As I mentioned in my last post I am in the midst of reading week, well now I am close to the end. It has been an interesting week with a lot of different things going on. I of course have plenty of reading and homework to do but I was able to have a few days of fun and relaxation. My first concern for this week was trying to finish two somewhat major papers and a short reflection paper. Both major papers are due Monday and Tuesday, and the reflection paper is due Friday, though I will not be in class on Friday as I will be home. I did finish my Old Testament paper and will take care of my Greek paper tomorrow, though that is really crunching it on my part. While the reflection paper is nothing to scoff at but I know that I can hammer it out in a short amount of time and will submit it well before the Friday deadline. So it has been a productive week in terms of school work and only a little bit of reading that must be taken care of for the coming week.
Amidst all this work I did have two amazing opportunities that helped get me off campus and enjoy some of what California has to offer. Jason and Lauren had been planning an overnight trip to Napa alley to do a few wine tastings, hit up a casino, and generally get out of town. They invited me along and I couldn't refuse. We left Wednesday morning and in about an hour we were north of the Bay Area and in Napa County, the heart of California wine country. I was a little surprised how close the valley is in relation to campus and just how beautiful the wine country is. We first visited Mumm Vineyards, a winery that was suggested by the Dean of Students. They are known for their sparkling wines. I, knowing absolutely nothing about wine, learned fairly quickly about the do's and don'ts of wine tasting from Jason. The flights that we had were pretty good and as it turns out it would be the best of the three wineries that we would visit that day. We sat out on a patio and overlooked the fields of vines and sipped on wine under the noonday sun. We left there, had a bite to eat, and went over to the Folie a Deux Winery. They are known for their line of wines dubbed Manage a Trois. It was pretty good, they had the standard wines and we sample a really sweet Moscato that was brand new and hadn't hit the market yet. It was a little sweet for me but it was good and worth trying. We then finished with a stop at the Mondavi Winery. It was nothing special to me but Jason liked it and I think he enjoyed stopping there. They seemed like a much larger operation then the other two wineries but all in all it was a great day.
We then decided to head to a casino. The first one we puled in to looked way to sketchy and we left. We didn't even go in but it was a small building that only had three card games, so it wasn't what Jason and Lauren were looking for. So we found another one and took a nice scenic drive further north and passed a whole slew of wineries. Some were big operations that I recognized and others were small family run vineyards that specialize in one or two types of wine. We finally arrived that a large casino owned by a band of Native Americans from one of the local tribes. It was a huge room that mainly had slots and computerized card games. There were a few card games in the center of the room but no roulette or craps or even the more random card games. While I knew I wasn't going to have a repeat of my Reno experience, I did walk in with twenty bucks and walked out with fifty. So it looks like my luck was still on. We left after and hour and went back to our hotel room to call it a night. We went back to campus the next morning after stopping at an outlet mall and I think we all had a good time away.
Thursday was a relatively quiet day, which allowed me to do my OT paper. Friday turned out to be a good day, as I knew it would. About three weeks ago on my way to St. Mark's I walked by a poster advertising performances at Zellerbach Hall, one of the performance halls on Cal's campus. I saw that the San Francisco Opera Orchestra were going to be playing Beethoven's 5th and 7th Symphonies on October 28th. I knew I had to go see that since there was no way I was going to pass up on hearing two of Beethoven's greatest symphonies played someplace close to campus. It was perfect since I did not have to go to the city, which saved me a lot of money a time, but I need someone to go with me. I asked Lauren and she agreed to come with. The concert didn't disappoint, it was awesome. The hall was a pretty standard concert hall with a stage large enough for other performances like dancing and plays. It was also a pretty modern looking building, I guess I am a little spoiled with having the ability to hear performances at Boston Symphony Hall, but we had great seats in the upper level, right in the middle, and right in front of a railing, so we had no one in front of us and a clear view of the stage. It was a good end to a good week off. Now it's back to work, but I get one more break as I head home Wednesday and will be there through Sunday. I am really looking forward to seeing my family and my friends. Though it is only for four days it will be worth the long flights across country. To everyone back home...see you all soon.
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