So it's time to write something (read: "all the stuff") about my CRAZY AMERICAN TRIP! YEY! In the end it'll get messy af, so stay tuned. In this post I'll use dates and days, because it'll be easier for me this way. Oh, I'll even make it like a diary!
2nd of August: It was the longest day I'd ever had! I took a plane from Vladivostok to Tokyo (it took about an hour and a half), then I had a 3-hour transfer in the airport, and only after it I had my flight to fabulous Los Angeles that took about 10 hours. It immediately seemed so easy to me, because two years ago we had a 12-hour flight from Beijing to LA. Many people asked me "Why Los Angeles? You've already been there!" The main purpose of my trip, or to be more correct, my main excuse was to see the leader of my group Denis again, and he lives in LA, you know. I thoughts he would help me and host me. And of course I didn't see the whole city of angels on our first time. Also I wanted to use my US visa until it expires. So, here I go, Los Angeles!!Talking about the place of my staying, it's another story. As I've just written I wanted Denis to host me, but his wife was tired of guests, so I was like "Ok, I'm gonna find a host on Couchsurfing!" Denis didn't approve it ("How will you live with a stranger?? It's dangerous!"), he said he would ask his friends to host me. So I waited till July, he didn't find anything, and I did open Couchsurfing and even found a couple of hosts there. They confirmed but... none of them wrote me their addresses! Whaa? All my thoughts were: "Man, I'll have a flight in two days, where will I live? Am I going to sleep on the beach?" And one night before my leaving Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk for Vladivostok, I found some hostels in LA and chose the best variant I could afford. I made a reservation for a bed in a dorm room in Banana Bungalow Hostel in West Hollywood. Later Denis wrote me that it was a good safe district (I've just learnt that it's a city, actually) and close enough to their home (in the end of it all, I've never been to Denis' home). Days after I understood that the hostel was the best decision I could ever made. One of the best decisions I've ever made in my life, and I'll always be proud of it! *AMURICA!*
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| One of the things I adore - the view of clouds from the plane |
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| The food I got on Japan Airlines plane! |
When I arrived at the city of angels, it was about midday, but still the 2nd of August. I had my record 4 hours of sleep on plane and was anxious about meeting Denis. But first of all I had to go through the US customs. And the line before it. But one of the reasons why I like the USA is their customs officials. Because when you go through Russian customs it seems you ought to be afraid of the customs officials, they are way serious. But the American ones always calm you down and everything's fine. My customs official Rodrigez noticed my Batman t-shirt (it was hard not to) and asked if I played video games, shared his current video game and strongly asked me to be careful. "Olga, I'm serious. Take care." And of course I did my best to be careful because HELL it was my first time abroad all by myself, all on my own, me, myself and I. I knew that if that travel went well, I could run the world.
When I finally went through the customs, I met Denis! And also his brother Oleg and wife Margo, they're all Russians (Oleg came just to visit the guys too). All gang took me to the beach right from the airport! Unfortunately I didn't get the name of the beach, but it took about 40 minutes to get there from LAX. The beach was beautiful, and there were a lot of people, because it was Sunday *obviously* I'm not good at swimming at all, especially in the ocean waves, so two attempts were enough for me. But I can't help appreciating the temperature there - when I stepped in the water, I didn't have to get used to it SO HOT *HOT DAMN*
So when we spent some hours on the beach, the guys brought me to my hostel. What was my first impression of Banana Bungalow? I don't even remember. I was like "Ok, just a hostel". How could have I known back then?? But that evening I still had some time to have a walk, and I went down the street to see the area intended for me. I'm actually pretty easy to impress, so I liked the district at first sight. So Amurican!
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| Famous "Farmers Market" |
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| And, btw, a plance at my hostel. It's one of the halls |
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| Anf the view from a little balcony. Well, everything my phone camera could take |
You can understand that I was hella exhausted that day, so I went to bed at about 10 p.m. (how do I still remember that?) - I never went to bed so early after. But it wasn't so good for me actually, because...
3rd of August: I woke up at 7 a.m. Breakfast started at 8 a.m. I was already wandering around the streets at 9 a.m. Almost everything opened at 10 a.m. Do you get my pain? Well, as a traveler, I enjoyed walking around, but as a shopaholic I wanted to Beverly Center, but it was still closed. So when the Center finally opened, I spent some marvelous time there almost without spending money (I couldn't resist new sunglasses only).
I found lots of really cool graffiti on the streets of LA actually.
Only because of photos I recalled what else I did that day. I just went to Hollywood-Highland, the place I'd had my eye on since my first trip to LA. So get some videos - I hope they'll work.
And then in the evening my crazy part of the travel started.
It was free food night at my hostel - I couldn't miss anything free! So I got my burger and came up to the table with beverages - they got beer. A guy asked me, "How old are you?"
"18," I said without any hesitation. The 21+ fact slipped from my mind.
