The Many Lessons of L.A.

There are many things I have learned in the short time I have spent in L.A. The first, L.A. is huge and terrifying. Getting lost seems like an inevitable occurrence. The second, the more time you spend in a place, the more if begins to feel like a home. When my friend picked me up from the airport and drove me back to her apartment where I am living until August, I began to wonder what I had gotten myself into. There was so much to get accustomed to, so many new streets and highways to learn. However, after spending the next day around East Hollywood, places started to look familiar. Certain street names were starting to stick out to me. Certain businesses were becoming landmarks.

While I am learning more about my surroundings, I am also worried I may never get to put my new found knowledge to the test. I teamed up with my roommate from Dublin last summer, and together we did some serious car hunting from noon until 9 pm. After being led from one shady, back alley dealer to another from the cars we found on cars.com, only to discover them dented and stained, we started stopping in at dealerships. We stopped at one after another, each sucking you in with cars that seem too good to be true. Turns out, it's because they are too good to be true. They say they can get you a deal, however the deal isn't up to them, it is up to their boss. When you add on taxes, document fees, and licensing fees, a car that started in my price range quickly leaves it. After 9 hours, I headed home empty handed and heavy hearted with only one source of enjoyment, my fourth lesson.

At one of our last stops I met a salesman who taught me how to drive using a manual transmission. I only stalled out once when I didn't realize I needed to step on the clutch before the brake. It was exhilarating, like learning to drive all over again! He volunteered to teach me because the only car he had in my budget was a stick shift. It was tempting to get the car so I could continue to practice, and if I was in Athens this summer I probably would have gotten it. But I'm not in Athens. I'm in a very large city that I am very slowly getting familiar with, which has a lot of stop-and-go traffic. The last thing I need is the added pressure of perfecting my manual transmission driving.

One less pressure I have is what to eat for breakfast. My final lesson has been the growth of my taste buds. I have actively avoided oatmeal for as long as I can remember, but finally decided to give it a try. To my surprise, it wasn't half bad. Inspired by my broadened breakfast pallet, I decided to leave the tomatoes on my In-N-Out Burger at lunch, and you know what? It was tasty.