Greetings from London!!

Friday at 3:20 p.m. my mom, grandma, and I anxiously boarded our British Airways flight direct from Los Angeles to Heathrow London. Our day had already started out rough, forgetting and misplacing important items and documents, how were we ever going to make it three weeks!! My mom and grandma had made a great choice in flights since we didn't have a lay-over in Chicago or Atlanta like we normally do. These lay-overs can extend travel times by days (well, it certainly feels like that). Not having a lay-over was definitely one of the better decisions to begin a trip and certainly easier to keep track of everything...and everyone!

I've always thought international plane companies to be sooo much nicer than American ones, and this certainly stands for British Airways. Their service, food, and aircraft were all up to par. Although I was envious of the first class passengers, I had enough room to sleep for an hour or two. On long flights, I would wholeheartedly recommend some sort of sweat or pajama pant, just to make curling up on a chair a little easier. I'd never tried that before and it did the trick.

Upon arriving in Heathrow around 9 a.m. this morning, we went through the airport with little trouble and little waiting. The public transportation in Europe is millions of lightyears ahead of our public transportation system (or lack of) in Los Angeles. There are two ways to get from Heathrow to London: the London Express and the London Connect. Can you guess which one is more expensive? The London Connect is about half the price as the London Express, although it is a bit longer. And that's in pounds...in dollars its probably 3 times more expensive. So you can guess which one my money-pinching mom choose, which ended up timing our arrival at our hotel perfectly.

Our hotel is not too far from Paddington Station, which makes pulling the luggage around a lot easier since we don't have to endure the busy Tube with three suitcases and three back packs. After getting settled, the beautiful day was impossible to resist. We dined at the Victoria, the pub down the street. To Americans, a pub might be a peculiar place to grab lunch or dinner, but to the British and the Irish, its an every day custom. Grandma and I ate fish and chips, while my mom, hoping to not upset her already queezy tummy, ate a delicious roast beef sandwich. We then walked off our pub grub at Kensington Park. Another custom foreign to Americans is the use of parks. Now, we have small playgrounds and grassy knolls where we may have an occasional picnic or football game with not too many people around. But Europeans, especially the British and the French from my experience, go to the park daily, if the weather allows. And on a beautiful day like this, naturally families, friends, and football teams (American and soccer) gathered for a nice day outside. Our mission impossible was finding the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain. The receptionist at the hotel gave us the impression that it was on one side of the park, but of course it was no where close. After giving up four times, we found it! Now, this wasn't your typical fountain with a statue and spouting water; this was a circle, kind of like a river, where families and children could come splash and put their feet in it. In hindsight, this fountain embodied what the Princess of the People would have wanted to be remembered as.

Mom and Grandma were getting to the point of near exhaustion and wanted nothing more than to return to the hotel and sleep for an hour or two. I knew that if I got even the smallest taste of sleep, I wouldn't wake up. And that was exactly what I did when they failed to drag me out of bed. While they went to a London walk, I stayed in the hotel and slept. I woke up ten minutes prior to their arrival. Aparently, for the first time my mom failed to find a London Walk and they took a bus through the city instead. London Walks are great for an afternoon or night activity and you can find one to fit any interest. My personal favorite is their famous Jack the Ripper Walk departing from the Tower Hill tube station every night. While studying for his role as Jack the Ripper, Johnny Depp took the walk with the famous tour guide. If that doesn't tell you how good this walk is, then I don't know what does.

Well, that's it for the night. Even though I slept for most of the afternoon, I'm still exhausted and wouldn't mind more sleep. I'm sorry to say that I won't be watching the Laker game that is on in a few hours...

Freshman Year: Check!

            At 2:00 pm on Wednesday, May 13, 2009, I walked into my last final of freshman year.  All I wanted was to get this stupid final over with because it was at the very last time slot on the very last day.  Not to mention the class wasn’t my favorite.  I knew I would return to a practically empty suite still having to pack the remainder of my stuff.  And I knew it would be almost as sad as graduating from high school.  The thing about high school summers is everyone lives close, with the exception of the annual family vacation.  But in this case, I had friends returning to all parts of the country.  And then there’s housing.  I won’t be living with any of the people on my hall because I’ll be living in my sorority house.  Since high school graduation, it’s just been a whirlwind of changes, and each one has its fun, new experiences.

            For the last month and a half of freshman year, I declared two minors, attended many sorority events, wrote a lot of papers, and completed my first internship.  After years of addiction to Law and Order, I declared a forensics and criminality minor.  And who wouldn’t minor in Spanish, one of the world’s leading languages?  I think these are the minors I will stick with, after debating over marketing, health communication, and communication in the entertainment industry. 

