This is a continuation of my accounts of my first Spring Break while in business school. Read Part 1 here.
I have never liked Los Angeles. There always seems to be bad weather when I am there. The city is not nice or charming, the homeless people are less funny than in San Francisco (although it is still tragic that there are so many of them), and it is hard to get around the vast, sprawling expanse. It’s not even so much a city as an urbanscape of some sort. So of course, that’s where I found myself after the Bay Area, to visit my friend, Alexander Roth (yes Furnace Woods people, the one that moved away in second grade).
I went to Venice Beach with Alexander on this trip. Turns out it’s my favorite part of LA! The weather was nice when we were there. The boardwalk area is fun, the shopping district is really nice to, and the canals and homes along them are awesome and I want one for myself.
Alex works in film production, and due to the poor weather, we went to the see a movie every day that I was there.
Day 1: The Passenger
Day 2: Get Out
Day 3: Song to Song
The Passenger was good. Get Out was good. Song to Song was excellent. Then again, my taste in movies is generally opposite of the masses, so you will all probably hate it. Enjoy Power Rangers, that’s all I have to say.
After an unanticipated overnight in LAX I arrived at the last stop on my Spring Break tripathon, Washington DC. My itinerary completely consisted of seeing friends and family members.
On Friday I met my Nicaraguan friend at the National Museum of the American Indian on the Mall. I was underwhelmed by the collection and the extent of the museum, but I think that the intent of the museum is wonderful. It mixes artifacts with contemporary art as well as historical explanations, to portray the true experience of the American Indian and their place in society today. Seeing Jeniffer was also a treat. I hadn’t seen her since I left Nicaragua, even though she is now married to another Volunteer and lives in Maryland with him.
The atrium of the museum
The museum was the most cultural activity of my sojourn in DC. The rest of the time I spent visiting friends and family and watching the Tar Heels get closer to the championship game. On Sunday I had a ride back to Chapel Hill, after a long and wonderful Spring Break, and we left relatively early to make it back to North Carolina for the start of the next basketball game.
As we were driving out of DC, racing the clock to make it back to Chapel Hill for UNC’s Elite Eight game, I realized how much I miss DC. It’s a great city with tons to see and do, and I have a ton of friends there. I still have friends there that I have not seen since I got back from Nicaragua, and many more still that I did not get to see during this visit. It’s a shame, and I wish I could spend more time there than I do. #ChapelHill – just far enough from anywhere you’d rather be.
A gallery with one image for each bed/airport bench I slept on in the second half of the trip:
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