A Fun Day at IKEA

My friend Jeanne and I are lucky that our daughters are very good friends as well. They have been friends since 7th grade when Becca was new to the middle school whereas Kaefer already had an established group of friends who went with her to middle school. Kaefer and Becca soon became friends and have been two wonderful goofheads ever since. 

When both girls got accepted to the University of California - Becca to Santa Barbara and Kaefer to Davis - the four of us were quick to check our calendars for a dorm shopping day at IKEA. The nearest IKEA is near Berkeley and that is where we went.

There is this big metal chair outside between the blue-yellow store and the parking garage. Ever since it had been there Kaefer has enjoyed climbing on it, and of course nothing could stop our girls to do so this time. Becca is much taller than Kaefer, so they were arranging themselves on the chair until they looked the same hight. The goofiness had started and didn't stop until we were back home.

IKEA has not only furniture but also kitchen utensils, tools and all the decoration items we obviously cannot live without. They do a great job in displaying it in a beautiful way that of course tempts the customers to buy buy buy (which is really easy at IKEA since the prices are very reasonable).

Those orange dishes in the lower left corner are ALWAYS a huge temptation for me. They have the same dishes in turquoise and a combination of the two looks gorgeous. I wonder when I will finally become weak and buy both sets.

IKEA's showroom includes tiny "appartments" that are fully furnished and very inspiring. The closets always contain a few pieces of clothes and we had enormous fun taking those clothes out and "trying them on". 

The girls stopped in the "café" - another opportunity for silly photos.

And of course the four of us had to try out the beds! Not that we were in any need to buy one...

It took us hours to get through the showroom and we were exhausted and hungry (and still had to go through the Marketplace with all those decorative items - I always call this part the Bermuda Triangle). Fortunately IKEA has a restaurant (every decent furniture store at least in Germany if not Europe has a restaurant because furniture shopping makes hungry and you have to think over some good food about these big decisions you are going to make) and we soon found ourselves at a table at the window over Swedish meatballs with mashed potatoes (an IKEA staple) and chicken tenders with fries. And look what we found for the "little ones":

Bibs!!! College kids need those for sure!!!

Before we descended to the Bermuda Triangle we saw this one in the children's department - it cracked me up! The wolf eating grandma! Now this is a great way to tell the story of Little Red Riding Hood!

The Graduate

Last Friday, on the hottest day in the week, our daughter graduated from High School. The commencement ceremony was at 5:30 in the afternoon. Thankfully for everybody who attended, especially the graduates who had to sit in the sun in their hot gowns with absolutely no shade (at least they had bottles of water under their seats), the ceremony only lasted for 75 minutes with short but very good speeches from the graduates, the principal and the superintendent.

The school symphonic and concert bands played "Pomp and Circumstance" when the graduates marched in on the field.

The Jazz Choir sang several times that evening - this was the last time for the graduates who were members of this excellent, award winning school choir.

Every graduate - more than 400, the biggest class the school had so far - had his or her special moment when s/he was called on the stage. It definitely was very special for the attending families.

I did feel proud when Kaefer's name was called and she went up on the stage. She had worked so hard over the past four years. Not only has she earned her high school diploma, but she graduated Summa Cum Laude, has become a California Federation Life Member and received the California State Seal of Biliteracy (these are all the "decorations" around her neck).

After the crossing of the tassel which represents the transition from being a student to being a graduate, the students - sorry, the graduates! - tossed their caps in the air.

That was the end of the official ceremony. After that it was photo time!!

The proud graduate and her friends (and her calculus teacher).

They weren't allowed to decorate their cap before the ceremony, but afterwards nothing could hold them back! They loved to show the college they would go to.

And her parents? They were proud as well - even though this milestone is bittersweet at the same time. However, there were no tears - but a lot of happy smiles.

A couple days before graduation, when the 'kids' brought home their cap and gown, Kaefer and I took the opportunity to take some cap and gown photos. 

 

But graduate or not - the goofiness is still there, the soul of a child wants to play or at least swing and fly through the air - soar, my graduate!!

I do love this girl so much!

