@RandallHead

Sadly, my #rpainternship came to an end.  My cousin Siler flew into LAX on Wednesday, August 1st and we spent the weekend partying in LA.  We woke up Sunday morning after couch surfing at my friend Erika’s house and headed out of town.

As we drove along the freeway, I caught my last glimpse of the LA skyline.  It feels\t weird to be heading back after making so many great friends, but you gotta do what you gotta do, so I pressed onward.

Our drive would only be about 7 hours for the day because we had planned on staying in Flagstaff, AZ the first night so we could eat at Diablo Burger for dinner.  The drive out for the most part was rather uneventful.  We marveled at the mountains and endured temperatures of 110+ degrees, but not much more happened.

We got to Flagstaff around 7 and booked a room at a hotel downtown.  Somehow we ended up with the Presidential Suite, which was bomb.  We decided to celebrate our rad hookup with some delicious Diablo burgers, but to our dismay the restaurant was closed on Sundays!

We found refuge in an Irish pub down the street where we ordered a round of beer and shepherd’s pies.  By the time we finished eating, it was 9 p.m., so we decided to move along and see what else was happening.  However, it was a Sunday so there wasn’t much going on.  We ended up going to a billiards hall, where we played pool for an hour.  Unfortunately, I lost every game we played.

At this time it was about 10:30 p.m., and we weren’t ready to turn in, so we bought some Budweiser and decided to check out Northern Arizona’s campus.  We found some dorms, climbed onto the roof and drank some beers.  We had a cousin bonding hour, but our fun was cut short by two sleepy students who asked us (nicely) to move away from their windows.  

We then decided to walk around campus, where we went on a few adventures, including jumping a fence (which resulted in me ruining my corduroy pants) and walking around some construction sites.  

We then headed back to the hotel to rest up for the day ahead, which we decided would be a big one.

I’ve officially lived in Los Angeles for a week, and I’ve made a lot of observations and hypotheses about west coast culture in relation to the SEC culture I’ve left behind. Basically, the two are polar opposites.

Let’s start with the most obvious: style. Whenever I try to explain that most guys at LSU generally wear the same thing (polo shirt, khakis, sperrys), they just start laughing. As they should. I hate the uniformity of the whole thing. There’s a lot more personality in what people wear here (at least in my opinion). I’ve seen a lot of sweaters, jackets, flannel and cool t-shirts here. Slimmer (not necessarily skinny) jeans are abundant, and everyone seems to have really cool shoes. I’ve seen a lot of people rocking the fedora as well. Props. I’m thinking about selling all my polo shirts at the awesome thrift store in Santa Monica and getting some way cooler threads.

As for the girls, I haven’t seen a pair of Nike shorts since I got here. Which is crazy to me, seeing as how every girl on LSU campus seems to have 10 pairs. Other than that, I’m not really an expert on style or anything, but the girls look nice and a bit more free-spirited.

People out here are generally far more open-minded than your average Louisianian, but usually not as polite. Recycling in L.A. is a big deal. “Sustainable” is a huge keyword here. I think the whole “organic” and “sustainable” living mindset is a bit overwhelming, perhaps even pretentious at times. However, I do appreciate that people are striving to live healthier and more responsible lifestyles, and I’ve been trying to eat healthier and recycle more so far.

In terms of partying, I’d say the students at LMU are at least on par with LSU (as far as house parties go). My roommates took me to one and I had a great time, even though I didn’t know anyone. I did play some beer pong, and I put some LMU people to shame. A small victory for the boys (and girls) back home!

L.A. has been a ton of fun so far, and I’m looking forward to a great summer! I can definitely see myself living here for at least some part of my life.  The weather is incredible, there’s always something to do, and it’s L.A…. enough said!

We spent our morning on the Santa Monica beach, eating ice cream for breakfast on the pier, walking around picking up mussels, watching little monkey children swing around, and napping. Of course we had no sunscreen, so I got burned on my arms, thighs and face a bit. Nothing too bad though, totally worth it! After that, I took Haley to In-N-Out burger :O I had been craving In-N-Out for years, and this summer I’ll definitely be addicted! I decided to pretend to be a pro, so I ordered off the secret menu. The food was just as amazing as I remembered it to be! We then checked into a hotel room, took showers and then passed out! We slept until about 8 P.M., which was incredible. We woke up and tried to catch the sunset on the beach, but missed it by about 2 minutes. After that, we realized we were starving yet again, so we went to Siam’s Best, a Thai restaurant a block from our hotel. The service here wasn’t great, but my theory is that meal time conversation is important in Thailand (this theory is not based on any factual evidence). I had never tried hot Sake before, so I ordered some. It basically tasted like hot white wine, with more of a rice-y taste. I’d drink it again, but I won’t go out of my way for it. We ordered a ton of food: roasted duck curry, vegetable dumplings, papaya salad, sake, jasmine tea and miso soup. The miso soup was definitely the highlight of my day. And not because it tasted good (which it did), but because it was served in a “Hot Pot.” As I looked at the menu, I decided that a Hot Pot sounded like the coolest possible serving dish I’d heard of. I began imagining what it could possibly be, a cauldron being the best guess I could come up with. When our waitress brought it to the table, my suspicions were confirmed. It looked like a metal sombrero filled with miso soup. The best part? There was a four foot open flame spewing from the top of it. This was the most dangerous dish I had ever been served. Epic meal time. We ate a good bit of the food, and got the rest to go. After our great Thai meal, we decided to go on a scenic drive and take in our surroundings… from the mountains. So we headed toward Beverly Hills. We went through the hills, and up into the mountains, stopping at scenic overlooks to see the beautiful cityscapes. We saw some crazy houses too. The mountain road was very windy, with lots of tight corners, so it was fun to drive, but a bit scary at the same time. We went through the Hollywood Hills as well. It’s worth mentioning that at every scenic overlook, there were high school kids making out in cars. Which was hilarious. After our tour, we headed back to the hotel. Once we got back to the hotel, we drank a beer, watched an episode of Family Guy and passed out. Sleep. Finally.