Well I had a thrilling ride all the way back down the mountain. At one point a traffic meter recorded me at 30mph, and that was not full speed. I finally got to the bottom, checked my bearings, and realized I still had another 2 miles to go. You guessed it - up hill.
I finally rolled in to the UCSD campus. Fortunately, the theater department happened to be at the southern tip of the campus. La Jolla Playhouse was also literally on the campus, which is pretty cool. I pulled in to the Theater Department building and realized that I was absolutely disgusting. I was in no shape to meet with the graduate director. I went to the bathroom and washed up a little, but it was not enough. 
I needed to dry off, so I decided to walk the campus and try to dry off in the SoCal sun. The campus actually reminded me of Livingston or Busch campus at Rutgers, only with Eucalyptus trees. It was nice and simple. I also noticed that UCSD seemed to work off the old European system of multiple colleges under one umbrella, as I saw signs for at least 3-4 separate colleges as I walked around.
I decided I was dry enough, so I headed back to the theatre department. I had a good talk with Marybeth, who is their Graduate Coordinator. She was able to answer a lot of questions for me in regards to the program, courses of study, financial aid and other things. None of the faculty was around during the summer, so I was not able to speak to anyone more specifically about the study or what they are looking for in applicants. However, I did learn they generally get about 60 applicants and pick only 1 or 2, depending on the year. And I did pick up that they seem to be very classically focused in their admission for directors.
One email Marybeth showed me was to prospective students, where they were asked to prepare to discuss Hamlet, Tartuffe, The Cherry Orchard and several other classical texts and authors, and how they would carry out their vision and design. Sure I've read all those plays, but why can't I discuss Showboat, Cabaret, Ragtime, Into the Woods and classic American musicals? Why have a program that only turns out one type of director? I had thought they would promote directors who worked on more contemporary plays and musicals since they work with La Jolla Playhouse, where many Broadway shows are launched. Oh well.
Continuing on the journey. Marybeth pointed me to the beach so I could cool off. Fortunately, it was downhill. I passed the Birch aquarium, but this is one thing in San Diego that's NOT free, so I only saw it from the outside. I made it down to the beach, which I believe is called La Jolla Shores. It was a really nice beach that did not seem too busy. These beaches had to delineate where you were allowed to swim and where you were allowed to surf. 
Going swimming in the ocean during Shark week on the discovery channel proved to be a rather unnerving experience. I just stuck to the old adage "You don't have to swim faster than the shark, just faster than the guy next to you." I spent most of my time swimming around some chubby asthmatic looking kids. However, be assured that any seaweed that dared touch my leg was severely dealt with.
I hopped back on the bicycle, this time I finally set my sights south for the way home. Guess what that means? Yup, I had to go uphill. I don't understand why I had to go up so many hills while following the coastline, but somehow San Diego makes it happen. I rolled into the "village" of La Jolla Cove. I was starting to develop some hunger pangs, but this "village" seemed way too high class for my stench.
I kept going further down the coast, somehow still going uphill, until I suddenly felt I was at the Jersey Shore. Now I knew I could stop and eat. I had made my way to Mission Beach, which is a long stretch of beach on the ocean side of Mission Bay Park, where I had come through before. It had a long concrete boardwalk (concretewalk?) with bars, restaurants, and lots of little bungalows. I found some bar that claimed to have THE BEST Margaritas, so I stopped since I have never heard such a claim before. 
After dinner, I decided to take one last dip in the ocean. You know, just to check that the Mahi sandwich was sitting properly. I had so say my final goodbye to the Pacific ocean, probably for some time, as I watched the sunset.
I live in Hillcrest, which unfortunately means the end of bike ride trips is pretty terrible. I found myself having to walk my bike up the hill in Old Town that I pictured from the beginning of the day, because there was just no way that was going to happen. Anyway, I took the well-worn path back home and crashed.
Until tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment