Party!

I think some of you might be surprised to see me now. The stay-at-home-on-the-couch-in-front-of-the-TV-gal now goes out every weekend, and not just once.

I think part of the explanation is that American parties are really my kind of thing. People mingle, everyone talks to everyone, and even when there's music it's you usually can talk to each other without yelling.

Then there's the drinks...




Apparently, every kind of liquor tastes good sunrise. Not just tequila, but also vodka, whisky...Tequila Sunrise is still my favorite though.

Strangely, I'm not even that hungover. Oh, a little bit, my stomach is not liking me very much right now and my head feels a bit fuzzy, but I'm not feeling as bad as, say, Sylvia.

To recap what actually happened: friday night we first went to see "The Motorcycle Diaries", and at the contest before the movie started I won the poster. The question was "in which Linklater movie has the main female character named her cat 'che'?", and I remembered it was Before Sunset.

The movie was great. Beautiful landscapes, a beautiful man, much more laughs than I'd expected, and at the end you just wanted to pack your bags immediately and go travel through Latin America.

After the movie, we had dinner at In-N-Out and went to Claudio's party. It was very nice, one of those parties where there are barely any Americans, but which is very American nonetheless, in the sense that there were plastic cups to drink from and that everyone talked to everyone. I talked a bit with a guy called Adam, an American who just spent a year (I think) in New-Zealand, and practiced my french for most of the night talking with Nico, a French guy who lives on the same floor as Sylvia. It turns out that while my French is not bad when talking about straightforward things, I have lost all sense of subtleties and all that. And well, I stumble, look for words...I really need to practice more.

Saturday I went to the "Westside Pavillion" mall with Theresa and Sylvia. At first it looked deserted, ghostly, but then we found the part where all the shops are. It was alright, but it turns out that clothing is not by far as cheap in the US as people say. Actually, it's quite expensive. It was nice to add a visit to the mall to my list of all-American experiences though.

At night we (in this instance composed of Benson, Jordan, Adam, Sylvia and me) set off for Century City, where Brigid lives. We had to take two busses, we'd been told. The first one took about half an hour to arrive. At the next bus stop, we saw that busses came at 9:32 and 10:32.

It was 9:34

We waited for about five minutes to see if maybe the bus was late, but no such luck. We decided we'd just walk, and it took us about 40 minutes. Century City is a bit weird, lots of high buildings, and not a pedestrian in sight. But behind that facade...Brigid turned out to live in an extremely luxurious, close-gate apartment complex, which looked a bit like a hotel but then instead of rooms there were huge apartments.

There's nothing much to tell about the party. We talked, had a lot of alcohol, some people got drunk (me), some people wasted... I claimed the couch, and I actually slept pretty well.

Of course, then you get back and there's this pile of Physics homework... And instead of doing it, you watch "Spellbound".

I am going to do that homework now, though.

*Sigh*

Hedwig

P.S. In case anyone wants to e-mail me, the address I check most often is H.J.vanDriel AT students.uu.nl

Rain...

Ok, so when people said in the beginning of January that the rain was an abnormality, a freak incident of nature, basically, when people said that I was right in thinking rain in California was not supposed to be, I believed them. When the rain stopped, and the marvellous weather started, I almost forgot about the rain even, ignoring its stain on my stay so far.

Then it came back.

Ok, to be honest, it isn't as bad as it was in that first week. The rain actually stops from time to time now. But my feet still get wet, and if there's one thing I don't like, well, it's wet feet.

Luckily we made the right choice for our exploration this weekend. Our goal this Saturday is the mall (mostly because both Sylvia and Theresa have boyfriend coming over soon and want to get suitable underwear). I'm very curious to see what it's like, a true blue American mall...

Actually, very atypically for me, I have my whole weekend planned out. Tonight we're going to see "the Motorcycle Diaries" on campus, and after that there's a party at Claudio's, and tomorrow night we're going to party (and probably sleep) at Brigid's apartment in Century City.

That's the future, now what about the past? Not that much to tell, really. I'm in a weekday rythm now that's probably not very different from anyone's. Last Wednesday I finally got off my butt and did Capoeira with Terry, followed by sit-ups I can still feel. Yesterday, I had a lazy day. I had only one class, at 3pm, and in that class we watched "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly". I was surprised to find out that Clint Eastwood was actually pretty hot, a long long time ago. Also, I love westerns, I don't know why, but the aesthetics of it somehow really agree with me.

On a sidenote, it's strange seeing Kill Bill 2 before ever seeing the Good etc. Tarantino used some Moriconne music from the latter movie in Kill Bill 2, and hearing it in its original context is strange when you associate the music with something else. It's not like I expected the Bride to waltz into the frame, but it felt very postmodern.

Cheers,

H.

Look what I bought!

I looked for the version with James Dean, Marylin Monroe and Bogie, but I couldn't find it. But I really like the original too :-D

I. Fucking, Rule.

So how do you think my midterm went on Monday.

You know, the one for the upper-divison Genetics class? The one that I don't really have the prerequisites for, just high school bio?

The midterm at 8 am on Monday morning?

Well....

I ACED IT!

As in, Perfect Score, 105/100 points (i.e. all my answers were flawless, including the answer to the extra-credit question).

Woo!

Who's the man? I'm the man ;-) (well, figuratively speaking)

I was so happy I let some radical leftie (although he opposed to the term "left activism", according to him, the terms left and right had been created to "divide and conquer") talk to me for a while, and it didn't even spoil my mood.

Don't get me wrong. I'm definitely on the left part of the political spectrum, very much so in this country. But I dislike those people with intense eyes and conspiracy theories. When I finally managed to get rid of him by saying I preferred to think about these things alone in my room with a book, he called it masturbation. But whatever's wrong with that?

Of course, the Physics midterm didn't go quite as well. Oh, ok, it's Hedwiglike "not quite as well", which means I'll probably have a reasonably good grade, but still. The test had two elements, and while the first part was easy (and worth 70 points, so I shouldn't complain), I screwed up the second part. Yes, it was only 30 points, but I spent most of my time on it and got out of the classroom very frustrated. There will be no surprises here, either, because when in one of your processes you can't seem to make charge conservation work, you know it's wrong.

But really, with a perfect score for another midterm, who the hell cares?

On a smaller side-note, Driek van Wissen became "Dichter des Vaderlands", i.e. "Poet of the Nation" (the Dutch nation, in this case). Yay for him! Also, just in case you wonder why I picked this snippet of news when there was so much to choose from, it's because Lia and Jelto, two good friends of my parents', campaigned extensively for him.

I know people who know people who know people...Beware!

Alright, I know, it's a very scattered posting...

To close off, more randomness, in the form of an addition to the list of strange American habits:

They drink milk with their cookies, and eat cookies with their milk. No wonder they don't have tea! They've found another excuse drink to accompany cookies with.

