Travel Report: DC & Los Angeles

Last time, we heard from each other in Oslo. The journey continues ...

THE STRUGGLE IS REAL

Having landed in Frankfurt, everything seemed to be rolling smoothly until the flight attendant announced that we would have to wait for another hour for people coming in from Brussels Airport, which was closed that day. Considering the flight was getting to DC fairly late already, I wasn't too happy. When we were about to take off eventually, I thought I was in a bad movie. "Do we have a licensed doctor on board?" is definitely not what you want to hear when you're late already. Luckily the lady who had a heart attack survived and we were eventually able to go to Washington. 

As usual, I picked the slowest moving line at immigration, so I only made it into the city by 2am. Shoutout to Justin here, who gave me a place to crash despite not knowing my personally. Would have loved to spend more time with him, but due to the flight delay that wasn't possible.

BACK IN AMERICA

After cold days and even colder nights in Riga, it felt great to go outside and to take off my scarf, my jacket and eventually my sweatshirt. It was nice and warm. My last trip to the states had been in 2013, so I was ready to get in all the great American food that I have missed so much during that time. #1: Krispy Kreme donuts and Iced Coffee for breakfast.

If you haven't had this .. just do it

DC is fairly familiar to me, so I figured I would just go to the White House, read a bit there and then move on to the second greatest museum of all time (in my book): the Smithsonian Museum of Air and Space. If you haven't been, GO. It is totally worth it. (In case you are wondering: the greatest museum of all time is the "Deutsches Museum" in Munich). 

After picking up a sunburn due to a deep conversation on a bench with look to the White House, I was ready to fly out to Los Angeles. 

LOS ANGELES: CITY OF THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE

With my arrival at Los Angeles International Airport, I checked an item that is on the bucket list of every Lacrosse player for obvious reasons: fly into LAX. My travel mate Kai picked me up, and we checked off another food that we had to get. #2: Double Cheeseburger with Fries and (Diet) Coke at In-n-Out! 

The next day, we started off with a quick surf session (the first one I had done in years, went pretty well though) followed by a nap - after all, it was already bedtime in Germany. We also drove to the Walk of Fame, which is highly unspectacular. Everybody knows the Hollywood sign from postcards, photos, posters and whatnot, but in reality, it is absolutely not impressive - just some letters on a hill. Same goes for the walk of fame, which is basically a sidewalk with stars on it.

.. and that's about as spectactular as it gets

At night, we met up with my friends Adam, Danny and Emily to hit the city. Los Angeles has lots to offer: a bar in a fish tank, a great rooftop bar and also an old factory that hosted an awesome party. 

It took us a while to get going on Saturday, but after a hearty breakfast of black beans, eggs and avocado (which we ate everyday) things started rolling. We met our friends at a place called "The Bungalow", which is by the Santa Monica seaside. I highly recommend going there: not because the location is awesome (although it isn't bad), not because the drinks are cheap, not because the music is mindblowing. No, go there because you will NEVER EVER see such a accumulation of attractive people in one place again. This goes for both guys and girls. I am by no means homosexual, but I did fall a little bit in love with the male bartender. I also fell in love with girls around 37 times just walking around the place. Maybe love at first sight is real?

Double Cheeseburger with Train
Wreck Fries (1000 Island
Dressing, Onions, Cheese)

This experience was followed by another magnificient one. We all got together at our AirBNB to have a few drinks before heading out and I have to say, that was probably the best two or three hours I have had in a long time. Adam had flown in from Chicago (we spent lots of time in Madrid), Danny & Emily plus a few of their friends already lived in LA and were there, John and his sister (who are friends of Adam's that I already knew from Madrid) just happened to be in town. It was a huge reunion and it was awesome! 

Sunday was the day of the lord - we drove around the city, had the best burgers I have had in a long time (grass fed beef from happy cows that ... you get the idea). Los Angeles also has a pretty cool flea market, and I was tempted more than once to buy outfits for Carnival there. From there, we drove to dinner with Adam's parents (it is always amazing to meet your friends' parents, because it makes you understand why they are the way they are). 

WHY I WOULD NOT BE THE PERFECT FRAT BRO CONTRARY TO POPULAR BELIEF

Would have loved to attend
this party

We had yet to see where our friends went to school at UCLA, so we drove to the campus and took a small tour. UCLA has probably the liveliest campus I have ever seen, with a constant stream of people walking everywhere. It is a lot different from German campuses, where people actually just go to class and that's it. No college sports, no clubs, no on-campus living, no nothing. Just classes and research. 

The best thing that happened to us that day: being called "chill" by kids from California. If you have been around Californians, you know that this is the highest accolade that you could possibly receive. 

Of course, we also had to see at least one fraternity house. The guys were super chill and showed us around, and what I saw greatly diminished by excitement about fraternities. The parties and the people are incredible, but the living situation was awful. Three people on a bunk bed on a total of maybe 8 square meters with a huge landfill right behind the house? No thank you. My apartment may be messy (and those of you who have been there know), but it is a lot better than this. 

Afterwards, we dropped off Adam at the airport and rode off into the sunset. Sunset means in this case: San Diego. 

THE PEOPLE SHAPE THE EXPERIENCE, NOT THE PLACE

I absolutely loved Los Angeles. Or should I rather say: I absolutely loved my time in Los Angeles? We actually did not see a lot of the city, and I have no regrets. Spending time with close friends who I had not seen in a long time was amazing, and at the same time we got to know lots and lots of new people. Kai met my other friends, both of us met my friends' friends and so on. I have learned something throughout the past week and the past months that certainly also is true for you: if they are friends with your friends, you will most likely connect with them too. Great way to meet new, awesome people!

Chavales Digest, March Edition

This is quite a post. If you're still here, great! If not, I promise I will also write more pieces that are more content and less diary in the near future. :)