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Finding My Way In LASarah Hathaway '09, communication management and design major, spends spring semester 2008 at Ithaca College's Los Angeles program |
Friday, March 28, 2008
Spring break week was a whirlwind of fun. I don’t think we ever stopped going. I wanted my friends Dan, Erika, and John to see as much as they could of Los Angeles and the surrounding cities. By the time the week was over I had made 6 trips to the airport to pick up and drop off my friends.
The first night they arrived we planned a bonfire on the beach with some other ICLA friends. My friend Dan and I enjoyed chasing the tide in and out, however, ther e was that one wave that won. Dan was left with no sandals and both our jeans were almost completed soaked!
On Sunday, we all piled in the van and made our way down to San Diego for a two day excursion. We walked on Mission Beach, visited Old Towne San Diego, and watched the animals at the world famous San Diego Zoo. I was so excited to see one of my favorite animals, the koala bear. Most of the Koalas were sleeping in the tree but I didn’t care. They are just so adorable.
After our trip to San Diego we went on other adventures around Los Angeles. I brought the out of towners to Hollywood Boulevard to experience the Walk of Fame, the Chinese Theatre, the famous Kodak Theatre, and to a view of the Hollywood sign. As we walked down the street we took pictures with some of our favorite cartoon characters like Spider Man, Snoopy, and Buzz Light-year.
My roommates Kelly and Ally are so wonderful about driving me around LA since I don’t have a car. Wednesday, they were both busy with other plans so we had to walk everywhere. I am surprised John, Dan, and Erika still wanted to be my friends after I made them walk over 6 miles in one day! Anyway, John’s dad works for Universal in Boston, Mass so he hooked us up with free passes to Universal Studios Hollywood. When we arrived there we found out they also threw in front of the line passes for us. This pass allowed us to ride our favorite rides several times with out waiting! It was great!
After Universal we made our way down to NBC studios to watch a taping of Jay Leno. I was so proud of myself for arriving a couple minutes ahead of the time they told us we should be there. However, my excitement quickly left me as I realized the tickets were first come first serve. They definitely did not make that clear on the tickets we received! So, we waited and waited unitil finally we were let in at the end of the last group. Someone must have been watching over us. I would have felt horrible if we didn’t get in and I made my friends walk all that way and wait in line for nothing. As we walked into the studios Jay Leno was on stage talking with some people in the audience before the show started in his causal clothes. It was nice to see him interact with his fans before the show. The guests on the show that day included singer, Landon Pigg, tennis pro Novak Djokovic, and one of my favorite comedians of all time, Bill Cosby. After the show we thought about going back to City Walk at Universal Studios for dinner but by the time we made it back to my apartment we were all pretty worn out from our busy day.
The next day we all packed into Ally’s car and explored West Hollywood. We went to the LA Brea Tar Pits. Historically, the Tar Pits are one of the world’s most famous fossil sites, known for having the largest and most diverse collection of extinct Ice Age plants and animals in the world. It sounded pretty cool but after we got there my favorite part of the day was walking around the sculpture park next door and taking crazy pictures with my friends. The Tar Pits were located only 15 minutes or so from the famous Rodeo Drive. Since we all knew we wouldn’t be able to afford anything in any of the stores on Rodeo Drive or main motivation was our visit to Sprinkles bakery. Sprinkle’s is famous for their delicious cupcakes. It costs $13 dollars for four cupcakes. Does the fact that they are mouth-wateringly scrumptious justify spending that much money? Absolutely!
Is it possible to be sick of going out to dinner? In the past week we went to In and Out Burger, Panda Express, Carl’s Jr., an Italian Restaurant called BJ’s and a Mexican restaurant called Don Curos or something. Great food, but I am glad to be back in the routine of cooking for myself and not spending so much money on food.
