may 2023 – goodbye pittsburgh, hello summer.

Brian Chou

May 29, 2023

Graduation. The one thing on most college seniors’ minds during May. To me, graduation is bittersweet. A part of me felt relieved that I can finally leave Pittsburgh and venture into adulthood. But another part of me felt sad how these past 4 years flew by so quickly. All the friends I’ve met, the classes that I’ve struggled in, places I’ve explored, and memories I’ve made. While Pittsburgh may not be the liveliest or most interesting city, it holds a special place in my heart as it is where I slowly became the person I am today.

I still remember the nervous freshman version of me living in Residence on Fifth just trying to survive 112. In many ways, I will soon be taking the same first steps that I took in college but into adulthood. Apartment hunting, making new friends, exploring a new city, navigating the workplace, and learning to enjoy life. As sad as I am to be leaving college, I’m excited to start a new chapter of my life.

The first two weeks of May were, to be blunt, a lot of drinking. I have never experienced happy hour in Pittsburgh since I’m not much of a day drinker outside Carnival. I also wanted to spend more time with friends before leaving. So I took this chance to kill two birds with one stone.

^ yeah that’s a slice of pear.

^ the tokyo mule was quite good!

The classic happy hour spot in Pittsburgh is Urban Tap. Their large selection of $5 cocktails is hard to beat and it’s usually not too crowded either. 2 to 3 drinks can really get you feeling a type of way. In fact, I enjoyed the experience so much that I went again the following week 😅.

^ my favorite drink at Urban Tap: Lavender Bee’s Knees

I also went to Galley – Bakery Square for happy hour to switch things up a little. Bakery Square is the nicest plaza around in East Liberty and really gives Bay Area vibes.

The drinks there are around the $6 price range but with less selection than Urban Tap. They also taste stronger in my opinion.

^ the purple drink was quite nasty ngl.

Bakery Square has a decent amount of food choices but can be a bit pricey. But overall a really nice environment!

Of course, I also drank at night (gotta balance it out right?). If there was one bar that I could recommend in Pittsburgh, it has to be Pins Mechanical. A game-inspired bar, Pins has mini bowling, ping pong, various retro arcade games, giant pong, and more. Most of the games are free with the exception of some like bowling and ping pong.

Definitely a place to visit with a group of friends on the weekends (or weekday)!

Slowly but surely, the days of fun passed by and graduation rolled around the corner. Attending my graduation ceremony was a weird feeling. Although I technically graduated last winter, walking across the stage made it so much more real 😭. My program had its ceremony in the University Center. With a class size of around 93 people, our grad wasn’t the most glorious compared to the ones you see on TikTok but was surely heartfelt.

^ got a filler diploma since I got mine last winter.

The final event was commencement. TLDR, a 3-hour long ceremony outside where faculty members give long speeches. It was too early, hot, and boring 😅.

Nevertheless, it marked the end of this chapter. Thanks for the past 4 years CMU 🎓!!!

I spent the last 2 weeks of May back in the Bay Area (home sweet home 🫰). Summer in the bay is truly beautiful. It’s warm and sunny every day (unlike shittsburgh). People spend their time working at cafes or outside in the sun. Life is so slow and peaceful. A nice pace of life before I start traveling and moving to NYC.

Pittsburgh is always so bipolar with its weather. Most of the time, it’s either raining or just cold. As a result, I have a large stock of fall and winter clothing but barely any for the summer months. Luckily, one of my favorite activities is shopping (AKA destroying my wallet).

I really liked this pair of Gentle Monster sunglasses. It’s definitely a statement piece. However, it was a bit pricey so I deferred it to my wish list for now 😭. Peep the store’s crazy interior design.

I also loved this pair of sandals from Dr. Martens. The stitchings are so iconic and give the sandals a more elevated appeal. I’ll buy these once I move to NYC! I also bought a bunch of clothes online from Zara but no pictures 😞. Maybe I’ll showcase the haul if I ever decide to do the fashion section of the blog.

As an avid TikTok consumer, I default to it for interesting places to visit (also IG reels). And that’s how I came across the SJMade Fest. It’s a fair consisting of over 300 small creative businesses. Since it wasn’t far from where I lived, I dragged my friends along to it.

They had a lot of anime and K-pop-themed merch. There was even a K-pop random dance play (first time seeing one in person).

For the last weekend of May, I spent a day in San Francisco with my friends. We started off the day by eating lunch at Dolores Park. The sky was pretty clear and sunny and the view was great.

The sandwiches from Rhea’s Deli & Market are so good and they have a ton of options to choose from. Located close to Dolores Park, it’s a perfect pick for a picnic.

After lunch, we stopped by Tartine Bakery. They are well known for their banana cream pie (which is more like a tart tbh). It’s quite pricey so we shared 2 amongst ourselves (totally worth it though!).

Mission district has a lot of cool shops, perfect for window shopping. We walked around the area for a while, trying hard to burn off the calories from lunch.

^ I love the milk carton vases. They are so unique and artsy!

And it wouldn’t be an SF trip without thrifting (or attempting to thrift). We went to several thrift shops including Buffalo Exchange, Crossroads Trading, Moody Goose Vintage, and Chameleon Vintage. Although I always say I want to go thrifting, I’m usually too lazy to sort through all the clothes 😅.