"Oh, sorry, we can give you a beer only if you're over 21", a girl next to the guy answered.
"Don't you have anything else?"
"Nah, beer only"
I was ready to go to the automate to buy a juice or something there, when suddenly the girl said, "Ok, today you're 21!" and she put a pink paper bracelet around my wrist, and then I went:
"Well, in Russia we can drink since 18..."And the girl yelled: "WHAT? You're from Russia? You drink vodka there! Of course give her a beer!"
They also had a stand up show that night. It was my first true American stand up show with that filthy American humor, but it was pretty nice. Also I got acquainted with some guys who made my whole vacation: a British guy (he worked in the hostel) and his friends: a Japanese guy and a Philadelphian guy. We even went to a neighbor venue to dance right after the stand up show finished, and it was kinda strange and a bit mad for me. You know, I knew that people for like an hour only, but I went out with them in a strange bar in a strange city. And it was only the first crazy thing I did. But actually everything went well, I enjoyed the evening and the whole day in total. Also that evening the British guy (I'm gonna use nationalities to present my friends, I don't wanna overwhelm you with the names; and I think it's even more interesting to show the 'geography' of my new acquaintances) told me that on Wednesday (5.08) they would have a karaoke night at their sister-hostel in Hollywood and knowing that I'm sort of a musician he offered to sing something together. Wasn't it cool? Karaoke night in Hollywood! So I already had plans for Wednesday.
To tell the truth before that night I was worried that everybody in hostel talked to each other, always had fun, and I was like a ghost sitting alone, walking around, But then I met the guys, and everything became just fine. I'm still shocked how just in one evening I chanced to meet people from all over the world: the UK, Brasil, Japan, Mexico, German... That's what America is!
4th of August: Due to my awesome night I thought I would sleep well. Hell to the no! I woke up at 5 a.m. FIVE!!! And I couldn't sleep, no, no more. All I had to do was just browsing the Internet and reading. But when I was ready to explore the world, I headed to the most controversy place of interest the cemetery Hollywood Forever. Actually it was the first time I took a bus in LA. In Vladivostok you pay for the ride after you've actually had the ride, so you give your money to the driver when you get off the bus. In LA you have to put your money in a special machine near the driver when you only get on the bus. I didn't know that. So when I got off the bus, I said to the driver, "I didn't pay for the ride, can I pay now?" and he was like "That's alright" and waved me to go out. It was so strange for me! In Russia a driver would definitely demand the fare. But that free ride had been just a pleasant thing before what I faced later. The purpose of my visiting Hollywood Forever was seeing the graves of famous people, Hollywood actors and directors of Hollywood's Golden Age... But all I saw was graves of Russian jews. TOO MANY RUSSIAN NAMES! Damn son, I felt like I was visiting a Russian cemetery, though I hate doing it, to be honest. I made an exclusion for Hollywood Forever, but it turned out that I'd only had great expectations. I'll
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| Just a squirrel at the cemetery |
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| The view of Paramount Studios from the cemetery |
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| And a PEACOCK at the cemetery. *LOS ANGELES* |
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| All my reaction in one photo |
So after facing all that mess I went to a more pleasant place, especially for my soul - one of the most famous music shop in the world "Amoeba Music". According to our holy Wikipedia, "Amoeba Music is an independent music chain with stores in Berkeley, San Francisco, and Hollywood, Los Angeles, California". I'd heard of it several times before, so I couldn't miss the chance to visit it myself. And yes, "Amoeba Music" is all you hear about it. Billions of CD discs, vinyls, tons of merch, lots of thematic books and many many many other things related to music industry - that's all "Amoeba Music" about. I loved that place, though I was a bit tired after senseless and pressing hot weather and the Sun. I even tried to find the latest 3Oh!3's album "Omens" there, but I failed, and I was awkwardly shy to ask someone to help me. Never mind.
The camera certainly couldn't catch the whole atmosphere. And for sure I couldn't get the picture of the whole city of angels: there still were some districts of LA behind us, far away on the right, on the left and beyond what we could see. So I'm so grateful to the man that he showed me the type of city view that I simply adore. Feel so rad with that!
5th of August: That day of my day of museums - or at least the first part of it. That day I decided not to go out too early not to come back to the hostel at lunch, only by the time to go to the karaoke night. When I had my breakfast, a hostel guy came over to write my name in the karaoke list, and when I said my name to him, he tried to guess my country. Good God, he named everything but Russia. He even mentioned Liechtenstein and Luxembourg! But when I said I was from Russia and named my hometown, the man didn't know the city, but he knew that Sakhalin belonged to Japan between the two World Wars, and he knew where Vladivostok was. That was so strange to me that a foreigner was so versed in Russian geography. He said he was really interested in Russian history. Somehow I was clumsy enough not to ask about his nationality, though I found out some days later.
