Not Quite California Dreamin’ #SoCS

Posted on by Astrid

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When I was a teen, I dreamt of going to the United States in my third year of college. After all, I was going to be an English major, choosing American studies as my specialty. Then in my third year, I would be incredibly motivated and talented and would be allowed to go on an exchange student visa to the United States.

I had already picked my preferred cities to go to. Most were suburbs of Boston. First, it was Lynn. Then Somerville.

Then, at one point, I got obsessed with Columbia, Maryland, a suburb of Baltimore. Then, finally, Silver Spring, MD, a suburb of DC.

None of these were college towns as far as I know, but I always dreamt of going to college in the city and living in the suburbs eventually. Because, after all, with my incredible talent (ahum) and affirmative action, I calculated that I’d be allowed to stay for some professional career and never go back to the Netherlands again.

Now that I think of it, it’s interesting that I never dreamt about going to California for my studies. I would say that most people choose either the east or west coast. At least people from Europe most likely do, with the Midwest, South and Great Plains being far more conservative. I just envisioned living in New England or the DC area.

And just for the record, it all never came true. I never even majored in English at university. I still haven’t been to the United States, though I hope to visit there someday. Mostly to meet some people I know.

This post was written for Stream of Consciousness Saturday (#SoCS), for which the prompt this week is “Cal-“. I could’ve written about calendar calculation, calories or Calibre (an eBook management tool). Instead, some of the other participants’ posts inspired me to write about my American dream.

14 thoughts on “Not Quite California Dreamin’ #SoCS”

  4. I love that you pulled this from the prompt “cal”. I’ve been trying to do some stream-of-consciousness writing myself the past few weeks. I never know where it’ll go. I hope you get to visit the U.S. at some point; I’d love to visit the Netherlands. We can do a swap. 🙂 Don’t rule out visiting the South if you do come to the States. We have our issues, to be sure, but we also have some of the most welcoming and loving people around.

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    1. Oh yes, I’d love to visit the South now. When I was a teen, I was a lot more progressive and yet also less open-minded to conservatives than I am now, so even with the majority being conservative, I think I’d love to visit. I think that political persuasion doesn’t actually make someone nice or not nice. Anyway, I do hope you’ll visit the Netherlands. I’d encourage you to explore beyond Amsterdam if you do come here. Oh and good luck on your stream-of-consciousness writing.

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  5. We bought La Vita, our sailboat in 2006. Ensenada, Mexico (northern Baja) was the first port of call after we left San Diego, California.

    In Ensenada, my husband sought the services of a blind physical therapist. After several visits, we invited him and his wife to visit our sailboat. We stayed tied to the dock, but guided him to the wheel. I will always remember him standing at the helm of La Vita. He loved the smell of salt air and the feel of the breeze on his face.

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  6. Yes, it certainly was. Rick (my husband) corrected me. He was Rick’s chiropractor in Ensanada. The Mexican doctor and Rick’s chiropractor in California went to school together. We had no idea of the connection. Small world.

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