Loving Los Angeles

It's hard to believe May is coming to an end. This month has been crazy! I've never experienced a month quite like the month of May 2012. I got off the ship on May 2 and I've been staying with various people in California whether it was UCSD, Thousand Oaks College, Chad and Jaw's in San Diego or my new friend Amber's in San Diego. It's been an adventure. Finally on May 18 I moved into my apartment in Los Angeles, and had a place I could call home for the first time in a while. Boy did it feel good! I had a great time in San Diego with Jess, Chad, Jaw and Amber. I went to the beach a whole lot, went to the Cove and saw seals on the rocks and enjoyed the beautiful ocean views with new friends. I explored the fun nightlife in San Diego, as a fresh 21 year old, ranging from fun beach bars at Pacific beach to a karaoke hole in the wall bar in Hillcrest, to an upscale fancy club in Downtown San Diego. I've been living. I have a lot of stories from this month in California. A lot of funny, priceless, stories...

The girl I met in San Diego, Amber, brought me to my apartment in Los Angeles on May 18. I drove her car to Laguna Beach (the first time I've driven in 4 months-felt weird!). We chilled at Laguna beach for a bit and then continued on to my apartment in Burbank. I LOVE my apartment. We lucked out. We're on the third floor, which means we get a fireplace. Its currently running right now and I'm listening to Michael Buble's "The Best is Yet to Come." This could never get old. The fire is really not getting old. I constantly have it on. :) Also, we're on the corner which means we have a balcony about twice the size of the other balconies. AND we have an amazing view-something that is rare in Oakwood apartments. Most have views of other people's windows/apartments and sidewalks. AND our building is right next to the pool/hottubs/gym/convenient store. Seriously, you're gonna have to drag me out of this place come August! I LOVE IT HERE! The first night here Amber and I decided to go out in downtown LA.

BBQing with new Ithaca friends:

My view from my balcony:

SIDENOTE: literally just learned I survived my first earthquake (apparently it was an hour ago..I didn't notice..I was swimming laps in the pool.)

Anyways..Amber and I had a grand time out at some really cool clubs! We went to a place called the Edison which was sick and then went to a place called the Standard-which was on a rooftop, and we were surrounded by skyscrapers, lit up in the night sky. It was magnificent! The next day we walked around Hollywood Blvd, and met up with my really good SAS friend-Steve, who's been traveling around California and Mexico since the ship docked! Oh it was so great to see him! He ended up staying with me for about 4 days! We had a blast! We had a bbq on the grills by the pool a couple nights. So wonderful-I love BBQs :) We laid out by the pool, went on a beautiful hike, went out to a club, a karaoke bar called Dimples in walking distance of my apartments where many celebrities have gone before. I got to sing on the same stage as a bunch of celebrities, including Katy Perry!

Julianne arrived the day after I arrived. I was sooo excited to see her. It was so great reuniting! We had orientation last Tuesday. We got to see a taping of a new show that will premiere in July on TBS called Sullivan and Son.  The taping was held in Warner Brothers Studios (which is about half a mile from my apartments). Its also where Ellen DeGeneres shoots. So after going through a lot of security the 30 Ithaca kids in the ICLA program made our way into the back of the studio. Just as I was about to step in the door I look up and my eyes meet the eyes of a tall, big, familiar looking men. Before I could even process who was in front of me, a familiar voice says "What's happening" to me. I don't even know what I said because I was so taken aback that it was VINCE VAUGHN talking to me and looking me in the eye. WHAT?! Third day in LA and I "met" my first celebrity...Vince Vaughn of all people! It was very cool-hearing his booming voice in real life. Turns out he was there in the studio because he is the producer of this show. The taping was really fun. It was so cool to see a TV show being filmed, and to be part of the laughter. I laughed a whole lot-the host that talked to us when there were breaks was really funny. Afterwards we hiked to the Hollywood sign. It was beautiful up there. We were at the top for sunset, and when we were hiking down it was dark! It was so cool to see the city lights! I love how beautiful California and how much nature and beautiful sights there are. The hiking trails are so close and you can quickly be looking down at LA and be taken away by the sights. Another thing I did with Steve and a new friend (from Ithaca) was go to Venice beach. Venice beach is fun, beautiful and entertaining. People there are CRAZY. Legit, crazy. So, its pretty entertaining to walk around. You laugh quite a bit. The beach itself is gorgeous. Theres sooo much sand, and you can see the mountains in the distance. We ran into a Semester at Sea friend there! We sat down outside a bar with him and hung out with him and his gf and friend for a few hours. It was a great day! I've met a lot of really great Ithaca girls I didn't know prior to a week ago. They're so much fun! We've been having a blast going out in Hollywood! Getting free champagne service and such!