I looked forward to the karaoke night as a chance to feel the stage and the audience and enjoy singing in English. As well as the karaoke, I looked forward to visiting the museums - I was a tourist anyhow, and generally I like exploring art. Moreover, one of my main goals in LA was to see a big metallic head of Vladimir Lenin near Ace Museum. Exactly that place was the first spot where I headed that day. And yey! Dreams do come true!
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| There's little Mao Zedong balancing on his head |
But the museum itself opened at 1 p.m. only, so still I had plenty of time to visit other museums. Hopefully I found enough of them soon. The first museum I got in was Temporary Space LA. When I was passing by, I didn't even realize it was a museum, I thought it was just a cafe, but I noticed some big paintings inside and decided to walk in. So I was really glad to figure out it was a gallery (and I didn't have to pay for it). There were works of two artists, and I must admit the works were decent ones. I'm not much into modern art, but I really likes those pictures.
Enough? So Chris Francis makes shoes out of everything he can find, even out of shoes themselves, he puts some meaning in every pair, and ok, well done, man, that's your work. I was even ingenious enough to find a pair of shoes I would wear, but I didn't take a close photo of them.
The next level of the museum was dedicated to the American soldiers fighting abroad. I won't discuss this theme much, just remember that all I put below is modern art. Don't take it too seriously.
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| Probably, my favorite |
I swear you it's all about soldiers fighting abroad! Don't know how they do it, just take it as it is.
After that museum I went to La Brea Tar Pits without knowing what it was. The smell of tar (no surprise) around, the Sun hitting my head, but the park was nice actually. And there was a building with something like garden inside, but one had to pay to get it - guess whether I did or not hehe. But I could walk up on some kind of a roof and watch in from above.
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| There you can watch scientist working with the tar |
Actually it weren't my only museums in LA, I visited some more later, but with that experience I totally got that all museums in LA (and probably in the whole US) are modern art museum - or they make any art look like modern.
Still it wasn't the end of the day, remember? I came back to the hostel to prepare for the karaoke night, well, morally mostly, though I'm always ready for a good party. So many guys and I were delivered on a shuttle to a 'sister-hostel' in Hollywood. While driving I got to know people from my hostel, so funny folks! And once again I can't help being delighted with the fact of meeting people from New Zealand, France, China, Canada, Britain, Australia and other countries sitting next to each other, laughing... All the same - how wonderful world is!
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| How Hollywood Vibe Hotel (or Banana Bungalow Hollywood) looks inside |
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| The room where live gigs and karaoke events were held |
6th of August: Wow, believe it or not, but I had plans for that day beforehand! I had a meeting with one Peruvian guy who had found me in our Russian network and asked me for some help about Russian food. In return he suggested eating out somewhere in LA (I told him I'd be in LA), and I thought why not? Free food! He arranged meeting not so far away from my hostel, so it was easy. Due to my little hangover, I didn't want to eat anything serious, but still was curious where the guy would take me. And when we finally met each other, I realized that it was a mistake and that I should just get it over with. The boy had a strong accent though he'd been studying in LA for 4 years. And I didn't know what to talk to him about. Even the countries' theme wasn't enough. How come that with some people conversations never stop, and with others they're just crap? So the Peruvian led me to a typical American cafe, not so neat, but pretty lovely, very atmospheric. I took a vegetarian sandwich and coke - a lot of coke (hangover, 'member?), but I ate only half of the sandwich and took the other half with me with the hope to make it my dinner. Then he walked me back to the hostel, and that's all. That was my another Wasted Day. Being usually grateful, I found that day really boring, and it was pretty upset, wasn't it? Oh yeah, I met the British guy who had failed to sing with me the day before. He said he had overslept! That was crazy, but with my weird sleeping habits I could understand him. Though frankly speaking I almost hate people who "go to sleep for 30 mins and wake up in some hours!" What are alarm clocks for?? If you have plans, why not to set up an alarm clock? Anyhow I found a way to get benefit from that Brit - he kept my company on a walk around the streets. We went up Sunset Blvd, reached Beverly Hills, nearly got lost. Once again - I wasn't bored with him, we had plenty of things to talk about, though many of them boiled down to parties and alcohol. How do all that psycho things work? Why can I talk with one stranger so freely and can't talk with another still equally stranger? Also that night I understood I have to learn how to cook Russian food. I mean, I don't know how to cook borscht or our thin pancakes. I can chop a salad, cook half-finished products, but it's not enough. I definitely should learn some traditional Russian dishes.
