Hello again!
It has been almost two weeks this time since my last blog post...sorry! Again I have been extremely busy and so when I get home I basically just go to bed.
This past week has been a mixture of emotions because everyone who was just in the 4 week filmmaking program instead of the 6 week went home. I didn't think you could make friends that you cared about this much in 4 weeks! I would say that the hardest goodbye was to Omayra Espino, she is this great girl from Puerto Rico who I hope will come visit or vice versa. I think her last film was one of my favourites that my classmates have made thus far. It was really well done and quite a creepy story!
Tomorrow will be my last day of shooting here in LA. All week we have been shooting our final projects. There are only four people in the 6 week filmmaking class so we each were given two days to shoot our final project that we all chose to shoot on digital. I only ended up using one of my days and another girl in my group only used one day so we had our first days off since being here! It was nice to be able to just relax.
I guess we didn't really relax though, we went to Disneyland! It was incredibly hot when we went on Tuesday and still there were so many people. It was crazy, most of the lines were over an hour long. Even with these conditions we managed to have a great time! The saviour of the day though were those stupid fans that also spray water because it was just so darn hot and you would stand in the sun for a long time waiting. The highlight of the day would have to have been splash mountain. I was in the front of the little log boat that you go in and I got totally soaked along with all of my stuff. We all got pretty wet and then we couldn't stop laughing for quite a while. I always think that I hate Disneyland but it was quite a good time and we ended up staying until around midnight.
On Sunday I had my film acting debut! I was the main actress for my friend Leticias last film. I can't wait to see the result, I just hope I did a good job for her last movie. It was a fun day because we got to shoot at the beach and it was another hot day so when we finished shooting I went swimming in the ocean in the dress I had been wearing for the shoot. It was really refreshing and a lot of fun.
Monday I shot my film and although I think I am happy with the footage I shot and the performances my actors gave me I am nervous because we haven't started editing yet and I don't know if it will cut together well. I will be able to relax once I see the footage on Monday. I used one girl named Catrina who was in the 4 week acting program who luckily stayed around for an extra week. She is always fantastic and I love working with her. For the other actress I used my friend Tamaris who was in the 4 week filmmaking program but she was kind enough to act in my film.
I shot my movie on July 4th so after we finished filming we all went to the pool at a big apartment complex and listened to a band they had playing then went over to someones house to watch the fireworks.
Other then that it was been a busy couple weeks with classes, editing, going out, and all the other things you can do it LA. I have a few more films that I haven't put online yet because they are apparently too big to upload to the sight I have been putting them on. I will figure something out and then post the two videos I haven't shown you yet!
I come home in just over a week (next sunday) and although I can't wait to see my family and friends I will definitely be sad to leave all of the new friends I have made and just the general routine I have gotten into here. I love making movies all the time. By the end of this I will have my name in the credits of 20 short films which is an insane amount for 6 weeks! It is a great start though and I can't wait to have my name in 20 more movies! I hope you all had a good couple of weeks. I miss you all!
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Hurry up and wait, or maybe just hurry up!
It has been over a week since my last post but life has been absolutely crazy! I have had very little time to myself but it is a good problem to have. Everyone always says the movie business is, hurry up and wait, hurry up and wait; but, this week it just seems like it has been hurry up.
Sunday and Monday we shot our Continuity films for our third movie. I was super excited about my idea, it was simple but it would use time wisely which was the goal of the project. Let me tell you how our shooting days work, we have four people in our crew. Each person gets to direct their own movie so our Sunday/Monday is broken into four 5 hour time slots for shooting. I directed my film Sunday morning at my apartment. I thought that the shoot went extremely well and was very excited to see the film after it got processed. However, we learnt (right after my shoot) that we had a defective lens and therefore, everything shot with that lens was out of focus.
