"I remember, how you held me, underwater...Feeling breathless..." My first trip to Santa Monica Beach <3

Don't you just love how I incorporate song lyrics to all my entry titles now? I do. :)

Sometimes I find it puzzling that I am a Capricorn instead of an Aquarius - although many of my qualities of a Capricorn (read more about it here: http://www.astrology-online.com/capricrn.htm ) are dead on (but definately not all... i.e. I am not an introverted, reserved individual and I'm definitely not unemotional), it's an earth sign and that just doesn't make sense to me. Nature and I aren't exactly the best of friends (she tends to harbor things like bugs and fungus and more bugs, which I hate). The sign directly after me, Aquarius ( http://www.astrology-online.com/aquarius.htm ), is a water sign. I feel way more connected to the water than to any of the other three elements (especially earth), so to me, it would make sense if I were a water sign.

But obviously these things aren't exactly entirely scientific. It's just something I've been reflecting on.

I say this because last Saturday I took my first trip in my life to the Pacific Ocean.

I have mentioned this girl, Alyssa, in one of my previous posts. I met her at orientation and we exchanged phone numbers and we've been hanging out ever since. She's from New Jersey and we get along great. The only downside is she is under 21, so we can't go out to the bars together, but whatev...my roommates had to deal with that with me for half a school year....it's so not a dealbreaker. On Friday she had texted me and asked if I had wanted to go with her and one of her roommates and a couple of other girls to Santa Monica for the day on Saturday and of course I jumped at the chance. I've heard so many wonderful things about Santa Monica.

So Saturday morning I wake up around 830 to shower (don't ask me why I decided to shower before going to the beach...I'm pretty sure my hair was a mess and I wanted to tame it or something...but anyway this point becomes relevant later...) and we're off around 10:30 for the beach.

It's funny, because I kind of felt like a mom. My mumma bought me this nice big lime green tote bag to use as a beach bag/plane carry-on and I had it packed to the brim with extra clothes, a towel, my book, snacks, water bottles, sunscreen, everything you could possibly need for a day at the beach. When I walked outside of my suite to meet up with the girls, they all had the tiniest bags and were carrying their towels. But I was prepared and I used every single thing I packed in that bag, so being a "mom" paid off. Thanks for that bag mom, it definately has been put to good use many-a-time already. :)

So it was Alyssa, me, and two other girls -Rhianmor and Talia. They are both from England; Talia is Alyssa's suitemate. Rhianmor is 19 and Talia is 18.

Rhianmor is incredibly chatty, and if it's possible for me to say this about anyone, is a little over-the-top at times. She's very sweet, but I can only handle her in small doses she's just so overpowering. She wants very badly to be a famous actress and she could do well in that most definately, but I think modeling is a better bet for her. She has one of those tiny, unshapely bodies that only looks attractive if you're the right height for it. She's not exactly tall, but she isn't short. She has long wavy hair, and slightly awkward facial features that truly just screams runway model to me. Rhianmor doesn't have an accent naturally, but she can easily turn it on and off. She grew up between England and San Diego so she struggles to have a natural accent and just uses an American one in America and British one in England.

Talia is completely gorgeous - a total "skinny minnie" with piercing blue eyes. And unlike Rhianmor, she has the most attractive English accent I've ever heard (aside from Mark Ballas's occasional accent ;] ). She hates her accent and her name; she says they're both considered very "posh" in England. (When they say "posh" it's equivalent to our "proper" and slightly stuck-up). Her and I have really started to get along quite well (haha that's totally her English dialect "quite well" rubbing off on me!) and we totally delight in each other's accents and slang.

In fact, Talia is the first person that I can ever remember who has told me that I have a very strong accent.

While we were walking to the bus stop to go to Santa Monica that day, we had a conversation very very simliar (possibly almost exact wordage...I have a really good memory!) to this:

S: I'm sure you're sick of hearing this, but I love your accent!
T:You have a really strong accent to me, too!
S:It's probably cause you're so used to hearing accents like your own.
T:No, really, your accent is stronger to me than anyone else I have met here.
S:*Ponders for a moment* Oh, it's probably because I tend to have somewhat of a valley-girl accent sometimes.
T:Oh, so you're from California?
S:*Laughs* No. I'm from Michigan.
T:*blank stare*
S:I know, it really doesn't make any sense to me either.

Mom thinks my accent is going to be even stronger when I come home....we will have to see.

Anywho, so after tons of walking (as is the story everywhere while I'm here) and a bus ride (well, actually two bus rides and it should only take one...but that's a pointless story), we make it to Santa Monica.

We don't get off the bus right at the beach, but rather at the famous 3rd Street Promenade. It's 3 blocks from the ocean, and parallel to the ocean for 3 blocks it's a huge strip of shopping - stores and stands alike -, restaurants and little cafes, movie theatres, and performers (dancers, singers, stuntmen) trying to get their name out there somehow. For those 3 blocks you cannot drive a car or any other motor vehicle - it's strictly pedestrian. It kind of reminds me somewhat of a combination of downtown Wyandotte in Michigan and the downtown strip on Venice Island in Flordia - without any road or median between the sidewalks. We didn't really spend much time there that first day, but I've since spent plenty of time there...it's one of my favorite places (along with all of Santa Monica) in California thus far.

