Best memories in LA so far part 1

Posted on March 21, 2013 by Life in LA by Christine

I cant believe I almost only have ONE year left in this amazing city! Here are my most memorable moments in LA. (not in any particular order)

1: Meeting Lana Del Rey: Omg what can I say! This girl is amazing. I was eating dinner at Chateau Marmont with a friend of mine when he takes my hand and guides me over to another table and puts me down on a chair. There, right across the table sat the magnificent Lana Del Rey. I dident know what to say so I just blurted out: “Everyone in Norway loves you!” We started talking about her tour in Europe and that she was going to play on “this island in Norway” (Hove) that summer. She was super sweet and her voice sweet and soft just as in her songs.

2: First trip to Vegas: It was my first LA moment. This was when I discovered the endless possibilities in this city. We got a FREE trip to vegas, and was picked up in a this huge car and driven to Vegas by a driver. We stayed at Encore and went to XS in the evening. Amazing.

3: Meeting Nicholas Berggruen. What a man! What a inspiration. He is made of money, but realized that money dosent make you happy, so he sold everything he had. Kept his G6 and now he travels the world wanting to help california and the US solving its economical problems. He is a inspiration! I ate dinner with him every friday together with friends and other “high” people in LA discussing politics and economy for about 4 months. He is like a grown version of Peter Pan!

4: Insulted the director of Moneyball, Bennet Miller. Was eating dinner with Nicholas when I started talking to the man next to me. A quit man who according to himself likes to analyse everything before engaging in it. I told him I dident like Moneyball and he asked me why. I told him I dident like the end. and He was like: yes, but he choose happiness over money! me: yeah, but still the end was kind of sad. Him: You know I am the director? …. hahaha!

5: Dating a celeb: Not mentioning his name! But I was an interesting time I gotta say. Dont think I am doing that again!

Miami Summary

Posted on March 20, 2013 by Life in LA by Christine

I had a lovely couple of days in Miami! Here are the highlights of my trip

I had an amazing trip!

I stayed at the South Point Tower, which is where the view pictures are from. I ate at this restaurant that I cant find the name of again (perch, pearch something) they had amazing tunatacos and other seafood! If you know which resutrant please comment below. We also ate at the private local resturant at a mansion in downtown. I think you need an invite or know someone locally to eat there. The food was so good, and they served everything from meat to fish to vegan and wonderful deserts.

For ice-cream or gelato, you have to go to this amazing place by south beach called Dolce Vita. I got coconut and yogurt and we all sat there for 20 min just enjoying out ice-cream without saying a word. It was AMAZING!

For clubs ehhh I dont know. Night life in Miami is from 11 pm to 5 am, and it usally starts at one club and moves to the next. Miller is a good place to start for a Thursday, or this other red colored bar we went to. Baoli was also good, great crowd and music! There was a lot of great clubs, but I honestly cant remember them all!

Stay away from Nikki beach… its not like in France… just very tacky to be honest.

Miami Downtown

Posted on March 19, 2013 by Life in LA by Christine

Sorry for the extreme green color… color correcting went wrong:/

The apartment in Miami & Ocean View

Posted on March 18, 2013 by Life in LA by Christine

Look at that amazing view! I am so in love with this place

Living Over Sea & ChrisJNiel

Posted on March 9, 2013 by Life in LA by Christine

Hey babes,

I have tumblr! Did you know that?

After following about 10000 tumblr´s I decided to get my own.

Living Over Sea

I post mostly classy outfits, portraits and travel photos. Non of the pictures are mine;)

Follow me on instagram?

Chrisjniel

Apartment and Roommate Finder in LA

Posted on March 7, 2013 by Life in LA by Christine

Hey again,

I got a few emails recently, all asking about the same thing: Apartment and roommates.

So let me start with the apartment.

First of: Where to live?

Live wherever you want, but stay away from east LA, preferably downtown (even though you can find great places there too), and North LA. However, in these “bad areas” things are cheaper, so in desperat search of a cheap apartment and not so afraid of rape and murder, sure! Go ahead!

Consider where you are going to spend most of your time. Student? try to live close to school, however if you only go to school two days a week as I did one semester then living close to school is a little waste. Go out a lot? Live in N hollywood or Hollywood. Work? Downtown, or somewhere central close to work. Getting a car? try not to live near a freeway the you HAVE to go on everywhere you go. Traffic is hell in LA. Not getting a car? Make sure you live close to the Metro (the train in LA). That way you can get around more easily. Busses also work, but they are slow and always smell terrible with a lot of sketchy people.

In addition, if you are not getting a car, make sure you live close to a grocery store (no, CVS does not count as a grocery store..)

On more specific locations just google “safe places in LA” or “good places to live in LA”.You can also look at a crime map (google that to), to see what kind of crimes happens in your area. Dont just look at how much crime, but what KIND of crime. There is a difference between murder and robbery..