I edited the footage I had even though I would say 95% of it was out of focus. When I showed my film to the class I was extremely surprised when I got positive feedback from my directing instructor. He said that even though everything was completely out of focus that he could still see my story and he thought that I had taken his notes from the first film and really applied them to my movie. He was also very impressed with my actors and I would have to agree. I thought that both gave me very good performances. The interesting part about my film is that only shots of hands are in focus; therefore, my instructor said that I should re work some things, add in some sound and then he thought that I could have a really artsy film. I am now working on implementing these changes and I will post the link to the video once this is done.
The other exciting part of this week was editing my production workshop that I shot last Saturday. We had that stupid lens again so some shots are out of focus but I just had a lot of fun editing it. It was the first real test of my editing skills since being here and as always there are always going to be things that you want to fix but in general I am very happy with it. If you haven't seen it check out the link! http://vimeo.com/25536666 I warn you, at the end there is sound.
We had a writing class this week that I think was the most helpful class we have had thus far. We just did a writing exercise to help us develop our ideas for our two upcoming films and originally I was very stuck but after completing the exercise I have concepts for both. I have never thought of myself as a writer but I really enjoyed coming up with these two very different ideas.
Today we shot my first idea which was for a music film which is just our footage but to music. I think it went really well, it was a crazy but fun shoot. I am editing it this weekend and I can't wait to show people!! I also worked on a classmates shoot today and it was crazy! I am excited to see how it turns out because I think the shots were cool but I have no idea what it is about really and I was there! So we will see.
Oh, I almost forgot! Thursday I went to the Universal backlot again and we shot another production workshop on the European set this time. It was an awesome set (Pirates 4 was shot mainly there when on land and not in a jungle) that had a lot of different alleyways and if you are my friend on Facebook that is where my profile picture was taken.
Other then that, I went out a couple nights this week. Last night I went to a movie at the LA filmfest called Mamitas, that was directed by my camera class instructor named Nick Ozeki. It was a pretty good movie, it isn't my favourite genre but I thought stylistically it was cool. I haven't decided if I liked the main guy yet but the main girl was great! I would love to work with her on a film. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised because it was Nick's first feature film.
It is only 10:26pm but I have another long day of shooting tomorrow (I had around 12 hours today) and I need to get lots of sleep or I will not be able to function. I am excited though because we are shooting on Hollywood Blvd.
Have a great week everyone!
Sunday and Monday we shot our Continuity films for our third movie. I was super excited about my idea, it was simple but it would use time wisely which was the goal of the project. Let me tell you how our shooting days work, we have four people in our crew. Each person gets to direct their own movie so our Sunday/Monday is broken into four 5 hour time slots for shooting. I directed my film Sunday morning at my apartment. I thought that the shoot went extremely well and was very excited to see the film after it got processed. However, we learnt (right after my shoot) that we had a defective lens and therefore, everything shot with that lens was out of focus.
I edited the footage I had even though I would say 95% of it was out of focus. When I showed my film to the class I was extremely surprised when I got positive feedback from my directing instructor. He said that even though everything was completely out of focus that he could still see my story and he thought that I had taken his notes from the first film and really applied them to my movie. He was also very impressed with my actors and I would have to agree. I thought that both gave me very good performances. The interesting part about my film is that only shots of hands are in focus; therefore, my instructor said that I should re work some things, add in some sound and then he thought that I could have a really artsy film. I am now working on implementing these changes and I will post the link to the video once this is done.
The other exciting part of this week was editing my production workshop that I shot last Saturday. We had that stupid lens again so some shots are out of focus but I just had a lot of fun editing it. It was the first real test of my editing skills since being here and as always there are always going to be things that you want to fix but in general I am very happy with it. If you haven't seen it check out the link! http://vimeo.com/25536666 I warn you, at the end there is sound.
We had a writing class this week that I think was the most helpful class we have had thus far. We just did a writing exercise to help us develop our ideas for our two upcoming films and originally I was very stuck but after completing the exercise I have concepts for both. I have never thought of myself as a writer but I really enjoyed coming up with these two very different ideas.
Today we shot my first idea which was for a music film which is just our footage but to music. I think it went really well, it was a crazy but fun shoot. I am editing it this weekend and I can't wait to show people!! I also worked on a classmates shoot today and it was crazy! I am excited to see how it turns out because I think the shots were cool but I have no idea what it is about really and I was there! So we will see.