Along our walk to the beach we passed a restaurant called "Sushi Roku" that's right on Ocean Ave. (I can't help it,every time I'm on that damn road Yellowcard's song pops into my head!) and me, being the little DWTS stalker that I am, immediately recognized that this is where Julianne Hough and Chuck Wicks had their first date before heading down to the pier where they had their first kiss at the top of the ferris wheel. So I kind of semi freaked out when we passed the restaurant, but Rhainmor needed to eat right then or she was going to get sick so I had to keep going.

We walked down to the pier, which is a pretty cool place filled with shops and food stands and pointless souvenier vendors and of course, the little carnival area. I really really want to eat at the restaurant down on the end of the pier, but it looks way nice so I assume I cannot afford it.

Anywho. Have I mentioned that properly catering to my disease has been a serious bitch of a task thus far? So the only thing where we stopped that I could eat was corn tortilla tacos which cost friggin $10 (with tax). But whatev, sun+no food=one unhappy person. So I suffered through the blow on my wallet and did it.

After we ate we finally headed down to the beach. I'm not going to lie, after seeing my parents pictures of the Pacific Ocean, I was expecting a lot prettier than I actually got. It seemed almost as grey as the Atlantic to me at first. Upon futher inspection, it really was quite a bit bluer, but again not as blue as I'd expected. The beach is so pretty though, with a view of the pier and warm, fine sand. The sand is definately a lot less rocky than the beaches in Flordia, but it still wasn't completely powdery.

Apparently I have a problem thinking things all the way through at times, for although I had remembered to bring sunscreen, I failed to put in on until I got to the beach. I had already gotten quite a bit of sun on the way there. And, normally not the shy one, I oddly felt weird asking one of the girls to apply sunscreen to the unreachable parts of my back. So, instead of sucking it up, I landed up with one mother of a sunburn. And the worst part? Totally streaky. Because I could reach some parts with the sunscreen so those stayed generally white, while the rest of me burnt to a crisp. Let's just say I haven't made that same mistake again.

After a long time in the sun and two other girls (Rhianmor's suitemates) Marielle and Rachel showing up, we decided it a cool off in the ocean was necessary.

This is why I believe I'm somehow part Aquarius.

The other girls let the water rush over their feet for mere seconds before retreating back to their towels, scared away by the cold.

But me? I was drawn to it.

It's funny the different perspectives each person can have about things. About a week before I left for Cali, Renee and I were doing this online quiz thing and you were supposed to jot down your first perception of each word. The word was either "ocean" or "sea", I can't remember, but Renee had written something along the lines of "terrifying" and I wrote down "peaceful".

To me, water in general is a big expanse of tranquility. You don't have to be anything but yourself - the ocean doesn't care about your weight - it welcomes you into its depths and allows you to float no matter if you're the tiniest or the hugest of them all. It doesn't care if your bathing suit doesn't flatter your body. It doesn't care about anything physical. Your thoughts are your thoughts alone, and the ocean keeps great secrets.

When I'm near large expanses of water, I feel as if it speaks to me. No exceptions. I cannot think of once that I have not be entranced by it. The gentle rush of the wind over the water beckons to me in a whisper, "Come escape". The crests of its waves subtly motions to me and the pull of the current guides me further into it's depths. When I fully submerge myself, I sometimes have to remind myself to resurface. If I had gills, I would stay under for hours. The silence is blissfully deafening; you surrender your thoughts and your fears and your emotions to the water and it only listens in return - discreetly filing all of them away among the coral and sand at the bottom, never once considering digging them up for use against you in the future. The peace in my soul I feel in the water cannot be compared to any other time.

If past lives and reincarnation are ever proved to be real, I bet that I was a mermaid in a past life. No doubts. I'd bet money to say I was the princess mermaid, but I think that goes without saying. :)

So anyway, this is exactly what happened to me that day. I fell into a trance, and even though I had showered and promised myself I was not going to wet my hair after I'd already styled it (I'm not a fan of how my hair air dries when it's short like this), I kept venturing out further and further into the water. Up to my knees, my hips, my chest, and finally one wave just took me under with it and I rose out of it smiling like a freaking goon. Seriously, I must've looked like the biggest idiot out there. I stretched my arms out wide and just let wave and after wave take me with it wherever it pleased. I felt like I was 8 again, in my little blue one-piece with the gold anchor on the front (my favorite bathing suit ever as a kid), pretending I was ocean girl and that the water was my home; that I lived among the fish and the sand.

Then I got a mouthful of salt water and almost puked, so the trance was broken and I quickly ran back to my bag on the beach to gargle with bottled water.

After another hour and half or so on the beach and plenty of sun, we finally decided to pack up and head back to UCLA.

A lot happened that night, but I'm not really going to recount it all for lack of time (I need to leave to make it to my bus like, now) and because I don't really want to recount all of this yet. Just savor the memory.

I had a lot of options to go out that night, but I ended up going to the movies to see "The Proposal" with two of the girls from the beach, Marielle and Rachel, and Alex came with me. And it was a great night. Lots and lots of smiles on my part. And giggles. And smiles. And great conversation.

Okay. I really gotta go catch the bus. :)

Adios for now!