My new roomie, Paige and I above the Hollywood sign:

Steve and I at Venice Beach, and then a beautiful hike on Mt Hollywood:

Now for the serious stuff-internships! I have an internship with a wedding planner-Theresa. She is in her low 30s and has 2 daughters, one of which is 6 months. I met with her last Tuesday at a coffee shop and we chatted for 2 hours. She's so wonderful! I worked my first wedding this Sunday! It was an Indian wedding. It was fun, but a very long day. I was working from 10AM-9:30PM, and did not eat or drink for 12 hours! I was on my feet all day, and I have painful blisters! But I enjoyed the day. I spent hours alphabetizing favors/place cards. I also followed the bride and groom around while they were photographed, holding their room key and escorting the bride to her room after her pictures to get changed for the reception. It was cool and unexpected to hang out with the bride and groom a little. The bride was very friendly and talkative. :) It was so great being around Indian culture again-I really missed it. It was very hard when I had to stand by the food for about an hour and smell the AMAZING scents of the Indian food I'd missed so much and hadn't eaten in a couple weeks (after not eating for 11 hours at this point). Finally after all the guests ate I got to indulge. I don't think food has ever tasted so good!

The day before, on Saturday, we went to a really fun farmers market that is everyday, and this place called The Grove, which was so cute, with a lot of shops, a fountain, and constant old fashioned music. LOVED IT. I could spend a lot of days there..just listening to music and chilling. Then Julianne, Paige (wonderful roomie I just met here in LA last week), and another new Ithaca friend, Ellis, drove around Beverly Hills and Bel Air. It was really fascinating to see all the crazy huge, beautiful houses!

The next day was Memorial Day (yesterday). That was a nice relaxing day I spent sleeping, hanging out by the pool with the girls, taking in some Memorial Day sales with Julianne and my lovely roommate Paige and eating at Red Robin. Today I started my other internship that I got with Events2Give, a company that plans events for charities and non-profits, to help raise funds. They host big gala events, hosted by celebrities. The company is expanding to the East Coast, so when I return to Ithaca in the fall, I'll still be working with Events2Give and will work with clients in the Northeast. This internship is in Santa Monica, which is 20 miles, but more than an hour in traffic. (LA TRAFFIC IS A NIGHTMARE). I don't have a car (yet...) so my boss picked me up today for my first day. I enjoyed my first day today! I think I'm going to enjoy this internship. I'm really glad I found it. Planning events for good causes-what could be better? This evening my boss brought me to an event at a plastic surgeons office in Beverly Hills, to meet with another guy in the event industry. That was a pretty cool experience-and there were sweets and champagne. :) I came back tonight at about 8:30 with energy still, so I cooked dinner quick, headed to the gym at 9:30, and swam laps in the pool at 10:30. You can obviously tell I'm in a motivated mood today/tonight since I'm blogging!!! (espeically at 1AM).  I really have been INSANELY busy. I'm JUST starting to get a little alone time now for the first time in forever!

Tomorrow I have the day off and then Thursday I'll go back to the Events2Give office in Santa Monica. You can easily get free tickets to a lot of shows here in LA. Julianne, Paige and I have free tickets to Chelsea Lately and The Voice!

