Becoming the antitourist

Whooo, what a weekend! I have a lot of exciting things to tell you all about, so I'm going to get on with it and start off right away with Friday night.

I've been lucky enough to meet some really cool people around campus, a couple of whom just-so-happen to live right across the hall from me and also just-so-happen to be super chill Korean guys named Bill and Jonathan. Now, this is very exciting for me because I'm pretty sure I only knew one other Korean person before moving here, and this summer I developed an obsession with Korean cuisine when I ate it for the first time at Mirror of Korea in St. Paul. I don't want this post to be all about how awesome Korean food is because I have a lot to write about, so I'll just say go try it for yourself. Its not only delicious, but if you go to an authentic place like Mirror of Korea its an experience in itself. ANYWAY.  The first time I chilled with Bill and Jon they took me to see Warrior with their friend Jeff (also Korean), which was an amazing movie that totally blew away the low expectations I tend to have for MMA/boxing/any sport-themed movie in general. It was really well-written and very moving. (Again, getting off-topic so just take my word for it and see the damn movie.) So Friday night Bill rang my doorbell and asked if I wanted to go chill at Jeff's house with his roommate David and eat Korean food. And I was all like ughhh I just ate but FUCK YES.

We drove to a Korean grocery store and Bill told me to pick out a bunch of Korean snacks that I thought looked interesting while Jeff and David got some sauces, meat, and some sort of leafy vegetable. I also picked out a bottle of soju for myself, which is a Korean alcohol that I've been told is similar to vodka. However, the store only accepted California IDs (lame, I know), so no soju for Lauren. Once we were all checked out, we went to Jeff and David's apartment and the feast ensued.

 

Unfortunately I can't tell you what most of this is because the guys only knew the Korean words for it, but it was all very delicious. After stuffing our faces, we chilled on their porch and talked about things that would be fun to do while I'm here, including a going to a traditional bath house and taking a trip Palm Springs for a weekend (my fingers are crossed). Then I watched them play Xbox for a while, which was nice because of how reminiscent of home it was, before heading home around 1:30. It was a very nice night.

So, on to Saturday! I got up early and was on my way to Hollywood by around 10:30 because I wanted to make sure I had the whole day to wander around, and it takes about an hour and a half to get there by public transit. Here's a map of how I got there:

Basically, I walked across campus, got on a bus, got on another bus, and then took the subway. It was really a simple process, I just wish I didn't take so long.

My initial plan was to get off at Hollywood and Highland (where the bulk of the Walk of Fame is) and head East down Hollywood Blvd to see what was around. Unfortunately, I had with absolutely no direction to my wandering whatsoever. Los Angeles is a total mystery to me. Its huge and I know there is so much to see, but had no idea where to find any of it. I browsed a couple shops, but I really was at a loss of what to do. The shops were mostly over-priced and touristy, but there was one really cool place that I stumbled into called Freak City. Its kind of a cross between a vintage boutique, an art gallery, and a venue. I browsed a little and was invited to a party that was happening there later that night, which I didn't end up going to. Apparently they have events pretty frequently, so when I'm a little more comfortable with the area I plan on heading down there for some LA-underground style partying.

 

 

After about 45 minutes of aimlessly wandering around, I realized I had no idea what I was doing. As I was walking down the Boulevard, I saw tons of people offering double-decker bus tours of the Hollywood area to people walking down the street. Curiously, not a single one had approached me (maybe I look like I belong in LA. That would be such a compliment). So I walked up to a young guy selling tours and ended up getting a $44 ticket for $20 (Midwestern charm for the win!). Now, I'm normally very adamant about not taking the touristy route when exploring a new city; I tend to shy away from big attractions in favor of the hidden little treasures that most big cities keep tucked away. In short, I consider myself an antitourist. But I realized I had absolutely no knowledge base for Los Angeles. I mean, the place is massive. I had heard of Beverly Hills and the Sunset Strip and Melrose, but I really didn't know what they where or have any idea of where they were located in relation to each other, much less in relation to where I was. So gave in to the simplicity of a guided tour and it ended up being one of the best decisions I've made since I got here.