Oh, I almost forgot! Thursday I went to the Universal backlot again and we shot another production workshop on the European set this time. It was an awesome set (Pirates 4 was shot mainly there when on land and not in a jungle) that had a lot of different alleyways and if you are my friend on Facebook that is where my profile picture was taken.
Other then that, I went out a couple nights this week. Last night I went to a movie at the LA filmfest called Mamitas, that was directed by my camera class instructor named Nick Ozeki. It was a pretty good movie, it isn't my favourite genre but I thought stylistically it was cool. I haven't decided if I liked the main guy yet but the main girl was great! I would love to work with her on a film. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised because it was Nick's first feature film.
It is only 10:26pm but I have another long day of shooting tomorrow (I had around 12 hours today) and I need to get lots of sleep or I will not be able to function. I am excited though because we are shooting on Hollywood Blvd.
Have a great week everyone!
Saturday, June 18, 2011
The Edge Of Glory
I am slightly freaking out right now! Everyone who knows me I think knows that I am a HUGE Lady Gaga fan.
I was just watching the Edge of Glory video and all I could think is that it all looked really familiar. Then I saw a shot that I will post a picture to. It is where I was shooting today!!! The Tavern that you see in the sign is where one of my group members shot their video toady. The shop on the right with the lamp in front is the exact location of my video.
I can't believe I shot a video in the same location as Lady Gaga!!!!
Also, I have seen two people from Pretty Little Liars. I was walking home from class one night and I looked at a car and it was the woman who plays Hanna's mom on PLL. Then the next morning I was looking in some of the cars and I saw Lucy Hale aka Aria on PLL. I stopped and just started starting. She was talking on her phone and she looked at me staring at her and slowly turned away. It was pretty funny but I was just excited to see her.
I am trying to go to sleep right now but am just too excited that I shot in the same place as Lady Gaga!!!
Sorry for the bad quality but the first picture is from her video and the second one is from a video I took toady and you can see where we are starting to set up! Under the Tavern sign. AWESOME.
Sorry for the bad quality but the first picture is from her video and the second one is from a video I took toady and you can see where we are starting to set up! Under the Tavern sign. AWESOME.
New York, New York!
It has been a crazy week!!! That is for sure. The week has been flying by and all of the days have kind of blended together. Today was my highlight but I will get back to that.
Classes this week have been good. We have just been continuing building all of the basics that we have started learning about and preparing for our shoots tomorrow and Monday. We had one new class this week, editing with an instructor named Matteo. He is a really cool guy! He is Italian and really knows what he is talking about. He has been taking us through using Final Cut Pro and he is making the daunting program look simple and straight forward, for the the most part at least. I know there is still a lot to learn but I feel a lot more confident in what I am doing and I know that I can at least put together a movie on the program.
I got to edit my first film that I shot, the Mis En Scene, and screen it for our class. I was happy with how it turned out and I will put the link to it on this blog, feel free to check it out and constructive criticism is always appreciated!! The link is, http://vimeo.com/25217683
Today was probably my favourite day yet. We had what is called a production workshop and we got to go shoot on the Universal Studios Backlot. We got to shoot on the New York set which was cool because due to fires and Spiderman 3 not many students have been able to shoot on it lately. I got to direct a scene in the morning and I think it went really well! Both of my actors were great and were very respectful and I think I got good performances out of both of them.I will be editing it some time this week and I will make sure I post it on here afterwards.
The day was super long and hot but it was extremely worth it. Being on the backlot was a really neat experience and to think of the people who have walked down the same streets was mind blowing. Like I said they just finished shooting Spider Man Three in the exact same spot so it's pretty cool to think about that. It is amazing just how much the sets seemed like New York and when you start looking around you realize just how complicated everything is as well as just how fake all the sets really are even though they look extremely realistic.
It is only 8:00pm but after today I need to sleep! I wish everyone the best and I will see you all soon, there is less then one month left until I come home. At this point there is definitely mixed emotions about that one but it is still a long way away.
