Food and Entertainment in Berkeley
Berkeley is just an amazing place to be. Although I don’t have much of a social life, I appreciate all the textures the city has to offer. So what do I mean by that?
First of all, a wide, diverse range of food options. Good food is not really hard to find, and there are all kinds of foods from Italian to Japanese to Thai to Indian. Also, many of them are within a decent price range, so the food is quite affordable. I usually try a new restaurant once every week with a couple of friends. And it’s not just Berkeley, although a lot of good food exists locally that you don’t need to travel to San Francisco (and of course San Francisco has some of the best dim summing places).
What I love to do the most is watch artistic performances – dance, music, theater. I try to take advantage of Cal Performances and our 50% discount – it’s really quite awesome, and since I know I’d probably not ever get that sort of chance again to watch people from far, far away, I try to go to as many as I can. Thus far, I have been lucky enough to watch Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble (really truly amazing performance), Alvin Ailey, and a couple of other dance pieces. I have yet to really experience theater, but I hope I can sometime soon. Of course, San Francisco is a great place for these types of performances, and student groups often have many types of performances (for instance Theater Rice and Barestage Productions). Hertz Hall also holds free musical performances by students weekly, and there are so many types of opportunities to watch them, so attend one!
As for films, SUPERB offers a couple of movies for a price of $3. It’s really quite fun and something relaxing to do on a Friday night. The ASUC has been trying to find more ways to provide entertainment for the public, so I think concerts take place on Lower Sproul every Friday at noon. Movie theaters around closest to Berkeley may either hold the most recent films or some independent and less well-known films.
Sports are awesome at Cal. Well, I guess there has been a lot more hype around the football team since Tedford started coaching (and the team has improved considerably). Totally go to one game, or even the Big Game. It’s really quite an experience that I can’t do justice trying to describe. And I’m not much of a sports person, although if you try to explain almost any sport to me and it’s the right season, I can probably be convinced to follow that sport.
Shopping – there are a couple of nice stores around Berkeley, but usually if you are looking for big named stores, San Francisco and Emeryville are just a bus ride (or BART ride) away.
I really just love Berkeley because it’s so vibrant with life. There are farmer’s markets and vendors on the streets of Telegraph and just a whole lot of stuff to do wherever your interest lies.