Here is a forum to check out: http://www.city-data.com/forum/los-angeles/142218-top-10-best-places-live-la.html

How to find an apartment?

So, I know a lot of you have asked me about craigslist and how you dont like using it. I dident like using it before either, but when you get the hang of it you see that there is a lot of good apartments and places to rent up there. So just try it a little.

Also Apartmentfinder is good.

Another tip is to spend first week at a motel in the area to test out the neighborhood, if you like it then go around and look for signs saying:”LEASING NOW”. This means that there is apartments available and in LA there as tons of places that lease out. People move so much in this city that there is always something available some where. When seeing a sign, note the place and number and go on to find other places. Then go on the internet and find the places on Yelp.com. Yelp is website that gives you information about EVERYTHING in LA, and its based on reviews from people who has actually experiences the place. Great place for everything, just be critical to some of the reviews, and remember people like to rather say what they dont like than what they actually like.

A personal tip from me on where to live is to check out the Redwood Urban website, they have nice apartments all over LA, so check it out.

Second question: Roommates:

How to find roommates?

I have answered it before, but I will answer it again:

Facebook: search for: USC students starting fall 13 etc. That way you may find groups that others have created to discuses their admission and some may even be asking for roommates. If you find a group you can also post:”hey looking for roommates. I am nice, clean girl/boy etc who is starting school this fall etcetc.”

Ask the school: Email the school you are attending and say you are looking for roommates and need some help.

also check forums by googling: SMC student starting fall 13 needs roommates etc.

Craigslist: a little sketchy maybe, but make sure to meet the person in public before any further arrangements are made.

Its easy! google it, facebook it etc and you will find someone. You are not the only one starting school remember. Everyone is freaking out just like you, so calm down.

I hope this helps!

Also check out this link :http://www.ehow.com/how-to_4845453_apartment-la.html

Free food at usc

Posted on March 7, 2013 by Life in LA by Christine

Hey babes (as we say here in the us)

I am doing a little experiment on myself right now. Due to my current financial situation and wanting to save money I have decided to only eat food that the school offers for free.

My PE teacher told me that last semester one of his students eat free food on campus everyday by joining different clubs, lectures and discussions that offered food. So I have decided to do the same. Three days into it I understand that it can actually be done.. if you eat whatever you can get..

On monday the gateway (students apartment) offered free donuts so I ended up eating eating donuts the whole day, together with free coffee, tea, cocoa and orange juice. It went surprisingly fine actually, despite feeling a little sick after three sugary donuts.

Yesterday was sandwiches at the same place! They offered every kinds: tuna, roastbeef, salami, chicken, vegan etc! Best day so far!

Gatway again: Today on the other hand.. muffins… after two banana muffins and a blueberry I feel sick… and not even full. I feel as if my teeth as deteriorating and I have this awful headache (which might be because of the large amounts of coffee I am drinking to..). In addition, I actually missed a free lunch at the tutor hall, which pobably would be much better than these sugar palm oil high-fructose xanthan muffin.

tomorrow is granola bars according to the calendar .. which they just took down from the board.. (does that mean they are not serving anymore?)

sincerely,

Hungry student

Lånekassen og det å være student på et av verdens dyreste skoler

Posted on March 4, 2013 by Life in LA by Christine

Jeg mottar max stipend og lån fra lånekassen, noe som kommer på totalt 287 620 kr. Dessverre koster skolen ca 253 000 kr i året noe som gir meg en spinkel sum på 17 000 kr å rutte med i halvåret. Legger vi til flybillett, som varier i alt fra 6000 kr til 12000 kr så begynner man å se at 17000 kr er i det minste laget selv for gjerrige meg.

Om sommeren går jeg på sommer skole (som jeg dekker selv) og har bare en måned fri som jeg tilbringer ved å jobbe hos moren min og det gir meg ca 15 000 kr. Dessverre jobber jeg ikke til jul fordi jeg bare er hjemme i tre uker og det meste av dagene er hellig dager.

Det vil si at etter flybillett og betalt leie, mobil og mat er jeg tom etter 2 månender etter jul. Resten av tiden må mine foreldre dekke for meg. Jeg er så uendelig heldig at jeg får være norsk og motta såppas mye støtte som jeg gjør, men dessverre så rekker det ikke til. For mens prisene konstant øker både på flybilletter, mat og ikke minst skolen min som øker med nesten 1000 dollar i året, har Lånekassen ikke fulgt samme pris og lønnings kurve som resten av landet siden 70 tallet…

Det er kjipt å måtte ringe hjem til foreldre å spørre om penger i en alder av 21 år… men det strekker rett og slett ikke til. Jeg er oppgitt og lei, og har flere ganger skrevet om dette.

