I have spent my first week in LA...here are my findings:

(in no particular order, except for particularly ordered lists)

I hope the academic part of UCLA is up to par with the scenery. It is such a lovely campus and very walkable from my charming neighborhood. I also hope the academic part masterfully succeeds the low standards of the administration. I have never before had to deal with such incompetence and difficulty (this includes the time that I had to deal with thousands upon thousands of dollars with my HMO). UCLA suddenly has no record of my full-tuition scholarship. Of course, the financial aid office does make appointments during the first few weeks of school so it has been difficult to get anyone who knows what they are talking about, to talk about it with me. Basically, I just had to take out a bunch of last minute student loans and but the rest on my credit card. I "believe" that they will sort it out later.

My studio is working out fine. It has freeway noise and is rather dark inside but I don't really expect company and it is something that I can deal with...with a bunch of lamps and my ipod.

I cannot find the cord that connects my camera to my laptop...so that's why I don't have any photos yet. But I promise to post some soon.

For the life of me, I cannot figure out why I have brought so much stuff with me...I am sure that I have at least 100 books with me. I hope this is good practice for Rome...

I am doing a lot of scheming about how my life is going to work out when I come back from Italy. I will be doing a lot of research about some internship programs for next summer and see what kind of special treatment I can finagle...a little enthusiasm goes a long way!

They boys that I used to babysit, arrived at UCLA for their freshman and junior years...they are SUPER shy so I really doubt I will see much of them. But I sure will pester them by trying!

The two most hyped TV shows in LA right now are Dexter and Californication. I make this judgment based on the number of billboard, bus stop, and actual bus ads. Dexter is the hands-down winner. Farther down the line is Cougar Town with Courteney Cox and Melrose Place with such witticisms as "Tuesday is the new Humpday" or "Tuesdays are a bitch" as the MP subtitle...apparently, subtlety is not what the show is aiming for. But these ads are somewhat effective. While not inducing me to watch a show I don't already watch, I did think that it was time I caught up with Californication...and it made me wonder why Courteney Cox dropped Arquette from her name.

Okay, enough boring updates for now...next week expect COLOR! As in photos...and news about classes.