I have always loved my own company and being independent, even travelling alone has its major benefits. In fact, being in Utah - a state where I have had to establish new friendships - has made me even more independent. When I found that after a week of being in the states, I had not met as many people as I thought I would, I looked at my academic calender and scouted for when the next long weekend would be; it was Labor Day.
I wondered where I could go that was close enough and cheap enough to suffice as a long weekend away...I thought of LA. I thought it would be a liberating experience, like that of my travelling alone to Paris earlier this year, but what I found instead was that it was a complete education and culture shock. Whilst I was in LA I learnt some very valuable lessons:
1) Your stereotypes of hood people like you see on LHHATL (Love and Hip Hop Atlanta) are true.
Against the advice of the people in my sorority (yes, I came to an American college and joined a sorority), I decided to ride the metro from Long Beach all the way to my accommodation in Koreatown, LA thinking it would be much like the tube system in London. How wrong I was. On my journey I witnessed some of the things I have only ever seen on television, in music videos or in movies. I didn't realise 'baby daddy' was a commonly used phrase, nor did I think people actually had tear tattoos on their faces. Needless to say I never rode the metro again.
2) It is said the people of LA don't walk anywhere...because they don't!!!
When I was in Paris I walked the whole city, so much so that I came home in pain. I went with the impression that the same could be done in LA...I mean, that's a city too, right? How wrong I was. On the first morning of my arrival I intended to walk a short distance to my destination. The short distance ended up being nearly two hours away by foot and nearly being followed by a middle aged short Mexican dude. The size of the city completely threw me and as such I failed to do 3/4 of the things I wanted. Taking the tour buses everywhere (I was now scared of the metro and didn't understand the bus system) and not having a comprehensive enough plan failed me. In LA, you most definitely need access to a car.
3) Just because there's a stupidly rich community, does not mean there is no poverty.
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| Just a Bugatti parked up on Rodeo Drive. Casj. |
What I witnessed in LA was one of the most shocking things I've ever encountered. I assumed that because there were the rich, there would be less poor simply because the rich would be philanthropic How naive I was. Not only does there seem to be more homeless people in LA than in any other city I've been to, but the stark paradox becomes all the more apparent when you have the extremes less than a twenty minute drive from each other. When asking about homeless shelters, soup kitchens and other such like aids usually available to the homeless, I was told there weren't that many. This was shocking to me as I would have assumed the celebrities and the rich living in Beverly Hills, shopping on Rodeo Drive etc would have and could have afforded to give more than what they do instead of focusing on themselves (Jennifer Aniston has three houses on one plot of land. Necessary? I think not).
4) You can find good food in America!!!
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| Lobster and Garlic Noodles, Crustaceans Beverly Hills: http://www.houseofan.com/ |
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| Pink's Hot Dogs: http://www.pinkshollywood.com/ |
LA was definitely not one of my favourite cities in the world, but I would most certainly visit it again simply to do everything I didn't do this time. But, take note from my mistakes: if you ever go to the City of Angels, please take a car.
Stay tuned, for my next travel experience to Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and Houston (to see Aniesha) in Fall Break!!
Rachael xx
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