First term in Hollyweird!

My first term in Los Angeles can be summed up into three categories.

1. Settle In
2. Process the fact that I've settled in
3. Look forward to my holiday in the West Indies

Yes, not very responsible of me. I'll admit I didn't take school very seriously and managed to not feel bad for it by making hordes of excuses as to why I was not getting stuck into the acting business of things and "making my dreams come true". Never-the-less, I managed to get the initial state of being in awe of Hollywood out of the way. I did the fancy restaurants, the fun parties, the meeting of celebrities (ABSOLUTELY critical when coming to Los Angeles;), the getting lost, the sight seeing and getting used to what would soon become my routine here in Los Angeles.

I had class from 9 o'clock in the morning till 8 o'clock in the evening, with 2 half hour breaks and 1 fifteen minute break. I know this sounds excessive, and I'd love to make it sound like I was grinding my bones up here, with my quest to conquer "The Craft of Acting" but actually, this was on a Monday and a Wednesday with a quick 3 hour class on a Tuesday. So, as The Wolf likes to explain his philosophy in life, "Just drink your poison". So, Monday through to friendly Wednesday, I "drank my poison" and then got the next four days off to mess around! It was ... Magic :) (Thanks Pops, always appreciate your wisdom).

To sum up my first impressions (and certainly lasting ones) - Hollywood is weird, crazy, dry, 'touristy', and a little smelly (depending on the level of drugs the homeless man standing next to you is on). It takes me 6 minutes to walk to class from my apartment. It should take 2 sweet minutes, but there are too many tourists taking photos of themselves at Madame Tussauds (on the corner of my street), The Chinese and Kodak Theatre (just around the corner) and the mass of stars etched into Hollywood Boulevard glinting their favourite star's name. When I first arrived, my South African manners upheld for no less than 2 weeks of me walking through huge groups of slow moving human beings and saying, "Excuse me Sir, Sorry Madam, Pardon Me". Now, its a different story, and for the sake of the adults I respect and love (Hi Mom, Dad, Gran!), I wont repeat the more effective way I've adopted, to get tourists to move out of my way as I journey my 0.3 Miles to school!

This and sussing out my new friends, was pretty much the bulk of my first term, before I left to go to the West Indies. (Tough Life, I know!) There are some crazy people here, but at the same time some really special ones! Weirdly, I didn't really miss home much then. It was all too exciting and there was too much going on.

Hope that was a good enough summary for you :)

Lots of Love,

Ash xxx