Classes this week have been good. We have just been continuing building all of the basics that we have started learning about and preparing for our shoots tomorrow and Monday. We had one new class this week, editing with an instructor named Matteo. He is a really cool guy! He is Italian and really knows what he is talking about. He has been taking us through using Final Cut Pro and he is making the daunting program look simple and straight forward, for the the most part at least. I know there is still a lot to learn but I feel a lot more confident in what I am doing and I know that I can at least put together a movie on the program.
I got to edit my first film that I shot, the Mis En Scene, and screen it for our class. I was happy with how it turned out and I will put the link to it on this blog, feel free to check it out and constructive criticism is always appreciated!! The link is, http://vimeo.com/25217683
Today was probably my favourite day yet. We had what is called a production workshop and we got to go shoot on the Universal Studios Backlot. We got to shoot on the New York set which was cool because due to fires and Spiderman 3 not many students have been able to shoot on it lately. I got to direct a scene in the morning and I think it went really well! Both of my actors were great and were very respectful and I think I got good performances out of both of them.I will be editing it some time this week and I will make sure I post it on here afterwards.
The day was super long and hot but it was extremely worth it. Being on the backlot was a really neat experience and to think of the people who have walked down the same streets was mind blowing. Like I said they just finished shooting Spider Man Three in the exact same spot so it's pretty cool to think about that. It is amazing just how much the sets seemed like New York and when you start looking around you realize just how complicated everything is as well as just how fake all the sets really are even though they look extremely realistic.
It is only 8:00pm but after today I need to sleep! I wish everyone the best and I will see you all soon, there is less then one month left until I come home. At this point there is definitely mixed emotions about that one but it is still a long way away.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Back up plan for a back up plan
It has been a busy few days!! I just finished being a crew member for my first film. We used my apartment to shoot a scene this morning for a 1 minute silent film. I think it went well but we will find out in the editing room!
Wednesday was the day we shot camera tests so we know how the film we are shooting on behaves. It was a very helpful class and we got to actually see how changing certain things on our camera really does make a big difference.
Thursday and Friday we learnt all we had to know to shoot our own films this weekend. We were put in "crews" and got planning time. One thing we were told in class was to always have a back up plan for your back up plan. At first I thought this was over exaggerating but you learn quickly that this is extremely true.
I wanted to shoot my film in Griffith Park. However, you have to get a permit and be able to reserve a spot in the park. I am shooting my film on Monday and I was told that this was not enough time to get a permit. So we tried to get permission to shoot in a certain apartment complex and we still don't have it locked down. I have to go get a form stamped tomorrow morning before the time we are supposed to shoot. I am a little bit stressed but hopefully it will all work out. I have my idea and my actors so I should be good to go.
One fun part of the week was casting for our films. There is an acting class going on at the NYFA at the same time as our filmmaking class. So on Thursday afternoon we had an open casting call where the ten students from the acting class came in and auditioned for us. After that we had a "mixer" where we could approach the actors we liked and ask them to be in our films this weekend. There was one named James who I thought would be perfect for my movie. I quickly went to go talk to him and locked him down for my film. I am very excited to work with him.
The last two nights have been a lot better for me. No more sitting in my room watching hours of TV. On Friday night I went to Pride with one of the girls from my class named Tamaris. She has a car so we were able to leave Burbank which was very nice. We had a lot of fun and she is trying to teach my Portuguese! I am not very good at it but I am trying my best. Tamaris laughs quite hard at me when I try to say something and completely butcher it.
Last night Tamaris, myself and another girl from class named Leticia as well as her aunt went to the beach. We were trying to make it for the sunset but we missed it by probably 15 minutes. We still walked to the beach in Santa Monica and put our feet in the water. Even though it was late and we were only there for about an hour it was fun. Leticia's aunt doesn't really speak english and I definitely don't speak Portuguese so it was really funny when the conversation would switch from one language to the other.
I now have to leave to go shoot the second film of the day! I miss you all and I can't wait to see you when I get back.
