After my first visit to Pasadena, California (when I was attending the Caltech Prefrosh Weekend), I had always wanted to go back to visit California again sometime. Cliff recently moved to Santa Barbara to work for Greenhills, so I got a chance to go visit him and California.

Santa Barbara is a great place to live in. I was amazed by the weather immidiately after I got off the airplane. There were no clouds at all in the sky. The sky was just clear and blue. There's a big sun on top of my head, but I couldn't really feel it because of the breeze. Here are two pictures that I took at the Santa Barbara airport (click on the images to see bigger pictures):

The palm trees made me pretty excited. They are a nice break for me after a seven-hour airplane ride.

According to the map right here, Santa Barbara is right on the coast. It's touching the Pacific Ocean. During my 4 days of stay in California, I went to the beach in Santa Barbara twice. The water was a lot colder and bluer than the ocean that Massachusetts is next to, namely, the Atlantic Ocean. I went to the beach one day in the morning, and the water was freezing! But after a big wave making me completely wet, it's all good. I had to keep moving around though to keep myself warm. I thought about Titanic. No wonder Jack didn't survive in such cold water like that.

When I was at the beach, feeling the cold water touching my feet, I thought that I had been in the Pacific Ocean before. It's just that I was at the far other side of it. I've been to Shandong, China. I was facing east, looking at the Pacific Ocean when I was in Shandong, and right then I was facing south looking at the Pacific Ocean when I was in Santa Barbara. It's so cool that I was at the other side of the earth. Here are some pictures that show the excitement of me (click on the images to see bigger pictures):

There were just so much to do in Santa Barbara. Cliff and I went hiking one afternoon. It wasn't an extremely long hike, but it was a nice workout. I came back from California two days ago, but my ass still hurts even now. :) Anyways, I got to the top of the mountain to see Santa Barbara. We got some real good siteseeing there. (click on the images to see bigger pictures):

It was sad to leave Santa Barbara. I want to find some places like that to work after I graduate.