            Completing my first internship was probably one of my proudest moments of the year.  I had a busier schedule and harder classes than last semester.  I was even involved in all of the same extracurriculars, Trojan Vision and ATVN.  And then, adding an internship on top of that…I never thought I’d make it out of freshman year alive (or at least with a good GPA)!  I accomplished all that I wanted to in the end, and all of the craziness and extra work was definitely worth it.

            Our last ADPi invite was Diamond Ball. It may not have been the best due to personal problems, but it was certainly the nicest venue, the best food, and the most dazzling to see.  Everyone looked absolutely stunning, and the class of 2009 will definitely be missed.  Before the invite, we ate at Zip Fusion, a Japanese restaurant near downtown.  I devoured some of the best sushi and teriyaki beef I’ve ever had.  All in all, it ended up being a great night.

            Currently, I’m unpacking my stuff from my dorm and packing my suite case for my upcoming European adventure. You can follow my everyday excursions on this blog. I’ll hopefully have updates, however long, everyday depending on internet availability.  GO LAKERSSSSSSS!!!

            

Hopes and Tragedies

            Three weeks ago, the USC community experienced the worst tragedy of the school year.  Two FRESHMEN were walking back to campus from Greek Row. Neither has returned to school, but one will never. For most students I talked to, this was their first time experiencing the death of a friend. Unfortunately, this is my second since graduation. I did not personally know her, but I had multiple connections to her, including that we both worked at the bookstore on the ground floor. I have multiple emails from her asking me to cover her shifts. However, I do know Marcus, the boy that was hit and is still currently in the hospital.

            When death occurs, communities are formed and relationships are strengthened. The Greek community carried the weight of this tragedy together. On Monday, March 30, a candle light vigil was held in honor of Adri and in hopes that Marcus would make a speedy recovery. Every house was represented in great numbers. We cried together and lent a shoulder to lean on. Without knowing the support of the Greek community, none of us would have been able to overcome this tragedy. It’s almost sad that the strength of a community has to be tested with such a horrific event.

            I equated this incident with Alice Sebold’s novel The Lovely Bones.  My favorite quote from the book is Susie’s statement “These were the lovely bones that had grown around my absence; the connections – sometimes tenuous, sometimes made at great cost but often magnificent – that happened after I was gone”.  As she watched her family from heaven overcome her disappearance, Susie realizes something beautiful forms around it. All we can ever hope for in death is a positive outcome, some purpose that gives it meaning.

            Personally, the hardest concept for me to get over was anyone could have been hit. Me, my best friends, anyone of my sisters. It’s almost odd that death is mostly associated with older people, when in reality, it can happen at any moment, whenever God decides that it is time to go. This experience has left me not taking anything for granted and cherishing every day and every smile.

            Unfortunately, people don’t value life. And even worse, those who do have to carry that burden. Keep your heads up, USC. God bless.

Where To Begin...

Hello everyone!!!

          Time has certainly gotten away from me this semester!! It’s taken me a while to get a concrete weekly schedule and now that it is complete, I can share it with you.  My goal for this semester was to get my first internship, just to get the “first” over with.  I was lucky enough to land an internship at The Gotham Group.  The Gotham Group is a management and production company that has produced a number of films including The Spiderwick Chronicles, Starsky and Hutch, Chicken Little, and Papa Hemmingway (in production now!).  Apart from the basic office duties such as filing, copying, stapling, binding, and all that fun stuff, I read scripts and write coverage.  I can also read other scripts for fun!!  So far, so good.  But I’ve never known filing to be so brutal!!  I walk out of there with three or four paper cuts on various fingers.  It’s ok, you can laugh.

            I was really excited for my classes this semester because all of them sparked some interest in me.  I’m currently taking modern philosophy and the meaning of life, the history of the news, improvisation and theater games, neuroscience, and plays and the question of performance.  I expected philosophy to be a lot like theory of knowledge, but I was entirely wrong. We are studying different philosophers (some that are not so modern) and that pretty much covers that course.  At the moment, we have not found the meaning of life. But once I do, I will let you know immediately! The history of the news is interesting because I’ve noticed that a lot hasn’t really changed from the beginning of time except for content; people have always had a crave for learning about other people or events (which could be one reason why you’re reading this now haha). My improv class has been sworn to be a life-changing class. After every class, I walk out with extreme amounts of energy, sometimes a little too much energy. Not allowing other people to govern your thoughts about the world is really a life-enhancing experience, although, these flashes of confidence last only for the night. You may be wondering why I decided to take a neuroscience class. I figured well, I don’t want to be the dumb girlfriend, since as many of you may know, Jonathan is a neuroscience major. Let’s just say your brain may be safer in his hands…Last but certainly not least is my arts and letters. It’s nice that I’ve already read 3 of the plays and been in one!! And this one was the favorite, Noises Off! We haven’t gotten to that section of the course but its soon to come…oh the memories!

