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LA, Irvine…on the move

Now that I'm done setting up Carlo in his new single apartment, which is a loft in an old industrial building in downtown LA, Arts District, with about 1,500 ft.² space, I'm heading back to Irvine to do my own. I don't know exactly when I can move in but I know what I need to feel comfortable, so just one trip to Ikea and one click to Amazon and all is well.

LA is great and very different from Irvine as it is filled with small individual shops, bars and cafés instead of Irvine Company buildings with shopping centers that are all the same (which is nice too, as you can get all you need and you know where you can buy stuff). The "Urth Caffe" (spelled exactly like that!) is one of those great individual restaurants in the Arts District where you can buy funny things like "Green Tea Espresso" but also very good organic food, like scones, tasty sandwiches, cereal and all you can imagine for lunch & breakfast. If you ever go to LA, do not miss the opportunity!!!

We also visited a few bars and clubs in the evenings. One of particular interest is "Room 5" which is on the 2nd floor of a restaurant in West Hollywood. It is a room of about 600ft.² with a bar and a small stage where two or three bands perform each evening. The interesting part of this is the fact that University of Southern California students with a major in "anything music" make out the biggest group in the audience and also on the stage. The performances therefore are quite enjoyable. You should stop by there if you should come to be in LA. Maybe you'll see Carlo play! 
Interesting was also the Arts District itself. Carlo had not been out much there yet so we explored the ground around his appartment. We already knew the "Wurstküche" where you can get German beer and all kinds of Bratwurst, from the original to rattlesnake & rabbit meat sausage (I tried Alligator and it was good!), so we walked around a little further in the district that we would compare to Prenzl.Berg in the late 90s...a developing mekkah of arts and individual stores. The district borders on Little Tokyo, a very Japanese area where we got Frozen Joghurt on our way home.


In the inner city, West Hollywood, where Carlo stayed in a friend's apartment, there are many great clothing stores with a wide variety of fashion. I got a decent pair of long jeans for $9.99 and 2 short ones for 19.99 each (Urban Outfitters). Also, I finally bought a decent guitar so I am a little closer to starting my new 10-months-life at Irvine, OC…now how to get all that back to Irvine by train…

Anyway, David dug up another living opportunity for me to check out, it might be a little more expensive, but from what he says it is also a lot nicer than the place I was going to move into, so we'll see...also I could move in earlier. The guy from the other apartment called me and said that he does not want to move out until October 1^st which would be complicated because school starts 26^th already…well, life becomes even more exciting…!

Continuing party:

Hey, I’m here for about 2 and ½ weeks now and days seem to start flying by. I have finally found a decent place to live (cancelled the University housing contract…2 people in 1 room = impossible), set up a bank account, have my German crew and my High Society crew and surely will get to know loads of other people on the way. On the 26th I will move into my new room which is great, but more about that in 12 days.
The nightlife here is a little different here than in Berlin. People here say they heard that in New York, clubs have open until 4, even 5am which to them seems incredible. The cops seem very interested in stopping people from driving home at 2am when the clubs close and take their money or put them in jail. There is also a difference in handling the music here, as DJs in California do not play CDs but DVDs and on the big TV and projecting screens, you see the music video to the song they play. The boys here seem to be a lot keener on looking good than in Berlin, with fancy clothing (*bling bling*) and crazy hairstyles. Also, there are a lot more old-young couples hanging around – money makes the world go ‘round, I presume…anyway, for me not so much, thank you.
There is one club here that is much like SchwuZ with the GMF/weekend feature that it turns gay only 2 nights a week, called “Lucky’s” at TiaJuana. It’s the regional gay club where people usually meet and the place to be. Boys are good there too. Got a few numbers if you are interested ;D
On Thursday, Angel, a 22 years old designer(->http://www.dreamercollection.com/) I got to know here) took me to a party in Hollywood called “TigerHeat”, which might have been the biggest gayest party I was at with the biggest amount of richest gays I have ever seen live. After having eaten in a restaurant that serves breakfast 24/7 (Denny’s), Angel asked me to drive back because he was too drunk. Me, no license with me, having driven 3 years ago the last time, on an American freeway, in an American car (automatic)…well, ya gotta to what yeh got to do so I drove home 40 minutes and it actually was fun :D but tomorrow I will do the theoretical test for getting a driver’s license. Just for those lovely cops that stand on every street corner...
Anyways, on wednesday I will go to LA to meet Carlo and help him moving into his new loft apartment. I will stay a few days and try to get to know LA a little better so I can show you around when you (yes! YOU!!!) come to visit me.

