Traveling home and thinking back...

Deb and I fell asleep before we packed a thing. We woke up bright and early at 4am to accomplish the task. We fit everything in our suitcase, but were a little concerned about the weight factor. We left our hotel at 5am to venture to the metro station. We had three connections that were actually perfect timing for us before we caught a shuttle to the airport, arriving in plenty of time for our plane and right after Jenny landed back in Maryland. We were able to explore the terminal a bit before our flight and do some last minute souvenir shopping before we sat down at our gate.

Our plane was to board at 9am and right at the time we got the news that our flight was canceled. Now I had promised Deb to be calmer for this pre-flight journey (I stress over bags, checking in, security, etc.) But at this news I could not remain calm. We quickly got in line at the counter and Deb called a number they gave us to try to rebook a flight very soon. She got through and found a flight that landed at 12:50am the next day, but I heard 12:50pm and was very firm on that not being sufficient as I had class the next day at 11am and 2:10pm, neither of which I would be able to make with a flight at that time. She finally got me to understand the time so she booked it, but we stayed in line as people seemed to be booking earlier flights as they got to the front of the counter. When we were the next ones in line the staff informed us that they had to move to the next flight coming into that gate and we needed to relocate to a different area for information. Deb and I booked it to that place and waited in line to find they were booking most people on a flight that departed at 1pm and arrived in Dulles at 8:50pm. While not ideal it was good enough. We were switching airlines to United so we were directed to baggage claim; in less than an hour our bags would be there. That proved to be completely inaccurate.

Regrettably we learned we would have to go through security and check-in all over again so we had to throw away some of the food and beverages we bought, but we waited patiently at the baggage claim. For one hour, then two, and in the end over three. They placed our flights bags back with the mainstream ones and were now trying to locate them. It seemed completely disorganized to me and ridiculous as we neared closer and closer to our new flight's departure time. We got our bags finally, after all their promises that they would be a few minutes for hours a little before 12:30pm for our 1:05am flight. There were some other students coming from New Zealand that were having our same issue so at least we weren't alone. We were at terminal 3 for our bags and our flight took off from terminal 7. We ran, with all of our bags, from one to the other (no short distance let me tell you), my legs were about ready to fall off when we rode the escalator up to check-in. We were met with a line at United and only one worker. (At baggage claim we were asking the staff if they could call over to our check-in and security and see if there was anyway for them to speed us through since our bags were not coming very quickly, but they simply told us they could not guarantee anything). A couple was at the counter for over 15 minutes, we have no idea what was taking them so long. Thankfully we learned our flight was delayed thirty minutes giving us a slightly larger window and one of the members of the other group was able to check in slightly earlier (his bag came before the rest of us) and he went to find assistance from United who helped us all cut the line and check in. We had to pay for our bags all over again, which American promised us we wouldn't, but time was running out so we did that before rushing over to security. Taking off your shoes, belt, coat, removing your liquids and computer from your bag all for the second time was very annoying when we were under such a time crunch, but we made it through and hurried to the gate. No one was even boarding yet and the time of the plane's take-off was getting delayed, leaving me wondering if our flight at 3:15 which had a layover in Dallas and had us landing at 12:50pm but was at least with American (so we wouldn't have had to check our bags all over again and such or run from terminals) would have been the same landing time at this point. We did board an hour late and Deb and I were not seated next to each other because of our late booking of the flight. She did get a seat with more leg room, which was good for her, and I was in an aisle seat. The stewardesses rushed to get us airborne as many of the people on the plane had connecting flights to make.