Cheers from LA

A very happy (and did I mention amazing?) Hedwig

P.S. I now -thanks to Terry- have all the necessary ingredients to make Tequila Sunrise. Life is great.

The Sunset...Could be a postcard, ey? 

Venice Beach

I know, I know, I promised an update yesterday, but somehow, it wouldn't come out, probably because I was too preoccupied with my Human Genetics midterm. Thankfully, it's over now, I think I did ok, and I can write the update now.

First of all, a little riddle: what does "Ped Xing mean?". I finally asked someone on Saturday, and it turned out to be so easy... Hint: it's frequently written on little yelow boards hanging from traffic lights. The answer's at the end of the post. Oh, and it's not Chinese.

I guess I'll just go back to chronological mode...

We did go out on Friday night, and this time to a "Real American Party", i.e. a house party at which people drink either beer or very cheap, disgusting liquor out of big red disposable cups. The great thing about American parties is that you can just go there even if you only know a friend of a friend of an acquaintance of the roommate of the person who's throwing the party. The not so great thing about the parties is that people really drink to get drunk.

Unbeknownst to us, the theme was bling bling, meaning some people walked around with afro's, fake fur coats or big golden alarm clocks around their neck. It was fun, with peope trying to convince us to come to Mexico in spring break and others teaching us turkish words. It's amazing how widespread international people are: at the party, we saw Willem, Ben (australian guy) and Matteo (Italian guy), presumably each knowing a different friend of a friend etc.

We (i.e. a very drunk Terry & I) went home rather early, around one, because the 4.5 hours of sleep were telling me they wanted company, and the next day, after some studying (not a whole lot, to be honest) and the purchase of a really cute pair of sandals for 15 dollars, we were off to Venice. The fellowship was composed of two Dutchies (me & Sylvia), one Aussie (Brigid) and two Kiwi's, one of which is actually Indonesian (Jordan & Benson). I try to integrate, I really do, but somehow there seem to be more foreigners than Americans here.

It's true what they say about LA: it's not really a city, but a couple of towns cobbled together. As a consequence, it rarely feels as if you're in a giant city. It just feels like every time you step out of the bus, you're in an entirely different place. Westwood could not be more different from Hollywood, and Venice is not like any of the two.


Venice Mural

The place that it most reminded me of was Benidorm, except instead of fat, tattooed Dutch people there are New Agey people with dreadlocks. And well, lots of crazy people too. Not as much people working out and showing off their pecs as we'd expected, and muscle beach was definitely a disappointment. It seems the boardwalk is the place to get to know your future (psychics every ten meters, including, in Santa Monica, a psychic cat), but there is also a lot of music, and many, many shops selling T-shirts and pipes.

We met Tristan, of course. It seems you can't go anywhere in L.A. without running into Tristan, recognisable by his orange hat. Actually, it was not such a coincidence, as he lives there, and we got to see his house: bohemian as can be, with a no shoes policy (I finally understand why Tristan takes off his shoes at every opportunity), and a didgeridoo. I got drawn into a long discussion with Tristan's housemate J.C. about fear and how we are programmed into the matrix (don't ask). The house also had two doors leading into the bathroom, neither of which had a lock (once again, it's better not to ask).

We ended up going to a vegan restaurant called "Real Food Daily", and I had a delicious and filling (!) salad with beans and corn and avocado and spicy tortilla strips and all that. It was expensive for American standards, but that still means I ended up paying only about 13 dollars. With the prices they have here for vegetables, making the salad at home would probably not be much cheaper.

I ended the evening going to Benson's with Jordan. Once again, I just love how you can drop in on people you've just met. There were about eight people, I think, I had a good time (and a tequila sunrise) but left in time: Sunday was to be studying day.

I did study, so Sunday was pretty boring. Sylvia came over for easy dinner, and we watched the premiere of a very, very, extremely, words-cannot-decribe-how-bad show, called "Young Blades". Think of the worst adaptation of the Three Musketeers you've ever seen, amplify the Americanism and bad one-liners, add some mysticism and bad special effects, throw in a zest of not funny anachronisms (including a dialogue, and a long one, on "miracle cleanser") and there you have it.

Alright, I really have to go grocery shopping now...

Cheers,

H.


Ped Xing = Pedestrian Crossing

The Pacific Ocean

"Every great journey begins by touching the sea"

The Gubernator's Butt

Where to start...

First, I'm just going to keep track here of weird American things I notice. Today's strangeness? Butter spray. Or actually, the stuff that's in our fridge, which is "I can't believe it's not butter!" spray. :-

Of course, this is just stalling. I'm sure the title has aroused your curiosity, and that you're just dying to know what it's referring to (ok, so I'm exaggerating, bear with me), but I won't get to that just yet.

On the nice side of American things, the books I ordered on Amazon last monday arrived today. Neuromancer (Gibson), Quicksilver (Stephenson) and "The Best American Non-Required Reading 2004", edited by the always amazing Dave Eggers, and with a foreword by Viggo Mortensen (he looks great in Aragorn getup AND he writes? Woo.)

It's too bad I won't have time to start reading this weekend. I have a midterm on monday, study questions due on tuesday, and on wednesday homework due and another midterm. I've decided to keep some space for relaxation though: we're going to Venice Beach on saturday afternoon.

Alright, enough stalling already. Let's get to Ah-nulds bottom. I'll be honest, I waited with it so long because it's not that impressive. Nope, I did not happen to enter a bathroom where, just by accident, the governator was just pulling his pants back up, nor did I find incriminating photographs. I just watched "The Terminator" in film class yesterday (to give the class some status, we first watched an experimental french movie, but that was only 20 minutes) and in it, Schwarzy arrives on earth nekkid from the future. It's strange. We find it normal to see an actor's posterior, but it's strange when you realize that the behind is now part of a politician.

After film class, I went to the EAP party. It was nice, especially because everyone had either been on exchange or was now on exchange. We realised there was a group bigger and more invasive than the Dutch: the Germans from Maastricht. Seriously, we met at least 4. After the party, a group of us (including me (duh), Sylvia, Tanya (who'd just come back from Moscow), Tristen, Jordan (yet another Aussie, or actually, I believe that would be insulting to him because he'd from New-Zealand. Oh well. The accent is the same to me ;-) ), and Brigid (she was an Aussie) went to Ackerman Union to see The Incredibles, and we were joined there by Maria.

One more thing I like about the US, or actually about UCLA: 2 dollar movies. Next week it's "The Motorcycle Diaries" and I'm definitely going.

It was a very fun movie, I recommend it to anyone, and after it we ended up, somehow, at the apartment of a guy called Benson, a friend of Jordan's.

Yes another thing I like: it's considered normal for a group of complete strangers to drop in at the apartment of some other complete strangers with an elaborate assortment of hard liquor.

Oh, I didn't drink anything. I had class today (then tomorrow) at 8, and I knew tired was bad, but tired and hungover was worse. I kept to it, too, I only had one sip of very good, imported from Mexico tequila.