I'm really loving it out here. Everything about it! Time is already going by too quickly!

I'll blog about the rest of China, Japan and Hawaii soon! For real! :)

All my Love from LA

<3

Hong Kong! and update on Cali life

After a day at the beach and a great meal at a super chill outdoor beach bar with Jess, Chad and Owen, we're chilling out at Chad and Jaw's place and I finally have a moment to start catching up on my blogging. Update on what I've been doing the past week: I had a lot of fun on Cinco de Mayo with RoseMarie and her family.  We went to some grad parties that night, and the next day I went to church with Rheanna and spent some time on the beach with her before Bryana picked me up and we headed to Thousand Oaks (north of LA) where she goes to school. I spent a few days with her. It was a blast going out, driving around and never missing a half off happy hour Frappachino the whole time I was there. On Wednesday she dropped me off with Chad in LA and then we headed to San Diego and picked up Jess Matson who just moved here from NY. I've had a blast hanging out with Jess during the day and then everyone at night. We went to the beach the past 2 days. I'm Native American looking now hahaha. We're getting all dolled up tonight and goin out again. Can't wait. Ok now for SAS stories..lets see I left off with China!

Hong Kong:
So when we arrived in Hong Kong I woke up, looked out the window and looking back at me was the Hong Kong skyline. UNREAL. It was at that moment that I was kind of like, this is too weird that this is our life. This is normal now. Wake up and you see Hong Kong out your window. Just a day in the life...I realized that all good things must come to an end because then you don't appreciate them as much the longer they go on. Waking up in different countries became so normal and natural. CRAZY! So the first day in Hong Kong I went with Katie and Kyle to book train tickets from Beijing to Shanghai. After that we walked around and went into a couple shops. That night we got all dolled up for a night on the town in Hong Kong. Very exciting! The Hong Kong Skyline is so beautiful! Then I had dinner with some great friends and afterwards we took the ferry to a street with lots of clubs. I had a great chat with Rose Marie, as we looked at our ship and enjoyed some drinks. Going out that night was a lot of fun. We spent a lot of time out on the street (cars didn't go on this certain street) between the clubs. There were tons of SAS kids there. Afterwards we stopped at McDonalds for a snack before heading back to the ship and to bed.

Day 2
The next day I got to spend with one of my favorite ladies on the ship-my very own roomie, Julie. A few others joined us as we took on the city of Hong Kong..mostly walking around and just exploring. We went to an art museum and tried some good Chinese food. I packed up my bags for Beijing, and Katie, Kyle and I walked around Hong Kong at night. We went shopping at this night market and ate a hole in the wall restaurant where no one spoke English. I enjoyed some of the many dumplings I consumed in China. Hong Kong is so bright at night! It was a cool experience being on those streets with all the lights, and seeing everything so lively so late, on a week day. We found a hostel after midnight, and went to sleep for a couple hours. The next morning we made our way to the airport, and flew off to Beijing! The airport was HUGE-with 580 gates! The flight by the way was wonderful-since it was international we got food and a great movie selection. :) I forced myself to stay awake and watch a movie because I was just so excited to actually watch a newish movie! The things you take for granted!

Some observations about Hong Kong: bigggg city! Its here where I realized most cities look about the same-all over the world. There was more English speakers here and signs and menus in English than the rest of China (well Hong Kong isn't technically China). This is due to the fact that Hong Kong is very international. A lot of businesses in Hong Kong, and a lot of models come to Hong Kong. There were a whole lot of McDonalds and they had a huge selection of fancy desserts! Alright thats all I have time for now..time to be social and get ready for tonight. It's going to be a great night in San Diego!

Happy Cinco de Mayo-from San Diego!