It was hard to say good bye to my friends as I saw them off on their plane flights back home. I am sure it was even harder for them as they knew they had to go back to the snowy cold weather at Ithaca. Even though I could have just crashed all day Sunday and used the day off to recover from such an action packed week, I had to use my 2fer pass to Disney’s California Adventure up by this middle of the week or it would expire. Darn!! Haha. A group of us made our way to Anaheim ,CA around 10 am Sunday morning. Personally, California Adventure was more exciting than Disneyland. I finally got to experience my thrill rides like the California Screamin’, the Tower of Terror and the Maui boomer. My favorite ride of the day was Soarin’ Over California. It was an inside ride where you were placed in seats modeled after a hang glider and lifted up off the ground. They placed you in front of a huge screen and once the ride starts it brings you over different parts of California like the Redwood Forest, Palm Springs, Los Angeles, Mammoth Mountain, Napa Valley, and back to Disneyland. You could smell the pine trees and the orange trees as you soared overhead. Definitely, one of my favorite rides of all time. Other highlights of my day were going on the tour of a Mission tortilla factory and getting the warm tortilla right off the rack, singing and dancing along with the High School Musical 2 parade, and going on the Grizzly River with all my friends and getting soaked. Stay tooned for my weekend with my cousin and my friend 21st birthday party!
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
I was so happy to have my parents and my sister Leah visit last weekend! The first day we drove to the Santa Monica Pier. The weather was a little chilly on the coast but nice enough to walk around the beach and wade in the water. The sunset was expected around 5:30 p.m. so we decided to eat at a Mexican restaurant at the end of pier. The restaurant was in a prime location to look out the window and see the sunset in the distance. Unfortunately, the clouds ended up blocking the sun as it lowered in the sky and disappeared before it hit the horizon line. Still a beautiful sight to see.
On Monday, we spent an adventurous day at Disneyland. This was Leah’s first time at any of the Disney's and we wanted her to experience the magic it has to offer! I felt like a kid again, enjoying the rides, the sights, the food, and my families company. Our favorite rides of the day/night were Indiana Jones and Space Mountain. We ended up staying for the fireworks at the end of the night. Watching fireworks, especially ones narrated to the Disney music and voices are so magical. They truly make you feel like you are in another world.
The last day of their visit I brought them to a taping of Ellen. My co-worker in the audience department hooked us up with great seats in the row Ellen dances though at the beginning of every show. All of us were excited to be in several camera shots throughout the episode. The guests on the show that day were Christina Aguilera; an 8 year-old boy who wrote a book on how to get girls, and a couple that used Craig list’s Missed Connections to find each other after meeting on an airplane. I am so happy I could give my family the opportunity to be a part of The Ellen Degeneres Show and show them where I enjoy spending my time interning.
On Thursday February 28th, the Pendleton Center staff members held a Mentor Reception night with current ICLA students and Ithaca alumni. This event was a great way to start networking with Ithaca alumni who have found jobs in the Los Angeles area. While there were many recent graduates, I was impressed that several alumni from the class of 1996, 1999 and 2000 came by to chat with us as well. I think the most interesting thing to hear are the transitions from the majors completed at Ithaca, to the jobs they started off in, to their present jobs. It is always reassuring to hear many of them say they were unsure of what they wanted to pursue with their degrees. There are so many areas of the entertainment industry alone that interest me and picking one to focus on in is going to be a challenge. One of the graduates made a comment about Ithaca students that I wanted to share with all of you. "There is just something about students from Ithaca. They are hard workers who know how to work with people. The impression of Ithaca College students out here is very positive and I am so proud to say I was part of a school with so much credibility." I could not agree more and I hope we will continue to impress others with our skills, confidence and dedication to our work for years to come.
I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of my friends from back at Ithaca this coming weekend. I am sure they are stoked to get out of the snow and enjoy a spring break in sunny California. So far, we plan on heading down to San Diego for two days, hitting some beaches in Malibu, going to Universal Studios, and riding all of the roller coasters at Knott’s Berry Farms! That’s it for my news report form sunny California! I hope you are enjoying the 50-degree weather today...and what it’s supposed to be tomorrow? 10 degrees?
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