Wednesday was the day we shot camera tests so we know how the film we are shooting on behaves. It was a very helpful class and we got to actually see how changing certain things on our camera really does make a big difference.
Thursday and Friday we learnt all we had to know to shoot our own films this weekend. We were put in "crews" and got planning time. One thing we were told in class was to always have a back up plan for your back up plan. At first I thought this was over exaggerating but you learn quickly that this is extremely true.
I wanted to shoot my film in Griffith Park. However, you have to get a permit and be able to reserve a spot in the park. I am shooting my film on Monday and I was told that this was not enough time to get a permit. So we tried to get permission to shoot in a certain apartment complex and we still don't have it locked down. I have to go get a form stamped tomorrow morning before the time we are supposed to shoot. I am a little bit stressed but hopefully it will all work out. I have my idea and my actors so I should be good to go.
One fun part of the week was casting for our films. There is an acting class going on at the NYFA at the same time as our filmmaking class. So on Thursday afternoon we had an open casting call where the ten students from the acting class came in and auditioned for us. After that we had a "mixer" where we could approach the actors we liked and ask them to be in our films this weekend. There was one named James who I thought would be perfect for my movie. I quickly went to go talk to him and locked him down for my film. I am very excited to work with him.
The last two nights have been a lot better for me. No more sitting in my room watching hours of TV. On Friday night I went to Pride with one of the girls from my class named Tamaris. She has a car so we were able to leave Burbank which was very nice. We had a lot of fun and she is trying to teach my Portuguese! I am not very good at it but I am trying my best. Tamaris laughs quite hard at me when I try to say something and completely butcher it.
Last night Tamaris, myself and another girl from class named Leticia as well as her aunt went to the beach. We were trying to make it for the sunset but we missed it by probably 15 minutes. We still walked to the beach in Santa Monica and put our feet in the water. Even though it was late and we were only there for about an hour it was fun. Leticia's aunt doesn't really speak english and I definitely don't speak Portuguese so it was really funny when the conversation would switch from one language to the other.
I now have to leave to go shoot the second film of the day! I miss you all and I can't wait to see you when I get back.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Picking up a camera
Today was my second day of classes and I loved it. We had a hands on camera class from 9:15am-3:30pm. In most movies that are watched that aren't shot in digital 35mm cameras are used. In our camp we will be using 16mm cameras which just means that the film we use is half the size. For the size at which we will be screening our films 16mm is all we need.
We learnt how to set up, operate and load the camera today. It was cool that on the second day of class we were actually handling cameras. I know a lot of film schools where that is not the case.
Tomorrow we are going out to Griffith Park to shoot camera tests. The purpose of these tests is to learn exactly what changing f-stops, lenses, and film does to a shot. We will be screening what we shoot two days after we shoot it to actually see what manipulating different things does to the overall visual of a shot. This will definitely be helpful when it comes to going out on Sunday and filming out own short films.
LA is definitely an adjustment from home. The hardest part is definitely not having a car. There is not a ton to do in my area that is within walking distance so my routine is basically to come back to my apartment and to just stay here. If I continue this for the next few weeks I might go crazy so I will have to make an effort to try to get out more and hang out with someone who has a car! I think I will be going somewhere with a couple of girls from the class on Saturday because one of them has a car. It will be nice to see something other than my apartment and the school.
I have been very good so far at cooking relatively heathy food and making sure I at least work in a couple of exercises here and there.
It is weird living alone, it is extremely boring! I like watching TV but when you feel that it is close to your only option it doesn't seem as great. Plus none of my shows are on! I miss coming home and being able to talk/vent about my day to my mom which was a regular occurrence. And it is weird in the morning not having my dad to say hi to. My i-Pod is my best friend at the moment and I listen to it or watch TV whenever I am back at my place.
I am still extremely excited and I will make sure I wear lots of sunscreen tomorrow because we will be spending 4 hours out in the sun and I burnt myself quite badly Saturday which made me learn my lesson! I hope the world is treating you well!!
