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!

OMG OMG OMG OMFG…8 days to go and I am constantly tense – no sleep. Everything sets itself into place now, even the thing with letting my room in Berlin. I came back from Paris where I was for a week with some friends, excited and amazed of that beautiful city…after this experience to me it seems unimaginable what is going to happen in a few days when I get out of a British Airways Boeing 747 in LA and start exploring my new field of action. Paris, Berlin, London, Los Angeles, San Francisco…it all seems like a dream right now – rich businessmen talk – but still this is real!


Anyway, things have to be done. The last days of work, saying goodbye to friends – just not enough time – I don’t want to miss anyone!!! I imagine myself texting and skyping the whole day just to keep in touch with you all…crazy. Anyway, I will try to update this blog weekly to give you a good picture of what happens in the sunny state!