The entire tour was about two hours long if you stayed on the bus the whole time, but what convinced me to go was the fact that it was a hop-on-hop-off tour that started at Hollywood and Highland and made a huge loop, passing the Sunset Strip, Beverly Hills/Rodeo Drive, La Brea/the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), The Grove/Farmer's Market, and Melrose. Basically, I paid $20 to be driven to a ton of places that I wanted to visit. I stayed on the bus for the Sunset Strip and Beverly Hills because all there was to do there was shop at outrageously expesive stores that I have absolutely no interest in (the basic bitches wear that shit so I don't even bother/I can't afford it lol). And I plan on going to LACMA and the tar pits eventually, but I want to set aside a whole day to check out that area, so I just saw the outside from my perch at the top of the bus. The tar pits look awesome as hell.

The first stop I made was the Farmer's Market and the Grove because some rando on the subway recommended it to me. I don't understand why random people think its okay to talk to me. It seriously happens everywhere I go. I could write an entire post on the mystery of it. Anyway, I adored the Farmer's Market. I instantly thought of my Dad because he loves places like this, and it reminded me a lot of my childhood. 

 

Its basically a permanent, semi-enclosed farmer's market. There were a ton of little food vendors and some small shops, as well as butchers and produce retailers. I wandered around for about a half hour before deciding to eat at a little place called the French Crepe Company, where I sat at the counter and munched on a delicious prosciutto, brie and apple panini and drank a bottomless cup of black coffee while doing some reading for one of my classes. 

It was such a nice atmosphere that I ended up spending a lot more time there than I intended to. It was suddenly 6 o'clock and I still had a lot to see. I left the market and walked right into the Grove, which is a gorgeous outdoor mall. I walked around a bit, checking out the fountains while spending some time listening to a live band, but all the stores there were places I could go to back home, so I didn't stay long. The most interesting thing I saw that people are allowed to bring their little dogs into stores. I swear, I saw at least ten little froofroo-bitch dogs walking around Nordstrom's like they owned the place. It was hilarious.

After I was done at the Grove, I went back to where my bus was supposed to stop every hour or so to pick people up to continue their tours. The problem was I had no idea what time I had gotten to the Farmer's Market, and therefor had no idea when the next bus would be coming. After waiting for about 10 minutes, I asked someone if she had seen a tour bus come by recently, and she told me one left a couple minutes before I had arrived at the stop. Great, I was about to waste an hour waiting for the bus. But just a minute or two later, a bus pulled up to the curb. It looked different than the one I had come on, so I walked up and asked the driver if it was the same tour company. It ended up being a different one, but he happily told me I could hop on anyway (hahaha, my Midwestern charm strikes again!). I was pretty exhausted at this point and it was getting dark, so I decided I would stay on the bus for the last hour of the tour. I was a little sad when we passed through Melrose because it looks really fucking awesome, but that's another area that would require a whole day to explore, so I stuck to my decision to stay on the bus. About an hour later the bus dropped me off back at Hollywood and Highland. I checked out the shopping area there, and then, exhausted, I headed home around 9.

I feel like I have a lot better grasp on LA as a whole now, and I'm so ready to spend more time at some of the places I only caught glimpses of yesterday. I definitely no longer feel like a total Los Angeles novice. Four months is definitely not going to be enough time to get to know this city as well as I would like, but I'm going to try like hell to learn it as best I can.

I have some potentially really awesome stuff coming up this week, including exploring with Melvin, a LA native,  and possibly meeting up with my roommate from Minneapolis' older sister who is from Laguna. Sounds like I'll have some more stories to tell soon! Until then loves! <3

Footnotes

Whoo, I am really outdoing myself as far as being lazy is concerned. I'm in freaking Los Angeles and I've spent the past week doing close to nothing. Granted, school did really creep up on me this week, but it just really sucks how unmotivated to get off campus I've been. I'm going to blame most of this on the fact that I'm almost flat broke until I get the student loan I've been waiting for and that getting anywhere I really want to go requires setting at least two hours aside for transportation. You see, we (as in my fellow U of M students and I) are ignorant of how lucky we are to be living in a college town. Northridge is not a college town; its definitely a suburb, meaning there's really nothing to do except accidentally walk through people's backyards. Its a foreign concept to me that I'll elaborate on sometime in the future. But I swear, tomorrow I'm going somewhere. I promise.

I guess since I'm in a blogging mood but I don't really have any adventure stories to tell, I'll just update you all on a couple things that haven't been important enough to add to some of my more exciting posts.

