Ok so first off I have no idea why I'm dong this but I am so here goes nothing...
So as many of you know I'm am spending the semester out in Los Angeles CA with the Ithaca College LA Program. For those of you who don't know what that is i'll try to explain what it is as best I can. So the Ithaca College Park School of Communications has a satellite campus in LA because we have far too many alumni and a ton work out here. Every semester Park sends about 80ish students out here. We are given housing in the Oakwood Toluca Hills Apartments on the border of Hollywood and Burbank. All students (and yes we are registered as full time students) are required to take 2 classes at the Pendleton Center down the street and must have one or two credited Internships.
Ok so now that you know sort of what I'm doing here's a recap of what's happened so far. So I flew out to LA from New Jersey, my home state (yes I'm a Jersey Girl, how many of you does that actually surprise? I really want to know) on Saturday January 7th at 7am. There were 7 other IC students on the flight, some of which was spent sleeping. After we landed and got our bags we headed over to the apartments to check in, get our keys, and sign some papers that said we'd be good neighbors, keep the noise down, not have any "parties" and yada yada ya... Finally after all that we were given our room assignments (the actual building and room number we were gong to live in) and keys and the flight went our separate ways. When I finally got to the room it was mid afternoon. I was the first one of my roommates to arrive (although Sam, Lauren and Anissa got here not long after) so I decided to look around before they got here. The apartments is actually REALLY nice and it will be a long time until I live in as nice a place as this again. I probably should take some pictures of the apartment and post them...maybe I'll do that this weekend, we'll see.
But the apartment is completely furnished, has 2 bedrooms (comfortably fitting 2 people per room), 2 baths (each with a toilet, shower, sink/counter and mirror), and a common room (which connects to a balcony) containing the kitchen (with a stove/oven, microwave, fridge, sink/decent amount of counter space and ton of cabnets and drawers) living room (with 2 couches, entertainment center (but no electronics or TV) coffee table, and desk and chair) and a kitchen table and chairs. The bedrooms are as i noted before are fairly large. Sam and Lauren's room (the smaller of the two) has 2 beds, a night table, and a large dresser and two nice size closets. Mine and Anissa's room, while having 2 beds, and a large dresser, has a large walk in closet and 2 end tables, so although the rooms are a little different their more or less the same. Also I should mention that each room connects to its own bathroom.
OK so this is where things got interesting, so Sam had a friend who was out in LA last semester and she didn't want to ship all of her stuff (pots and pans, towels, cleaning supplies, siverware/cookware, plates and bowls and cups...90% of the stuff was for the kitchen...hangers and a tv) so we decided to buy it from her for cheep. But when everyone got here we realized that all the stuff was down at the school in boxes, and there was too much to carry back/we didn't want to break the tv, and that we wouldn't have a car of our own (Sam, Anissa, and Lauren were renting a car) until Monday, although it was Saturday it was too late to get it and it wasn't open on Sunday, so one of Sam's friends who already had his car, volunteered to bring us to Target to get the few things we needed and while we were there we all agreed that since none of us had eaten much all day to stop and eat at a burger place close by.
After we got back from Target, we started to unpack as best we could and after the girls went out to a friends apartment to hang out, I was too tired and decided to relax for a bit and then went to bed.
Sunday morning the girls and I were looking though the folders and papers that we had been given the day before with helpful tips on living in LA and at the apartments, the rules of the apartments, and some information about the IC program and orientation which started on Tuesday, we saw that the Oakwoods provided a complimentary Sunday brunch from 11-Noon and decided to go. The brunch was nice, they had coffee, tea, hot chocolate, water, apple and orange juice, donuts and bagels, it was nice to see a few friends from IC that were also here and to meet a few new people. While a Brunch the group I was eating with decided that we wanted to explore Hollywood and we had all agreed to meet up and go downtown around 2pm.
So after we met up and got on the bus to go downtown, another large group they seemed to be high school/college aged kids also got on and we chatted on our way down. Now to make this story make sense, the group that had decided to go downtown was made of Me, Alyssa W, Alyssa O, Colleen, Alexis, Stacey and Christina and Jenna, Now we were all sitting together near the back and the guy sitting in front of us was from the large group that got on when we did. So we decided to be nice and friendly and strike up a conversation. Well the second he opened his mouth all of our brains started to melt for he was Australian and was in LA with his performance group till the end of January, he introduced himself as Jessie and we introduced ourselves, they had been in NYC for a few weeks before this. Well as we were talking we tried to explain American Geography, for he asked us where we were from, so we told him the states we were from and he understood a little bit (mostly because we were from NY, NJ, Connecticut, Virgina (right outside DC), and PA, which he sort of understood then we told him we went to Ithaca in New York and he thought we meant the City, so we tried to explain that there was more to NY than just the city witch was interesting, but we then changed the topic to school and why we were out in LA, and that discussion was worse than trying to explain US geography to him, because half the time we didn't know what we were saying. Well when we realized that we had to get off at the next stop he asked us all to Facebook friend him, the bus stopped and we all got off and went our separate ways.