Here I am, in a McDonalds in San Diego, waiting for RoseMarie, my friend from Semester at Sea. It’s Cinco de Mayo, which means I’ve been off the ship for a few days now. I’m going to spend the day with RoseMarie, and then the night and tomorrow with my friend from SAS, Rheanna and meet up with Julie too! I’m so excited. I miss the ship and everyone on it and everything about it (well except the food ;)) sooo much.  I wish I had time to blog about my feelings leaving, and my summary of the whole semester, what I’ve learned, and how I’ve changed, but things have been crazy. Dad and Uncle Al picked me up from the ship. I was one of the last people off, and was grateful for it. I cried a lot that morning. I wasn’t expecting to be so upset. It was really really sad. Just knowing that it was all over, we wouldn’t be going back after a summer vacation like normal college, and we wouldn’t ever get to be with everyone in the same place, at the same time ever again. So sad!! It’s the first time I’ve gone through something like this. When you leave High School you know you’ll see your friends all together for many more times to come..and college hasn’t ended yet. It was such a weird, morbid feeling. Like someone had died almost. It was just so sad. I’ve really been missing everything about it. It’s such a weird feeling. I was in a car for the first time, where I actually knew the driver..for the first time in 4 months.Weird things like that catch you off gurad..like WHOA..what is this?!

So when Dad and Uncle Al picked me up we went to Coronado Island and went to the famous hotel. I ran into a couple of my friends on the beach-it was so great to see them, since it was a pretty depressing feeling leaving, then headed to my Great Aunt and Uncle’s Bed and Breakfast on the beach in San Diego. There I spent the night in a room by myself for the first time in 4 months-also really weird. I read a map that I had all of my friends sign before leaving. That made me miss them even more, but was so great to read. The next day we headed to LA to check out the apartments I will be living in starting May 2^nd. They’re beautiful! I can’t wait. I then talked to a wedding planner I’m 90% sure I’m interning with this summer-she sounds great and fun and I can’t wait! Its going to be a blast! Then we went to Hollywood Blvd and the famous wax musem. The fake celebrities looked INSANELYreal! It was so weird. Lots of times I couldn’t tell if figures were real or not! Then we headed to a hotel on the way to San Diego, and then yesterday headed to San Clemente, where we stayed the night. We went to the beach there yesterday. Its so beautiful in California. I walked out onto the pier and looked at the ocean, and it reminded me so much of being out in the ocean..my former home. Ugh, it made me miss it so much. This is such a weird adjustment. It’s hard. I want to go back so bad. Now I’m meeting up with Rose Marie..it will be so great to spend time with her and Rheanna and Julie, and try to ignore the fact that SAS is over! We're going to a festival today and continuing to celebrate Cinco de Mayo at night! I’m going to a church in La Jolla tomorrow with Rheanna-one that Seth Nenstiel, my friend from Ithaca told me about like a year and a half ago. After that I think I’m going near LA with another friend from SAS, Bryana, and spending a few days with her at her school. Then I’ll be heading back to San Diego, and staying with my friend Chad from home for a few days..then finally visiting my SAS friend Katie, in Orange, before making my way to LA. So it will be a fun, adventure these next 2 weeks. A lot of thing unknown and unplanned-but I’m excited for the unexpected.

I hope to be able to blog about China, Japan, Hawaii, life on the ship at the end, and my conclusion of the semester as soon as I can-as well as an update on how Cali life is going!

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Tomorrow: Final Day of the voyage

Tomorrow is day 105. It's the final day of this epic voyage. It's so
hard to believe. I never thought it would be possible to experience
and achieve all I did in 105 days. It's overwhelming. Since Japan I've
been distracted with finals and schoolwork. As of yesterday at noon, I
completed my last final. I am done with junior year. Next time I'm in
school I'll be a senior. WHAT! Enough of that crazy talk. Can't think
about that quite yet.

So its 10:20 PM over here, our bags have to be packed by noon
tomorrow. Have I started packing? Nope. Whoops. Tonight's going to be
a long night. Everyone on the ship is walking around with maps, asking
friends to sign on an image so familiar to us but means so much more
to us than it ever had before. We just circumnavigated the world. We
did it. In one day we will be in California. In the USA. It's a hard
thing to digest. There have been seminars and talks going on in the
union all day about how to adjust back home, how to deal with reverse
culture shock, how to deal with the frustrations of everyone being so
consumed by technology once again when we spent 3 and a half months
with almost none, and were able to feel more connected than ever
because of that.

