At least it's a move where you'll know people, if they're going too, although if any of them suck, that sucks, hopefully they don't! Gosh, I can't believe it's been such a long time since I spoke to you :)

Haha apparently we're friends already! I don't use Facebook much, honestly, but there's a few things on there.

My labmates are pretty great! And I love my boss. It's a great opportunity to move a new place with a safety net in place and people to go through the process with.

Man, I know! There's so many people in my life I've lost touch with, especially LJ friends. :( It's really dumb. I miss LJ a lot. I just don't have the time anymore though, tragically.

I have a lot of friends who live there, one couple in the Mission in SF proper (one of them works for Google), the rest out in the East Bay (Oakland, San Leandro) because they can't afford to live in SF proper on non-Google salaries. (When they moved out there 10+ years ago, they lived 6 people in a 3-bedroom, 1-bath duplex (one floor!) in Berkeley, and their rent was 3k/month. It's fucking obscene.) Getting housing is also ridiculous, apparently, and requires applications and being there first and shit. No idea if dorms are an option. (Driving out there is madness, and BART doesn't run on grad student schedules, so cheaper digs may not really be cheaper.)

The weather is probably more to your liking, though, it's very British. Doesn't really get hot, always foggy, etc. (If you go down to San Jose, you get sun.) UCSF looks like it's in a good part of the city though! There are 3 bus stops right there.

Yep, housing is gonna be a bitch, but we've got a lot of on the ground support from the university so I think we'll be able to make it happen.

I am SO EXCITED about the weather! NO HEAT! NO SNOW! Jeans and hoodies all the time! Yeah baby. :)

I'm going to be at the new UCSF campus called Mission Bay so it's a little bit more disconnected from the bulk of the city, but nothing's really *far* on the peninsula so I think it'll be good!

I know nothing about San Francisco or California, obviously, but THIS IS HUGE. What a bomb to drop on you guys. And awesome? I'm going with awesome!

I'm definitely veering towards awesome too! What an opportunity! It's not often you get to move to a new exciting city with such a great support network. Thanks girl! <3

SAN FRANCISCO

STAY LONG ENOUGH FOR ME TO COME VISIT YOU

... erm, I mean, what an exciting opportunity for you!

I SHALL TRY <3333

SO awesome, but yeah, wow, sudden! I'd be as conflicted as you are. But ooooomg I've always wanted to visit North California, especially San Fran and the Big Sur and everything. I can't wait to hear about all the details as you know more!

Oh I'm in love with SF. I've been trying to move out there myself, deadline being November this year. Finding a job is a little... er, v challenging. So congrats on awesomeness! And yay for lack of disgusting summer heat and wretched snow! Seasons booo.

I'M SUPER EXCITED FOR YOU!

The cost of living is high and I suggest you soak up all the sunshine you need before you come, but SF is AWESOME. Of course, I've lived here all my life so I'm contractually obligated to say that.

Yay California!!! All I can add is that once you live here you will never want to leave. Although we will be NorCal-SoCal rivals. ;)

My sister and I drove from LA to San Francisco in 2009 and it was one of the most fun trips of my life! It's such a beautiful, funky area. I'm sure you'll have a great time and I can wait to read all about it!

I hope San Fran is working out wonderfully for you, and that you had a wonderfully birthday yesterday!

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