When we came to this point (see the pic), two women sat at the bench talking and I recognized the Russian speech. It was embarrassing, because they were about 40 and talked about men, but not in a very good way, rather like about boy-toys. It wasn't pleasant for me as a Russian and as a girl, I found it pretty awkward. When I let the British guy know the women were Russians, he suggested me talking to them, but it was totally inappropriate. Talking to middle-aged women about how silly and weak men are? Are you kidding me? So we sat at the neighbor bench and agreed that if you're ever homeless, LA is the best place to be homeless (later I broke that decision). Here come some other photos. |
| Sunset Blvd |
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| That night I understood I was definitely in love with Beverly |
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| Oy, Pride sign on the crossroad |
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| We also found some giant guitars on our way |
7th of August: That day Denis and I wanted to meet up, but I ended up to spend the day with the French and Chinese girls I'd got to know at the karaoke night. Firstly we went to Beverly Hills, because the Chinese hadn't been there. I was glad to be back, because I've already mentioned I fell for Beverly Hills. I like that place because it's so neat, everything's green, you can smell luxury in the air! Now I suggest you comparing photos from Beverly Hills of 2013 and 2015.
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| 2013 |
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| 2015 |
You can see that they added a pond by the Beverly sign, I've no idea why. The trees are the same, the same clear blue sky - only my camera isn't as good as Denis'.
The French girl and I took our Chinese mate to Rodeo Drive. Should I explain my excitement? Rodeo Drive is the heart of my shopaholic soul, though I'm not such a shopaholic nowadays. I don't pray on that richness and expensive things, I just can't help admiring it. Isn't it simply beautiful? So lush, neat, jaunty.
Then we had to take a ride or two from Beverly to... Venice Beach. Oh, and it's such a story - and not a funny one. Google said we had to take two buses to reach Venice Beach, and one man helped us on our first bus, he even pointed out where we should have got off our second bus, and saw us to that second bus. It was a pretty long road, Venice beach was like the last bus stop. The man said we would know that, because then the bus would turn around to its way back. The map with the man's prompts was in the Chinese girls' hand. When we saw Santa Monica, we knew Venice Beach was close. Then the French and I heard the Chinese saying, "I'll go ask the driver where we should get off", she stood up and went to the middle of the bus, and she sat there to take some pictures. The French gal and I thought she might go later. Then the bus started turning. What? Did we miss our bus stop? We ran to the Chinese girl, but she said she had never mentioned the driver, she didn't want to go to him. We decided to get off the bus, though we had to go about 30 mins to reach desirable Venice Beach.
So we started walking along the beach, and soon the Chinese said she wanted to walk right near the water, but the French and I didn't want the same. But the Chinese mate asserted that she would be fine, we would go parallel to each other and meet up at Venice Beach itself. I mentioned that it wasn't a good idea, still she went on her own and the French pal and I continued walking on the street. When we reached the beginning of Venice Beach, we decided to connect with the Chinese, thankfully the French and the Chinese had each other's phone numbers. But the Chinese girl never picked up the phone! And there wasn't free Wi-Fi (unlike on Santa Monica beach), so I couldn't use my telephone at all (you know, during my trip I used Wi-Fi only). 
We went further and further in hope to find some Internet connection or just till she picked up the phone. And she did! But she was somewhere near the ocean, taking a lot of photos, probably. So we told her to come up to the shops. The French and I stopped near some Freak Show, so we could explain to the Chinese where exactly we were. But the girl never understood! We kept on waiting. We waited. And waited. We phoned her again trying to explain our location and got hers. The Chinese sent us a photo of where she was, but it seemed to be the beginning of the road for me. Then in an hour she texted us that she was sorry and that we could return to the hostel without her, even though all of us had to return there. Of course, we were shocked; the French was even furious, if I can say so. We spent another hour on the buses to our hostel. 
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| Me and the police of Venice Beach |
I hurried back to the hostel, because that Friday night another cool event was about to happen. Banana Bungalow celebrated anniversary, and the party was held in Hollywood again. I really looked for the party, because: 1) it was a party, 2) all the guys from West Hollywood said they would come, 3) the Australian guy would definitely be there, I'd love to see him again if there was such an opportunity. But nevertheless that unpleasant situation affected on us, so I felt a bit down. Due to an important event all the top brass was there, so of course I couldn't get any alcohol beverage being underage. The funny thing is that one boss asked for my ID when I wanted to take some Sprite. But anyhow I was sneaky enough to get a beer: I was wearing a jacket, so my wrists were hidden. Then people who knew me went like, "How did you get this beer?" - "I just came and took it!" That's just how we do, girl! So, I played some table football with the guys - the British guy had taught me well enough the days before. Later I even won a one-on-one round with the Australian guy, and he said he didn't lose on purpose to please me or something. But to tell the truth, other days I quasi lost the skill and lost all the games. But that evening table football seemed to be the thing I was good at.
