College for Grown Ups

Great weekend! I went out three nights in a row- sounds fun and easy, right? Fun, yes but not so easy. It's a little intimidating to go out, meet new people and try to make friends. Luckily, I had a good start. I went out with my college roommate's friend from high school and met up with a friend from Atlanta who is from Hermosa Beach. The cool thing about Hermosa is it's small (1.3 square miles) and it consists of housing, beach, and bars. It reminds me a lot of High Street and off-campus housing at Ohio State. I feel right at home!

I met up with Jenni (college roommate's friend) at a bar down the street. She was there with a huge group of friends- which came in handy because I've been looking for friends! Everyone was nice and a lot of fun, definitely my kind of people! It was a great first night out in California. Back to that Ohio State comparison, we walked to and from the bars and there were line-ups outside pizza restaurants and Pita Pit at 2am. The next night, I went out with my friend John from Atlanta. He grew up in Hermosa and came back for the Ironman.

The 4th started with the Ironman. It's a race on the beach in Hermosa every 4th of July. Over 300 participants run a mile, paddle a mile on their surfboard, and drink a 6 pack. Clearly it's a blast to watch and even more of one to participate in, I'm sure. From there it was all-day house parties (I still can't get over how busy Hermosa was! The beach was full and people were having parties at just about every house) and eventually, we went to the beach for fireworks. What's cool about fireworks on the beach is looking both north and south at the colorful light explosions lit the sky. Stretching along the coast, we could see the fireworks in Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, Santa Monica and Malibu. Pretty incredible.

I don't know that I typically would have gone out three nights in a row (college was long ago!) but I was/am in need of friends and couldn't turn down the opportunity to meet people. It was a great weekend and it's exciting to know that I have many more to look forward to. The best way I heard to summarize Hermosa Beach was in five short words; "It's college for grown ups." Sounds like a great place to meet people.