I flew over the stream of lights and smoldering fires two days ago.

I rented a car (Alamo $500 for three weeks with insurance) and drove to the wonderful Sydney Levine’s house to stay for a few days while I get my bearings. The car is very necessary here, and I would also recommend a navigation system. It has spared me a lot of grief.

UCLA’s campus is gorgeous, although part of me wishes they’d relax the immaculate landscape and drop the tuition.

I looked at my apartment at Weyburn Terrace today. It’s pretty typical student housing. Part of me shudders to think that I went from my apartment (285 euros a month) in Berlin:

To my apartment in LA (1069 dollars a month)

The sidewalks are small but the weather is nice. I haven’t seen a cloud yet since I’ve been here. The streets are filled with a cornucopia of automobiles, from Maseratis to beat up models from the early 90s. I am hoping to be able to bike from my housing to the building for TV and film. There are many hills but parking is around $950 dollars at the graduate student housing and $560 on campus for the year.

It is still America, and I’m very much looking forward to meeting the people from my program at the cookout before production boot camp starts. Right now the transition, aside from crushing finances, has been very smooth. I think I could get used to this.