Exactly one year ago I was taking a week off to fly to California and visit my second family, the one that hosted me in 2008 during the exchange program that changed my life.
My host parents picked me up in LA and we drove to Orange County to see my little sister Liana, that goes to Vanguard University. We spent the afternoon in my favorite place, Newport Beach, that makes me find happiness and a little piece of paradise every single time I’m there…..there’s no other place that brings me back to my 16, when I was obsessed with The Oc. Its sunsets, its amazing views and looking at young people hanging out around bonfires on the beach or going to Prom on a boat, make you feel like you are in a real tv show.
Later on, Alicia, my other host sister, joined us and she took me to a friend’s party in Long Beach, where I met a lot of high school friends that I hadn’t met in 6 years. We spent the night at a friend’s place in Huntington Beach, before another awesome day on the beach. We had lunch at Ruby’s and watched surfers from the pier.
We spent the rest of the week in Spring Valley Lake, Victorville, that I still consider my home after such a long time…even though it is in the desert, half way between LA and Las Vegas, it was the most peaceful place I could ask for, after months of no-stop working. I really enjoyed my morning walks around the lake and the golf course and it brought me back to a lot of memories.
At some point me and Alicia decided to spend the day in Los Angeles; we hiked up to the Holliwood Hill, went shopping around the TCL Chinese Theatre area, had dinner at In-N-Out, and visited The Last Bookstore, the largest used and new book and record store in California. This was probably the coolest bookshop I’ve ever been and I totally recommend to stop there if you happen to be in LA.
Before heading back we went back to west Holliwood to take a look at the LA Ink tattoo store “High Voltage Tattoo“, which was so inspiring that we immediately decided we were going to get a tattoo on my last day there!
Thanks Alicia and Liana, best american sisters I could ask for…
Hope to come back to Cali soon!
Linda
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