We learnt how to set up, operate and load the camera today. It was cool that on the second day of class we were actually handling cameras. I know a lot of film schools where that is not the case.
Tomorrow we are going out to Griffith Park to shoot camera tests. The purpose of these tests is to learn exactly what changing f-stops, lenses, and film does to a shot. We will be screening what we shoot two days after we shoot it to actually see what manipulating different things does to the overall visual of a shot. This will definitely be helpful when it comes to going out on Sunday and filming out own short films.
LA is definitely an adjustment from home. The hardest part is definitely not having a car. There is not a ton to do in my area that is within walking distance so my routine is basically to come back to my apartment and to just stay here. If I continue this for the next few weeks I might go crazy so I will have to make an effort to try to get out more and hang out with someone who has a car! I think I will be going somewhere with a couple of girls from the class on Saturday because one of them has a car. It will be nice to see something other than my apartment and the school.
I have been very good so far at cooking relatively heathy food and making sure I at least work in a couple of exercises here and there.
It is weird living alone, it is extremely boring! I like watching TV but when you feel that it is close to your only option it doesn't seem as great. Plus none of my shows are on! I miss coming home and being able to talk/vent about my day to my mom which was a regular occurrence. And it is weird in the morning not having my dad to say hi to. My i-Pod is my best friend at the moment and I listen to it or watch TV whenever I am back at my place.
I am still extremely excited and I will make sure I wear lots of sunscreen tomorrow because we will be spending 4 hours out in the sun and I burnt myself quite badly Saturday which made me learn my lesson! I hope the world is treating you well!!
Monday, June 6, 2011
LA thus far!
Today was my first day of classes here in LA. Before I get into that I will give everyone a rundown on what has gone down thus far while in LA.
I arrived last Thursday with my parents. That night consisted of getting our rental car, finding our hotel and going for dinner. Our hotel was very nice, the London Hotel. It had a Gordon Ramsey restaurant attached to it that served an amazing complimentary continental breakfast every morning! My favourite were these little chocolate croissants, I had a few too many over the course of three mornings.
Friday morning my parents went down for breakfast while I was still asleep and saw Fred Armisen from SNL. I am definitely still a little jealous of them for that one! We then went to the Griffith Observatory which is a very beautiful place. It is up on a hill in Griffith Park and it was an amazing view of the entire city. The inside of the building has a bunch of information about the sky, sun, solar systems, the seasons and much more. It was definitely worth the trip.
We then went for a late lunch/early dinner on Melrose Ave and it was great. I had a Lobster pizza that was heavenly. I am addicted to Lobster! While at lunch we saw Lyle Lovett, he was wearing a really nice suit and he definitely looked sharp.
Saturday was our beach day. We drove over to Venice Beach, rented cruiser bikes, and went for a ride. We were probably on our bikes for around 2 hours and even though I put sunscreen on I managed to get extremely burnt! The ride was lovely, the ocean is beautiful. I wanted to take a surf lesson; however, my dad and I had made a bet that if he couldn't do 20 push ups we would go. Unfortunately for me he managed to do it so no surfing for me!
After that we went shopping and had some Pinkberry frozen yogurt. It was delicious as always. My mom had never had it and she loved it.
Sunday we went to Universal Studios theme park and had quite a bit of fun. The day started with indoor skydiving for me! My parents both get motion sickness so they didn't do it but they definitely missed out. It was soo much fun. It feels extremely weird but it's very cool and exhilarating. We went on the studio tour and there was a 3D King Kong part that was one of the coolest things I have seen in a while. You sit in a tram during the tour and we entered a tunnel with two huge screens, one on either side of the tram. You have 3D glasses and the movie that is played is similar to the actual T-Rex chase in the King Kong movie. The tram shakes whenever a T-Rex "hits" it so it seems incredibly real. It was the highlight of the day for me.
