21 Sep Bonfire on the beach

A tip for everyone who is doing an exchange year/semester at SFSU, is to join the IEEC events. The IEEC hosts a lot of fun events, and this is a great way to both explore the city and get to know new people. And that’s what you’re here for, right? For instance, every Monday there are $1 cocktails at QBar in Castro, every Tuesday is a Taco-Tuesday and every Thursday they go out to a bar or a club or both.

I’ll admit that I haven’t been the best at following this tip myself, but I have been to a couple events, and all of them have been really fun. Last weekend I went to a bonfire on Ocean Beach which was really nice. As our bonfire didn’t turn out great, some other people invited us to join theirs instead. Even though it was freezing at the beach it seemed like everyone had a good time gathering around the warm fire. I tried s’mores for the first time too. For those of you who don’t know what s’mores are, it’s grilled marshmallows and chocolate sandwiched between two crackers. It was delicious! Most of the people at the bonfire didn’t bring their own marshmallows, but I bet everybody ate at least one marshmallow each because the few people who actually brought it shared with everyone.

One of the great things about these events is that you meet people who are in the same situation as you: New to the city, feeling a bit lost and eager to make new friendships. People are also very open-minded and welcoming, which is important when you go to study abroad, and that makes making friends that much easier.