This summer, instead of going home to Seattle, I decided to stay in LA. I’ve met a lot of USC students who are also staying here – some are taking summer classes, others are doing research, and a lot are doing internships like me. It’s my first summer in LA and I’ve only been here for two weeks and I already feel like I’ve been up to so much! Even though most of the student body is gone, there’s still a ton to do and a ton of people to hang out with. Here’s all the fun stuff I’ve been up to so far!
Pizmo Beach
Weekends are nice because I can go on trips. I went on a short trip to Pizmo Beach and climbed sand dunes – it’s more tiring than it seems! And last weekend I went up to Big Sur! I’d never been before but the cliff-side beaches fulfilled all my expectations – it was breathtaking.
The view from the the top of Cruikshank Trail – Big Sur is gorgeous!
I love backpacking so we packed up our tent and sleeping bags and took to the Cruickshank trail. The trail starts with an intense uphill slope up the cliff and then turns inland through luscious greenery. After a few miles we came across the creek by which we would camp.
Emerick brought his hammock on our backpacking trip – it made our camp spot quite homey 🙂
We “showered” in the freezing stream and started a fire to warm ourselves up. It was a perfect end to our day of backpacking. For anyone who loves hiking, Big Sur is a good destination. Next weekend I’m going on a sailing trip to Catalina. The USC Wrigley Institute is up there and I want to go snorkeling.
There’s also a lot to do in the city itself. I’ve been hiking at Malibu and later this week my roommate and I are going on one of the secret stairs. One of my new roommates from the place I’m subletting this summer is on the USC salsa team and he is going to take weekday classes to get better at social dancing. The LA salsa scene is crazy fun and I think I’ll drop in on some classes with him!
When I first decided to stay in LA this summer, I was worried that there wouldn’t be as much to do as during the school year since most of the students are out of town, but all my worries have been put to rest. There’s so much to do in and around LA that even though there’s still a full two months of summer left I think I won’t have enough time to do it all!
