Los Angeles

San Diego has been great, but in order to get a little prepared for living in Los Angeles for a while I have been up there for a weekend to check it out. Last time I have been there is over 10 years ago - crazy! And I must say: It's not as bad as I thought! There are nice parts of the city like Long Beach, Santa Monica with the pier, the beaches and the whole surfing vibe. But there is Venice as well with it's gallerys and all the street art and the colourful beach walk full of the most different people.

 

Of course Hollywood with all the famous, but not so shiny places in real life like the walk of fame. 

Or 'The Getty' in Bel Air and of course Beverly Hills... 

 

Nice neighborhood.. If somebody likes to donate a couple of million dollars - great! But actually  it could get a little boring .. I think Venice or Santa Monica would be great, but Culver City is the last Metro Stop and the vibe there is a little like in a smaller city - a bit in between Santa Monica and Downtown.

 

I definitely look forward to moving to LA! It seems like there is a lot to see, do and experience! And they even have some decent surf!

One of the things I had to see was: Rodeo Drive. I had never been there and only knew the strip from some TV shots, but I was especially interested  in the hotel from 'Pretty Woman': The Regent Beverly Wilshire! 

It is located at the end 

of Rodeo Drive and you can even have a coffee and some fancy snacks in their own very, very fancy Café! On Rodeo Drive itself you cannot really shop, but it is beautiful and strolling through the street while window shopping is definitely worth a visit!

White Party

Party Location: Beachwalk!

On my last visit in San Diego I already had the luck to be invited to one of V's and Shereen's famous parties. And this time I got lucky again. They threw a 'White Party' at their house at the beach walk in Mission Beach. 

The occasion was to have fun, but also to promote a new app that one of their friends developed: 'In or Out'. It is an app to invite friends. You send them the request with time and location and they simply klick 'in' or 'out', no questions asked, no long explenations why not.

The party started around 1pm, I showed up around 3pm and stayed until after dark. And the later the hour, the more people showed up . They had a DJ on their 'Party Patio' who was great and after a while everyone was dancing - on the patio, on the little stage, on the handrail or like me - on the wall!

Of course there was a bar with all kind of drinks and any time you get tired of being within the crowd, you can just hop over the little wall and take a walk at the beach.  And because V is a collector of sunglasses - Becky and I got to try a lot of different models :) Thanks Becky for including me in all those events and introducing me to your friends. And thanks V and Shereen for throwing those cool parties - I really had a great time!

Brian's Famous Ribs!

This time I got so lucky to be invited to a BBQ party. Everyone brings food andso I was able to whitness Brian's magic... He is really making the best ribs in the world! They taste amazing without any kind of glace or sauce - they just turn out perfect right from the grill.
And he is even teaching people how to do it right, which everybody can pick up at:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBlUPkoLVaM

And that wasn't the only thing .. there was pulled pork as well, pork sirloin and BBQ chicken - it was aaaaaawesome!!

Lunch time and Burgers

 Every time I am on a trip in the US I always crave for certain foods - burgers, steak, but also stuff like sweet potato fries with a lemon dip.

Lucky me we have an organic restaurant in front of our lab door - the 'Green Acre'. It serves salads and veggies from the own garden, which is positioned between the three buildings of that research site. Gardeners are working all day and the restaurant is open for breakfast and lunch:
http://www.greenacresd.com/
I took the pictue on the right during my lunch break - so yes, it really is that pretty and nice!! And hot! The first time ever my phone shut off and showed the message: iphone has to cool off before use Crazy!

Other important thing: Get  a burger of course!

So two days ago my room mates took me to this place in La Jolla downtown (if you can call it that - La Jolla really isn't that big..):

http://www.burgerlounge.com/

The best part: Because I surf every morning I still drop some pounds even after eating all that!!!

And if somebody now thinks - 'hm, she must have dropped her gluten free diet'. No! Here in America they are a little ahead when it comes to that. In most places you have the choice of a gluten free bun! It's heaven.

'Orientation' how to behave in California

In order to start working for an institute in California there is an orientation for all new employees where you learn how to behave in California. Which - in some ways is a really good idea to share that information because it is very different from Germany.

Do not touch your coworkers unless it is a handshake and so on..

The most amazing part was where we talked about harassment at work and special protected groups..

See how it starts with AGE
(40 and OLDER) !!!

Well .. only 5 good years left then.


But after all that (and getting a pair of lab safety glasses) I finally became an official employee of TSRI (The Scripps Research Institute)!  Aaaaaawesooooome!

Welcome to San Diego!

It is August 2014 and finally I arrived (after a lot of visa issues of the US embassy)  in San Diego! I found a beautiful place to stay with a great crowd of people - my new roommates! I got a car with 'dirt cheap car rental' - a tiny little Nissan, but it is big enough to fit a surfboard.

I was able to buy a 9'1 15th Street longboard and hopefully it surfs as good as it looks. And it was a total coinsidence that it fit absolutely perfect into my little car - it is definitely made for me! And I even 'let the cow fly' (as my brother would say) and spent some extra money on a nice brand new, colour matching leash..

 On my first weekend I visited the beaches around - drove all the way up to Newport Beach, which is beautiful, but packed! Got to meet some old friends from Hawaii and enjoyed a day cruising the beach walk there thanks to BJ and Joleen!
Now back in La Jolla I go surf every morning and hopefully my skills will refresh and I get better each day.
I am exited to see how work is going to be once everything is organized. So far I know that I have to undergo a welcoming event and some safety presentations before I can really start - I am curious and look forward to being a full member of the scripps team!