So this morning I went on the uni's city tour. The queue was really long to get on the bus...AAU must be doing pretty good business(the tour is for new students only). First stop was the Civic Centre. Just a short stop in the bus. Only managed to get a picture of the statue in front of the Centre.

And passed by the Symphony Hall, in the same area. Apparently the walls are supposed to look like a keyboard.

Up to Twin Peaks, which is the highest spot in San Francisco. Now you can see the mist. Pretty cold because of the strong wind. The rent for places around here are $2500 per month, according to the driver, but I dunno for how big a place. The cheapest would be in Tenderloin area, for about $800, but I wouldn't recommend that area...a bit dodgy...

And then back down to have a look at the Golden Gate Bridge. Not a very good position to have taken a picture, but I didn't have enough time to look for a better spot. I spent most of the time waiting in line to use the toilet. Should rent a bike one day and cycle across and get to see Sausalito as well.Renting bikes is a big thing here. Err...or as they say...make friends with someone who has a car.
We also passed by other landmarks around SF but didn't get off the bus, places like the Painted Ladies, Golden Gate Park, Palace of Fine Arts (which ironically houses a science museum instead) and drove pass the Castro, Fisherman's Wharf (need to try the sourdough clam chowder and Ghirardelli's Chocolate), Little Italy and Chinatown. Difficult to get nice pictures, so I'll probably go back and visit some of the places we passed, properly.

Here are some pictures of nice buildings around the city.

Some graffiti near the art supplies store, Blick (for you people in Malaysia, it's 3 or 4 times bigger than Multifilla, and a lot more organised and cleaner. Drool on.) Not really patronising Utrecht so far...its smaller than Blick, and according to the seniors, more expensive as well, eventhough they are literally next door to the main uni building. Apparently the grey wall is bording up another former art supply shop called Pearl. What an art-inclined city...
Some schoolkids performing on drums, that I passed on Market Street.
And right next to that was the building currently housing Forever 21.
And Wells Fargo.
The Jewish Contemporary Art Museum's Gift Shop. (Yeah, I found the gift shop's design more interesting)
Stopped by Yerba Buena Gardens for another performance. Today's was a blues performance, which I managed to catch only the last 3 songs.
~~~~~~~

And for today's at-home show and tell:My sketchbooks
Figured I should get newsprint pads(it's the type of paper that your news gets printed on, and it's cheap. And additionally,I got them at 50% off.) so I can write or draw notes, or scribble on, without feeling like I'm wasting art paper or A4 paper.I used to write my notes on loose pieces of A4 paper, which I then compile neatly (honest) and paperclip together, but this time I want slightly more *cough* presentation.

It also felt quite nice to put on my lap or bed and draw, so I got 2 more, one for practising anatomy (I'm going to memorise that Dorling Kindersley anatomy book that looks like a medical textbook. That's my resolution this term)I'll draw the skin-on versions on the newsprints, and the bone and muscle versions on tracing paper. The other one will be nice to bring to the parks on free days and sketch the buildings, or the plants, or sneakily sketch any random leng chai with his dog, if I can find one.

And there are 2 sketchbooks I brought with me from Malaysia, one for neat drawings(see, I treat A4 paper with reverence. I'm either becoming a greenie or a scrooge. Or both.) and the other for doodling.

As for the rest of the art supplies, we haven't been told what we have to buy for our classes, so I'll just see how it goes.Meanwhile, I've signed up for a (free)discount card at Blick that offers 10% discount all year round, so that should still be ok.