Getting Here

Los Angeles. A large city made up of five counties (Greater Los Angeles Area) with an estimated population of over 17 million. Clearly this is extremely intimidating and something I didn't really think about when I decided to move, BUT I'm so glad I did.

(aside from the gloomy weekend we had this past weekend, this is exactly what LA looks like every day)

Hey everyone (especially those of you in Ohio) and welcome to my blog!

I wanted to make this blog cause I want to let everyone know how things are going in my life on the other side of the country because, frankly, everything here is completely different!

In this blog I will try to post a weekly summary every Sunday evening. I want everyone at home to get a taste for what it's like outside the bubble of Ohio. I was fortunate enough to travel a lot in high school and college and I got to see that there is life outside of New Philadelphia, OH. Now that I'm living in it, I want to share my experiences with others!

So my journey started two weeks ago. Dad and I drove from New Phila to Los Angeles in three days! It actually was surprisingly easy with the two of us. We would go about 775 miles every day while switching off every 150 miles. We stopped in Joplin, Missouri and Albuquerque, New Mexico and eventually made it to LA by 7pm on Wednesday.

My first visit here in January was with my friend, Angela, who showed me all the greatness of LA. But driving into the city was a wake up call. See, the nice, the more expensive part of LA is on the west side of the city but in order to get there, you have to drive through the gangy, run-down, cheaper east side of LA. I was absolutely terrified to see that the Paramount Pictures studio was in the heart of a latin ghetto. Once we got to our hotel, I was also put off by the fact that it was right on a busy street across from the CBS studios where they tape American Idol (I know, AI is Fox, but Fox rents out the studio space from CBS) and the room was really small. Overall, it was just a bad experience the first night. Dad said that I wasn't allowed to leave him there alone! Haha!

Anyway, so after a couple of days, we got used to the area. Right behind us was a beautiful residential area and about a block away was The Grove/Farmer's Market which is a really trendy outdoor shopping center and food court. I got the hang of the AREA but driving was a completely different story. The first night I was driving, I was in an intersection that had a Red Light Camera and it definitely took some pictures. I don't know if they were of my car or another one in the intersection, but I'm waiting to hear from Mom if she received a reportedly high (about $500) ticket in the mail with my face in my car on it! Talk about a "Welcome to LA from the LA Traffic Dept." Needless to say, Dad drove the rest of the time he was here.

So while Dad was here, we met up with Wes Hagan. The Hagan's are family friends. My dad rented from Mr. Hagan for the archery shop and Mrs. Hagan was in my Handbell Choir at First UMC. Both of them are so sweet and their son is no different. We had lunch with Wes and we got to talking about my move out here. Among various advice to "not get discouraged," he graciously offered us a tour of the Sunset & Gower Studios where he is currently the Locations Manager of the TV show The Event. We went the following day and got to see the recreated White House set that was originally used on The West Wing! It was really neat and of course, I loved it since I love all backstage stuff! It is also really comforting to know someone out here who is from NP and has been out here for 15 years, knows the area really well, and is willing to help me out if I ever get in a jam.

After a couple days of resting since it was raining, it was time for Dad to go home. I took him to the airport and off he went! I was feeling a mixture of happiness and sadness. On one hand, I was sad because that safety net that was my Dad was gone but on the other hand, I felt true independence; something I haven't felt in a long time!

Now its just a matter of getting adjusted, aquainted, and settled in this big city!