What an adjustment it will be. Going from this crazy, unreal, insanely
unique life to going back to life back home. I'm fortunate I get to
ease into it/kind of skip it. I'm going to have an internship in Los
Angeles from May 19-July 29 and I'll be chilling in California from
May 2 until my internship begins. My Dad and Uncle are coming May 2nd,
to see us pull into dock! I'm so excited to see my Dad! They'll be
sticking around San Diego until May 5. After that I don't have plans.
I'll be exploring San Diego/California for a couple weeks. I'm so
excited! I have no plans! A lot of SAS kids are doing the same thing
and are sticking around California for a bit. I met quite a people who
live in California as well, so I'll be hanging out with a bunch of
different people. I'm excited that I get to have what I call a next
port. Life in California will be extremely different from upstate NY
life, so it'll almost be like a different country in some aspects. One
of my best friends, Julianne, is going to be living with me in LA and
will have an internship as well. I'm so excited to have many
adventures with her and to live with her for the first time since
freshmen year! A lot of exciting things ahead, even though this
voyage is coming to an end.

My thoughts about this voyage ending are summed up pretty well in a
Dr. Seuss quote that I love and was in the Dean's Memo (daily email we
get) today. It goes like this: Don't be sad its over, be happy it
happened. That's how I feel mostly! It definitely is incredibly
bittersweet, but to focus on the sadness of it being over is not
right. This was 3 and a half months-so long! And its such a blessing
and privilege to have such a long time to travel and explore the
world! If it was longer, I wouldn't be able to appreciate it as much.
It was already becoming too normal to wake up, look out my window and
say "Oh hey there Hong Kong." Such a crazy life! It's sad to leave
friends, but I'll see a lot of them in San Diego for a week, and a lot
of them live in California so I'll be able to visit during the summer.
I also would say that for the most part I did not make as crazy close
connections with individuals on the ship as I did back at Ithaca and
back home. A lot of this has to do with being on a ship with 600
people, where it makes individual bonding difficult, as everything is
really a group hangout. I'm relieved I didn't make friendships with
people that tore me apart to leave, like I think I would feel like if
I met some of my Ithaca friends on the ship and they left forever. So
anyways, I would say I have just about the perfect attitude about the
voyage coming to end. I feel that it is very bittersweet, but I knew
it would be that way, and I was prepared for it, so I'm not going
through shock..at least yet. I feel so grateful for every single
amazing moment I had on this voyage, and I think it was exactly the
perfect length. I have no regrets, and I just feel so blessed with how
everything worked out, how I changed, the lessons I learned, the
people who touched my life, and the roller-coasters I went through,
that made me who I am today.

So finals ended yesterday and we celebrated our voyage by having an
Alumni Ball. We all got dressed up and watched a movie that Ryan, a
student made. I got to say a line in India in the movie. The ship
photographer also made a slideshow. It was wonderful and emotional to
watch both. We then headed into the dining hall which was transformed
and was decorated beautifully. We were served a delicious dinner and I
had such an amazing time, reminiscing about our favorite moments, and
when we first met each other. We then had a dessert buffet and then
headed up to the 7th deck for a dance party! We danced as the wind
blew through our hair and sang our hearts out for one last time on the
ship. It was a wonderful night.

I didn't get a chance to write about China, Japan or Hawaii yet. They
were all amazing, and I will write about them when I get time in
California. Tomorrow is convocation. It will be quite an emotional
day. The following day we leave the ship and greet our parents! It's
going to be a crazy next couple of days, with little sleep and lots of
emotion!

Feel free to call or text or facebook me as of May 2nd! I will finally
be able to be contacted in other ways than email once again!

California, here I come!