Let's start from the beginning. Because this was not only my first journey on my very own, it was also the first time I traveled with an airplane, I have to admit that I was a bit nervous. I will write a more detailed article about my experience with the flying stuff. Due to my good preparation I had no problems at all at the airport. I checked in and dropped of my baggage. After the last lunch with my family at a restaurant inside the airport I had to say goodbye. I would never imagined before that this is so hard. I was moved to tears. After the security and passport check and a short train ride, I finally arrived at my gate. There it was, the plane, an Airbus A340, which will take me to the United States. I had to wait a little bit before the boarding started. I had a strange feeling, but I tried not to think about it. I boarded the plane and made myself comfortable on my seat. As soon as the captain taxied the airplane to the runway, my worries were gone and I was excited about the start. Finally, the plane took off at around 1:30 pm with a little delay and the twelve hours flight began.
Due to the great service on board, the food, the entertainment system and the nap I took, time flew really fast, literally. The captain announced that we are descending and will arrive in Los Angeles in a few minutes. For the first time I could see this huge city. I was very impressed by this view.
The plane reached the gate at the airport right in time at around 6:00 pm. After I could leave the airplane, I was very thankful to enter American land. The first stop was at the Customs and Border Protection, because I was studying during my journey I had a visa. Therefore, I could line up in a different lane and the wait time was really short. After the officer checked my passport and visa and admitted me to officially enter the US, I was very relieved. Now, I just had to pick up my baggage and get to the car rental station. A few minutes later I was driving from the airport in direction of Santa Barbara. When I arrived at my accommodation, the housing coordinator was already waiting for me. After I moved into my apartment, the day was over for me, I just went to bed and fell asleep. That was truly my longest day so far.

After a long and deep sleep, I could not wait to start off my first day in Santa Barbara. I wanted to see everything and getting used to my new neighborhood. But first, I met two of my classmates, who were living right next to my apartment. We chatted a little bit about our origin, the life in California and so on. A couple of minute later I hopped into my car and was heading to my first destination, the English Language Center. During the time I spent in California I was attending a language school. So, I could improve my English skills. Therefore I wanted to know, where I would have to go on Monday. The school is located at the center of Santa Barbara near State Street, the busiest street in the city.
After that I visited the Old Mission of Santa Barbara. The Mission is a catholic church and one of the oldest buildings in the city. It was founded about 250 years ago. The present church was completed in 1820 and was restored several times due to destruction caused by earthquakes. I was really impressed by this place. I learned later that especially young people used to live next to the Mission. They were all a part of the community and followed their believes together.
The next stop was the beach area. Santa Barbara has its own pier, it's called Stearns Wharf. It was like I imagined it. The pier is equipped with cute little gift shops, a few restaurants and of course a fantastic ocean view. I spent a few minutes there and took a walk on the beach afterwards.
Before it was getting dark I had to do the shopping. Unlike business hours in Switzerland, almost every shop is open on Sundays as well, which was very convenient for me. I was a little bit overwhelmed by the variety of goods by the shop and came in contact with some typical American characteristics.
Back at my apartment I met a few more of my classmates. They were hanging out at my neighbors' place. The guys were all really nice and gave me a heartfelt welcome. We spent the rest of the day together. Later we were going to a nice Italian restaurant at the center of Santa Barbara. After that, we went to the movie theatre and watched "John Wick".

That day was the first of many regular school days. I take this chance to give you some more details about the school. There are around 50 students enrolled at the school throughout. Every week students are leaving and other persons join the school. Furthermore, the school employs about 20 teachers and 4 stuff members. As you can see, it is a pretty small school, which is perfect. Since the very first moment I have felt the familiar atmosphere of the school community. Besides the location in Santa Barbara, the school owns facilities in Los Angeles and Boston. A few students use the opportunity to switch places between the different sites of the school during their stay in the USA. So, that is enough about the school for now. Back to my day.
School started at 9:00 am, that meant that I had to get up approximately one hour earlier. That was very nice because I am used to get up at 7:00 am. I got myself ready for the day, ate something for breakfast and packed all my stuff. Because I had a car, the girls next door asked if they could ride with me again. Of course I gave them ride. Actually this came in handy for me because I still did not know the directions to the school. When school started I had my first grammar class. Due to the entry-level test I was enrolled in the highest grammar class. It turned out to be a very small class, just about 5 students. The teacher of this class during the entire four weeks was Micheal. He is one of the greatest teachers at the school. I was always looking forward for this class. He welcomed me and we talked a little bit about ourselves before we started with the grammar part. Although it was a grammar class, Micheals way of teaching made the subject very entertaining to me. After this class and the break was over I had conservation class again. This class is a lot of fun. We talked about different topics that lied on our minds and we played a game. For lunch I followed some of my class mates. I had to get familiar with the place first before I could tell where to eat. After the lunch break I attended my first film and media class, which took place every Tuesday and Thursday. I was looking forward to this class because I am from the technical side. But, I learned soon that we mostly watch movies and clips in this class and do not learn things about the technic of films. Never mind, I enjoyed it anyway. The teacher of this class was Tony.
After school I signed up for a camera tour. Our guidance was Nancie, a teacher from ELC. We went to the Alice Keck Park, which is only a few feet away from the school. The park, which has its own little lake, is very beautiful. I could shoot some pretty photos, in manual mode of course. We tried to take the perfect picture until the sunset.