First off, a lot of people (well, a lot of men) have been approaching me and questioning my ethnicity. Not that I have a problem with it, but I swear to you no one has ever questioned me being anything but just plain old white. I'm white. Norwegian, Swedish, Irish, German. Whiiiiite. The first time some guy approached me about it was last week. He asked me if I was Armenian. Then, a couple days later. someone inquired if I was Israeli. And then today, it was Egyptian! What?! This is what I look like right now:

Now, I wish I could say "Why yes, I am an exotic Armenian/Israeli/Egyptian lady. Thank you for noticing". But I can't. I'm obviously just white. I think I'll just assume these men were crazy. One of them did tell me I have beautiful feet...yeah.

In other news, I've been indulging in a lot more TV than normal. I think I've mentioned it before, but my roommates are all from nearby, so they've usually gone home for the weekend by Friday night. This has left me with a lot of alone time at night in my apartment, which seems to lead me to the inevitable outcome of browsing Hulu for interesting looking shows.

The first series I breezed through was Wilfred. I've had a certain fondness for Elijah Wood since becoming obsessed in the Lord of the Rings in middle school (don't even get me started on this), and the fact that he plays the lead role really makes the show. That, and the fact that the other lead role is a dog that Elijah's character sees in a humanoid form after overdosing on cold medicine. I absolutely loved the first season. I'm not going to do a big recap/rating thing, but just know that I recommend it, so start watching it right hurr.

The second show is Misfits. Ohhhhhh my god. Obsessed. If you haven't heard of it, Misfits is a British drama about a bunch of juvenile delinquents that get super powers after being exposed to a weird storm. I know, it sounds like a genre that's been completely played out, but Misfits makes it totally fresh and fucking awesome as hell. Its honestly one of those shows where you're like 'This is totally my favorite episode', and then the next one is even better. And its hilarious. I'm pissed that I finished watching it already, but season three comes out in October. Pumpedddd. Just watch it. You will thank me (and thank Jacky by the transitive property. THANK YOU JACKY). Although, I do want to warn you, the best character leaves after the second season. Asshole. But still, WATCH IT.

 

If you do end up watching the first two seasons, Facebook me and I'll send you a link to the Season 3 webisode. I don't want to put it up here because the more places its posted, the more likely it is to get taken down for legal reasons blah blah blah.

Anyway, that'll do for tonight. Like I said, I'll hopefully have something more exciting to write about tomorrow night. Until then! <3

Edit: So I got a really late start to the day and its going to be less brutally hot tomorrow, so I've swapped adventure-day and homework-day this weekend. Exploring LA begins at 9am tomorrow, wish me luck!

Summer forever

I can feel my body getting ready for fall. This morning, sitting in my room with the windows open, the breeze was a little cooler than normal. All I could think about was snuggling up in PJ pants on a comfy couch and watching a movie. Or maybe relaxing in a coffee shop with a nonfat double-dirty chai (edit: god, that makes me sound pretentious. I'm sorry, I really can't help what I like to drink) and doing some reading. But as soon as I stepped outside, I was greeted by warm sunshine and a breeze that still held a distinctive summer scent of flowers and warm green grass. Reality check, body. Its going to be summer for a while.

Its strange to think about completely skipping a season that has always been a routine part of my life. This will be my 22nd fall and the first I've ever missed.  While I do love the changing leaves and the jeans/sweater weather, I can safely say that fall has never really been one of my favorite seasons. The shift from summer to fall signals one major upcoming event to me: winter. I've always hated winter. I have an adoration for flowers and warm sunshine and pretty green-leafed trees (hence my fascination with California), and winter takes all of that away from me for four long, dark months. That, and I hate the smell of cold. Ick. But I digress. Even though fall doesn't have the special place in my heart that spring and summer do, my mind has kept unconsciously returning to the telltale signs of autumn that are absent here in California. I'm finding myself yearning to pick up the scent of crunchy leaves or spiced cider, and I've been feeling extra cuddly. Does anyone else feel like fall is the best season to cuddle? Maybe I'm only thinking this because I miss my boy.

My roommates have told me that California has a fall and a winter, but I would be lying if I told you I didn't laugh out loud when I heard that. So it gets a little rainy and a little colder. But not by much. They balked when I asked if they temperature gets down to even 50. And what makes it weirder is that California seems to think its fall. Starbucks is still advertising fall drinks, you know, all that pumpkin spice shit. And they have gloves at Target? Please.

So, for all you back in the Midwest, enjoy the beginning of fall! I'm jealous. But please know, when its starts to get really freaking cold and you have to walk to class through the stupid snow, I will be here. In the California sunshine. Laughing. And then, come January, I will be there with you. Probably crying.