Oh, also there was a cool moment. I was walking through the crowd to my buddies from West Hollywood, when suddenly I was stopped by some guys: "Hey, are you that girl who sang "Single Ladies" at the karaoke night?" - "Yes, it's me," I was confused a bit. Then the guys burst: "OH GOD YOU'RE SO AMAZING! IT WAS THE BEST PERFORMANCE OF THE NIGHT! SO AWESOME! AND THOSE DANCING MOVES, SO COOL! YOU'RE SO GOOD!" I stood stunned, my month closed with my hands. I got four fans in Hollywood! I said jokingly: "Subscribe my channel on YouTube!" but they took it seriously and asked for my YouTube nickname. I'd never felt so successful before.
There was a band singing and playing live. I don't know their name, but they were pretty good.
Then almost all of my acquainted guys from West Hollywood left me, while I decided to stay in Hollywood. The Australian made my night - he offered to have a bike ride! A bike ride in Hollywood! Can you believe me? I was so surprised, I seemed not to understand it: "A bike - you mean bicycle?" - "Yes! Say yes!" How could I resist? As well as the situation with the guitar, I don't own a bike, so every bike ride is a joy for me, and now you know. I rode a bike on the Walk of Fame. I even had an accident: couldn't manage the bike trying to avoid a group of people, so I fell down, but nothing serious happened. It was so nice and generous of the Australian man to take pictures of me riding the bicycle - so I have the proof! We even ran into fancy sailors.
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| As you noticed I used this photo in my new design |
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| Though it's blurry, you can feel the awesomeness of it. I almost look like one of them, don't I? |
But silly of me, I didn't take a photo with the Australian. I didn't take pictures with anyone of my people. Stupid girl! Thankfully we all became 'friends' in Facebook, Instagram and... oh, that's all, Facebook and Instagram. And YouTube.
So after the precious bike ride we were back at so-called after party, where I met another Slavic soul. I was talking to two British guys, mentioning the fact that I was from Russia, when a guy jumped onto the sofa by my side asking: "What did you say? Where are you from?" - "Russia. I'm from Russia". And the boy started talking in Russian with a strong Ukrainian accent: "So you can speak Russian?!" And our conversation went on in Russian. He was surprised that I guessed it right that he came from Ukraine, but it was easy because of his accent. And although our countries have some troubles nowadays, the Ukrainian pal and I had no troubles talking about various stuff, even singing some weird Russian song by the Ukrainian artist.
Though I drank less that night, I can't recall what else can I tell you, you know, like permitted stuff. The only thing I can say is that I do talk a lot. In spite of the fact that currently I find myself really reserved and taciturn, if I meet a right person, I seem to be unstoppable. I talked and talked. I hope that I didn't talk too much, and didn't say too much.
Nowadays I wonder when I meet such a right person in Russia. Or if I ever meet such a right person in Russia.
8 of August: My 8th of August started in Hollywood. It felt like the perfect morning so far (can I let myself be sentimental in my own blog?). My Australian friend saw me off down Hollywood Blvd a little bit, and that was it, we had a long goodbye and I went on alone.
I came over one of the gift shops, afforded to buy t-shirts for myself and my best friends. Then I went by a 'bronze' statue of Marilyn Monroe, saw ads that promised real dresses from "High School Musical" if I walked in a building that turned out to be Hollywood Museum. So "High School Musical" bought me, and I was glad I stepped in. And it was yet another fabulous decision that I made! There were real costumes used in the famous movies during filming. There was "Star Wars", "The Hunger Games" and other movies that I didn't know or only heard of. It all was highly interesting! I didn't see anything about HSM, but this was quickly forgotten as the first level of the museum was dedicated to Max Factor and his cosmetic inventions. There were special rooms for blonds, brunettes and so on. I was enchanted by the exhibition. It had the 20s style, everything was so stylish. I loved it!
There were about 4 or 5 hostel workers and me, the only guest (and the youngest, I suppose), we all went outside, so some guys could smoke, and we stayed there till the end. There were Russian me, two Englishmen ("in New York"), one Irish guy and one German-Greek girl - such an international company! We talked about quitting jobs for travelling, some cultural-political tricky jokes, something else, I don't remember. I was so drunk that night. Like really. Oh, that night I found out that the guy interested in Russian culture was Irish (I've already mentioned him). I couldn't guess his nation, but only days after I noticed that he was red-headed - how couldn't I tell it? He tried to give me a hint saying that people of his nation swear a lot, and I was like "Hmm, you swear a lot and you're not Russian - that's interesting". So the Irishman and I talked a bit about Russian history, and he even sang a little of the Russian national anthem! Without words, melody only, BU STILL! Personally I can sing the melody of the French anthem only and still I'm not sure about that. But he remembers the melody of our anthem even being drunk! (Well, I do too, once my groupmates and I sang the whole Russian anthem at 2 a.m. at one square in the city being drunk af) All in all we had a very crazy and hilarious time there. The Irish guy expressed a deep idea that it was good that we traveled alone. If one comes with a friend, they are stick together. Yes, they may be friendly and open but still they're bound together. If you travel all alone, you are free, you can chose whoever to talk to, whoever to be with, whenever only you wanna go. I remember eating up some Chinese food 'cause one of the Brits was full and gave it to me. Honestly, I wouldn't remember literally anything if I hadn't taken photos or videos then. That time I was smarty! But I don't think I should share them with you. Only the bottle and flowers on the tree.