From left to right, top to bottom: Sylvia, me, Brigid, Benson and Tristen.

So we had fun. We discussed politics with Benson's housemate Noah, Sylvia tried to talk indonesian with Benson, and, well, basically it was quarter past two before I realised it. By that time Tristen was hungry and everyone went with him to Westwood, but thinking of my early class I only walked with them for a while and then went back to my apartment.

Unfortunately, Lisa and especially Terry had been worried about me (I'd told Nicole I had a party, but she was in Orange, and I had not expected to come home this late). Maybe I should get a phone.

I woke up amazingly awake this morning at seven (the two cups of coffee might have had something to do with my staying awake, but getting out of bed and making the coffee was no problem, in any case), and from then there's not much to tell. Classes, classes, classes, hanging out between classes, mostly reading (I found the reading room!) for my Genetics midterm on monday.

In half an hour I'm going over to Sylvia's to see what we'll have for dinner (another reason to get a phone: there is no bell), and then we'll see from there. I'm all for finding a party, but Friday nights are always a bit slower, because so many people go home for the weekend.

Wow....Even when barely anything happens these entries get looooooooooooooong. Oh, and sorry for the quality of the picture: I had not brought my camera, this picture was made with Benson's phone. Tristen, Brigid and Sylvia made pictured too, though, so I'll post a nicer one later.

Cheers,

H.

My bed 

Daily Life and Crazy American habits

I like Wednesdays. I have class from 8 to 9 and from 10 to 11, and then I am free until my Human Genetics Discussion Section at 3. Somehow this makes me spend my afternoon much more effectively. Last week on Wednesday I did the laundry, and this week I went grocery shopping (I succumbed to the Wheat Thins again...They are just so good, and they were 2 for 5 this week. Oh, and I bought Oreo's, but with three girls on their period, that's allowed), called grandma, made soup for lunch, chatted for a while and read over the paper for Human Genetics once more.

It turned out, actually, that I didn't make the test last week so badly. 8 out of 10! And I feel like I did better this time, so who knows.

But, of course, I promised I'd talk about crazy American habits.

Take toothpicks. You know, big boxes of little chips of wood you use to take things out from between your teeth? Well, I have looked and looked, even asked a couple of times, but they seem to be unaware of the concept. Oh, there are toothpicks. But they are electric, and only that. Even then, it's not common at all: 4/5 of the dental care rack is filled with floss (also electric). So, I shelled out the 8 bucks, and I am now the proud owner of an Oral-B electric toothpick/floss combo. I just hope it works.

Another thing here is traffic. I don't know if it's just the automatics, but driving here seems to be constituted mostly of accelerating and braking. Even on the freeway! Needless to say, it's rather scary when you're in the passenger seat and see that the car approaches the one in front of you with less than a meter in between, and because of the automatic, every time you accelerate it sounds like you're in too low a gear.

Then, there's Bruin Walk. I've said it before, but just in case you forgot: Bruin is pronounced "Broo-in" here. It's a stretch of camous filled with those triangular advertisement boards and with small desks, full of people trying to get you to join their club. There's ethnicities: Chinese, Latino, etc. There's the religions: the Christians, the ones from the church of Latter Day Saints, the ones representing the Bahai faith, the Muslims. There's combinations: the Chinese Christians for example. There's the UCLA Democrats, and ten meters further the UCLA Republicans, there's the "Queer girl" association, the Tour Guides, the Unicef people, and so on. There's people making music (I think those were the Hindus. They were bald and wore robes, in any case), people trying to shake your hand, people handing our flyers. It's crazy really, but I kind of like it. It makes the campus feel alive.


Bruin Walk; every ethnicity, every religion, every major, every hobby and any combination of the above: you'll find your club on Bruin Walk.

Of course, there are more differences, small ones. Some of them I really like, like for example the fact that in Ackerman Union you can just sit down on the floor with any magazine or book they sell (or of your own) and read it. I like that there is such an incredible selection of interesting magazines (I even saw one with a translated story by Maarten 't Hart). I like the strange combination of bagels and cream cheese, I like that people are much more inclined to smile, I like that it's not considered dorky here to walk around with a big backpack. And then there are the less pleasant things. Vegetables and fruit are ridiculously expensive (peppers (i.e. paprika's) cost 2 dollar a piece, grapefruits, freakily big, the same), there are soda and snack machines everywhere, and you need a car to be a babysitter. I don't like the cheese, and I don't like the tea.

Overall, I'm still having a blast. The weather is so warm that you actually feel one of those blankets of warmth descend upon you when you step outside of a building. I mean, I can see the top of some palm trees when I sit on my living room couch, how cool is that? Also, despite the fact that the amount of money I spend on groceries scares me, I really like the independant feeling I get here: despite my sharing the room with a roommate, it feels like I really am an adult now, someone with her own apartment who pays her own rent, cooks for herself, and basically takes care of every single element in her life. I'm sure it's a feeling that bores quickly, but right now, it's exhilerating.

One last note: Happy Birthday Birgit!

H.

Johnny Depp's Star

Some more Hollywood Pictures 

Hollywood!


As you can see, I finally figured out how to add pictures to the blog. You can expect more of them later!

Hollywood

There sure are a lot of crazy people in the US. People who eat out of garbage cans, people who come over and stand with you at the bus stop acting as if they belong there, people who dress up as Fiona from Shrek, as Legolas (badly), as Batman (twice), people who jump over other people, and people who walk up and down Sunset Blvd. (no, not the whole thing, that would take two days) for no apparent reason (and yes, the last ones would be us).

Most of these crazy people seem to accumulate in Hollywood.

Getting there, however, was more difficult than we had thought. Looking up the bus routes and schedule online was easy, but then, which side of the road do you stand on? We crossed the road three times, but in the end, only half an hour later than planned (and seeing how beautiful the weather was, waiting wasn't so bad), we were on the bus and riding on Sunset Blvd. towards Hollywood.

Just to give you an impression of the length of the boulevards here: we drove on it for half an hour, and that was only a fraction of its length. Oh, and to clarify, the "we" consisted at that point of Sylvia, Maria, Dave and me.

The first thing we noticed on Hollywood Boulevard was a very ugly silver thing. We still have no idea what it is. The second thing we noticed is that the walk of fame is kind of drab and disappointing. We didn't know most of the names (we found Johnny Depp after a while though, but this was at least half an hour further, the walk of fame is very, very long), and the stars didn't look very spectacular.

Around this point, we got a call from Tristan, saying he was also in Hollywood, at the Mann's Chinese Theatre to be precise, and we went there to meet him. Now, this Chinese theatre truly is a sight. Not only is the forecourt filled with the famous hand and foot prints of famous people (The Gubernator's "I'll be back" included), but there are dozens of -I presume-wannabe actors walking around in costumes. I spotted the above mentionned Fiona, Legolas and the two Batmans, but also Gandalf, Wonder Woman (who didn't have the legs for the part), Catwoman, NightCrawler, the Phantom of the Opera (we didn't actually recognise this one, he told us himself, in a very cheery voice), and many, many more.