Since you are aware of my school day by now, it is not worth it to write every day the same stuff. That means from now on I only mention the special things that happened at school.
On that day we went to the courthouse with Matt. I was really excited about this visit. I only knew this place from movies and TV series. Further more, the courthouses in Switzerland are not accessible to the public. This was therefore my first chance to observe a trial by myself. The county courthouse of Santa Barbara is right across the street from the school. I did not take any photos because I did not want to get in trouble with the law. The visit was very intense to me. The court is like I imagined it. We could witness a trial about a man, who was convicted of sexual harassment. During the time we were in the courthouse, the jury came in and the trial was introduced to them. It was a very long introduction because the judge had to mention every detail of the case. We stayed about an hour in the courthouse. We discussed the visit in the class afterwards. Matt taught us a few words related to the court and he told us about the jury service. I was very impressed by all of this.
​After school I went on the top of the clock tower. It is a part of the courthouse and over 25 meters high. From the tower you can see over the entire city. You have a beautiful view to the ocean and the Santa Ynez Mountains.

Nothing special happened at school on that day. I just have to mention one incident: Michael announced that there will be a grammar quiz on the next day. I thought these days I had to take exams and tests were over.
After school I drove north-west of Santa Barbara through the Santa Ynez Valley. After 30 minutes I reached the Cachuma Lake. On the pictures I saw on the internet, the lake looked really beautiful. But sadly, due to the extreme drought in California, all that was left over of the lake was not really mentionable. Nevertheless I enjoyed the time and the great view there. As the sun set I got into my car and drove back to the city.

On that day, it turned out that the grammar quiz was not really a thing to worry about. I could solve it without any mentionable problems. After school was out on that day, I was surprised how fast the first week at ELC went by.
I decided to go to the beach in order to fade out the week and to experience my first sunset at a beach. But, to fulfil that wish I could not just go to the beach at Santa Barbra. Due to the fact that the beach is oriented to the south. Therefore I drove a few miles west to the Refugio State Beach. The beach is a protected state beach park and is beautiful to relax. It was so awesome to see the sun go down behind the ocean. If you do not believe me, look at the wonderful pictures below.
After dark I ate dinner at a mall in Santa Maria. That was my first time at a typical American mall. Incredible how huge these buildings are and of course you can get everything you want. Finally, I went to the movie theatre at the mall afterwards.

That day was one of the laziest day of my trip. I just did what you would expect from ordinary beach holidays. I intended to spend the day at Point Dume State Beach at Malibu. Point Dume is a promontory on the Pacific coast and forms the northern end of the Santa Monica Bay. On the top of the Point Dume you have a wonderful vista. Therefore I planned to take some great photos and spent the rest of the day on the beach nearby.
I got up at around 10:00 am, which is pretty early for me on a Saturday. After I packed everything for the day and bought some food and drinks at the nearby grocery store, I left Santa Barbara. The drive to the Point Dume takes about one hour and follows the Pacific Coast Highway all the way until Malibu. As soon as I arrived Malibu, I could already see the beautiful white and long beaches. I drove past the Point Dume State Beach and headed a few miles farther to reach the official parking lot of Point Dume. Sadly, these were all occupied. Because I did not want to wait for someone to leave, I drove back to the beach. There were plenty of free parking spaces. Fortunately, you can reach the Point Dume from the beach as well. The track is a little bit longer from the beach, compared to the other starting point. But, I did not mind because the weather was perfect for a walk. After two hours and one complete circumambulation of the Point Dume, I did take a tons of photographs and went back to the beach. The rest of the day is not really mentionable. I did stay at the beach until dark. I relaxed and enjoyed the beautiful weather at the beach. But, I did not go into the ocean. It was way too cold and windy for me.
It was a really good day. It was the first time I could fully relax since my arrival in the USA. That must be the way how celebrities spend their days.

I decided to go back to Los Angeles on that day. I wanted to know how it feels to be in a megacity. Because on that evening I arrived in LA by plane and drove directly to Santa Barbara, I did not really notice anything of the city. Because I already signed up for a guided tour through LA on the following Tuesday, I just wanted to take some great pictures of the skyline of the city. I remembered that I have seen an excellent vista point, which provides a good view of LA, in a music video. One short search request later, I found out that that this place is about a vista point at Mulholland Drive. It provides the best view of Los Angeles in my opinion.
I grabbed my camera and hit the road. I drove on the US Highway 101 all the way until Hollywood. Mulholland Drive is pretty easy to find. It is just one miles from the highway away. Due to its popularity it is not so easy to find a place to park. But, with a little patience, it is not a big deal. You will be rewarded for all the hassles. The view is even better than I imagined. I could see over Hollywood until Downtown LA as well as the famous Hollywood Sign. Look at the beautiful photos below. After I enjoyed the majesty of this place to the fullest for about an hour. I drove westward on the Mulholland Drive. It is a great road with many curves to drive on. In addition you have the chance to get a view of the San Fernando Valley north of LA. After a few miles I made a U-turn and went back to the starting point. Finally, I drove through Hollywood, Beverly Hills and Santa Monica. I was so impressed by this city, its architecture, districts and size.
In Santa Monica I took the Pacific Coast Highway to head back for home. However, I made two extra stops. The first one was just a few miles away from Santa Monica. I did take some last pictures of LA and enjoyed the view of the Pacific. The second stop was in Malibu, to be accurate at the Pepperdine University. Pepperdine was rated as one of the most beautiful colleges of the US and it was the filming location for a TV series. The latter is the reason I have heard of it before. I have to admit that the campus is absolutely beautiful. In addition, the students have a wonderful ocean view wherever they are on the campus. I have no idea how you could concentrate on learning here. I am so jealous.
After dark I finally drove back to Santa Barbara without any further stops.