American Parenthood

My parents were originally coming in March sometime, but tickets for a quick 4-day round trip were too inexpensive to pass up - and their visit actually fit perfectly in the academic schedule. 

They came to pick me up Saturday after I had been to the gymnastics meet. Suddenly, they were standing downstairs. Phone signal was bogus and I did not receive half the texts and calls from my parents - and on that first day only their last call went through. FUN.

We drove to their Airbnb near Griffith Park and went to have dinner at the Alcove - it was super nice and cheap! So that was nice.

Sunday we drove up the coast. We stopped for snacks in Malibu where a bunch of vintage and beautiful cars and bikes were coming in. That was pretty great - we especially liked the yellow one. 

They both very quickly started talking about how lucky I was living under the sun - I just had to remind them that they just happened to have arrived on the very first day it was warm enough (for me) to have bare legs and wear sandals.

In Santa Barbara we walked around on the beach and it was delightful feeling the sand under my feet!

 

The Santa Barbara pier is odd though. They have parking - ON THE PIER. Which takes away from the experience. It felt pretty plastic-y and touristy as well. But on the very end of the pier the breeze was nice, a musician was playing and it was not as crowded.

We then went for a bigger snack at a fancy restaurant by the coast. It reminded us of Bali!

It was the Super Bowl afternoon and we happened to order drinks in the same colour scheme as the rivals. When we had soaked in some sun we went back to the car and drove back down to LA.

And Santa Monica! The sun had set and we had seen the pink sky over the mountains and now the orange sheen across the ocean.

 

We were happy we saw this pier second. Because it was more impressive and had more of an atmosphere!

The dogs slowly got used to us in the Airbnb house. 

Monday came and with it a drive to UCLA.

We walked to campus and I showed them around. It was nice introducing them to my US surroundings. And they even sat beside me for my Monday morning class.

Then we drove to Santa Monica again because my dad wanted to shop a little. The streets were kind of empty because it was a week day! 

And then we saw the setting sun from further up than right on the pier.

The colours were astonishing. The sun sets pretty quickly and we even saw people running to make it in time for the last few minutes!

Then we had tacos at this place we really liked - I just didn't really like my seafood variant. The surroundings were nice though!

Tuesday, we went to the Getty museum. It is in the hills, but only around 15 minutes away from where I live. The architecture was brilliant and the location great! I just was not that happy with their exhibits - but I guess it is hard to overwhelm me after Russia etc.

I got tired very quickly so we opted for a long lunch in the semi-shade. And a family tradition: card games. It was a lovely few hours.

We then took the tram (!) back down and headed towards UCLA once more.

 We sat on my roof and saw the sunset while I ate. And then I was driven to Stop motion class.

We squeezed in a trip to a diner on Wednesday morning. And more card games. But then it was time to say goodbye again!

It was really good to see my parents and nice to show them around. But most importantly (not): I was VERY happy that they had brought me Danish liquorice - I feel like I can breath again. It's a little piece of home.