Bye-bye, my Island

This weekend I am moving out of Yerba Buena, a little island in the middle of the Bay, to the mainland San Francisco.

Nine months that I spent on the island were quite exciting overall. It was a relatively good period of my life, and living with roommates definitely had its perks. But it was only a matter of time before I started craving living on my own in a more urban environment. Yerba Buena, although only 5-10 minutes across the bridge from San Francisco, is a world away from the City. It's green, quaint, and relatively suburban in feel, with only about 200 people living on the entire island. There are lots of things I will miss about my island life, but there are definitely things that I am fed up with.

I will miss:

1) The killer views. This is what I saw every day from my bedroom window:


2) Living in the big house with a spacious living room and the patio.
3) The race-track curves of the drive up to the island.
4) Daily drives across the Bay Bridge's upper deck - one of the most beautiful drives in the world.
5) Ability to have large, noisy parties in the house without worrying about the neighbours.
6) SOME of my neighbours. It's a generally young professional crowd living on the island.
7) Free laundry in the house and free utilities on the entire island.


However - I will NOT miss:

1) My roommates.
2) Inevitable dirt and clutter in the living room stemming from one of my roommate's uncanny habit of gathering and stacking up junk.
3) Filthy kitchen 75% of the time. A while ago, this kitchen was reasonably maintained. I have long given up on both using it and trying to keep it clean.
4) White noise from the bridge traffic, especially with open windows.
5) Neighbour's dogs barking.
6) Raccoons in the rubbish containers.
7) Bridge traffic, especially with the earthquake retrofit construction every night.
8) Noise in the house - inevitable with several people living in.

The decision has been made a long time ago. And yet, as my stay on the island comes to an end, I am somewhat sad to leave such a unique living place voluntarily. While I certainly hope my new city living will be enjoyable in its own way, I may never have such a combination of being in one of the most beautiful areas of Bay Area yet so close to the city of San Francisco it's actually considered part of it.

Bye-bye, Island!