Even watching bad disguises can get boring after a while, and luckily the next attraction waited at us next door at the Kodac Theatre: a beautiful view of the one thing we knew we shouldn't miss: the Hollywood Sign. On photographs it reduces to a white blur, but it looks quite impressive to the naked eye. Across the street was the El Capitan theatre, where, according to my Lonely Planet guide, Citizen Kane premiered, and where Pirated of the Carribean was now playing.

Walking down there were more sights. The T-rex above the Ripley's believe it or not, the erotic museum (oddly enough much less tackier than the rest of what we saw) many, many souvenir shops, with prices for T-shirts going down as we progressed (from three for fifteen dollars to five for ten), and so on. After a while we turned around, because Maria really wanted to see Ocean's twelve at the Chinese theatre. As it turned out to play only at 7 (it was 5), we decided to get something to eat first.

This is where the endless walking comes in. Because what looks closeby on the map really isn't. When we finally arrived at the restaurant we'd picked (the "old spaghetti factory", which looked really nice), it turned out to be full, with a 35 minute waiting time. No way we'd make the movie. So what did we do? We just took the bus back to where we came from.

We ended up at "Hooters". The concept? Very spicy food, and very scantily clad waitresses (mostly the latter). I had a quesedilla, which is a tortilla with a lot of cheese, mostly (some chicken, too). Tristan spent most of his time trying to get the optimal zoom-in on the waitresses butts.

On a small aside, there is one thing I like about American restaurants, any American restaurant, actually. You get as much tap water as you want, for free. I hate this in the Netherlands, they never have big bottles of water, just the tiny ones that you then try to stretch out over a meal, which is almost impossible. Why not just give out tap water?

At the theatre, I got a "I {heart} huckabees" poster. The movie was nice. A lot of fun, mostly, it didn't pay to think too much about the plot. Seeing Amsterdam was nice, and some of the scenes that were supposed to be located at Amsterdam station were actually filmed in Haarlem, so that was nice to see. I'm not really homesick yet, but I admit that my respulsion to Guus Meeuwis has lessened considerably.

So, that was it. The Hollywood Experience. So celebs, unfortunately, although we did see two limo's. They were probably all at the Golden Globes.

Back to normal now. Homework tomorrow, bed now.

Hedwig

My first real American party

Ok, please excuse any incoherence and typos in this post, as I am quite drunk at this point. But, you know, Terry is in the shower and I definitely need to go to the toilet before going to bed, so I migh as well write.

The plan, as I wrote earlier, was simply to eat In n Out burgers, and we did, and they were very nice. We actually saw an employee there cutting potatoes into fries with one of those machines, so we were very reassured as to the freshness of everything. Afterwards, Terry went home and I had a nice talk with Theresa as Sylvia took a shower. Around nine, Maria called and told us there was a nice party at the Dashew international center, so we went there.

It turned out the party was connected with an art show, and they were giving away all the food, pushing it into people's hands even, giving them (and them included us) take home styrofoam packets. I ended up taking mostly fruit, as it's the one thing I'm not buying very much because it's so expensive.

With the food packets (Willem had three), we went to Ralphs. The reason? Today (i.e. yesterdat) was Willen's birthday, and we needed booze. e bought vodka, Jack D's, Pina Colada Mix, Cranberry juice, Coke...We then went to the co-op, and played a drinking game.

Now, drinking games are not a wise thing to do. Especially when a)the drinking game sometimes requires as many as 8 sips after each other b)your drink of choice is whisky, with or without cranberry juice. Hence the drunkenness.

Around eleven, eleven thirty we left for a party we heard about. We first walked in a circle (passing the same fridge lying on the sidewalk twice). but we finally got there. I stopped drinking anything but water by that point, but it was a typical American party: lots of beer. and lots of the vodka we bought (and which turned out to be undrinkable), in an apartment, and nice.

In the end, I enjoyed tonight. I flirted with two cute Italian guys and one cute Australian guy (those accents just make me melt), and I actually had good conversations with them (Bir, if you're reading this, apparently Bologna has a nice university). Also, the music wasn't too loud, which is a vast improvement, IMHO, on Dutch going out. Finally, I ripped my pants, isn't that the ultimate sign of a good night out?

Terry sure is taking a long time in there...I'll just go check if she hasn't fallen asleep. It is three o'clock after all...

Good night unto you all,

Hedwig

My first squirrel

If the weather is always like this here, I think I might consider never coming back. The sky is marvelously blue without even a trace of clouds, the temperature is perfect (not too warm, but a T-shirt is enough), the campus looks beautiful in the sun and life is wonderful. Oh, and it's weekend for me now, and because of Martin Luther King day it lasts until Tuesday morning :-D

Jealous yet?

Oh, and I finally saw a squirrel! Two, even, to be precise. Cute little buggers. Most people here don't seem to think so, though.

In my description of a typical day, I forgot to tell what I do on the other two weekdays, mostly because it varies. On Tuesdays, I have class from 12 to 1 and from 3 to 6, and on Thursdays I only have class from 3 to 6, so I get to sleep in as long as I want. And the weekends? Well, that varies even more. For tomorrow, the plan is to explore Hollywood, as any foreigner in LA should, right?

What more to tell, what more to tell...Terry and I went to see Hero last moght at Ackerman Union for 2 dollar, that was nice. It's a shame I saw it first on a small screen, because the colors and composition really deserve to be seen big.

Tonight, we're going to eat something unhealthy, greasy, and typically American. We is me, Sylvia, Terry and manybe a couple of other people. We're not quite sure what we'll eat yet, but I'm sure we'll find something.

Cheers,

H.

Settling in

There's not so much news to report here, but I thought it would be nice to give you an idea of what my life looks like now.

On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I have class at eight, which means my alarm goes of at seven. I switch it off as soon as I can, grab my glasses, put on my socks, and stumble to the kitchen to switch on the coffee machine. Then I try to get my clothes from the room without making too much noise (difficult, seeing how I'm still half-asleep at this point. My jet-lag is really over now), get dressed in the bathroom. I drink my coffee and eat my cereal, I pack my bag and I'm good to go! It's about a 25 minute walk to campus, so I leave around half past. My first class on those three days is Human Genetics, which takes place in a very big, very moderly equipped classroom with screens descending from the ceiling at the push of a button. The teachers use microphones :-

After the class I go to Ackerman Union to see if one of the comfortable chairs there is free. Today there was a free chair, but most of the time they're all occupied. I spend an hour reading. Actually, a lot of people are sitting in the book and magazine section of Ackerman Union reading, just on the floor everywhere. It surprised me at first, but it's a great way to spend an hour between classes.

