June Gloom

Few days ago I thought, "I've been in Los Angeles for almost 2 weeks now, and I have YET to go to the beach." I had to fix that problem.

I wanted to plan a morning to go to the beach with group of The Academy interns whom I have made friends with. My current roomie, Andrea Saavedra and I woke up at 8:30am to leave around 9am for Santa Monica Beach! Sadly, "June Gloom" is still with us (even though it is officially July). What is "June Gloom" you ask? Well, let me tell you. As soon as I arrived in Los Angeles, the people here were explaining this weather forecast to me. Unfortunately, L.A. is not as warm and sunny all the time as you may think, especially in June. Every morning you wake up to cloudy skies. Usually, the sun will come out each day around noon, making it pretty warm outside. Once the sun starts to set around dinner time, it gets pretty chilly outside again. I've learned to always to make a cardigan part of my outfit each day. So, "June Gloom" was with us for most of the day. The beach was pretty foggy looking. When I went to Santa Monica Beach in January you could see everything very clearly, but not during June!

Although, even with the cloudyness we still got some sun on our faces. A bunch of Academy Interns found us on the beach. I got Zac Kinman and Sullivan Fitzgerald (Sully) to play nerf vortex whistle football with me on the beach. It was awesome! Around noon we were all getting hungry and went to this new mall nearby to eat. From there we went to Santa Monica strip that is home to many popular stores like Urban Outfitters, Forever 21, Ed Hardy, Michael Kors, American Eagle, Zara, and tons more! What is neat about this outdoor road is that it is the home to many types of street performers. Crowds of shoppers gather around to watch them perform their music, dancing, or other talents. After I came out of Forever 21 I saw one of the interns, Minh Vu had been pulled from the crowd to be part of his man's acrobatic act. It was fantastic.

Next, I took Andrea to Hollywood Blvd to see the Walk of Fame stars, the Chinese Theater and the Kodak Theater right next door. She tooks dozens of pictures with the stars and hand printed slabs at the Chinese Theater. I took Andrea, Minh, Melanie Lubin (fellow IU student!), Jason Ikeler, and Brian Pacek to the Kodak Theater balcony to get a good view of the Hollywood Sign in the hills. By this time we were all draggin from a long day of walking and being in the sun. We all said our goodbyes around 8:00 pm. I got home around 9:00pm and ate the best bowl of fruit loops I've ever had and crashed. So yes, Andrea and I were in bed by 9:30pm on a Saturday night in Los Angeles. ha.

Now we have to figure out what to do next during this long 4th of July long weekend! I'll let you know what happens.