A little over a month ago, I thought I was going to be consistent and post twice a week, every week, on Wednesday and Sunday. That did not happen lol. But guess what–it is summer vacation which means that this blog is now higher on my priority list. So be prepared for more content in the future. I will be posting a summer bucketlist on Sunday and will be showing myself completing the activities on instagram over the next few months which I am very excited for.
Believe it or not, I am an incoming senior in high school which means I have college on my mind. As stressful as it has been thinking about my future, there are some perks. One of these perks is that I am able to go on roadtrips and tour colleges while also visiting the cities and towns of those universities.
Over the weekend, my friend and our mothers did just that. We visited Santa Cruz, Davis, Berkeley, and Santa Clara. It was a lovely experience and I got to visit many areas in California I had never been to before and there are some locations that I definitely want to travel to again. This post is probably going to be a little long, but you all deserve it because I have been slacking on posting lately.
Santa Cruz
The first university we drove to was UC Santa Cruz, and I really liked this school. It was so picturesque and had both the woods and the beach within miles of one another. We even saw a wild turkey which I was thrilled about. Downtown Santa Cruz was lovely as well. The city is so charming and has beautiful shops at every turn of the head. My favorite shop that we went to was called the Homeless Garden Project, which is a company that is run and provides jobs to those who are experiencing homelessness. If you enjoy natural homemade goods, gardening, and supporting a great cause, this is the store for you. I ended up purchasing a beard oil and wooden comb for my dad and I bought myself a book called The Earth in Her Hands, written by Jennifer Jewel. The book is a compilation of womens’ stories about the amazing things they have done for gardening and sustainability. I would love to do a book review once I am done reading it.
Santa Clara
The second place we visited was Santa Clara, along with Santa Clara University. The college had a beautiful campus with a scenic rose garden. My friend said that the campus reminded her of Stanford, which I can not attest to since I don’t really know what Stanford looks like. We did not do much in Santa Clara but the time we did spend was lovely.
Berkeley
UC Berkeley! This college is pretty iconic since it was the original UC, not to mention it is a short drive away from San Francisco. Personally, Berkeley was not my favorite place we visited, but it was still fun to walk around the city and the University campus and look at all the sorority houses and classrooms. For lunch we went to Gather, where I had one of the best burgers I have ever eaten. There was also a little marketplace in the restaurants with flowers, succulents, and stones. The restaurant and shop were both so cute and the food was delicious. It was definitely the highlight of my trip to this city.
Davis
I loved Davis. First of all, everyone was so friendly and answered any questions I had enthusiastically. The town of Davis is very energetic but also cozy and quaint. We went to a bookstore, a crystal shop(where I got an amethyst lol), a Japanese market, and so much more. There were even gorgeous yellow sunflowers that had sprouted along the highway we drove on to get to our hotel. The campus of UC Davis was beautiful and there were so many squirrels running around which I really appreciated. My dad described the downtown area as “a town that is trying to become a city, but still has the quaint charm that a city lacks.” I think that this description of Davis sums up the experience very well and I would recommend visiting if you are ever taking a trip to California.
Overall, this trip was pretty incredible. From the food to the Universities to the towns surrounding, every place we visited was wonderful and unique. My favorite Universities/cities were Davis and Santa Cruz, though I think that is just my personal taste because Berkeley and Santa Clara were amazing as well. I am very happy to be writing on my blog again and I can not wait to post more summer content. Feel free to comment on this blog post, email me, or dm me on Instagram if you want to see more of a specific type of content, such as gardening, travel, fashion, etc. Thank you for reading this post!
