Los Angeles so far

Life has been hectic recently. That's why I have not updated on my stay in Los Angeles so far. UCLA is not as vibrant as i thought it would be. Classes were pretty much like NUS lectures, although it may be that there are more foreign students during summer. My classes so far have been surprisingly boring. I found myself dozing off sometimes. Marine biology and pornography classes are not supposed to bore me. Maybe it'll get better for the next weeks to come.

I went about travelling quite a lot over the weekend. I visited two theme parks, gone around Hollywood and visited 2 museums. The first theme park I went to, Magic Mountain, is the best one I've gone to so far. The rides are all hardcore kind of rides, not for the faint-hearted. It's a pity that there's a lot of people there and we had to queue very long for each ride. The queue can go up to 2 hours long. But every ride i took was worth the wait. Universal Studios was pretty disappointing. I expected more from there. Didn't manage to finish the attractions as well.

Hollywood was even more disappointing. The walk of fame was just another ordinary pathway and the whole area looks shoddy. Nothing like the glamourous place I was expecting.

Travelling in Los Angeles is difficult. The area is so big it can take hours to go from one end of the city to the other. Public transport is inefficent but it is the only way to go around for us. I had to do a lot of planning to get to the place I want. It is tedious but there's a lot of satisfaction from seeing the trip come to fruition. Many a times, we had to walk many streets to get to where we want, exploring many areas along the way. The walking distances are vast, I walked about 3 km to get from one place to another today. I feel that walking through the streets makes one learn more about the city. It is adventurous trying to find directions by ourselves as well. Along the way, there's also interaction with the locals when we asked for directions. It makes for a better travel experience. I don't think I can ever get the same kind of satisfaction from guided tours.

There's still a lot of places I have to go to. Top of the list is Legoland. I'm determined to get there, no matter what it takes. It's in an inaccessible place and so far I still have not figured out how to get there. The last option is to drive a car up there, which I am not enthusiastic about. I remember the movie Harold and Kumar goes to White Castle. I remember what they said as they went on a search for the White Castle burger, going through many situations along the way. It's not about the burger, it's about the fulfillment of a dream. I feel like that now, when many a times we had to find our way to the place we want with great difficulty. But the feeling I got when I finally reached the place is very satisfying. It feels just like the American Dream.