My room mate and I took a trip to Los Angeles over her Spring Break, along with my mom and her dad, to get a feel for the area and look at some apartments. We had been debating for a long time about where we were going to move once she graduates from college and our lease runs out in May. Our two choices were Chicago and L.A.
We had explored Chicago in January when we were there for auditions and we knew we couldn't make a decision until we had also explored L.A.
First of all, the main difference was the weather. Whereas Chicago is usually cold and cloudy, L.A. was sunny and warm (it was in the high 70's all week). While I feel like I should be able to deal with cold well (being from Nebraska), I still loved being able to walk around without a coat on and feeling the sun on my face.
The Pier at Santa Monica
Our sweet ride
While my room mate fell in love with the area almost immediately, I will admit that I was on the fence for a few days. I had been planning on moving to Chicago for a long time (a year or two actually), when L.A. began to be an option. I think the part of me that was most conflicted was the side of me that just adores live theatre, particularly classical theatre. That's all I've ever known, since 8th grade all through college, and the idea of not being able to do it as much as I'd like was scary.
At the same time, I do want to pursue film, voice acting, and stunt work, and L.A. is the #1 place to be for that experience. And, I figure, if L.A. doesn't work out, I can always move to Chicago. But it would be very difficult for me to start in Chicago and then decide to head to L.A.
We talked to some people, explored and looked at loads of places, but I think the main thing that sealed the deal for me was how the perfect apartment found us.
We were driving around in the Burbank area (about 20 minutes from downtown L.A) and drove past this huge, clean, new-looking apartment complex. We pulled into a guest parking spot, went inside and were met by one of the nicest ladies who worked there. We found out that the building and apartments were just finishing being renovated and there were a few 2 bedroom/2 bath apartments available. We were shown the model apartment and it was gorgeous. Everything was brand new, granite counter tops, washer and dryer in every unit, 2 master bedrooms, new paint, new fixtures, an AMAZING gym, pool, conference room, underground parking, EVERYTHING.
The area behind the pool that has fire pits, chairs, and nice nice grills
The lady also told us that they could lease us a place THAT DAY. None of the other 20 or so apartment complexes that we'd looked at were able to offer us a lease now. They all had told us they wouldn't know if anything was available until mid-April. Then, the lady also let us use the one-month free deal they had going because of the renovations AND we were able to lease one of the last apartments available in the floor plan we wanted (someone else leased one of the other ones while we were outside looking at the grounds).
It was truly meant to be, everything was in place, it had everything we had been looking for. It's going to be brand new, secured, and a lot of the people who lived there were around our age. I think that it was a sign that L.A. is where I'm meant to be (at least for now) and it was in the courtyard of the complex that I made my choice to change my plans and move to L.A. in May.
I'm still scared for what the future holds, but I'm also eager to see where it takes me. I'm also very happy that I will still be living with the most amazing room mate ever, so we won't have to experience this new place alone.
L.A. had better be ready for us.
