California Dreamin':Caffe DeLucchi (5/26/2002)

Every month I write a check and mail it off in an attempt to slowly chip away at something many of us twenty-somethings know intimately; student loans. Four years of college gave me a degree printed on card stock and a dollar sign followed by a lot of zeroes. Many years after graduation, I remember little from the classes I attended (often in my pajamas) and more of the memories I made with my friends.

In the spring semester of my Junior year, me and three friends managed to stretch the three day Memorial weekend in to five days off from school. I can’t remember what classes I had to skipped to make that happen, but I do remember that our grand plan was to drive more than thirteen hours to L.A

Liz, Whitney, Lindsey and I high jacked a ten pound bag of gummy bears from our sorority house, piled in the car and headed down I-5. The first flaw in our plan was that my sporty little Neon was a stick shift and I was the only one who had mastered the art of the clutch. Whenever we needed to switch drivers, the swap was always preceded by a jerky parking lot tutorial and followed by a near death experience on the freeway on ramp.

After two days of honking at semi trucks and downing handfuls of gummy bears as our only nourishment, we arrived at Lindsay’s family house in Huntington Beach. We spent several days lying on the beach, stealing golf carts and enjoying all the miles between us and our classes. We eventually packed ourselves up and headed back north to make a stop off in Liz’s hometown of San Francisco.

After an Italian lunch at Caffe Delucchi, Liz’s showed us around the city. We ate chocolate in Ghirardelli square, rode cable cars and toured the Haight. We ended our night huddled together beneath the Golden Gate Bridge toasting friendship and gummy bears.

When we finally arrived back at school the next day, I was too drained from the drive to do anything. By the time I finally took up going to my classes again, I had been absent for a week. In that time I may have missed all the important things my professors had to teach me, but I did learn that eating too many gummy bears, turns your mouth permanently red. Education is subjective.

*Recognize this song title? Post in the comments section.