After this interesting bus ride the girls and I walked up and down the walk of fame pointing out the people we recognized and taking pictures, after a bit we decided to stop and have lunch someplace but as we walked we realized that every third shop was a NY style pizza shop and couldn't find anything else but pizza, so we chose one at random and went in. The pizza was ok, not really NY but... it was cheep and we were hungry. After lunch we continued walking and went over to the Kodak and Chinese Theater, after we were done there we had to catch the bus to go back to the apartments.
So we caught the bus and at the next stop after we get on who do you think gets on... The Australian Performance Group from before, now we were sitting in the front and Jessie decided to sit behind us and we started taking again, this time about shops and clothes and food and prices and what not. Now right before we got to the apartments we noticed that about a block away there was a white van with signs on it saying "1 hour massage" and parked right behind it was a trailer. Why we hadn't noticed this before who knows but it creeped us girls out. When we got off the bus to go back to the apartments Jessie asked what buildings we were staying, we told him the buildings, he wasn't sure where they were so we said goodby and walked away. At this point Alyssa O pointed out that had he been American we wouldn't have said half the things we did, but whatever none of us friended him on facebook and we haven't seen him again so alls well for now, and we all agreed to try to never be that stupid again.
So the next day, Monday, Lauren and the rest of my apartment went out to get the car early that morning and by the time I woke up had already left, saying they'd be back with the stuff from the school, and we could officially unpack and go grocery shopping. After we got back from shopping and everything was all nicely put away, we decided to go over to the pool for a little while (yes there is a pool, actually there are 2 one on either end of the the property, its a pretty big property, and there are also 2 hot tubs one by each pool, like I said before it is a VERY NICE complex)
So the next day, Tuesday, we had day one of Orientation, all of the IC students met up in one of the Event room/Lounges and again we were told all the rules and expectation of the Program and Apartments as well as the fact that we are not only Interns we are IC interns and should protect the reputation the the school has, yada yada ya... after Jon and the Steves (Ginsberg and Tropiano) the heads of the ICLA program, the head of Oakwood service and Oakwood Chef of Security spoke we were given lunch, which consisted of multiple kinds of sandwiches and either water or soda. After lunch we all went down to the Pendleton Center for a tour, to get our pictures taken for ID purposes, and so Jon and the Steves could explain the class and internship aspect/paper work that we are required to do while we are out here.
So after we were done at the Pendleton center I walked back with some of the guys I knew, who live in the building next to mine. Now after I came back Sam and the girls came back and said that they were going out (if you haven't gotten the drift yet my roommates like to party)
Next day, Wednesday, the ICLA took those of us who wanted to go for a hike up to the Hollywood sign, we spent most of the afternoon hiking and everyone had a blast, a though hike is really a guided path, there is really very little way you can get lost unless you go off the trail. So Alyssa W, Jenna, Jackie and Colleen (referred to from this point on as the girls from R, because their sharing an apartment) and I took our time up at the top and on the way down we came across a wild peacock, we were all sort of stunned and amazed that he was there, mostly because we didn't know where they lived in the wild, we knew we'd come across a coyote at some point because they live in the hills around LA, but not a peacock.
But anyways that was the end of that day, and I don't really remember what happened the following thursday or friday, I don't really think I did much those few days, just work on securing a second internship, hanging out at pendleton and relaxing by the pool.
Saturday however, a group of IC kids decided to go downtown and walk the hollywood strip and see the Wax Museum. So I went down with the girls from R, Quina and Stacey, and we had a blast! There's not really much to say other than there are three floors of celebrities made of wax. The only thing that I feel is worthwhile saying is that they are all a lot shorter than I though, most of them weren't that much taller than I was and I'm 5'4.
Ok so now here's where the really fun/you get extremely jealous stuff comes in...
Sunday was the Golden Globe Awards, and I you don't know what that is why am I friends with you again? But anyways because all of the IC kids out here are Park majors everyone wanted to go and see if we could crash/be in the bleachers/something so we all went over to Beverly Hills and to the Beverly Hilton Hotel and guess what???? They let the group I was with, and I think all of the IC kids that went, GOT IN!!!!!!! I was able to get a few good photos of people, but the quality sucks because we were so fare away, but whatever I was there!! It was one of the Best Days I have had in a long time and I'm so thankful for that experience!
So that was the weekend and then we hit Monday, MLK day which I completely forgot about until a few days before so Sam, Lauren, Anissa and I went grocery shopping and that was about it, I was able to realx and begin worrying about stuff. Like classes, which started the next day. So yes technically I'm only taking 2 classes Electronic Media Criticism and Government and Media, and yes they only meet one day a week (for 3 hours) but still its the first day of classes. But classes seem like they'll be fun. Tropiano teaches Media Crit, and that will more than likely be my favorite class, because for half of our class we watch TV and critique it. Government and Media however may be a little bit more difficult just because its a night class and its a really dense subject, but I'll get though it.
and now on to Wednesday, I had an Interview for an Internship at Good Worldwide, their slogan/target audience is "For People Who Give a Damn" its actually really cool check out their website here. I really hope that I get it because it would be amazing to be able to work with people who are trying to open peoples eyes to whats around us and whats really happening.
It is now Thursday and I really should get some sleep because I start my Internship at Paper Gun, a small indy post-production company here in LA, so I'm praying that everything goes well with that, but I know that I am not alone in anything I do and I need to just remember that everyday.
I'll update this when I can/when something exciting happens.
Nervous, Excited, and Never Alone
Corinne
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