A Surgery And A Decision

Last week I had surgery - one of the reasons why I haven't been here for quite a while. It was nothing life-threatening - one of the glands of my parathyroid was playing havoc with the calcium in my blood which is not a good thing and, if untreated, can cause bone density loss and kidney stones. Since I didn't want neither of these I decided to get the responsible gland removed which was finally done last week. I was there as an outpatient and back home in the evening. This time the general anesthesia didn't bother me very much. Usually I tend to feel dizzy and even almost pass out in the first few days after general anesthesia, but this time I felt fine. However, I didn't do very well with the pain medication and I was happy when I was able to stop it. Since then, I've been on the mend, and every day seems to be better than the day before.

There also has been a big decision in our house.

After visiting UC Berkeley and Cal Poly the week before my surgery, we ended the entire "which college should I go to" journey with another short visit to UC Davis. Then the girl made her decision - she will be going to UC Davis. Her major is Sustainable Environmental Design, and I can't imagine a better place for that than Davis.

We visited the campus on a rather grey day, but even then I got the impression of a happy, cheerful and lively environment. Look at the colors of the residence halls!

As a student in the university's Honors Program Kaefer will be living in one of these for her freshman year. They are right on campus, but somehow also in the countryside - this is the view from some of the rooms:

UC Davis is big in agricultural studies and the only university in California for veterinary medicine. Even though Kaefer's major is quite different from that, I feel she's stepping into her grandfather's (my Dad's) footsteps who was a veterinary. He would have been so proud of her!

The artwork on some of the residence halls displays another big part of UC Davis and its town:

It is THE bike town. Davis is completely FLAT - ideal for commuting by bike. There are bike trails on campus with their own roundabouts etc., and in town there are bike lanes everywhere. It's a biker's paradise. When I was a student at the University of Tübingen I always rode my bike and I'm happy that Kaefer will do the same during her years in college.

There are some nice buildings like the Lab with its giant green house on top.

The Library with one of the Eggheads in front of it.

There are several of those Eggheads on campus. They are bronze sculptures created by artist and UC Davis Professor Robert Arneson specifically for this campus. This one is called Bookhead and students kiss it for good luck, especially before finals.

UC Davis is a very green and sustainable campus - in 2012 it was voted the Greenest University. I think Kaefer chose her major and her college wisely! So did the squirrels...

The decision has brought relief to all of us. At the beginning I was still thinking that Cal Poly would have been a great fit for her, but talking with and listening to her I understand that UC Davis offers her more flexibility. She also loves the diversity of Davis whereas Cal Poly has a predominantly white population. Kaefer looks forward to meet and connect with students from other countries. In this regard she's totally my girl.

To the new Aggie!

So SLO

Some cool art at Cal Poly

After having looked at UC Berkeley last Sunday, we drove down to San Luis Obispo - or SLO - on the Central Coast to look at Cal Poly (California Polytechnic State University) one more time. We had visited the campus before during college trip to Colorado in the winter. At that time the campus was mostly empty since most of the students had left for winter break.

Kaefer wanted to check it out during the semester, and the cousin of one of her friends had offered to give her a private tour.

Kaefer's major at Cal Poly would be architecture. The approach here is very hands-on and practical, it's an accredited program that takes five years.

One of the projects of first year architecture students

While Kaefer went on her private tour, the Geek and I explored SLO.

It has a historic city center with a beautiful mission, founded in 1772.

I liked the bear fountain in front of the mission that represents the Native Americans who lived here (the Chumash) and the grizzlies which used to be abundant in this area.

The mission has three bells of which I don't know whether they're still in use.

What fascinated me most about the Mission was the roof.

It is built of crooked terracotta shingles, some of them being clearly older than others. I took some close-ups - have a look:

Like every mission, this one had some lovely nooks and corner.

And right across from the Mission I discovered this porch of a restaurant with those colorful sunshades and a lovely terracotta roof as well.

Downtown SLO is lively with lots of local businesses, restaurants, tons of trash bins (no one has any reason here to throw trash on the street as there is a trash bin every few yards). Beautiful trees are lining the streets and give good shade on hot and sunny days. Lots of traffic as well, but it is easy to get around as a pedestrian.

I liked this special kind of "meters" - here you can donate money for the homeless. I thought the idea was pretty nifty. I don't know whether they collect much money here, but since I saw a few of them I guess that they have some success with them. Maybe this is something my city should try.

So - will Kaefer go to Cal Poly? She definitely liked it. But does she like it enough to actually commit to it?