Los Angeles Placement Program

Having been lucky enough to spend some time on the East Coast of America on exchange at Boston University, I thought I had developed some sort of understanding about American culture that could be transposed in the city of LA. Having taken my chances on a big jet plane, I soon realised my perceptions were incredibly wrong.

Whilst the East Coast/West Coast divide vocalised for decades in the workings of Tupac and Biggie holds true to some extent, the very nature of contrasting lifestyles between the East and West Coast could not be more noticeable. Take New York for example- a high paced, densely packed, centralised city that serves your every need within walking distance. LA is much different. My rose-coloured perception that I would be riding around campus, to and from the beach and quite possibly to work on a Friday morning, was shot down by the reality of how widely spread out LA actually is.

Matt and Shruti at BOA Steakhouse

Today, Matt, Jun and I had the amazing opportunity to hear Governor Michael Dukakis speak and meet him in person. It was fantastic, he had some really great ideas on how to move California forward, such as investing in infrastructure to promote smart growth in revitalising existing urban neighbourhoods rather than encouraging more urban sprawl.

Yesterday, Matt, Shruti and I ate at BOA Steakhouse, again, as part of DineLA and BOA was once owned by Ryan Secreast. OMG the food was so good. I had potato and leek soup as my entree, Matt and Shruti had the calamari (which I got to try a bit of and it was SO GOOD), and then we all had the filet mignon for our mains, and I had a lemon meyer creme brulee whilst Matt and Shruti had the chocolate chip cookie and vanilla bean ice cream for dessert. The food was so amazing!

Mmmm, steak!

We’re three weeks into our internships and study at UCLA and we’re loving every minute! The workload is tough, the assignments keep on coming and there’s not much time to just stop and soak it all in, but it’s definitely been an incredible start to our time in Los Angeles, California. Between balancing interning four days a week and studying four nights a week, we’ve managed to squeeze in a fair bit of touristy things. So far we’ve been to most of the hot spots, including Beverly Hills, Hollywood and my personal favourite, Santa Monica.

Profiteroles I ate today at Bouchon!

I happened to arrive in LA at just the right time! There is a 12-day dining event called dineLA's Restaurant Week which gives locals and visitors the opportunity to enjoy a selection of specially priced prix fixe lunch and dinner menus from some of LA’s best restaurants. (in other words, eat at fancy restaurants for really good prices!)

Yesterday, Shruti, Jun, Alice and Aaron and I went to Sushi Roku in Santa Monica on Ocean Avenue by the beach. OMG the food was AMAZING. Here are photos:

We had a three course lunch, and Alice and I ordered the Hanabi, which is tuna on crispy rice (the crispy rice part was SO GOOD)

The others ordered the salmon sashimi. Which I tried and was so fresh too! Yummm.

My main was crispy salmon on a bed of mash potato and seaweed with gravy. The gravy was to die for!

For dessert we all ordered the chocolate volcano. There was the option of fruit as well but who wants to eat fruit??

The Grand Canyon - more than just a hole in Arizona!

Wow, week 2 already! This week has been so exciting and absolutely packed and very full on. Found out that we have an exam already next week! Was going to study but then the lecturer said it was multiple choice and true/false, so I might just wing it. Jokes. I read the textbook on the 6 hour bus ride to Vegas, which Tina and I went to this long weekend. Vegas was extravagant and just dazzling. Although I'm under 21 so I couldn't go into the casino areas, I didn't really mind, it was still an amazing experience nevertheless. Plus I'm terrible at working out probabilities so it was probably for the best. It was awesome, we saw Cirque Du Soleil (which gave us both some gymspiration), ate at a fancy French restaurant (mmm, foie gras and escargot) and visited the Grand Canyon, which was absolutely breathtaking. Makes you realize how small we really are.

The beautiful Getty Center in Malibu

Wow time flies! I've already completed a week of my placement program. I'm currently interning at Santa Monica City Council in the Culture and Community Affairs department and my main project is to complete the annotated bibliography for the Civic Auditorium. Sounds like it'd be a snooze! But it's actually very interesting to learn the history of the Auditorium which hosted the 34th Annual Academy Awards. Luckily I also have many side projects such as being on the task force for the ceremony to recognize arts leaders in the Santa Monica Community and also helping to organize the Santa Monica night arts festival, 'Glow'. I'm loving my placement, it's in such an amazing location with Santa Monica pier about a block away and the Santa Monica Place (an awesome shopping center with Bloomingdales and Nordstrom), everyone in my office is super friendly and everyone loves my accent.