Summer 2k15: Adventures All the Way!

 

This summer has been long gone for all the students who live in the US. But for me, the end of summer has just come. Those endless all nighters thanks to several t.v. shows and youtube videos, those hot summer days where I just want to soak my body in an ice bath, and those fantastic adventures with friends have finally mashed together to form the summer of 2015. It all felt like a mix of the stereotypical California summer, with the undeniable laziness that usually hits students during the summer months. Just for fun, here are some of the things that I did during my summer:

1. I went to the beach (way more than I ever have in my life)

The beach during high tide. No way would I go in this water.

 

My parent's have raised me to be fucking terrified of ocean waves. More like my mom (she's scared of drowning and hence she scared us about drowning). So I never really visited the beach very often although sandy beaches were literally 15-20 min. away. While half of my classmates can surf I can barely go to the deeper part of the ocean waves. I always did the "If it touches my thigh, I'm going to die" motto with water height.

My ocean-beach-loving friend dying to get into the water.

This summer, my friends have forced me to actually try getting all the way into the water (like chest deep), and it's fun as hell. I'm extremely out of shape so diving and kicking around in the water is a huge challenge but it's so exciting and satisfying. I'm still a bit nervous (especially since I thought that I almost drowned. My friend saved me.), but I had such a blast I can't believe I've avoided the waves for so many years. And I was sunburned for the first time! Plus, we have fun bonfires at the end to reward our aching bodies.

Now I have to learn how to boogie board, then surf.


2. Casual Hangouts (to the max)

 

My friend sitting over the pool during our pool party.

My friends were big honors/AP kids, which meant that we never really hung out together. Now I understand that being in honors classes does not mean, you're a stereotypical nerd who doesn't do anything but study, but unfortunately, we fell into that category fairly cleanly. School was number one, and socializing was number eh...six? It was also difficult to socialize because some of us had strict parents that would limit the number of times we can go out, plus driving and getting rides to places was a huge issue.

 

This summer was fantastic because we did small things together. We had pool parties, hung out in parks, hiked, casually played video games, and completed puzzles. We just goofed around and it felt nice to just relax and be with each other without having to talk about school work. And more of my friends could actually drive and take us places.

 

If you can't tell we're an awkward bunch.

 

 

3. Adventure-ing Around: OC Fair & LA

 

My friend refusing to get her picture taken at the OC Fair.

 

I've been to the OC Fair so many times I've practically memorized the layout of the whole thing.

Basically, the OC Fair is this confused gathering of everything an American fair should be. There's fatty fried foods (fried coffee, fried oreos, fried frog legs. If you can fry it then they'll have it). There's live music (but the real concerts happen at night), and there's an amazing art gallery where they showcase photography to woodworking. The art gallery is where it's really at. Plus animals, carnival games, rides, etc etc. It's really fun, but also really expensive. I just know how to have fun without having to fork over any dough.

 

Creepily taking snapshots of strangers while I'm on the ski lift.
 

 

 While I'm not an avid rider of rides, my favorite contraption to go on at the fair is the ski lift. You can see a gigantic portion of fair while you're in the air and it's great. The smell of food, and busy people, it's really entertaining to watch. Although it's also fairly terrifying since there's a chance of me falling to my death.

 

LA ADVENTURES:

My adventure in LA holds a very special place in my heart. It was the first time that I felt completely independent, while also being able to enjoy myself completely while doing something new. I'll outline my trip because holy crap it was so fun.

 

8:00 a.m.

My friends and I bought train tickets to go from my place, all the way to L.A. Union Station (about an hour forty minutes). This was already exciting because I like train rides. My love for trains will never cease.

 

10:00-ish a.m.

After our awesome train ride, we hopped onto the metro! Which is the underground subway system in L.A.. Good god that was so fun to navigate. While locals didn't give a crap because they're used to the metro, it was pretty obvious that my friends and I were tourist-y. We wore extra extra cute clothes and we were all excited every time we got on. I felt so good everytime we went on the bus or metro all day.

 

Once we navigated our bus route (that was a bit more stressful I'll admit), we finally walked to our destination: LACMA! (Los Angeles County of Modern Art)

 

But before we continued, we passed through the La Brea Tar Pits.

 

Gross tar pit. Smelled awful, but it was still pretty interesting to see. NOTE: not real elephants lol.

While I lost interest of the tar pit after ogling it for a good ten minutes, we went up above the tar pit museum right next to it (entering has a fee and we refused to pay lol), but it had the best view/architecture and it was so cool.

 

La Brea Tar Pit Museum (top floor). Minimalist blogger stuff right here.

And after exploring this blank top space, and mindlessly wandering through more tar pit land and grass under the hot L.A. sun, LACMA finally opened!

 

LACMA

We spent hours upon hours here, and we still didn't finish looking through all of the art pieces. This is the home to the infamous "lights" & "noodles" that usually pop up on instagram. Here are some snapshots of my favorite places/art.

 

The infamous "urban lights", mostly found on instagram via teenage girls.

Pretty art pieces, ft. my hipster friend.



Spaghetti noodle piece, red cone like structure, and boxy black sculpture. I wish I knew the real names.
 

But that spam though. It really captures the emotional trip of my soul. Salty.



Big rock. The question is: is this art? We had mini-debate in class about this.

And there were so many more pieces that I couldn't take picture of because I was yelled at. Apparently, I tried taking pictures of a special art exhibition, and after that I felt bad and stopped taking pics.

FUN FACT: If you have a medium sized-large sized backpack at LACMA, you must wear it turned around in the front. So the "pack" part is in front like you're pregnant with your belongings. This is so no one knocks over any valuable art pieces.


And this summer was an incredibly fun summer. And while I'm sad to say goodbye and close this chapter of my life, I'm glad to say it was one hell of a good chapter. So cheers to summer 2k15, and a warm hearty welcome to my new college life of 2k15-2k16. It better be a good one!

How was you're summer? Did you have any fun adventures as well?