I’ll keep you updated. Write comments! :D

So now I am in California for about 5.5 days and I guess I can count them to the most eventful days of my life.
In the last 3 days I made some very cool new friends at the pool who helped me out with my living situation for half a day (thanks guys, love ya!), went out to party at a club called “Tijuana” which was quite an eventful night, went to San Diego with my hosts and had a blast (=pretty good time) there, found a decent cup or coffee (at “Pete’s Coffee”), ate at in&out burgers (delicious!), went all around the campus in Irvine which is huge and has a mall, a big food court, a recreation center with swimming pool, tennis courts and all you can imagine, got sun burnt almost all over (too much time at the pool & in the water) and changed hosts once (now I live with Andrew and his flatmate, they are martial arts trainers who have a very cool house in the university district of Irvine).
Everything is great, the only thing that makes me a bit weary is the switching of hosts and the problem of having no room, no private space. Sure, my hosts were always very nice people so far but not having a private area that is yours and sleeping on couches in the living room can be very annoying as you always feel like being “on someone elses territory”. Anyway, I think this feeling will pass with time and on 20th latest I will have my own bed so no worries! :)
Tomorrow I will go and check in at the UCI international center so I get my student ID and will be able to use all the interesting services and facilities the campus has to offer. Also, with my visa verified by the University of California, I will be able to re-enter the United States so I can pursue my plans to visit Mexico, maybe Costa Rica and Canada.

LA - a first impression

I’m sitting on a huge monster plane (Boeing 747 – 400) and in 5 hours I will be in LA, this still seems so unbelievable! Sleep? Not really but I am still very much awake and excited. Now I’ll try to get some sleep and write more later…so f***in hot in here!!!

- Cut -

LA is so unbelievably great!

After the sleepy evening yesterday, meeting my (French) hosts, a couple in their mid-20s, who live in a gated community in Irvine with furnished appartments, swimming pool and many other great amenities, today, after watching the newest Futurama episode online, I went to a shopping center to get some stuff and came back with a mountain bike (& bike lock ->mom don’t be afraid, I am careful for this 150$ bike not to be stolen!), a t-mobile card and a mini usb charger (phone) which altogether cost $207. Getting the phone card did take up quite some time because I am not American so I went to Starbucks (Americans CAN’T make a decent cup of coffee!!! Sugarwater with milk maybe…), read the USA Today newspaper and after those 5 minutes, I got over to the internet terminal and did some email & facebook for the next hour.

This evening we first went to Newport Beach (beach) where people have big bonfires and barbecues (here you don’t throw a party, you have a barbecue!) and then to a restaurant there called “Joe’s Crab Shack” which was crazy and sort of just like you see it in American movies…dancing waiters that make a fuzz when a certain drink (“shark bite”) is ordered or go up to party tables and sing birthday songs…also I ate a Crab Burger today. With fries. :D

- PS: Photos are on facebook as I just do not see how to align photos to my satisfaction using this program -

bye...

so, now it's 11 hours to go and I finally have time to sit down and write something - wait, just a second - ok, so now it's 10 hours to go and I have time to write something. Last week was awesome! The goodbye party was a blast and I had lots of fun meeting friends all week, also it was good to see that all the organizational stuff got done by the by. On sunday I had a great evening eating a 4 course menue in a completely dark restaurant with good friends - a unique experience!

I am sitting at my parents' dinner table the last time this year. It's hard to imagine that I will not see you all for like 10 months. What will change during that time; what will stay the same? Who will stay and who will be gone when I come back?
This is all very exciting and I go to California with mixed feelings. I don't want to leave anyone of you behind, but still I have to go because it will be a great year with new experiences.

I'll miss you so much!