Also, I've received a couple special requests to blog about this:

I don't really know what to say about it though. I was studying on campus and witnessed some nice lady taking her ponies on for walk. Really, what's so strange about that?

Until later my lovelies. <3

Slave to the sea

Hellooo everyone, and happy first Monday of the semester to my U of M lovelies! (It was wonderful, wasn't it?) I didn't post yesterday because I was exhausted from a very busy day with Jacky and Co. Yayyy story time.

Our first stop was the Getty, and art museum up in the hills of Los Angeles. It was incredible. My love of art museums, like my love of sushi, stems from the annual trips to Chicago my father used to take me on. He made it a habit to let me explore the Art Institute of Chicago on a number of occasions, and I will always be thankful for that. The serenity of wandering through an art museum and the complete loss of any concept of time that comes with it will always bring me back to the AIC. The Getty added another dimension to my art museum experience with its amazing panoramic view of Los Angeles and the gorgeous gardens that are scattered around it.

 I hope to go back at some point and navigate it on my own time, but we were on kind of a tight schedule because we had another place to see: Venice Beach!

Aaaaaah, Venice Beach. Have I ever had a stronger desire to live anywhere else in my whole life? I don't think so. I could try to describe to you it in detail, but I don't think I could do it any justice. Simply put, Venice Beach is a long boardwalk of shops, street vendors, medical marijuana clinics (like 80 of them. seriously), and fair-esque food to one side, and a long beach ending in ocean on the other. I shopped, went to a drum circle, took a picture with a guy dressed as a giant green rabbit, was asked if I was a prostitute...ya know, the usual. I even found this:

I promise I didn't know that existed when I named my blog. (Its a head shop, of course. In case you couldn't tell.) There are people everyyyywhere. It hadn't even gotten close to clearing out as we were leaving at around sundown. While I loved the shops and the street performers and the people watching, what impacted me the most about Venice Beach was the ocean.

Experiencing the ocean for the first time at 22 is indescribable. I mean, really experiencing it. I've seen the ocean before. I walked along a beach while visiting family in San Francisco when I was 17, but it was cold and I was wearing boots and I didn't venture too close. And I've see the Atlantic from a distance in New York, but there was no sandy shoreline where I could dip my feet in. Yesterday I felt the waves at my feet. I saw their inconsistency and quickly learned not underestimate them after getting slightly soaked and nearly losing my sandals to the curious waters that wandered way further ashore than I thought they would. Just the vastness of it...I feel like I'm incapable of describing it. I really wish I could say more, but I guess all I can say is I'm in love.

I've come to notice that I always end up in places close to a major water system. I started out in Milwaukee, where Lake Michigan was a 10 minute drive down I-94. Then I was drawn to Minneapolis, to attend a school whose campus is literally split in two by the Mississippi. And now I'm in Los Angeles, neighbor to the most incredible body of water I have yet to see. I'm already feeling desperate to go back, to get close again.

Alright, I think that's enough of my sleepy musings. Sorry for the abrupt ending, but I didn't mean to drag this on.

Until later lovelies. <3

Fuck, I kinda want a scalp tattoo.

Well, today I had big plans to go exploring in Hollywood, but today looked down on me and said "nope, fuck you and your constant adventuring" and decided to be chilly and rainy. So I stayed home to study/not study. California rain is serious business; before the rain even started there was a clap of thunder that set off a bunch of car alarms outside my apartment! Waaaaack.

So for today, I promised you all pictures of my hair and LA shirt. Well, first, here's my shirt! (Annnd part of my hair. Don't worry, its not that short all the way around. Just HOLD ON A SEC GDMNT.)

I love it because I really wanted a LA shirt that would represent my time living here, and I was obviously very reluctant to get one of the dumb touristy ones that they have all over the place. This one is just perfect; fashionable and very my style. And every time I see it, I think of this song, which is just an added bonus:

Alright! On to my haircut, which I'm absolutely thrilled with. I had my hair done the first weekend I was here, but I was just not happy with it. It barely looked like I changed anything. I've been really, really sick of my hair. After having pretty much the same haircut since I was 16, I don't think that should come as too much of a shock to any of you. I've been growing it out, but I've just been so boreddd, especially since its not pink anymore. And I swear is been in an awkward stage for the past four months. So yesterday I decided I was not going to deal with it's shit anymore, so off to Craigslist I went, where I found an add posted by a stylist named Matt. All he had to say was that he specialized in alternative/edgy haircuts and I was sold. I went in immediately and I walked out with this:

And fuccccck, it feels good. The pink was supposed to turn out more of a purple color, but I guess my hair just loves being pink, lol. And I'm definitely not complaining. The only thing I don't like about it is I wish I had longer pieces in the front to frame my face, but those were cut off when I got my hair cut the first time. I'm super excited for it to grow out a little because I think that's going to make it even cuterrrr ahhhhhh!

