Let Me Catch You Up On Things

My first week in LA was super insane! I drove out and arrived Friday night. After a long and really difficult night for me I finally got 4 hours of sleep. I spent that weekend moving and adjusting my things in my corner of our loft studio apartment and trying to adjust to what would be my new home for the next 9 weeks. We live in a really tall apartment building and apartment living is definitely something I am not used to. Our neighborhood is considered very nice and I didn't think it was too bad. We even have a grocer just around the corner...literally! Upon my adventure to find where I will be working FOR FREE as an intern for the next 9 weeks I began to realize just how very different things are from home. You go about 4 blocks down and you start to get into neighborhoods that are very sketchy and I felt a sudden need to be very on guard. I work in the fashion district and I was very shocked to see just how unglamorous the fashion district was! Everything looked so rough and not at all how I had truly imagined it! I work in a building that looks really rough on the outside and I was quite sure it very well was not the place I worked all the way up until my first morning of work. Once you go through this big metal gate door it starts to become a little more lovely. Upstairs where my office is it is much more like I would have imagined. My office is really cool. A big open studio with everyone working together in this one office. My first day was intense but sadly not as glamorous as I had expected. I spent 8 hours sitting at the "craft" table hand sewing beads and size labels onto garments. NOT at all what I was thinking I would be doing on my first day. It actually went just like that the second day too. On the third day I was prepared for the same and to my pleasant surprise things were different. We had a photo shoot in office and it was tons of fun to watch! We also had a fit model come in and I got to watch as Meghan checked the fit of garments that were going through production. Really cool to see the things I have learned in work in real life! I also got to take home a sample dress that night and I was really pumped!! My first Meghan. A dress that was about $250! So it was super awesome to get for free! I was still struggling though with the fact that I just didn't want to be in LA. It wasn't what I thought it would be, and the funny thing is I didn't even have a good idea of what I expected it to be. The weather wasn't sunshiny and as my time here has progressed I have learned of the common on the California phrase of "June Gloom" which is really not making my adjusting any better. I decided that I needed to be more positive about this wonderful opportunity that I had been blessed with and began to smile a little more with each day! Work most days is pretty rad and I enjoy it...some days much more than others. I see myself learning a lot! My walk has even got less scary to me. I walk five blocks down to Main St. and then go left for another 5 blocks to my office. I feel as if I have been living here for years on my walk to work. I am even sorta getting used to the stares I get from all the male Mexican workers the entire 5 blocks down Main. I just smile and say good morning back. Some people are really nice and I have had a few morning compliments that have really brightened my day, like: "I like your style, its so natural and beautiful" and "You have a wonderful smile". The kindness of strangers has helped pick me up a few mornings! I have also attended the student ward as of last Sunday and it was wonderful! The exception to my student ward at home is that it is not just a singles ward...it is just for students in general which translates to everyone that has not gone home for the summer is married and even some have babies...so a slight disappointment to the hopes of finding my California love. I made really good friends already with a lot of the girls and one couple was so sweet to bring my a chair that they didn't need anymore so that I wasn't always having to sit on a beanbag. Oh and I spent Saturday in Chinatown, which was a nice little adventure. We rode the bus over for 25 cents! That was great! We spent the day just exploring the strange little shops and taking in all the excitement, even making a few family gift purchases! We had lunch there and later that evening caught the very last bus for the evening leaving Chinatown. Overall the first week was CRAZY!! And I just kept lying to myself telling myself that I am getting used to it. It was just so so so much to take in and I was feeling sad missing friends and family and feeling like I left some really great opportunities in Stillwater that I may never get to have. Overall...a week I will never forget!