The overall plane ride was pretty boring and I was not able to sleep for very much at all. We landed after 10pm and it took a while for our bags to come through (not over three hours, but still a while), but our bags did make it YAY! While we arrived much later than we anticipated, but it did mean we did not have to deal with the rush hour traffic of DC. When we got home I literally grabbed clothes and shoved them in a bag and we were off to school. I did say hello to my brother before we departed and apologized to my dad for our very quick departure. We were on the road by 11:30pm. We stopped at a McDonald's in Clarksville for our first "meal" of the day (having had a small breakfast before our original plane was to take off. I guess you need to be flying for at least 6 hours to get a meal because for 5 hours you don't even get peanuts or a bag of pretzels). It was below freezing on our drive and it did begin to rain/sleet, but we did make it safely to school around 1:30am. I took minimal items into my dorm because it was so late and so cold. I ended up simply taking a shower, throwing some blankets on my bed and going to sleep at around 3am. I was pretty tired as I had gotten around 2 hours of sleep the night before and had been up for almost 24 hours that day, with a full day of classes awaiting me when I woke up.


Looking back, I am very glad I went on the trip, but it did not leave me wanting to move to LA and become involved in the film industry. First of all the traffic is absolutely horrible out there. Secondly, the experience did not leave me with a positive outlook on making it into the movie industry; you basically need to know someone who knows someone and not have a fall back plan or you will never make it in the industry because there are no openings out there. Even though the weather was nice and warm, it became too warm by the end of the trip (partly because we were not expecting it to be quite that warm so we did not have the appropriate attire) and we were ready to go home. When we got back Deb and I had so much fun just blowing in the air and seeing our breath. The snow seemed out of place on our drive back to school. After walking to class and back in the morning and at night though I wish it was a little bit warmer over here sometimes, but I couldn't trade the snow.

Our time in LA draws to a close

Today was our last official day in LA. Jenny was scheduled to depart at 11:30pm. We started off the morning by exploring downtown LA. Many sources affirmed the necessity to see this monument in downtown so we went. We left the metro station and saw no such monument, which was supposedly right there as you exited. We did see a Denny's however and we decided to eat brunch there. After a little exploration we found this "monument", which we thought was not really all that exciting, but at least we could say we saw it. We ventured a little bit more and then went to abc studios. The studios were on private lots, so we were not able to go inside and tour them, but we did see them and walk all the way up the hill to try and see if we could say more (I am not a hill climber). We never really got too much of a better view, but we did walk all around the studios and explore a bit more of the area than we planned in the process.

We did a little bit of shopping on the street near our hotel, where we were able to find Deb a suitcase and high heels! We went back to the hotel to pick up Jenny's suitcase and then took Jenny to Universal City area, since we thought it was something necessary for her to see. After a little bit of exploration we decided to have a nice sit down dinner. There was very little time to explore afterward and we ventured down the hill and to the metro with her. We thought she was pushing it close, as evident by my worries, but she did catch her flight. Deb and I went back to the hotel to begin the task of packing up and prepare for our flight home in the morning.

photos from our last day in LA

Walking in the path of the Stars

This morning we walked along the streets with stars, but there are just so many we were not able to see them all. We were asked about five thousand times if we wanted a tour, and it was very hard to politely keep saying no thank you, especially when some of them proceeded to be rude. We also explored the hand and foot prints outside the Chinese theater; included were such individuals as some of the Star Wars cast, the Harry Potter trio, Johnny Depp and many others. We ventured to this little mall area for lunch and a bit of shopping and spontanity. We tried to take a picture with the Hollywood sign, which you could see in the distance from the third floor of the mall, but the sign was too far away to get a really good shot.

For the afternoon we took public transportation to Beverly Hills. Getting off the bus in Beverly Hills felt like were were so out of place because it was unbelievably nice. Jenny had a map of famous individual's houses and we explored a little. I felt extremely stalkerish and weird so I did not do as much exploring as Deb and Jenny. We did find Tom Cruises' house and saw a couple limos.

From Beverly Hills we walked towards the Golden Globe location. Our first hotel was actually the wrong one so we ventured further to the correct one. We learned upon arrival if we had been there around 10am we might have gotten passes to go in and see the stars enter, but we were simply across the street trying to catch a glimps of anyone, to no real success. Many limos did pass us by and we even used my long lens to try and see farther. There was some satisfaction in knowing that we were merely feet away from where all the stars were gathered together and we could hear some of the commentary.