            Now that you are enlightened on my classes, you may want to know what else I’ve been up to this semester. Like last semester, I’m volunteering at ATVN and TrojanVision. At ATVN, I still hold the same position, assignment desk. I didn’t have enough time in my schedule to be a writer/shooter/editor, but my time will come. However, at “CU@USC”, I moved up a notch to be a senior producer! The difference is that I get to run the show! I decided, along with my partner, which aspects we want the interview to cover. I’ve had a lot of fun so far so hopefully our luck continues!

            Back in January, I turned 19! I had my birthday party at the Geisha House, a restaurant in Hollywood. It was the most successful party I’ve ever thrown and I had the time of my life! That night, my two worlds mixed for the first time! Friends from Walnut came over and met all of my new friends at USC.

 

           This week is my sorority’s charity for the Ronald McDonald House. We call it Row Cup. It’s a soccer tournament among the fraternities. So this week I will be far busier than normal. I hope the beginning of the year has treated you well and I promise I’ll keep you updated more often!

End of the Semester, End of the Year

            Sorry I was a little late updating this past month.  The weeks of school during December were either leading up to finals or finals themselves.  Finals didn’t bring too much happiness to any of our lives. We all felt the anxiety on our shoulders, but still wanted to make the best of our last days together before heading home for the holidays.  All of my finals were within the first week, which had its perks and unbelievable stress.  I only had the weekend and the study days to study for all four finals.  In the end, if everything went my way, I shouldn’t have done too much damage for the first semester of my college career.  After finals, I stayed in my dorm because I figured I might as well take advantage of the freedom of relaxation.  My friends and I went to Thoroughbred Street to see the houses decked out for Christmas.  And then that Tuesday, we went to Disneyland and saw Main Street snow!...well, foam haha.

            Earlier in December, Jon gave me his Christmas present…He took me to the Grammy Nominations Concert!  To my complete and utter surprise, we watched from row J as the Foo Fighters, Mariah Carey, Taylor Swift, John Mayer, Celine Dion, and my absolute favorite, Christina Aguilera!  It was probably the best concert I had ever been too because after the cameras stopped rolling, John Mayer performed an hour concert after the television program.  He was more than amazing live.  But the night didn’t end there when we were supposed to attend the after party…but there was confusion over the tickets and we went to ESPN Zone instead.  The evening altogether was one of the best all year.

 

           Later that week, all Trojans looked forward to the USC vs. UCLA football game.  The Thursday before the game is called Conquest.  In McCarthy Quad, we burn the Bruin, have performances by the marching band and Gym Class Heroes.  What I want to know is what other university has fireworks and a Ferris wheel before the big rival game? I think this can only be a USC luxury…For the big game, we went to ESPN Zone, yes, for the second time that week.  And we weren’t the only Trojans who had the same idea.

            Before Thanksgiving, I took life into my own hands and got a job at the USC Bookstore.  I still currently work at the bookstore even though the students are on break.  So if you happen to want to buy USC gear, you should note that the bookstore does not close over break.  And come to visit me, because it gets lonely down there after a while…

            I’m only looking forward to what next semester has in store.  I have an awesome schedule that should be flexible enough to carry over all of the activities from last semester.Hopefully I will get a chance to see everyone over the break! Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! 

Trojan domination of my life

The work never seems to end! It’s like a bottomless abyss that will forever bury me in essays and reading.  My crazy academic, extra-curricular, and social schedules have not left me very much time to breath, much less update my blog.  Probably the biggest highlight this month was the events leading up to the elections. For election night, I worked in the newsroom making thumbnails for slideshows and video that were to be posted ATVN’s election central.  We spent two Fridays in a row preparing for the live coverage of the invigorating 2008 elections.  And with that preparation, we had a successful night!  We were able to get live coverage from the Obama and McCain parties stationed around Los Angeles as well as coverage from the newsroom and local polls.  We used Skype to air the stories live, which was a pretty clever idea if I do say so myself.  In my four hours in the newsroom on November 4, I uploaded a grand total of 2 thumbnails. Although I wasn’t super busy, it was electrifying to be in one of the most informed rooms on campus with a television dedicated to each major news station including CNN, FOX, ABC, CBS, KTLA, and I know I’m forgetting at least three.  I cannot even begin to explain the excitement and chaos that ignited on campus after Barack Obama was announced as the President Elect.