Okay, enough obsessing over my hair. So, I guess you're wondering, what is this scalp tattoo nonsense? (Hi Mom and Dad.) Well, while Matt was shaving my undercut in, he mentioned scalp tattoos. Annnnd now I can't stop thinking about them. I mean, they're really not that crazy if you think about it. In fact, I think they're a kind of a smart tattoo choice. First, if you're going to have a haircut that leaves your head partially shaved and you have the balls to even consider a scalp tattoo, why not? And when you want to forget you ever decided to get one, you can just grow you hair back out and no one will have a clue that you're a freak with a tattoo on your head. Problem solved. Honestly, I don't understand why more people don't do it, besides the fact that it must hurt like hell. Come on, look how cute this is:

Maybe I'm just crazy, but I think that's absolutely adorable. Am I crazy? You think I'm crazy.

Annnyway, tomorrow is hopefully some more awesome adventuring with Jacky and Co.! I'm sure she has some fun things in store.

Until later! <3

22, what to do?

Hey all!

So obviously I didn't update yesterday, and unfortunately it wasn't because I was too sloshed to write a coherent blog post (I know, booooo. Hopefully I'll be able to do a ridiculously drunk post at some point). But I still had a really wonderful 22nd birthday. To start it off, my roommates had an amazing and very sneaky surprise in store for me. I know many of you are probably unaware of this, but I have a very large Pikachu stuffed animal back home that I'm really attached to (see him here. Brian, you better be taking good care of him!). I use him as a laptop pillow and he helps me get to sleep when I'm having insomnia issues (whatever, you're just jealous that I have a giant Pikachu to sleep with and you don't). One of the first days I got to LA, my roommate Isa asked me the what I missed the most from home that I didn't have here in LA. I told her besides my family, friends and boyfriend, I really missed that Pikachu stuffed animal. I thought absolutely nothing of it after that. And this is what I was surprised with on Wednesday night:

That, my friends, is pure joy. As my bestie Courtney put it, "clearly your roommates rock if they know you well enough to get you a Pikachu", and I couldn't agree more.

To further prove how amazing my roommates are, they took me out to Santa Monica the evening of my birthday for some California-style celebrating. We shopped and ate at a delicious modern Asian restaurant called Buddah's Belly. All I can say is coconut green curry and green tea ice cream made Lauren a happy birthday-girl. We got there a little too late to go down to the beach and explore the pier, but I did get to see the sunset over the ocean (my next goal is to see the sunrise, but I have plenty of time for that).

I had a wonderful time. My birthday came to a close with a gorgeous night drive back through the hills while my roommate Grace screamed (not sang, SCREAMED) along to her favorite Celine Dion songs, which eventually led to some Backstreet Boys and B-Spears singalongs. Helloooo 22nd year, you're going to be a crazy one!

Now, I haven't mentioned this before, but there are four key things I'm determined to spend money on while I'm in Los Angeles: getting tattoo work done on my back piece, some sort of piercing, an awesome haircut and a non-touristy LA shirt. As of today, I've accomplished two of my four goals! Already! Yesterday, I found my perfect LA t-shirt at a place called Brandy Mellville (which I was really not expecting. That store is not my style at all), and today I got a really wild haircut. I'll post pictures tomorrow when I don't look naz-t and explain a little more about the haircut, but I'm really not in a writing mood at the moment. I just want to sit back and watch a movie with my Pika.

Until tomorrow! <3

Get that goddamn bedazzler away from my Chucks

Alrightttt. No post yesterday, waaaah. The frequencies of my posts will probably die down in the beginning of the week because all I really do Monday through Wednesday is class-related stuff or just chilling with my roommates. And I've been even less motivated to do anything exciting these past couple of days because it has been ridiculously hot. I've been thoroughly enjoying the breezy, sunny, 80 to 90 degree weather that has been pretty much the norm since I've arrived in California. But yesterday and today have just been ungodly warm. Its 101 degrees right now and, excuse the cliche, I can now sympathize with all those ants I watched little boys shine magnifying glasses onto when I was a little kid. I guess I'm just grateful that California doesn't have the nasty muggy humidity that Midwest heat tends to bring along.