At ten my Physics class starts, in a tiny little classroom this time. At eleven, when it ends, I either go directly home directly or go by the grocery store first (today, for example, I needed laundry detergent badly, mostly because I have only two pieces of underwear left). I leave for my afternoon classes half an hour is advance as well, I eat dinner around six or seven, and go to bed around eleven.

That's about it, I guess. Not very exciting, but nice.

To close with, some small things I think are funny about the US, things I still notice. For example, the teller machines at the grocery store have only bills in them, your coin change is automatically dispensed by a small machine. Also, the priority rules are entirely different. The first person who arrives at the crossroads gets to go first! There are many small things like that, like that a) there are commercials for medication on TV here and b) theymention all the side effects.

I have to go check on my laundry...

Cheers!

Hedwig

The Sun is Shining!

Ok, so I know you shouldn't cheer to soon, but it looks beautiful outside. I'll still put my books in my bag with plastic bags around them, but I will put sneakers on again.

Actually, the above fact was the main reason I wanted to update. There's not that much to report here. Classes are fine, I've done a lot of grocery shopping yesterday, and finding a babysitting job is tough because most people want you to have a car.

Let's see...I can't really think of anything else to say, except maybe that I have to go and buy some readers now.

Cheers,

Hedwig.

Weekend!

Ok, so dad said I'm writing about food way too much, and maybe I am indeed being contaminated with the American obsession, but never mind, I'm going to talk about food one more time.

Noodles, this time.

We went out for lunch to "Noodle Planet", and we got huge, HUGE bowls of noodles. As in, we ate half of it and were so filled up that we only had cereal for dinner afterwards. I liked it, but it's not really my thing: I tried eating with chopsticks but I'm a natural disaster at it, and the taste is a little too exotic for me.

Ok. Enough about food. More about big things.

In this instance Target, which is a shop we went to yesterday, and stayed in for I think about three hours. It is simply huge. I first thought it was kind of a really big HEMA, but they have so much more things (an much less consistent in taste). Everything from clothing to DVD's to kitchen ustensils to bedding to food to everything, basically. I was mostly there for a comforter, but ended up buying a fleece blanket instead, and so did Sylvia. I also bought a water bottle, cornflakes, and shampoo (yes, I know, I'm buying a lot of that but at Target I finally found anti-dandruff shampoo that wasn't head and shoulders).

After this I became a blockbuster member (or maybe Sylvia did...We used her passport and my credit card, so it's confused) and we rented Collateral and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Lisa's DVD player is here now, and despite the fact that all movies get distorted to fit the non-widescreen TV, it's great to be able to watch movies. Collateral was a good action movie, mostly nice because it takes place in LA, and Eternal Sunshine etc. was as fantastic as I remembered it. There were four of us watching, Nicole, Terry, Sylvia and me, and we had a great evening.

Today is work day. I've read three genetics chapters, which is hard work, and I'm going to work on my physics after this. It's ok though, with the rain I don't mind staying in. Tonight there's a party at Sylvia's which should be fun, but I won't stay there until late because I have class at 8 tomorrow.

I think my entries will become shorter from now on. I'm kind of settling into a routine. I'll keep you updated on my impressions though (american coffee really is weak, but I don't mind. So many people here have IPods. And so on).

Cheers!

Hedwig

1 week already...

I went "out" for the first time here yesterday. And in the US, going our means staying in, or at least being in someone's apartment. Sylvia's, in this case. I went there around 6 because we'd agreed to have dinner there, me, Sylvia, and Maria, the other Dutch girl. When I arrived there they hadn't done any grocery shopping yet, so through the rain we went, to "Whole Foods" the healthy, and thus expensive, grocery store around here. I wasn't very hungry, consequence of Terry making pancakes and me having one, but it was nice shopping for a real meal. Theresa, Sylvia's German roommate, went with us. We bought potatoes, broccoli, oven dish material! And wine, because nearly all my friends here seem to be over 21, which is good :-D And, you know what I found in that wondrous store? Stroopwafels. 4 dollar for 8 of them, true, but still, they have stroopwafels here, for when I get really homesick (my pack isn't finished yet, though, so I'll be fine).

When we came back to the apartment and started cooking, all kinds of neighbours and friends started arriving, bringing, amongst other things, a container of Smirnoff, aparently everyone's favorite drink here. So, I had a couple of screwdrivers (simpler than it sounds, just plain wodka and OJ), and before I knew it it was eleven, and I wasn't tired. The food was good. I'm starting to like salad, oddly, or actually, I'm starting to appreciate how good dressings can make salads (in this case, honey/curry, an odd combination, very spicy, but good).

You know what all the cool kids (or well...all the students anyhow) who live here do at night? They go to Diddy Riese. And no, that's not a bar (I don't think I'll go to many bars here, seeing how I'm 19 and all), it's an ice-cream and hot dog place. They have sandwiches there for 1 dollar. And not just any kind of sandwishes, oh no. They have the kind of sandwiches where the buns are two cookies of your choice, and the "meat" is any ice cream of your choice.

Ok, so it's a once in a very long while thing. But good!

To make a long story short, it was a really nice evening, and I came home around 1, later than I've gone to bed lately. I slept until half past nine this morning, so I think I'm finally getting in the rhythm. Also, walking back at 1 was not scary whatsoever, this is really a safe neighbourhood, the streets are very very crowded at 1 am, and I even saw a police car go by, just cruising along, you know.

The plan for today? Going to Target (big store, to get a duvet), maybe doing the laundry (with this weather, jeans are really the only possible pants, and both of mine are dirty), and tonight maybe renting some DVD's at blockbuster and watching them.

I can't believe I've been here for (almost) a week already. One week ago I was in the plane, I believe somewhere between NY and LA, closer to NY though. Now it's my home, a temporary one, but a home nonetheless.

Hedwig

Soggy, Soggier, Soggiest

Ok, so apparently, the nice weather yesterday was just a fluke. It's back to raining non-stop now, and (I've been keeping count) my feet have been soaked five tomes today. Because you know, the thing is, the rain is annoying, but not terrible. The problem is that the city is obviously not equipped to handle all this water, so there are pools, no, lakes, and rivers everywhere. And of course, I did not bring any waterproof shoes. Oddly enough, few people are complaining, but I, of course, am upholding the time-honoured Dutch custom and do.

I don't really feel like the chronological thing this time, so I'll just free-associate, kind of. Courses, first.

Let me start by saying that courses here are very different from how the are at UC. The classrooms are bigger (with the exeption of Physics), and all the chairs in the big lecture halls have individual tablets that you can put into place in various complicated ways. This is where the lecture part of courses takes place. There is also a second part in each course, namely the discussion sections, led by the TA's (Teacher Assistants). I've only had one so far, but apparently it's smaller groups in which you can ask questions and actually say things yourselves.

Introduction to Visual Culture is interesting. We'll first have a part about art, then about films for five weeks (yay!) and then about television (we're going to watch the Buffy musical episode, amongst other things). The teacher actually says "alrighty", I thought people only said that as a joke. The lecture was nice, the discussion too, although the first half was, quite strangely, just about summarizing the lecture, as if we weren't really expected to get it.

