Sometimes, when you’re paying in Euros, having to deal with myriad languages and accents, and missing a train stop (an expensive mistake) you get a little homesick.
Now, I’m not really the homesick type, and I would hope my semester in Prague would never end, but every now and then I have those pangs and I think about the people and the things I miss so much, from my hometown of Oakdale to Chico, my home of coming on three years. As you might’ve summised, I’ve created a list of five things to not take for granted in Chico while you’re there, and to miss when you’re gone. Some serious, some superficial, and in no particular order.
1 – Hiking and Biking
I’m not just talking about an intense morning at Upper Bark. The ability to walk and bike to almost everywhere necessary in town, especially on a warm, sunny day, is so clutch and not even common throughout all of California, much less the rest of the world.
Doing a rigorous 35 mile hike to Holy Mountain in October.
2 – Familiar Faces
When I missed a train stop en route from Edinburgh, Scotland, to Birmingham, England last week, I had to pay an exorbitant amount of money for a new ticket and had no friendly faces along the way with me in transit. Just walking across campus or likely around downtown on any given day give a reminder of how chock full of good friends and good people Chico is… as long as you stay away from the train tracks and the end of Warner Street (where yours truly lived last year.)
This friendly street musician from Prague isn't exactly a familiar face.
3 – Mexican Food
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, even going to the East Coast of the U.S. can make you yearn for a giant 4 dollar burrito from some clutch Taco Truck like Tacos de Paisa over near Ray’s Liquor. That or some Aca Taco Nachos in the wee hours on a Saturday. Crucial part of life that’s only available in certain parts of the world.
4 – Saints and Strummers
Every town, especially every hippy-ish California college town, is proud of its local music scene. But man, do we have reason to be. From powerfully unique venues like the Senator, to Cafe Coda, to Monstro’s and Laxson, to the ultra-eclectic local collection of bands: Armed For Apocalypse, Hail the Sun, and the recently disbanded Rock Creek Jug Band, for example, pack a powerful punch of variety that can fit every gig and every atmosphere.
Me playing at a hole-in-the-wall Prague music shop.
5 – Springtime
It can be easy to forget in the depths of winter, wherever you are, just how beautiful the true couple weeks to month of spring we get in Chico. The full sun of the summertime minus the exhaustingly hot and muggy conditions make for a Disney-esque period in March and/or April that I can’t wait to see again soon.
