Alien in America

One of the best thing about Los Angeles is that you can just jump in your car, drive a few hours and be at a super awesome place and take a nice weekend vacation. Last Friday we spontaneously decided to spent the Easter weekend in Las Vegas. Flo booked a hotel and we left Los Angeles at 9pm on Friday. Back in Germany we would have probably not driven 5 hours to go somewhere for the weekend. But since we moved here long distances don’t really seem crazy to drive for a weekend anymore.

We arrived in Vegas at around 1:30am. I have never been there so to me it was exciting – even when it was in the middle of the night. We stayed at the MGM, where we got a nice room upgrade. The main reason we went to Vegas was actually to get out of LA and relax at a pool. And that was exactly what we did on Saturday. We lounged next to a crazy Spring Break Party and enjoyed the sun with our friends – who arrived in Vegas Saturday Morning. In the afternoon we walked down the Las Vegas Boulevard a bit, looked at some of the hotels, did a little gambling and afterwards went for dinner.

Overall I have to say that Vegas with all it’s crazy partying and gambling is not really my thing. I am more into the old Downtown (Fremont Street), the aged signs and the whole desert spirit that surrounds the city. I will definitely come back to see some shows like the Crazy Horse, but Vegas will not be my number 1 vacation destination in the future!

What do you think? Yes or no to Vegas?

Lately I have been homesick a lot. Not homesick, because I miss Germany. But homesick, because I miss my family and friends a lot. Sometimes it just hits you that it sucks sooooo much to live far away from your family and friends. No matter how mch you love your new home, those days will still hit you in the face and just make you wanna cry.

I was always super afraid of those days and for sure they don’t feel good at all. But I still am happy that I have those days. Not that I like being miserable, but it still reminds you how good home was. How lovely and gorgeous the people you left behing are. And how you always have a second home to go to. People always tell you that it feels bad to be torn between two places you call home. But sometimes I more feel like this is an amazing thing! There are surely people on this planet that don’t honestly can call one place home. I on the other hand am so lucky to call two places my home.

I probably will be over this phase soon. Especially, because my parents will be coming into town in the next weeks. But I will always cherish these tough reminders and memories that make you feel like you abondoned a part of yourself. A part that you will always be able to go back to! A second home you will never stop feeling homesick for!

Obviously neither Flo nor I just had our 2nd birthday. But even if he got a little older, Flo celebrated his 2nd birthday in the US yesterday. Last year we took a little romantic trip to San Luis Obispo for his birthday. This year we stayed a little closer to home, but went down to Huntington Beach. We met some of our friends, had a lovely brunch and afterwards went to Huntington Main Street to buy Flo a longboard.

For dinner I took Flo down to Santa Monica to the Boa Steakhouse. It is a upscale restaurant that is located directly by the beach and hosts celebrities all the time. Flo and I have meant to go there since we moved here, but always wanted to save it up for a special occassion. Flo’s birthday obviously was special enough and so I treated him to an amazing steak experience.

While we sat at dinner we started talking about the year that already had gone by since we moved to the US and that made me feel a little proud. I didn’t expect everything to go so good that we could afford a dinner like yesterday’s one without even worrying about it. We have only been here a year now, but we already saved up all the money we spent for moving here and even a little more. It feels good to be able to live a good lifestyle and not really have to worry about that much. Even if everyone loved to tell us how hard we will have it here and that we should get comfortable with the idea of being broke in LA.

Moving here has been a big but also an awesome step for us. And celebrating Flo’s birthday with friends, an amazing steak and the beach closeby all day proved that for us all over again. Life is good! And what better present can you get for your birthday than this?!