Human Genetics is difficult. I might have aimed too high, but I'm going to try anyway. The teacher said that it should be doable as long as I'd had some genetics, and I have. It's a lot of work, but at least I know that this course will be (or at least, should be) accepted as a biology 100 at UC. Besides, the topics are very interesting, and that always makes working hard easier.

My third course is Elementary Particle Physics. The teacher is Asian (not a problem per se, after all, two thirds of the students are too), but unfortunately he has quite a bad accent in English, so he is hard to understand. I think I should be able to do the course: it's much more practical and calculation focussed than my physics courses so far, but I've already had most of the theory.

So, that was for courses. What else? Well, let's look at purchases:

- Two more expensive books for courses
- A remote (so many channels and no remote is annoying)
- An alarm clock (which didn't go off at 7 as planned, but I woke up at 7:15 of myself)
- Food
-Conditioner & shampoo (I wanted only shampoo, but bought the wrong thing the first time

Ehm, what other lists can I make? Food? Well, not that much to say about that, except maybe that my bowels are obviously having a little trouble adjusting, as evidenced by cramps. I'm trying to balance the easy and the cheap. Yesterday night was probably the healthiest meal so far: a big salad, with corn, beans, bacon, tomato, cucumber...today's lunch was probably unhealthiest, as it consisted of one glazed donut (hey, I was wet). Of course, one donut isn't really enough, so I made a handful of rice when I got back to the apartment, and that's actually not such a bad lunch, I think. I still think the food here is oversweet.

Concerning food, I think the country is a bit, or no, very schizophrenic. One the one hand every single magazine (with the exception of newsweek, and yes, this is a tested hypothesis) in the newsracks has something about weight loss on its cover, and people seem obsessed with becoming thinner (I have been unable so far to find non non-fat yoghurt). At the same time, there's sweet food everywhere (like the donut shops and the cookie shops around here, and other "bad" foods too (like Burger King), and all packages are huge! Strange people...

Well, that was it for now. I'm going to have one more cup-a-soup, and then do some reading (so much homework already....luckily the weather's so bad I'll probably stay in this weekend). Please, please, if the weather's good wherever you are? Don't tell me.

Hedwig

P.S. Stefan, who most of you know, is also on exchange. You can read about his experiences in San Diego on www.ucsa.nl/sderksen

First day of Classes

Woo. Slept until 9, with effort. But let's go back to yesterday.

Sylvia arrived at 11 sharp, and we went to pick up her key. The people at the housing office were very kind and quick, so we decided we had some time before the meeting to move her in. We walked to her hotel, and were picked up by a very funny and sweet Armenian cab driver who had much trouble with the bags (and was surprised we kept smiling. Hm. Americans maybe not so nice after all?). He talked all the way, about things like his trip to Zandvoort (after he heard we were Dutch). At Sylvia's apartment, we discovered two things. a) she lives on the fifth floor. b) the elevator was out of order.

Sylvia started ringing doors on the second floor to see if someone knew how to operate the elevator, and a guy came out and offered to help us carry the bags upstairs. Which he did. And they were heavy! I guess being a girl has advantages from time to time.

The first thing we noticed about her apartment was that it was, well, very smelly. The second thing we notices is that it's also very very big. It's a three people apartment, but they have two bathrooms, so much closet space it's impossible to fill, and a big room that does not really seem to have any use. And the best part: when we went out again, we found out that there's A POOL just in front of her door. Conclusion? When it's finally sunny and warm, I'm going to be spending a lot of time at Sylvia's.

The meeting afterwards about the visa and all that was boring and uneventful, with the exeption that there is now kind of a Dutch club here: Willem, from UC, was there too, and so was a girl who studies Life Science & Technology in Leiden and Delft. According to the EAP guy we visited later, there are 5 Dutch people in total this quarter, so just one more to discover. He also gave us a T-shirt.

Of course, a T-shirt wasn't enough, so we spent something like an hour in the UCLA store, trying to decide upon which UCLA sweater to buy. It's kind of like the uniform here: of all the people on campus, at least half has one of those sweaters on. I picked an anthracite (that's what they call it...I call it dark gray) one, and Sylvia a light blue one with yellow letters.

That was pretty much the day. We had dinner here, (American cup-a-soup is not that different from the Dutch kind), then Sylvia left, and we watched Alias (big two hour season premiere. Terry loves the show and actually lets out little yells during it), an item about Nicole's middle school (a teacher slept with two thirteen year old boys. Eww), and I went to bed, for the first time with my room mate there. It turns out that when your roommate is not your sister, there's no problem at all.

Eggs are ready.

Cheers.

H.

Day five

First off, let me answer some questions I've been asked.

• My classes will start tomorrow, i.e. Thursday.
• I am living in an off-campus apartment, so not in a dorm or anything.
• I'm a 25 minute walk from campus, good exercise 'cause this isn't Dutchy flat.
• The weather is better now, and I have actually already explored the campus quite a bit, enough not to need the map any more. It's beautiful when it doesn't rain.
• I have stayed in Westwood so far, with the exeption of the cab drive from the airport and the drive we took with Nicole. There are many busses though, and Sylvia and I have already agreed to go exploring on weekends.
• The apartment is equipped with a rather large kitchen, including fridge, stove, a lot of dishes, a table, and several bottles of vodka. There's also a living room with a TV and a very comfortable couch, two rooms with each two beds and two desks, a bathroom with a shower, toilet, and a bath that doesn't drain, and some drawers and closets.
• About the vodka (and beer too, incidentally): officially, the cannot be any alcohol in apartments with people under 21, but according to Nicole,they say explicitly at the introduction that this is not enforced as long as you don't exaggerate. I haven't drunk anything yet, but I don't miss it so far.
• I can receive Solismail here, so feel free to e-mail me. And yes, Elspeth, I got your very nice email. Sorry for not replying.
• I am going to follow three courses (I considered four but my schedule is busy enough as is, thanks mostly to my physics course). They are: Elementary Particle Physics, Introduction to Visual Culture (something to do with film, but I don't know exactly what it entails), and Human Genetics.
• Oh, and mom? A sorority is a female fraternity, it's mostly about getting drunk together, apparently, but also about the whole bonding, having fun together stuff. I prefer my group of friends mixed, as in with girls AND boys, so it's not really something for me. All fraternities and sororities have names consisting of three greek letters.
• I don't think anyone asked me about this, but I'll just say it anyway: I'm the tallest of my roommates. It feels good.

I think that pretty much covers it :-D If you have any more questions, feel free to ask, I forget to put so much in these blog entries....Now, back to the chronological description.

