17yrs spends 5weeks in Berkeley
 

Hi!I'm 17 and I'm from Italy:next week(July 7)I'll leave to Berkeley,where I'll stay(in a dormfor 5 weeks.I'll attend an English Course.As I'm alone and I've never been there,every suggestion,advice(about everything,e.g.weather,places worth visiting,..) is welcome!Thanks a lot!

Berkely itself has much to offer in museums, cafes, book and CD shops live music etc. You'll definitely want to visit San Francisco itself. Lots of fun restaurants and cafes in the North Beach neighborhood, beautiful old Victorian rowhouses painted in bright colors (called 'Painted Ladies'). Take the tour of the Alcatraz prison in the Bay. Stroll through Chinatown. Perhaps visit the Haight-Ashbury district which was the epicenter of the "Summer of Love" (it's touristy now but still worth a visit).

Walk up Mount Tamalpais fore the view and the serenity and if you can get transportation up there, head a bit north some wekend to see the coastal redwoods. Walking around among these trees is truly an expereince of a lifetime. Also... if you can find other folks with a car to make the drive or perhaps get a bus tour - a weekend visit to Yosemite National Park is highly recommended.

These are only a few of the many options but you'll find plenty to do and see.

You will really like Berkeley. And for California, the public transport is very good. You can get all over by BART (sort of like the Metro) and on buses. The Berkeley campus is large and scenic.

The weather will vary quite a bit - as an example this last few days it got over 85F in SF/Berkeley which is HOT for them, and then the next day it dropped to the low 60'sF. Berkeley will usually be warmer and less foggy than San Francisco. But it can get quite chilly in summer (the warmest weather is usually in the Autimn). So be prepared with a least a warm sweater, sweat shirt ot jacket -- especially for your trips to SF and the bay/ocean,

Most areas will be safe - but you should avoid some parts of Oakland and SF. The staff at the college will be able to give you good advice on specific neighborhoods to avoid.

oops - that should have read "sweater, sweat shirt or jacket"

I thought California was a warm place!
Anyway, thanks a lot and..I'm looking forward to any other information!Thanks again, you're very kind!

California is a warm place - but it is also a VERY large place. Some parts are over 14,000 ft and some are below sea level, some is desert and some is alpine - you get every type of weather in california.

But the SF Bay area in particular gets some of its coldest temps in the summer time. The hotter it is in the central valley, generally the colder it is in SF.

Today it is 105F at my home 90 miles from SF, and 68 and cloudy in parts of San Francisco.

In addition to SF you'll also want to visit Monterey and Carmel, San Jose, Big Basin redwoods, and Yosemite. Most of these, with the ezception og Yosemite and Monterey can be daytrips from Berkeley .