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Arriving in California

I remember clearly the day I arrived in San Diego, California. That day was Wednesday, October 15th, 2003. I came here to start post-doctoral training at the University of California San Diego for two or three years. One of the requirements of becoming a university professor in the Netherlands is to perform research for at least a year in another country. Plus, I thought, San Diego doesn't sound too bad to do some research at the bioengineering department of UCSD. Although I had visited the USA a couple of times before, I had not yet had the pleasure to visit California. It was to some extent a leap into the unknown. But I was ready for the adventure because I had done some reading about San Diego and I knew the professor of the Cardiac Mechanics Research Group I was going to work for.

It was around 6 pm when I got to retrieve my luggage at the carousel while the sky was turning a nice deep orange. I stepped outside to get a taxi and the first thought that popped into my mind was: "They have palm trees here!". After a short ride the taxi dropped me off at the rental car agency. I started driving with the directions to my apartment printed on a piece of paper which lay on the passenger seat. Taking the I-5 North, I was heading for Del Mar. By now it was dark. The directions said that I had to take the exit "S6" for Via de la Valle. But here was a freeway approaching called 56. Was that "S" a "5"? I decided that it was an S so I kept on going. One may understand my excitement when I saw signs for Via de la Valle appear very soon thereafter.

Extremely tired, I arrived at the home that had a little apartment attached to it in the neighborhood of Rancho Del Mar. My landlords were the nicest and most helpful people you can wish for when you arrive on your own in a new country. I was going to do most of the unpacking the next day because I needed a bed first.

The next day, I found my way to UCSD first. After saying hi to the people of my new lab I explored the beautiful campus and checked in at the International Center. When I walked back to my car I heard a buzzing noise near a blooming flower and saw this giant flying insect. I thought, "Wait, that's not an insect, it's a bird."  My first hummingbird. The rest of the day I filled with pleasantries such as visiting a Social Security Office and the DMV.

On the third day, I took my Nikon film camera with me to explore the coast. The weather was overcast and foggy along the coast. My landlords had informed me that this was called a marine layer. My route, planned on a paper map, led me to Highway 101 from Del Mar Heights Road. On Hwy 101 I went south and saw some cars parked on the right. I parked mine there, too. According to my map the ocean was near and I could hear the waves. Climbing down some bluffs I got to a train track and I saw some people go across it. "Oh, these must be abandoned", I thought. So I took my camera out, put it right on one of the rails and lay down on them to get a good view. I got up and traveled further.

Arriving at the beach I noticed a lifeguard tower with a number 7 on it. I got two shots of it.

I've mentioned that my "Tower #3", taken in 2011, was my first beach-themed shot. That's true as a professional photographer and for a beach-themed photo that sold. But "Tower #7" on film was my first lifeguard tower photo. Recently I scanned the negative, printed it in black and white, and hand colored it with oils. 

I walked up to the water line, enjoyed the cool weather, the breeze, the sound of the waves, the muted colors of the ocean under this "marine layer" and thought to myself,

"I really like it here".