A few minutes after Obama was announced as the next President of the United States, I called my mom who was in London at the time to inform her of this historical moment in American history.  Little did I know that it wouldn’t be too much longer until she could have found out on her own. Later the next day, she described the European excitement of the American presidential race.  She explained that not only was it the talk on the streets, but many people woke up at 4 in the morning to find out who our next president will be.  Personally, I found this shocking because I had no idea of the impact the U.S. had on the world.  As broadcasted, I knew that people in Kenya celebrated, but little did I know so did the rest of the world.

Other highlights from the month include going home a total of three times to see everyone, Halloween excitement, and football games.  I went home to go to the Homecoming football game, which Walnut lost, to see dinner theater (which was amazing =D) and for Mama Tina’s 81^st birthday.  In my opinion, Halloween wasn’t much different than any other week full of social events.  When each event is themed, dressing up does not become especially exciting or exclusive any more.  So after 3 costumes for four different events, Halloween didn’t seem very distinctive. I miss trick-or-treating around the streets of Walnut, which brings me the complete satisfaction of Halloween.  I mean, I would try trick-or-treating around USC, but I doubt I’d be very successful.  And then there is football season!  This past Saturday was the last home football game that most students will attend, since the official last game is after Thanksgiving when most students will still be home.  The end of football season brings me a bitter-sweet feeling: football games, no matter what time they start, seem to take up the entire day, but it is still a fun day!

I’m glad I finally had some time to update you on my life at USC.  I’ve got some more homework to get done before this weekend’s adventures.  Have a nice one!

Where has the time gone?

The days have come and gone so fast!  We have completed or are about to take our first midterms as college freshmen!  So far, so good, although I don’t know all of my grades and my Spanish midterm is this Friday.  Due to the intense workload of junior year, nothing seems to compare to the amount of work I did in I.B.  My only complaint would be the gross amounts of reading that we have to do.  Many people say the worst class you can take freshmen year is Writing 140.  But I seem to be doing great in that class with one successful essay under my belt (Thanks to Ms. Booth and Ms. Donee)!  As much as I hate to say it, doing I.B. was definitely worth the pain and sacrifice since I feel like the academic transition from high school to USC was not that big of a difference.

What seems to be occupying my time more than anything else are the volunteer activities I am participating in.  I’ll map out my week for you: Monday is Monday Night Dinner and Chapter at ADPi, Tuesday is CU@USC (college talk show on the local channel Trojan Vision), Wednesday is Joint Education Program (basically I supervise preschoolers for two hours and speak Spanish) and Assignment Desk for Annenburg TV News, and Thursday I have class until 6.  Only then does my weekend begin.  And all of this on top of 18 units!!  As you can see, time management is of the essence.  Even though I may complain of lack of sleep, I can tell you one thing, the opportunities at USC are endless! Everyday I receive an email telling me about open internships or jobs that I can apply for.  As a freshman, I’m gaining real life experience and holding positions that people have for a living.  I’m sure the actual positions are more intense than I have been exposed to, since I only spend one day a week on the job, but it is amazing to have the opportunity to make sure broadcast journalism is what I want to do with my life.  At CU@USC, I am one of the associate producers.  As an associate producer, my job is to conduct the pre-interview over the phone, book a guest, cover guest relations, write the run-down, and write thank you letters.  Last Tuesday, my mom was able to sit in on the whole process and was very entertained in what we do weekly.  My other favorite volunteer position is assignment desk at ATVN.  I look up current stories, keep the executive producer informed, and answer phones. My current project is researching the presidential elections.  And all of this does not count the sorority…

     

           My first invite in ADPi was this past Friday.  An invite is when girls in the sorority invite boys, Greek or non-Greek, to a dance.  It probably comes to no surprise to you that my date was Jonathan.  But the main difference between an invite and a school dance is that we don’t know the venue until we get off the bus!  Our invite was at a club/restaurant in Beverly Hills and it was very classy.  Jon and I had a great time, just as much fun if not more than high school.  We have other activities such as exchanges with frats, intramural sports, tailgates, and sisterly bonding activities.  I absolutely love my big sis.  Her name is Kiri and we have a lot in common, which has only facilitated our friendship.

            Currently, there is a virus going around school.  More than 130 people are infected by the gastrointestinal virus.  3 of my suitemates are infected so I can only pray that it doesn’t take me down too!

            Well thanks again for catching up with me. It was great going home last Tuesday and visiting everyone! I’m sorry if I missed some of you but I will be in town for the homecoming football game!