El Dia Ultimo

The beginning of the end. Today is the last day of the San Francisco trip before we have to go back to Indiana. Tomorrow will basically be spent in the hotel lobby and on airplanes. Today though, ended up being one of the more memorable days out of the entire trip though. The day began with a trip to UC Berkeley, in the rain, where I was fortunate enough to peruse the comic book and graphic novel collection in the student bookstore. Soon after a hike through what seemed to be a tropical depression we feasted at Chez Panisse. Insane. I haven’t eaten that good in a long, long time. Afterwards we went to Mission Dolores. It was here I had my most special moment of the entire trip. I am Catholic, although now I may be a bit of a heathen, but I was able to pray in the actual Mission Dolores itself, the oldest building in all of San Francisco and immediately after that I visited the church adjacent to Mission Dolores. This was special. I was all alone in there, the lights were turned off and it was lit basically only by candlelight. Here I was able to reflect, pray, and think without being self-conscious with others around. It was a spiritual moment for me and I’m very thankful that the chance circumstances allowed me to have that exact moment. I was quite privileged in that regard. The day ended with dinner in Chinatown and the mandatory card games. This was a great trip, even though the rain was constant and didn’t allow for much skating at all, but I feel as if everybody in the group bonded, I know I made friends that I didn’t have before, and even though we didn’t do everything we planned and wanted to do, we still did so much and experienced so many different and new things that I am truly thankful that I was able to go on this trip and I appreciate all of the effort that went into making this class trip to San Francisco possible.

Not only is the song of the day the song for the day, but it’s also the closing song for the trip. It was a special trip and a special song is the only thing this trip deserves. I believe that the song by Public Enemy titled He Got Game, is the best song for this situation. It has that feeling of conclusion or of an ending and it samples a song by Buffalo Springfield, a folk band from the sixties. The song sampled, For What It’s Worth, is actually a song about the clashes of cultural revolutions in the sixties, which is perfect for the city of San Francisco.