The second level is used for temporary special exhibitions, and I chanced to attend The Taylor Swift Experience! It was a total surprise for me, because I had read about it in the magazine some months ago and never thought I'd happen to visit it myself. I didn't remember that the exhibition was held at the GRAMMY Museum. I may not be a huge fan of her, but I enjoy listening to her albums from time to time; Taylor's music is known to be the choice when feeling downcast. So it was rather a pleasant surprise for me to examine her exhibition, especially it was likely to be of high quality, informative and entertaining.
Only when I came back to Russian, I read on the ticket that taking photos was forbidden. Oops!
Generally I fell for Downtown. Such a fancy lovely place! I took all the pleasure in walking there.
I can't recall what I did when I returned to the hostel, because there's no photos of that day after the GRAMMY Museum. I probably had a laidback evening, that's all.
10th of August: Ooh, my last full day in LA. But it wasn't full of crazy events. That day I finally had a meeting with Denis. What an absurdity! I had arrived in LA to meet and spend time with Denis, and in the end I met him only twice - on the first and on the last days of my travel. So we agreed upon meeting at lunch not too far away from my hostel. Denis took me to a sushi restaurant called "Crazy Rock'n Sushi" - he thinks it's the best sushi place around. And indeed I liked their rolls! Well, I let Denis order 'cause he knew the stuff, and I felt myself to be a guest, so may the man decide. He ordered delicious rolls, but still so many, that I had to take some with me. Denis told me about his curremt life and some plans for the future, I told him about how my trip had gone. He said he was proud of me, and we both admitted that it was the best decision for me to stay at the hostel. Denis and his wife were busy all the time, so I would have spent most of the time alone. But instead I was likely to meet a bunch of cool new people and spend an amazing time partying and practicing my English. We reminisced how we had rocked during our camp American vacation, discussed how other guys live now. Then Denis took me to a 99 Cents Only Store. I guess such stores exist in every country, here in Vladivostok we have a price-point retailer chain where everything costs 35 rubles. But still the Japanese version 100 Yen Shop is the best for me. Talking about the American one, I found an interesting soap making kit there. It would be extremely weird to find a cross soap in Russia, but my former group leader said it was okay for the USA.
On coming back to the hostel, I gave all my restaurant rolls to the hostel girl, so I provided her lunch. Somehow I got to know the female part of the hostel workers only at the end of my trip.
I came over one of the gift shops, afforded to buy t-shirts for myself and my best friends. Then I went by a 'bronze' statue of Marilyn Monroe, saw ads that promised real dresses from "High School Musical" if I walked in a building that turned out to be Hollywood Museum. So "High School Musical" bought me, and I was glad I stepped in. And it was yet another fabulous decision that I made! There were real costumes used in the famous movies during filming. There was "Star Wars", "The Hunger Games" and other movies that I didn't know or only heard of. It all was highly interesting! I didn't see anything about HSM, but this was quickly forgotten as the first level of the museum was dedicated to Max Factor and his cosmetic inventions. There were special rooms for blonds, brunettes and so on. I was enchanted by the exhibition. It had the 20s style, everything was so stylish. I loved it!
The next level was my dream come true. The whole room was dedicated to one and only... Marilyn Monroe! You must know that I'm a big Marilyn's fan (I love only Beyoncé more, probably), and visiting the exhibition about her with her signature dresses, information about her and her works was something I'd never expected!
There was one more level about Hollywood actors who came out about their sexuality. The only one I knew there was Caitlyn Jenner. I didn't take photos there, but I enjoyed the dresses presented.
When I finally came to my hostel and had a shower, I decided to explore more of the city of angels. I wanted to go to China Town, but I found that it was near Hollywood. Again! So that's why I chose Korea Town - it wasn't too far and it wasn't hear Hollywood. So Korea Town didn't impress me much. Well, just a district in LA. We got more Korean vibe in my hometown than they do. There were many beautiful cathedrals, yes, they were cool. But nothing much actually.
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| Birds in the traffic lights! |
Then there was a party at my hostel, but! You had to pay for it to be in. What? Pay? 12 dollars? I'd live for a week with that money! And all that drinking stuff was official - 21+ only. So what the hell would I do there? So I just grabbed my e-reader, poured some tea, took out some Russian snack I'd kept by accident and went to the balcony, so I could watch the party going and enjoy reading at once. By the way the last days I felt cold in the evenings. I had to wear my jacket if I went out or wrap myself up in the blanket if I sat on the balcony.