We arrived back at the hotel in time to catch the second showing of the Golden Globes and then we passed out before midnight once again.

photos from today

A Day at the Beach...in the middle of winter?

We decided to venture to the beach today. Getting off to a slightly later start than anticipated we traveled on metros and buses to make it to the beach. Along the way we ate lunch at Johnny Rockets, and continued our love of milkshakes on this trip. We also watched a street performance that Deb ended up being a part of. Upon finally sighting the beach we realized it was in fact much lower than us and across a major highway (we were looking off of a cliff). Fortunately they have a tunnel bridge across the highway to assist with this dilemma.

While it has been very warm for us in LA it ended up not quite being warm enough for a beach day excursion, at least not to dip in the water anyway. We laid on the beach for a little while, touched our feet in the water, and took many sunset pictures before deciding to explore the nearby pier. It ended up being dusk and nightfall so the lights came on and it was very pretty. Deb attempted various games: whac a mole, ring toss, darts, and ended up with a killer whale stuffed animal before we started our trek back. It was interrupted to get my name done in creative letters, which I've always seen and thought were cool, but never actually gotten one done before. :) Today was considerably less walking than yesterday, but still a full day of traveling and experiencing LA which left me wiped out again.

photos from today

"Look to my right, and I see the Hollywood sign"

Today was the end of our career immersion part of the trip and the day of Jenny's arrival. We had breakfast for the first time at our hotel. It was pretty good food, but the service was not quite up to par. Deb and I hung out at the hotel after everyone else departed for the airport. We just stayed in the open courtyard awaiting for word from Jenny that she was close. We checked in to our other accommodations with a little arguing with the manager who wanted to change things at the last minute, but it all worked out in the end.

Today's adventure involved going to the Hollywood sign. Now the base of the trail you climb is approximately 3 miles from our hotel, so we walked that. Right as we arrived at the entrance to the trail Deb veered off to climb a separate hill she took an interest in. As Jenny and I climbed this large hill, the sun began to set rapidly so I told Jenny to run on ahead and I would meet her there. Little did I know the adventure this would ensue. Later on in the trail I hit a v and I wondered why Jenny had not waited to inform me which direction she went. I realized that I had Jenny's bag and she had mine and my phone was in my bag. I searched her bag, but alas found no phone. As I stand perplexed at the v in the road I consider the two options: the first is to stay on the front of the mountain, but go down and the second is to go up but go what appears to be behind the Hollywood sign. Neither of these options seem like the correct choice, but I decide to take the path that continues going up, reasoning that maybe it wraps around. After hiking for a while I have officially gone on the other side of the mountain and can now see out to the other side of the city. The sun is almost complete set, and I reason that the next person I see I will ask to borrow their phone and call my phone to find out where the other two are. I do not see anyone else on the hill and it has become completely dark. Needless to say I start to worry a little bit as I climb up this mountain, in the dark, with no phone, and no idea if I am going the correct way. Suddenly I hear a phone ring so I move things around inside Jenny's purse in search of it and find it in a hidden compartment. I answer, but her phone has seen better days and that is no easy task now, and the service goes out (we are up a mountain on what we find out to be opposite sides). I eventually get a signal and call back to find she is on the other side of the mountain and has found Deb and they are perplexed as to where I am but they think they know where I might have went so they are heading that way. I decide to continue up the mountain ans I have reached the side and it looks like it will wrap around and I will hit the Hollywood sign, perhaps both paths come to the sign just from different directions. I reach the end of the path with a tall telephone tower type structure and look below me to see the Hollywood sign is in fact underneath me; I had climbed the entire way up the hill and over the sign. I call Deb and Jenny back and tell them, to their shock, that I am above the sign.

