"Good Morning America How Are You!"

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Thursday 9th February

Now you thought we got culture shock going to China? Well, California is something else!

Our friend Lauren Kim, from California but who we met at St. Andrews picked us up at the airport and initiated us into American life with an In And Out Burger and 'Animal Fries'. We then promptly collapsed at her house with jet lag!

Friday 10th February

We braved the streets of LA and explored this fascinating city.

We had to do the whole Rodeo Drive thing (where the stars hang out apparently!) but despite making an extra effort with our hair and make-up that morning we were not spotted for the next big blockbuster! We window shopped at Tiffany's and Marcus breathed a sigh of relief when Fiona said she thought the jewellery was all ugly!

We went on to take in some real culture at the Getty, Los Angeles' state of the art Museum and Gallery. The architechture alone is enought to warrant a visit. Located on the hillside it commands fantastic views of the city and the Pacific coast, especially at sunset. The art exhibitions were good too but most enjoyable were the gardens, planned to appeal to all the senses. Fiona was then introduced to the American university campus at UCLA and couldn't believe that this 'city within a city' was all one university and indeed only one of the many universities in Southern California.

Saturday 11th February

Desperate not to miss our chance for fame we headed for Universal Studios. Unfortunately, being Saturday, the directors were all on their day off - just our luck!

We enjoyed seeing round the studios though and learning how the special effects were made. We were able to walk onto the sets of many of the famous films including War of the Worlds and experience first hand in a simulated 3D experience the challenges facing the Terminator.

Some tourists mistook us for a famous couple in the movies but we didn't protest and posed for them to take a photo anyway...

We enjoyed a good Mexican dinner on Hollywood Boulevard and tried to see whose names we could identify on the walk of the stars leading up to the Mann Chinese Theater.

Sunday 12th February

After a quick tour round her old university campus at USC we accompanied Lauren to church and her (entertaining but definitely informative!) Bible study class afterwards. We were then treated to a Korean dinner with Lauren and her American Korean friends.

We walked it off at the beach in Santa Monica where the whole of LA seemed to be enjoying a warm, lazy Sunday afternoon in the sun. Yes, it is February here too!

Monday 13th - Wednesday 15th February

We made a quick trip down to San Diego (on the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner) to visit our good friends from SDSU (San Diego State University) who have been coming to Oxford on the Summer and Winter courses organised by WISC for the past five years. It was great to visit the students and staff on their home turf. Again an amazing university campus, quite different from the Oxford life the students are so keen to experience.

We were sorry to miss Patty Stanley but her husband Gerry was an excellent host and gave us full reign of the house and hot tub. We also enjoyed a trip to the world famous San Diego Zoo with Gerry and Dr. Bergstrom. Marcus was able to touch base with his monkey friends and Fiona of course gravitated to the pandas - again!

Dr Carruthers and his wife Janet showed us some their favourite haunts of San Diego and favourite Latin American restaurant. Fiona enjoyed having a rare taste of Bolivia again and introducing Marcus to this different cuisine.

We had a good old catch up with Doc Stoddard and some of the students at the McCann's house before heading back to LA and our flight to Denver.

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Photos

At San Diego Zoo
Spot the monkey!

Californian Dreaming
At the beach in Santa Monica

Comments

[Josh Walton]

You were in LA!?!
Bru -- Aagh! I wish I'd known you were in SoCal, Amy and I would have tracked you down! Drop me a line sometime, and let me know how you and Fiona are doing: joshua dot walton at gmail. If you have skype, the username is valiantdust. Hope to talk to you soon, Josh Talk to you soon

[Hilary Paton]

Getting in touch with family
Hi Fiona, I just tried to send an e-mail to you, but i'm not sure if it worked. Peter and I (your son and daughter - it's going a long way back!) are coming to washington a week on Saturday, and if you happen to be back from your travels, we would love to see you and with you very belated engagement and wedding congratualtions. our e-mail address is hilsandpete at yahoo.co.uk I hope this gets to you and that you are around in the next few weeks. Best wishes, Hilary and Peter