So! Since I definitely don't plan on leaving my deliciously air-conditioned apartment until after sundown (if at all), I want to comment a little bit on some of the differences in fashion I've noticed since I've been here. Now, I don't claim to be a fashion expert by any means, but there are a few key trends that I've noticed are way more common here than in Minneapolis.

1. TOMS Shoes

Even though TOMS really isn't my style, I'm not going to bash this trend at all. TOMS is a great company that donates a pair of shoes to the needy for ever pair that is bought. It also makes sense that Toms is more popular out here because the brand is based in Santa Monica, but I've never seen so many people wearing them. At least this trend is doing some good.

2. Chuck Taylors

I know Chucks are pretty popular in the Midwest, but they're EVERYWHERE in California. Chucks have been a part of my life since middle school (see above picture for what my first pair looked like, minus extreme wear and tear and random lyric scribbles. I will never forgive my mom for throwing them away), when it was cool to wear them if you were into the kind of music scene I liked and had the particular style that I eventually evolved from. The Chucks I see out here are totally different. First, from what I've heard, they're referred to as 'Converse' not Chucks. Okay, I get that. Its fine, tomato, tomato, whatever. Second, everyone wears low tops. Look, I'm sorry if you prefer low tops to high tops, but please. High tops were, are, and always will be the shit. Third, this:

What IS this? I legit saw someone wearing a pair of these on campus today and just about had a brain aneurism. So not okay. This is what a respectable pair of Chucks looks like:

 
California, learn to respect your Chucks. Dear god.

3. Gauges

As you all should know, I loveeee gauges. I've been gauging my ears since 8th grade or freshman year of high school, and I don't regret it yet! Haha. Earlier this summer, I discovered a company based in LA that makes specialty gauges called BMA Modified and promptly bought the awesome Kuniyoshi "Takiyasha the Witch and the Skeleton Spectre" plugs pictured above. It also just-so-happens that one of my roommates knows the founder of the company. (Do I smell a networking opportunity?) Annnyway, my point is that gauges are a lot more common around here than in the Midwest, from what I've seen. Whereas I've always affiliated ear stretching with a few select subcultures, it seems to be pretty acceptable for any type of person to have gauged ears out here, which I think is pretty awesome. Good job California.

There are definitely more things that I've noticed, but this post is getting pretty long and I'm sure I'll have plenty of time to make a fashion-differences-post part two, so I'm going to wrap that up here.

In other news: tomorrow I turn 22! I'm super excited because my great roommates have some really fun things planned for me (including my first trip to the beach!), but you may not hear about it until Friday depending on whether or not I successfully get my drink on.

 

If you don't know what this is from, please, for the love of god, click here.

I'll update eventually, have a wonderful day tomorrow for me everyone! <3

Love from 1,530 miles away (give or take)

Today was the most relaxing day I've had since my arrival in Los Angeles. I spent most of it reading for classes on my balcony and trying to decide if I want to take the hour walk to the nearest Ben and Jerry's in order to use my free birthday ice cream cone coupon (my birthday is on Thursday!).

So, since I don't have much to update you on, I want to use today's post to express to all of you how grateful I am that you're reading my blog. I talked to a lot of you today thanks to Brian calling while he was at Alex's housewarming BBQ (which I wish I could have been there for), and I miss all of you terribly. I'm so glad you're all settling in to your new places and that your summers seem to be coming to a good end. To all my U of M biotches, good luck with classes this week! And to anyone whom I may not know very well who is probably reading my blog out of sheer boredom, I hope I've kept you entertained! I'm sure there will be plenty more to come, hahaha.

I have to say, its been hard to be without my close friends while I'm having these great experiences. I really wish all of you were here to share them with me. But the reason I came out to Los Angeles was to get out of my comfort zone and to find my own way without having a routine to fall back into if things get tough. And I guess letting you in on my adventure is what this blog is for, huh? Haha. But I know as I go along, I'll find people to connect with and grow close to who will make this trip everything that I have hoped it to be and probably much, much more (I feel like I've already been pretty successful with this so far, actually. You know who you are /wink).