After Nicole and Lisa left the day before yesterday, I fell asleep on the couch, again, and slept so deeply until one thirty that Terry said she'd tried to wake me a couple of time but failed. When I finally woke up, I relocated to my bed but found out the whole sleeping-bag-in-duvet-covers thing is not a good idea: the sleeping bag went to one side entirely and I was very cold. I woke up around seven thirty again, and passed the time after that by having breakfast (the croissants here are HUGE), chatting a little and finishing my book until Sylvia showed up around 1 pm. We still had some things to arrange: we needed to check in at the international hall, and we needed to get our e-mail address at the Powell Library. We did both, saw the campus in the sunshine at last, and wanted all our friends to be here to see where we were going to school and be jealous.

We kind of improvised the way back, and when one road we took ended at the door of some building, we decided we'd just go in and see where it would lead. It turned out to be some kind of academic hospital, all kinds of people walking around and doing things, and somehow nobody seemed surprised at our presence. It took us a while to find the exit, but we did, and without asking anyone.

Our next stop was a merchandise store Sylvia had noticed when walking to my apartment that morning. It was amazing. All things Spongebob, Marylin and Elvis, and a lot more. The calanders were "buy one, get one free", so we each bought one: Sylvia a Johnny Depp one, and mine with all kinds of pictures of the beautiful James Dean. Very Hollywood, we thought, very L.A., and our rooms needed decorating. My room looks very strange now, Lisa's side is very decorated, with all her pictures of Angeline Jolie, and mine is bare. No longer! Sylvia also bought a Marylin Monroe wallet, in the spirit of the town.

We'd decided that we'd cook a very Dutch dinner for our roommates, so we bought baking mix (which, according to the package, can be used to make anything from biscuits to pizza), milk, eggs, bacon, raisins, and syrup: pancake night! Unfortunately, it turned out that Nicole wasn't back yet (she only got home around ten thirty), so we ended up making them just for ourselves and Terry. The oddity of combining bacon and syrup turned out to be a common practice in the US too, except it's a breakfast food here. Crazy people. The pancakes in the end were a mix of the Dutch and the American: they tasted rather Dutch, but because we used an American baking mix they burned much more quickly and were much thicker.

Gilmore Girls was on TV after this. An episode I'd already seen! Reruns, or did I just watch too much in advance? It was a nice episode ("We've got ourselves a Pippi virgin"), so I didn't mind. After Sylvia left, I kept myself awake with much effort until eleven, and went to bed. I woke up at seven thirty again, but this time I managed to make myself fall asleep again a couple of times, stretching my time in bed until nine thirty. When I finally got out Terry offered to make me breakfast: scrambled eggs with onion and spinach and bacon, with some ketchup as a bonus. I'd never thought I'd enjoy that for breakfast, but strangely enough, I did.

Sylvia should arrive at eleven today. We'll first go and pick up her key, then we have a meeting at the international center about keeping our visa (help! Didn't know I could lose it....) and after that, we're going to go to Sylvia's hotel, get a taxi, and move her into her apartment, which is just five minutes walking from here.

Then tomorrow, first classes...I'm very curious to see how they'll be.

Cheers,

H.

P.S. If you're interested in Sylvia's version of events, you'll be glad to hear I'm contagious. http://SylinLA.blogspot.com

Sunny California?

When you think of Los Angeles, what are the first things to come to mind? Movie stars, palm trees, SUNSHINE...Well, I haven't seen any movie stars yet, but that's not so much of a surprise. As for the palm trees, it turns out they're just like people: they look depressed in the rain.

Seriously, when it rains here, it pours. Streets have tiny rivers on both sides, and it goes on and on an on. This explains why Sylvia and I didn't do that much yesterday. We sat inside, first, waiting for the rain to stop. Finally, we decided just to go to the supermarket to get dinner and toiletpaper. Inside, we watched sex and the city episodes on my laptop (the dvd's of seasons two and three were here already), and "cooked".

When Nicole came in at ten thirty, I'd fallen asleep on the couch, the Law and Order marathon apparently not fascinating enough. She immediately started cleaning out her bad and room, and I decided to join her, unpacking my bag. I still slept on the couch, after reading on in my book and reaching the inner story (the book is like a russian doll, six related stories inbedded in each other).

For this morning, I'd bought the cereal that looked healthiest. "All Bran". It turns out, they sweeten even that! We'd already found out that bagels were sweetened yesterday, but this came as a surprise. Sylvia and I had agreed to meet in front of the supermarket at ten, so I had to go out, despite the pouring rain. We went to get our "BruinCard" (pronounce Broo-in), and we wanted to get an e-mail address but the library was closed. Then we went by the Bradley International Center, but we didn't have all the papers we needed so we still need to go back. Back at the apartment, we heard that Terry had moved in, but left already. Nicole then took us, in her car, first to eat some skewers for lunch, then to buy books (80 fucking dollars for one, not even that thick, book!, but I did get to use my credit card for the first time, and it worked!), and then to see her father. She needed to get a cheque from him, we mostly were interested in seeing the sights a little bit. Driving on US freeways is SCARY. Five lanes, weaving in and out, the car making roaring sounds because it's an automatic, and a driver not exactly very careful.

Now we are back at the apartment, and I've met Lisa, my other roommate. She turned out to like stroopwafels very much, but that's very much a given, who doesn't? Terry just came in with her sister and her sister's boyfriend, so it's very crowded and cozy: the four inhabitants, sylvia, and Terry's family.

Well, the rain will pass. Until now, at least this is starting to feel like home.

Hedwig

Big, Bigger, Biggest

I woke up at six this morning. Jetlag. I feel quite awake though, despite sleeping so little, and it was nice chatting with Birgit and Jacob.

Then, onto the supermarket! because there's barely any food here, and none I'd willingly eat. Before I got there (I asked a couple of joggers, the only kind of people on the streets on sunday at seven thirty, aside of course from the drunk guy eating out of a garbage bin), I passed:

-A starbucks
-Two starbucks clones
-A donut shop
-Three Pizza places
-Two cookie stores
-A Burger King
-"Jerry's famous Deli"
-a chocolate shop

No wonder these people get fat! As for the supermarket, Ralph's, it was absolutely huge, even to the big supermarkets they have in France. Isles and isles full of choices. Hundreds of different "pour water on me and you have a meal" things, not just with noodles and pasta but rice, too, an entire isle with all kinds of cereals... Oddly, I was not at all incline dot buy a lot. Usually my weaknesses are cookies, crackers and nice kinds of bread, but the cookies didn't look too good (and the packages were much, much too big, as with everything), the crackers were rather expensive, and the packages also too big (I finally bought "zips", fake ritz crackers, and after tasting two I know I won't finish them), and the rbead looked plain disgusting, and was quite expensive when compared to dutch prices.

I ended up buying noodles, dried mushroom rice (I'm very curious), the smallest pack of orange juice (half a gallon, i.e. 1.87 liters) and those crackers. Not very much, but the jetlag is affecting my appetite: Now I'm hungry, but not much considering that before the crackers, I'd eaten only a rice krispies bar in 22 hours.

