Grand Avenue Festival

Made my first trip down to Downtown L.A. for the Grand Ave Festival today. The Festival was like a carnival! It was a way for people to experience the sights and sounds of Downtown L.A., where concert halls, museums and other attractions offered a plethora of entertainment. Plus it is a Sunday, and there's no way I'm going to be deep into my books on the first week of school.

Took a direct bus from school down to town. Along the way we passed Bel-Air and Hollywood. Bel-Air was really some posh up market place to live in, just like what we see on TV. Didn't really get a good glimpse of Hollywood, other than the huge sign on top of the hill. But it looked quite a dingy neighbourhood, really unlike what we would expect from back home.

I can't tell you how much I enjoyed today down in town. Yes it was hot, blazing hot, but it was alot of fun! First stop when we got off the bus we went to the Cathedral of our Lady of the Angels. From previous experiences and pictures, I expected this Cathedral to be really classic and old and majestic, but I was totally wrong. What greeted me was this modern, swanky, state of the art facility! Mass was in progress and it was totally in contrast to the one I attended in the old churches. The choir was really uplifting and in contrast to the quiet veneration of the older churches, there was a spirit of uplifting reverance here. I then made my way down to the Masoleum below the church, and spotted a time capsule of the Church that was sealed in 2002 and to be opened in 2012.

Best part of the day had to be that there were free tickets to catch the LA Philharmonic Orchestra at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. Unbelievable. They were absolutly amazing. Smashing in fact. I haven't even heard the Singapore Symphony Orchestra *snigger* But it will be good to compare them one day. There was also some chamber music. Then there was this performance by this band called Upground, which did ska/latin/funk/reggae. WOW. The energy infused into their performance was just skanking!

There was a Colburn School of Performing Arts down the Avenue. They had dance performances and also a jazz performance. People in their teens, doing jazz standards, swinging away. Impressive. Went to the Museum of Contemporary Art. Now that wasn't so impressive. Could never really get art anyway. But it was free, so....why not?

Followed my roommates Lonely Planet Guide and did a walking tour of Downtown. Really covered quite a bit in the time that we were there. We saw Pershing Square, which holds concerts in the summer and converts into an ice-skating rink in winter, walked into the Millenium Baltimore Hotel which was really grand. Walked through the Jewelry District, walked through Broadway the Theater District part of Historic Downtown. We then went to the City Hall and the U.S. Courthouse to check out the Federal Buildings. The financial, entertainment, adminstrative parts of Downtown LA really seemed to be very packed in a really small area for such a huge city as Los Angeles, as compared to the other's I have visited, like New York and Chicago. But I'm not complaining, makes for less walking.

Its going to be the Start of Wk 1 of school. Man, I think I'm in for hell, doing 5 modules in a quarter system. Already I've started touching the books, whereas back home I never bothered till like mid-sem. Doesn't seem like there's time to warm up even. 1 module has just midterms and finals. 3 modules have midterms, a paper/project and a final. But my anthropology module has tons of readings, 5 essays that are part of the midterms and final, short though thankfully. And luckily my psychology modules are mcq tests. If not I would have seriously considered dropping one module. This is going to be a challenge, but why not, I really have nothing to lose.

Just be patient for pictures, they'll be coming up in the next post, once I compile some pictures from my friends as well. Big shoutout to the people at home, hope you guys aren't too stressed out by mid sem tests and all.