Jeg kunne sikkert valgt en annen skole, men jeg fulgte drømmen og setter pris på hver eneste dag jeg tilbringer på USC. Skolen har et fantastisk nettverk, flinke lærere og spennende klasser. Hadde jeg valgt en annen skole hadde jeg absolutt ikke vært like motivert som jeg er i dag. Jeg var aldri opptatt av skole før jeg satte meg som mål å komme inn på USC. Jeg gikk fra stusselig 4.2(Norsk karakter gjennomsnitt) til 3.9 (GPA) på et år. Jeg syntes Lånekassen burde ta det til betraktning jeg når jeg kommenterer på for lite støtte og får beskjed om at jeg da burde valgt en annen skole. “For det skal jo ikke handle om penger i verdens rikeste land, det skal være like muligheter for alle”. Men selv om lånekassen er der så har de ikke gitt meg samme muligheter på USC, som om jeg skulle gått på en billigere skole. At lånekassen ikke vil gi mer støtte til de som søker seg litt høyere og mot dyrere skoler syntes jeg er latterlig.

Jeg kommer til å tilbringe resten av mitt liv på å nedbetale mitt studielån som i disse dager ligger på nesten 400 000 kr, men det er et valg jeg har selv tatt fordi det for meg handlet om motivasjon for en ellers så vilter lite skole flink jente. Det at lånekassen ikke vil hjelpe meg, og alle andre som hatt samme studieprogresjon som meg, mer er det samme som å si:”HIT, men ikke lenger”.

oppdatering

Posted on February 27, 2013 by Life in LA by Christine

At LA er en annen verden er det ingen tvil om og alt som har skjedd i det siste bevitner det samme. Jeg har ikke skrevet et innlegg på veldig lenge og jeg er litt lei av å skrive:”sorry dårlig blogging, LOVER å bli bedre, ÆRESORD!” …

Jeg har ikke skrevet på lenge fordi jeg har vært gjennom en litt vanskelig periode hvor litt for mye dessverre skjedde på en gang. Men nå er alt MYE bedre! Jeg har flyttet inn i ny leilighet like ved skolen sammen med to kjempe fine mennesker som alltid møter meg med et smil når jeg kommer hjem. Leilighets komplexet der jeg bor nå heter Orsini og er en del av et stort selskap som bygger “luksus” – leiligheter. Betaler 700 dollar for å bo her i måneden og til gjenngjeld får jeg boltre meg blandt: To basketballbaner, en golfbane, tre svømmebasseng (hvorav et er inne), jacuzzi, volleyball bane, badstu, stort treningsrom, resepsjon, 24 timers sikkerhet, soldekk, solarium, massage rom, egen park osv. Dessverre ligger stedet rett ved China Town hvor man ikke skal bevege seg etter at det blir mørkt, så når jeg slutter på skolen kl 6.30 og skal hjem før mine roommates (som har bil) så er det ganske skummelt å gå her. Uansett så trives jeg veldig bra!

Jeg har også kommet med på et sommerprogram med skolen min i Europa, var blandt 20 stk som ble plukket ut til å delta på en 5 ukers rundreise til London, Paris, Istanbul og Praha. Jeg er litt usikker om jeg skal takke ja eller ikke, og ser derfor på språk skole i samarbeid med Sciences Po i Frankrike. Nå som jeg bare har 1 år og 2.5 måneder igjen av min bachlor er jeg nødt til å begynne å se på hvor jeg skal ta min master og valget har falt på frankrike, helst Paris og Sciences Po, derfor har jeg begynt å lære meg litt fransk.

Jeg håper alle har det bra der hjemme i Norge! Har hørt det er fryktelig kaldt!

OG BTW: jeg har ikke svart på noen mail på ca en måned pga alt som skjedde, itillegg har mailen min fått virus så hvis du sendte mail etter den 7ende februar så ber jeg deg sende en ny mail til nielsenc@usc.edu

kyss, klapp og klem,

Chris

Det går mot varmere dager…

Posted on January 18, 2013 by Life in LA by Christine

i dag er det 27 deilige grader her i LA, merker det på humøret at alt blir så mye lettere når det er litt sol ute. Har vært skikkelig sliten i det siste og tror det kommer av at det er veldig mye som har skjedd, pluss at jeg var hjemme ca en måned i mørke kalde Norge. Uansett hvor flott det er å se venner så merker jeg at mangel på lys og det at det er så kaldt virkelig tærer på kropp og sin. Derfor er det ufattelig godt å være tilbake igjen og kjenne at dagene er lengere og varmere, pluss at neglene mine begynner å vokse igjen (de bare sprekker og brekker i kulden og av mangel på dvitamin!).

Men shitt, hvordan skal jeg noen gang klare å flytte tilbake til norge?