Then last night my parents and I drove to my apartment and dropped off all of my stuff. We had made a vey large grocery run and I had quite a bit of luggage. I had planned to only do laundry once while here but I found out that the nice lady who runs my building does laundry for tenants once a week! Holy over packing on that one! It was sad saying goodbye to my parents but the last couple days had been amazing with them and was a nice way to leave them. I love them more then anything and it will definitely be an adjustment with out them but it is one I am ready to take on.
Today was my first day of classes and I think it will be a great 6 weeks. I have one instructor named Jonathan Evans and he is my favourite so far. He is very flamboyant and funny so it makes class go by quickly.
There is an extremely eclectic group of kids in my class! The ages range from 18-39 I believe. There are people from Brazil, Puerto Rico, Tanzania, Australia, Saudi Arabi and Russia. It's crazy! I thought I was going to be one of the only people not from the US but I could not have been more wrong.
I will keep everyone updated but that is a rundown of everything so far.
I hope all is well with everyone!
Sorry if there are grammar/spelling mistakes I am trying to edit but I know I will miss things.
I arrived last Thursday with my parents. That night consisted of getting our rental car, finding our hotel and going for dinner. Our hotel was very nice, the London Hotel. It had a Gordon Ramsey restaurant attached to it that served an amazing complimentary continental breakfast every morning! My favourite were these little chocolate croissants, I had a few too many over the course of three mornings.
Friday morning my parents went down for breakfast while I was still asleep and saw Fred Armisen from SNL. I am definitely still a little jealous of them for that one! We then went to the Griffith Observatory which is a very beautiful place. It is up on a hill in Griffith Park and it was an amazing view of the entire city. The inside of the building has a bunch of information about the sky, sun, solar systems, the seasons and much more. It was definitely worth the trip.
We then went for a late lunch/early dinner on Melrose Ave and it was great. I had a Lobster pizza that was heavenly. I am addicted to Lobster! While at lunch we saw Lyle Lovett, he was wearing a really nice suit and he definitely looked sharp.
Saturday was our beach day. We drove over to Venice Beach, rented cruiser bikes, and went for a ride. We were probably on our bikes for around 2 hours and even though I put sunscreen on I managed to get extremely burnt! The ride was lovely, the ocean is beautiful. I wanted to take a surf lesson; however, my dad and I had made a bet that if he couldn't do 20 push ups we would go. Unfortunately for me he managed to do it so no surfing for me!
After that we went shopping and had some Pinkberry frozen yogurt. It was delicious as always. My mom had never had it and she loved it.
Sunday we went to Universal Studios theme park and had quite a bit of fun. The day started with indoor skydiving for me! My parents both get motion sickness so they didn't do it but they definitely missed out. It was soo much fun. It feels extremely weird but it's very cool and exhilarating. We went on the studio tour and there was a 3D King Kong part that was one of the coolest things I have seen in a while. You sit in a tram during the tour and we entered a tunnel with two huge screens, one on either side of the tram. You have 3D glasses and the movie that is played is similar to the actual T-Rex chase in the King Kong movie. The tram shakes whenever a T-Rex "hits" it so it seems incredibly real. It was the highlight of the day for me.
Then last night my parents and I drove to my apartment and dropped off all of my stuff. We had made a vey large grocery run and I had quite a bit of luggage. I had planned to only do laundry once while here but I found out that the nice lady who runs my building does laundry for tenants once a week! Holy over packing on that one! It was sad saying goodbye to my parents but the last couple days had been amazing with them and was a nice way to leave them. I love them more then anything and it will definitely be an adjustment with out them but it is one I am ready to take on.
Today was my first day of classes and I think it will be a great 6 weeks. I have one instructor named Jonathan Evans and he is my favourite so far. He is very flamboyant and funny so it makes class go by quickly.
There is an extremely eclectic group of kids in my class! The ages range from 18-39 I believe. There are people from Brazil, Puerto Rico, Tanzania, Australia, Saudi Arabi and Russia. It's crazy! I thought I was going to be one of the only people not from the US but I could not have been more wrong.
I will keep everyone updated but that is a rundown of everything so far.
I hope all is well with everyone!
Sorry if there are grammar/spelling mistakes I am trying to edit but I know I will miss things.
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