Well, at least I know where the supermarket is now (it's about fifteen minutes from the apartment), I even have a customer card already, and I have enough food to survive until tonight. I'm curious if Sylvia will be able to find the place...in any case, I'll go sit outside with a book around quarter to twelve, considering there's no bell (the book is "Cloud Atlas" by David Mitchell, and fascinating).

Greetings from LA

H.

"California, California, You're such a wonder that I think I'll stay (in bed)"

Phew

Ok, let's start at the beginning.

Yesterday (for those still in the Netherlands the day before yesterday), the 31st of December to be exact, my bags were packed. I went to bed relatively early for a new year's eve (about 2, I think, I couldn't resist watching a little of Gone with the Wind), and the following morning, 7 am, I woke up just a tad nervous. Luckily my dad was much, much more nervous (had been for the past few days), and it somehow had a relaxing effect. It didn't really hit me that I was really, truly leaving until I checked in.

"Look!", Birgit said, "that girl checking in next to you is also going to LA!", but I didn't pay much attention to it.

I asked for an upgrade to business class, but without any success. Platinum elite? Doesn't mean a thing, not to Delta Air Lines anyhow. But: not being seated in business class turned out to have a very nice consequence, namely that I was sitting behind a girl who was enthusiastically telling her neighbour that she was going to spend six months studying at UCLA. I of course exclaimed "hey! me too!", and we found out with much relief that not only would we have someone to talk to, but we were also on the same flight from New York to L.A., and we could share a cab because we were both staying somewhere near the UCLA campus.

Eight hours is a long time to sit still with little leg room. I tried to sleep, but only manage to for about fifteen minutes, maybe thirty. I watched parts of "the Bourne Supremacy" and "Anchorman" without sound: I'd declined head phones because I had my own, but it/they didn't fit. My head phones were great to have with me: it produces anti-sound, and for a long stretch of time I had them on without music, just to dampen the loudness of the plane. One good thing: the food was ok. We got one "meal" (the main course, pasta with something, was good, the rest not so much), and later on a vegetarian pizza.

The transfer was much easier than I'd thought. The girl, Sylvia, and I passed through immigration (the guy was reallt very, very friendly, nothing at all like all those stories) got our bags (and hey! the girl was indeed the one checking in next to me! I recognised her bag...), passed through customs and checked them in again. We then treated ourselves to a ridiculously expensive but very good cup of Starbucks coffee (we felt it was almost mandatory when entering the US, but that 5 dollar was definitely too much to ask for coffee. Do you know the price on the price list is actually without taxes?), and checked in for our next flight.

There were no two seats left next to each other, but we convinced her neighbour to switch with me. I tried to sleep again, and managed a little, but I never really fell asleep, I only dozed a little. The movie on this flight was Winbledon, and even without sound you could see how rote and tedious it was. This flight, you suddenly had to pay for everything: ear phones, and even food. But: this flight also had a good side to it: when we arrived, we flew above L.A. for at least twenty minutes, and with all the lights in the dark it was impressively enormous, and great to see.

All the above was the easy part. It goes on for a little bit: all our luggage came off the plane, and we had no trouble getting a taxi.

Sidenote: in the Netherlands we always complain that immigrants don't learn our language correctly. Remarkably, most moroccans and turkish people are much better at Dutch than some of the people we met here are at English. Our taxi driver among them.

The first stop was Wilshire Avenue, where Sylvia's hotel was. We agreed to meet tomorrow (again, today for some of you), to explore the campus together. She gave me some money for her half of the cab fare, and on it was.

In the Netherlands, you expect a cab driver to know every street in his city. I realize it's not realistic to expect that of a L.A. cab driver. Still, it was mildly annoying that he had no idea where to go, and only after fifteen minutes remembered that he had a map. He stopped the meter though, that was nice. In the end we found it, and the next problem surfaced.

The deal was originally that my roommate Nicole, who I've emailed with a lot, would be there to open the door for me, as I could not pick up my key until monday. Then, her boyfriend surprised her with a trip to Vegas, and she told me that she'd leave the back door open, that I could get into the downstairs neighbours apartment and get to the apartment by using the fire escape.

The problem? No bell. Anywhere. At all. Oh, lots of doors, with slots for key cards. But no bell. The guy was really nice about it (probably because I paid him a little too much, but I'm glad I did). He tapped in numbers on some strange keypas, shouted at windows...He wasn't really helpful, but it meant I wasn't alone, and that I had a ride in case I gave up. I was on the brink of giving up and going to Sylvia's hotel when three girls showed up. I was in! At least, in the patio. They were not at all the downstairs neighbours: the downstairs neighbours are conspicuously absent. They did help me, however: one of them let me use her phone to call the emergency houding something (she had the number), and on the phone they told me I could pick up my key now, but I'd have to go to Weyburn Terrace, and I would have to pay extra rent.

I didn't feel like worrying about money. At that point, I'd been awake more or less non stop for 22 and a half hours, and I just wanted to get into the damn apartment. The girl who helped me showed me the way, and off I was, with my backback, into the big dangerous city. Oh, I'm exaggerating, it was only a ten minutes walk, but still. My big bag I just left in the patio: I didn't think anyone would want to steal 31.2 kg of clothing.

The woman on the phone had been very annoyed with me, but at the housing office the people were very, very nice. It took me a long time to find the pdf file that proved I'd indeed been accepted at #014 in 558 Glerock Ave. and to find my student ID number (I knew it by heart, it turned out, but looked for the file to be sure). It took a while, but then had it! My own key card, entrance to my new apartment.

The guy who helped me (a student, I think) drove me back (he lives across the street, it turns out), and even helped me carry my bag upstairs. I'd been stressed out when things weren't working out in the beginning, but we talked about Tarantino (he spoke with him last year at the premiere of Kill Bill) and the Kings of Convenience, and I finally started to feel like I could actually feel at home here.

And which here is that? The apartment has a rather large living room, with TV, a kitchen, and two rooms about as big as my last UC room, but with two beds each. Also, it's very, very filthy. Now, you know me, when I think something is filthy, then it's really bad. There is actually a pack of Roach traps standing here. *shudder*. On the positive side, apart from it being dirty, the apartment is also vey cosy: there are posters and pictures everywhere (someone here aparently has an Angelina Jolie fetish), and the couch I'm sitting on is very comfy.

Tomorrow, I'll explore the town with Sylvia (if she can find this place), and at night Nicole should be there. A guy named Mark (Marc?), my "apartment co-ordinator" just came by to say hi and meet me and all that, saying also that he has a vacuum cleaner (meaning we don't...). He's really the kind of guy you expect in California, talking rather slowly, hands in his jeans pockets, and a wool hat.

I really am here. Wow. I stink though. So, shower it is, and I guess I'll just crash on the couch after that, seeing how in both rooms the beds have been pushed together as double beds, and look kind of dishevelled and covered with stuff. It's a nice couch. I'll sleep fine.

Leave comments if you like!

Greetings from LA

Hedwig