Tomorrow morning I head home. This trip has been quite the experience. I had expectations that turned out to be wrong. I had hopes that did actually happen. I’m tempted to say this has been my best trip here. Yes, there were things that went horribly wrong, but that is what makes great vacation stories. (Although I think I better keep some of these to myself.)
There are a number of things I never got to do, like the Getty museum. But I did get to be myself, which is more important. Let’s face it, I’m not that much of a museum person. Instead I went to Santa Monica beach and went for an 11.5 km run. I did go the wrong way, down the boring part, but I had never gone that way before. Lesson learned.
And really being myself, at one point I just lazed around and read comic books at my host’s place. That is what I would probably do in Edmonton.
I had a good time.
But I don’t think I could live here. The people here are cynical, and occasionally mean. Something here gets to people and makes them selfish. I think they realize they are changing into people they don’t want to be, but there is nothing they can do about it. They are actually put off by someone who is nice for the sake of being nice.
Which is why I never really looked for a job here. I did do a bit of networking with my friends, and there is a lead that may help another project. It would be nice to be here for longer, but I don’t fit in this town.