This is what my fridge looks like at home. Home, as in not my apartment in Chicago but as in the place where my mother pays the bills in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. We have a magnet for every place we've ever been, and they all go right here, along with the occasional embarrassing photo of me and my cousins. I asked my mom to take these pictures the other day, because I've been thinking a lot about it. The places that I've been, and the places I want to go.
People shake their heads at me when I tell them I want to live in Los Angeles. "It's not all it's cracked up to be," they say. Well, no kidding. There isn't a place in the world that is. It's the same way with people who romanticize New York all out of proportion. I tell them, "Hey, it ain't so great." But we want what we want, for whatever reason.
I've been to Los Angeles once, last September. I said to hell with class, and met up with a few of my closest friends there, from all over the country. I flew in from Chicago, there was one in from Texas, three from Washington, D.C. We were there for not more than four days. And we were supertourists. We hit the Chinese Theater, the Walk of Fame, we took the WB studio tour, the obnoxious double-decker bus tour, everything. It was completely kitschy and we loved every minute of it.
I've never been happier. See, I'm an East Coast girl. I was born and raised in Boston, then moved to Philadelphia, then went to school in D.C. before settling on school in Chicago. The landscape in California blew me away. We drove from Santa Monica through Malibu and I was just lost for words. We had dinner one night in Venice Beach, which was...an experience to be sure.
I have been all over the world. Well, okay, that's a lie. I've been all over Europe and the Caribbean sea. I've been to Prague, I've been to Budabest, I've been to Vienna. Rome, London, Paris, Edinburgh, Barcelona, Athens. (My mom is obsessed with travel, it's always been our one extravagance.) But I had never been to the West Coast before. And I was so convinced that I'd never seen anyplace more beautiful in my life. I still believe that.
I've done my time as an East Coast girl. I can deal with the smog. I want to be a West Coast girl now.
People shake their heads at me when I tell them I want to live in Los Angeles. "It's not all it's cracked up to be," they say. Well, no kidding. There isn't a place in the world that is. It's the same way with people who romanticize New York all out of proportion. I tell them, "Hey, it ain't so great." But we want what we want, for whatever reason.
I've been to Los Angeles once, last September. I said to hell with class, and met up with a few of my closest friends there, from all over the country. I flew in from Chicago, there was one in from Texas, three from Washington, D.C. We were there for not more than four days. And we were supertourists. We hit the Chinese Theater, the Walk of Fame, we took the WB studio tour, the obnoxious double-decker bus tour, everything. It was completely kitschy and we loved every minute of it.
I've never been happier. See, I'm an East Coast girl. I was born and raised in Boston, then moved to Philadelphia, then went to school in D.C. before settling on school in Chicago. The landscape in California blew me away. We drove from Santa Monica through Malibu and I was just lost for words. We had dinner one night in Venice Beach, which was...an experience to be sure.
I have been all over the world. Well, okay, that's a lie. I've been all over Europe and the Caribbean sea. I've been to Prague, I've been to Budabest, I've been to Vienna. Rome, London, Paris, Edinburgh, Barcelona, Athens. (My mom is obsessed with travel, it's always been our one extravagance.) But I had never been to the West Coast before. And I was so convinced that I'd never seen anyplace more beautiful in my life. I still believe that.
I've done my time as an East Coast girl. I can deal with the smog. I want to be a West Coast girl now.
haha. Well I want to be a east coast girl now. I plan on going to school there in the future. I'm glad you see LA that way, and although people tell you it isn't as great as you think it is, dreaming is what makes it beautiful and exciting. Well I hope you get the opportunity to live out here and truly appreciated it.
ReplyDeleteYOU SHOULD BE A WEST COAST GIRL BECAUSE IT IS THE GREATEST COAST. I mean, don't get me wrong, I want to live in New York just as much as the next person, but Washington, Oregon, California? Greatest states of life. There's so much to see and love...I really need you to come out here so that I can take you to Seattle, or down to Ashland for the OSF. Seriously. Waste your money AND GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE.
ReplyDeleteYou can live in LA as long as you have a couch for me to crash on. :)
ReplyDeletego for it...as you said, we want what we want...
ReplyDelete