I just wanted you all to know how amazing it makes me feel to see that people at home (and, if you go by what The Sounds say and what I've found to be true, this term is very relative) are interested in what's going on with my life. It honestly means so much. Thank you, and so much love to you all.

Home Is Where the Heart Is- The Sounds

 

Finally, in case any of you Minnesotans didn't get the memo, Facebook is blocked in the part of China where Mitch is teaching, so click here to check out his blog. I'm sure he'll have a ton of interesting things going on with him, what with the ultra-foreign country and all.

Until tomorrow! <3

A coyote named Hollywood

Oh man. Today was definitely a great finale to my first week in Los Angeles. My friend Jacky, her sister, and her cousin picked me up to explore Hollywood. Naturally, our first stop was the Hollywood sign, where we met up with Jacky's awesome friend Melvin. The five of us hiked up to a special place Jacky knew of and took some pictures. Honestly, I really didn't think I was going to be excited to see the Hollywood sign, but I really was. I guess finally seeing something that you've heard about your whole life does have an impact. And the view was spectacular.

 

Next, I had my first In-N-Out Burger experience. I got a cheeseburger, and feeling like it was imperative that I order something off the secret menu, opted for a root beer float instead of my usual Diet Coke. Now anyone who knows me even a little should be very aware that I'm make a conscious effort to eat healthily and that fast food really isn't my style, but I have to admit that the In-N-Out burger is definitely a delicious treat. What is in that sauce?! And the place was freaking packed! I've never seen a fast food restaurant with so many people in it. I guess that's just further proof that the Midwest needs to get off its ass and open some In-N-Outs.

After we ate, we walked a few blocks to Hollywood and Highland, where the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Grauman's Chinese theater are. I took a few pictures, most of which you can see on my Flickr above. Here are some of my favorites:

                                           Johnny Depp                                   Jack Nicholson

Harry Potter

There were also the usual various impersonators walking around, demanding money to have pictures taken with them. The non-human costumes were terrifying. I scooted away the most demented Spongebob I have ever seen and avoided eye contact with a crackhead-looking Barney. Trust me, if I wasn't afraid of being run down by them for not paying I would have pictures for you. The only characters I thought were worth a couple bucks for a photo with were Batman and the Joker (who made sure to let me know he would be done working at 11. I love that the first guy to ask me out in California was the Joker). 

 But then, I saw this from across the street:

Oh Hannibal! Where were you five minutes ago?!

I also like these three random pictures of Jacky and I:

 

Finally, we headed towards Griffith Observatory, a gorgeous building waaayyy high up in the hills that has an incredible view of nearly the whole of Los Angeles. This has been my favorite experience in California so far, and even though its only the second Sunday I've been here, I don't think there will be many to top it. I'm not this kind of person at all, but I can say that this is the first place I've been that I've thought "This is where I want to be proposed to someday" (waaah waaah, so lame). I really can't describe it, and none of the pictures/videos I took do it any justice. It was just colored lights everywhere, all the way to the horizon and as far as you could see in either direction. The smog hovering above the city gave it an ethereal orange glow, and the lights were sparkling. Literally sparkling. If you relaxed your eyes and let everything go out of focus, the whole city looked like the twinkling reflection that the moon makes on a calm lake. I want to see that every night.

 I took videos instead of photos because the quality is much better.

After taking some pictures and walking around the Observatory, the real fun started. Jacky, Melvin and I decided to explore beyond what the Observatory walls allowed, so we hopped one and climbed down a very steep hill to an outcropping that was even closer to the view of the city. In order to get a better look at the gorgeousness that was laid out in front of me, I decided to walk down closer to the edge of the cliff. I was musing about wildlife and wondering what would happen if a bear suddenly showed up because it was dark and mountainy all around me and I felt like I was in a scene from Wild America or something, when a freaking COYOTE runs out in front of me! My first instinct was to grab my camera to take a picture, but then I remembered how we had been randomly talking about coyotes eating people or something of that nature earlier in the day, so I turned tail and ran the fuck away. Later, we could hear him barking from the Observatory and we decided to name him Hollywood. (For recorded evidence, check out my Flickr. I have a video where you can hear him barking.)

 

Now I have twinkling lights in my head to fall asleep to. Until tomorrow. <3

(Also, more pictures will be added later; Jacky took a lot of good ones with her awesome camera. I'll post an update once they're up.)