Over MLK weekend my lacrosse team held its annual team retreat. The location is always a surprise until the morning of the retreat. Generally we spend the weekend in some city within two hours of USC, but this year we decided to try something different and spent the weekend in L.A. On Saturday we all carpooled up to the Hollywood Bowl, and then waited to hear what we would spend the day doing. We were all incredibly excited to learn that we would be split up into teams and spend the day running around L.A. on a scavenger hunt. The “course” was designed to take around four hours during which we would walk/run 4 to 9 miles around the city. We started at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, placing our hands in the handprints to discover the letters of a secret message. From there we took the metro towards downtown L.A. and checked out the Angel’s Flight Railway before touring the Grand Central Market. I’d never been to the Grand Central Market before, but I definitely want to go back – the food all smelled so delicious and I love open air markets. From there we made a quick stop at the Los Angeles Central Library before heading over to the Disney Concert Hall. This was also my first time at the Disney Concert Hall, and it was incredible to experience the amazing architecture in person. From there we took the metro back to Hollywood to look at the stars on the boulevard, and eventually ended up at the Kodak Theater. This was the last stop on our tour of L.A., and we celebrated by eating delicious food at the Lucky Strike. We were thoroughly exhausted but had so much fun exploring Los Angeles.

Disney Concert Hall

The next day we held an alumni game against our favorite and best alumni – the game was very close and competitive, and ultimately called a tie. It was great seeing the older girls and hear about their lives after college.

Lacrosse Alumni Game

The lacrosse team always enjoys participating in bonding activities, and this retreat was definitely the best one we’ve ever had. We can’t wait to see what next year will bring. The fun for my weekend didn’t stop there either – I decided to start checking off my list of places to visit in Los Angeles by going to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) with some friends. The exhibits were very intellectually stimulating, not to mention in some cases beautiful. And of course we all spent time taking tons of pictures with the forest of city lights. The best part is that I get to go back to LACMA this coming Monday on a field trip with my architecture class!

LACMA!