We did eventually meet up and I took them to the top of the sign, as their path never actually took you to the sign. It is completely night before this point so we take pictures, but the lighting was not very good. We even venture up a little mound to take more pictures and look out at the city, before we embark on the trip down the hill and back to the hotel.

On the way back we decided to find food and we ended up going to the Hard Rock Cafe again for dinner. Being pretty exhausted we crashed after that.
photos from today

Dwarves, Walt, and Mickey

Today was our earliest wake up to date on the trip with a meeting time of 8:15am. We then trekked off to Santa Monica to give our presentations. The first group had an idea of pro fighting with kids. Our idea was a beer and wine show around the world. Two hosts would take you around hte world to experience the local drink of the region. You would go from the small family business to the big corporation in each area. Jim called us out on using hand held cameras because "everyone does that" probably because I was in charge of talking about the cinematography. He also applauded us for having Anskar and me seperated int he line-up; he seems to think Anskar and I argue every single moment. The final group did a cheap travel show.

Disney Studios was our next stop and it was AMAZING! We got to go on the lot exploring different stages and we even got to go into the archives. The archives were started by Dave Smith. He retired in November, but he just happened to be there today so he gave us a personal tour of the archives. It was so awesome. We got to see the Wardrobe from the Chronicles of Narnia and so many other things. It was definitley one of the highlights of the trip. They took us back to the hotel from the studios and a few of us decided to go to the Hard Rock Cafe in Hollywood. We trekked up the metro in Universal and got off at a stop right outside the restaurant. The restaurant was expensive! Our waitor was also pretty bad at service causing Rachel to ask to speak to the manager. Nevertheless it was fun to hang out with a larger group from the trip on our last night. We even got to see a live band (Paper Factory). The next band on was Lifehouse, but it was a closed show so we were not allowed to stay.

Anskar, Paul, MJ, Steph, Deb, and I hung out in our room for the rest of the evening finding really obscure things on television to keep us occupied and producing a great deal of laughter. It's sad to think our trip is over, but it is right in the middle for Deb and I as Jenny arrives tomorrow for our continuing adventure.

photos

Oscar himself

We were told we did not have to dress up today in fact the people we were visiting would look at us weirdly if we did, so today was a jeans day. We made our way to the Academy Film archives. Jim's classmates from Wisconsin grad school work there and gave us a special presentation. We saw some old movies and how they go about restoring the film. Most of us thought it would be a pretty tedious job, but they love it.

From the archives it was a complicated adventure to make it to Jay Leno. We have reserved tickets, but that doesn't mean you get to go in, it simply means you might get in. We had to venture up the same hill to find a taxi cab. I got yelled at walking to the studio because I took a photograph on the street (I guess when you get into the proximity of the studios it is a bad thing). She proceeded to shout at me for a good few minutes. We made it to the studio and waited outside for quite some time and then ventured to right outside hte studio where we got a ticket and then got in another line. It was a long wait and it was a question of whether we would get in. The whole group did get in and our section of the group (Deb, Chennelle, Kathleen, and I) sat in the back left corner. It was really cool to watch a live taping of the show (well sort of live). He films it in an hour segment but it doesn't air until later that night. It was interesting how he was all smiles when the camera was rolling, but then he gets rather solemn when it goes to a "commercial break". They had two guys who came out to keep the energy of the audience up during those breaks. I really liked watching the camera switches and movement of hte steady cam when the signer came on.

After Leno we went to city walk and a bunch of us ate at Panda Express, to the disgust of Jim who told us many times that it is not real Chinese food. Our conversation consisted of many thigns but mainly Jim warning us that our metabolisms would go bad. We went to a brewery area next and explored that a little bit before adventuring back to the hotel.

Since Thursday is our last official day we had to prepare our presentations for the next morning. Dominique, Thomas, Steph, Anskar, and I were in a group and we spent forever trying to come up with an idea. Our idea is a tv show called Port to Port. Hopefully our presentation will go well tomorrow.

(pictures in the same album as the first day)