But in the end of it all my guys didn't let me be bored. And by all I mean my people around the world - Dasha made a call on Skype, and I told her about what had happened to me if I hadn't written it to her earlier. And while we were talking, my British pal came over and butted in: "What are you doing?" - "I'm talking to my Russian friend," - "Me too!" That's what I called 'British humour'! Then he started saying something in English of course, and Dasha were saying something in Russian, and my mind was like "STOP IT PLEASE I CAN'T HANDLE IT". So when the Brit asked me something, I answered: "Don't interrupt, I'm talking to my Russian friend!" IN PURE RUSSIAN! He was definitely struck, and only by my laughing friend on Skype I understood I did something wrong, and we all bust out laughing. If I hadn't got it, I would've gone on talking to Dasha in English, I bet you.
So when the official part was over, everybody who didn't want to stop went down to the basement, and I was invited too! That Mexican beer were given, but something didn't go well, it wasn't really rad there. So while the hostel guests were leaving to bed one by one, the hostel workers decided to take some wine. And I decided to go to bed too, when one girl said "NOOO! Stay with us! We don't stop the party! Everybody's gonna be back!" And I returned. And - bang! - another good decision!
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| They do have enormous bottles in the USA |
9th of August: I don't remember how I felt when I woke up that morning, but must be well, because I came up with a good idea. I made up my mind to explore Downtown. Man, I was really genius that August! So I planned what I'd like to visit and went out. I also decided to take short videos to compose them together once I'm in Russia, so still I have the work to do. But let's get back to my Downtown trip. And it was marvelous! I got off on the last bus stop that brought me to the core of Downtown [I guess] and just started wandering around as I like it.
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| Angel Flight funicular railway. There's a funicular in Vladivostok too, and I wanted to try out LA's one, but I didn't figure out how it worked |
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| Los Angeles Central Library |
There were a lot of fancy buildings, and I understood I could walk like this for a long time, so I chose an aim. In the beginning I had two targets to visit: the GRAMMY Museum and Walt Disney Concert Hall, but they turned out to be pretty far from each other, so I made a decision to be leisurely and visit only one place - and I chose the GRAMMY Museum. The teller didn't believe that I was a student and insisted on showing him some student document, but I had nothing but my passport, so I paid for a full adult ticket, and then NEVER REGRETTED IT! The GRAMMY Museum turned out to be one of the best museums I'd ever visited. Everything you want to know about the music history, the GRAMMY's history, unique exhibits - everything is there! What a wonderful place! I don't know how much time I spent there. I explored each of 4 levels for about 30-40 minutes (well, there was nothing but a worker on the first level, but the second floor took more time, and I'll explain why), and time passed like it never happened. An interesting fact is that in the GRAMMY museum you should start exploring not from the first level, but from the last - the forth in that case.
So the first two levels were about general history of music and developing of the GRAMMY's. It was fascinating, especially for a musician I am (even if only in my soul nowadays). I was really interested in the displays and the articles. There were even clothes which some artists wore at the latest GRAMMY's, and Beyonce's dress was there too! Can you imagine me?
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| Beyonce's dress! |
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| Totally shook that place off |
Generally I fell for Downtown. Such a fancy lovely place! I took all the pleasure in walking there.
I can't recall what I did when I returned to the hostel, because there's no photos of that day after the GRAMMY Museum. I probably had a laidback evening, that's all.
And in the end I offered Denis to take a photo, so my girls from the American trip 2013 would envy me (lol sorry, girlz). Honestly, I just wasn't a fool that time and asked for a photo to save the memory. Should've been that quick-witted before!
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| Don't even ask about 'Furniture' sign - have no idea |
After checking the time of my flight the next day, I called and booked a shuttle to LAX. It was the first time I had to spell my last name in English, and it wasn't funny. Perhaps it was one of the most difficult thing that summer.
In the evening there was a free food party, like the first one I'd attended there. The Brazilian guy even joked: "Olga, come here tonight! It's FREE!" Ha ha. Thanks. I know. But yeah, that was amusing that even local pals got my thrifty mood during that trip. People from the Hollywood arrived, and I wished the Australian would come too, but unfortunately he couldn't make it. Well, that's life! I didn't party hard that time, I didn't want to be hungover on my flight the next day. A couple of new [for me] people came, one of them was from Serbia, so we were quite a Slavic gang.
