Living in Palo Alto

My project at Stanford is interesting but also time consuming so far, this is why I can only write entries every other week.

Concerning my new daily routine, I am in the lab 10-7 on six days a week. Before heading out I have some peanut butter toast with black tea for breakfast, then I equip my Bluetooth headset and ride through sunny Palo Alto. The campus is so copious and full of interesting things to see. In the evenings it is already dark but thanks to the installed lights this poses no safety concerns. When I have nothing stocked up at home I ride to a grocery store or grab something for take-out. Usually I arrive at 8 to 9 in the evening and hit the sack soon after.

I will write something about my involvement at Stanford at a later date. Today I want to tell you something about the place I am living at – when I’m not in the lab.

I found this place when researching overseas on the website SUPost.com, which is similar to Craigslist but is focused on Stanford affiliates. Housing in Palo Alto is limited so the rents are very high compared to other parts of the U.S., even for single rooms in a shared house.

Anyways, I found a place to stay for the first three months, a flat-share in southeastern Palo Alto. This house is a typical American single floor one without basement and has five bedrooms of which one is used by the landlord himself.

From here to campus I need 25 minutes by bike, the closest shopping center is 10 minutes away. The next Caltrain station can be reached in 20 minutes walking. Being in the outskirts of Palo Alto I am almost closer to Mountain View where Google has their headquarters.

The landlord is a British Stanford alumnus who rents rooms for short durations to people from all over the world. As far as I know he founded a startup and does home office most of the time. He also has two pets, a dog and a cat.

In contrast to flat shares I have known so far this one is pleasantly quiet. The landlord values quietness and cleanliness and actively enforces this to keep it that way. While it is annoying from to time it is nice to be able to sleep without noise from other parties. On a related note, cooking is not appreciated here so I have to settle with pre-packaged meals and take outs.

While I have not met all parties yet, two of them, a German and a Canadian, are really nice. Latter offered me to tour the campus, what we did and had a good time.

My room has the bare essentials, a closet, a mattress (without bed frame) and a very small desk on wheels. The walls are thin and the heat or cold creep in easily. The Caltrain honks several times when passing the near railroad crossings what can be heard even inside. It is enough to come by since I am out most of the time, anyway.