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| The Japanese guy suggested taking a pic with that monster |
They brought a bottle of vodka, and you should remember what I mean by their bottle. They offered me some due to my roots and were surprised by my denial - once again I wanted to feel well the next day. I was ready not to sleep enough - that would be only good, that would make me sleep more during the flight. But anyhow something in me didn't want to party hard; I felt rather sentimental. You know, at the beginning of the travel, when I didn't know anybody, I thought, "Hmm, probably the second time here won't be the same cool as our first one". But then when I got to know all those incredible people, soaked into the atmosphere, the lifestyle, I fell for Los Angeles even more. Nevertheless mama was right - we fall for the people, not for the places. There's actually one place for me where I don't have any acquaintances, but I'd love to return to - it's Pavlovsk, a little town near St. Petersburg. But right now I'm showing all my feelings to the city of angels, right? I absolutely got it that all my trip was about communicating with different people from different countries, and through those conversations understanding and discovering myself. And Los Angeles is such a laidback place where I felt so good, just right. And also I came up with a witty idea that if I couldn't make it with my professional education, I would work at a hostel. When the workers finish their duties, they go around and entertain guests. Parties everyday! Yes, I know it might be exhausting too, but hell! We're young and beautiful! So it all looked for me like a camp for adults! Sometimes I caught myself at thinking that when the guys went for a walk with me, hang out with me, I was just a work for them... But then I cut it and went on partying - because I'm worth something too, aren't I?
I decided I'll definitely be back one day. Now I want to travel to Europe, I've never been to any Europe country. Ilya has already invited me to Prague. Mom wants to take me to Peru with her friends as an interpreter. So I think it's gonna take not less than another 2 years until I'm back in the USA. If so, I'll finally be 21, so I'll be fully legal!
But that evening I was only thinking of how I would pack everything in my one and only backpack and how cool my travel was. My company and I agreed upon meeting once again in some other countries. That would be awesome!
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| My farewell vanilla photo of a private balcony of the hostel |
11 of August: Pack&go. Don't regret. Don't look back ("...you can never look back"). I'd woken up a couple of hours before my shuttle had to arrive, so I could organize my stuff and get ready for the trip. There were only a couple of hostel girls and the Irish guy and one guest from Germany downstairs who I knew. The Irish man pronounced 'goodbye' in Russian [do svidania] and said it felt like a submarine was plunging and people stood saluting: "Do svidania!" That couldn't but make me smile. I asked him how 'goodbye' in Irish was, but I quickly forgot. For me t sounded similarly to the Russian one actually. Knowing his interest in Russian history, I showed the Irish guy a little badge with Lenin on my rucksack, and he asked me a little bit about the USSR and my parents, how they lived in the USSR and how they live now in modern Russia. I couldn't explain properly why my dad liked the USSR. Just because it was?
I expected my British buddy to come and say goodbye to me, but he never showed up. Later he wrote me explaining that he'd had a pretty wild night. Well, I was glad to still have some acquainted people to say farewell to.
My shuttle came and took me to LAX. The driver was a talkative one. He was surprised in an amicable way that I was from Russia. He said he came from Azerbaijan, and then it was my turn to be surprised that he didn't try to speak Russian.
So there I was in LAX. I had been worrying if I'd be in time, and yes, I had enough time and even more. I even had time to exchange the rest of my money into yens and have lunch.
Aaaaand... THAT'S IT! I think this should be the end of my American story of 2015. It's actually not the end of the whole trip - I had a hella another mad adventure in Tokyo, but it absolutely deserves yet another post. I hoped that you liked my retelling, I tried to recall every little thing, though I skipped some intriguing parts on purpose. Now I still wanna add some words, because I didn't know where they belonged in the story.
*INTERESTING FACTS AND STORIES*
Once I paid for my purchase, and the teller asked something about the parking I didn't understand. He asked where I was from, and on hearing my answer he started talking in Russian! Though in wasn't a Russian district and he was definitely not Russian. His pronunciation wasn't perfect, I couldn't tell some words, but his grammar and vocabulary was on point! That was amazing!
By the way I lived close to the Russian district (if I can say so about a little part of Santa Monica Blvd), so it was so odd when I first saw Russian titles and letters on the windows. So crazy! I didn't even wanted to walk into the shops. And even if I did, I didn't know in what language to speak to them: Russian or English? Anyhow I didn't come to the USA to speak in Russian (Denis is an exception).
Denis and the Australian guy are the same age.
Once I spotted 3 Lamborghini's in one day.
The day I met with Denis I faced a Rolls Royce covered with the leather or something like that.
I bought something in Starbucks only twice.
Talking about fast food spots, I ate mostly in Subway.
Here're some fancy photos I also took:
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| California rolls in California. Got it? |
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| The Mexican beer we drank at every party. I didn't like it frankly speaking |
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| I passed by CNN once! |
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| Just a selfie of a squirrel and me appreciating how my front camera makes my skin even more paler |
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| The view from my bed |
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| Straight outta |
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| Batman ice cream van! |
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| The time when I got fully American |
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| One of the pieces of art the hostel workers created every morning |
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| Hollywood High School |
C'est bien la fin! Thanks for your patience! And now... wait for the Tokyo part!!
Ah! Nearly forgotten! Music! Ok, I could drive totally crazy and put some sentimental stuff from the trip here, but I'll (almost traditionally) share something including such words as "America" and "California" here. And "Miss America"
Be brave to leave the past behind and move on
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