First Days

Day One 5/28
After a grueling eight-hour flight day I arrive in the Los Angeles Airport. I call my landlord and tell him that I am on my way to the apartment when he says that it isn’t ready and won’t be ready till two days from now, my body shuts down in a state of homelessness and panic. He tells me that he can arrange for me to stay in a hotel. I get to the hotel and it is the ritzy Hyatt Regency Century City Hotel. Maybe LA won’t be so bad after all!

Day Two 5/29
Jet Lag has set in. But off I go to my first day of work. P3R Publicity is a public relations company that does fashion, styling and publicity for celebrity clients. My internship for the summer is working with the company’s publicist. When I walk into the office everyone smiles that perfect Californian smile and says “hi!” I look at their clothes and then look at mine and instantly see the difference of Florida style and California style. Its a hard look to explain, but it can be summed up in the words “extreme effort.” I helped move a few boxes for them seeing as they were moving to a new office. Twenty minutes later I was out the door, done for the day. Feeling unfulfilled at my new work, my grandma and I drove up to Malibu and saw the Pacific beach for the first time. It was beautiful, and I’m pretty sure I saw Japan.

Day Three 5/30
I woke up with three hours to kill before I could move in so we drove over to West Hollywood. Driving in Los Angeles is an experience in itself. People drive like they are three hours late to work or a meeting. Swerving in and out and slamming the brakes and honking their horn like they are trying to make a cool soundtrack with the other 100 people honking at that same time. West Hollywood is a whole different world than Westwood, where I am living. It is hip, chill and has an air of intensity. I saw Robertson Boulevard, Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills and Bel-Air. I felt like a tourist, and had to contain myself from screaming when I saw all the sites. When I was walking on the street I had to put on my sunglasses to keep people from seeing me stare at them wondering, “Is that a celebrity? No.. are you?! Nope.” After moving in I found out my landlord/roommate was a talent agent for Dane Cook. He offered to take me with him and his brother and friend to go see him perform at the Staples Center that night. Dane was hilarious!

Day Four 5/31
My friend Kristen arrived at the airport and we moved her in to the apartment. My landlord, Ari, tried to get us tickets into the MTV Awards but were too late. So instead he gave us a tour of the city.

Day Five 6/1
MY FIRST OFFICIAL DAY OF WORK! I took the bus five minutes down the road and went in the secret door into our office. I had my own desk and was given a task right away. For that day I had to get in contact with all of the soap opera web sites and magazines public relations person and give them the opportunity to interview two of our celebrity clients. After that the other girl I work with, Heather, and I had to look up films playing at the Los Angeles Film Festival and get the celebrities publicists number and ask them if they are going to the red carpet. We also asked them if they would like to come to our showroom and be styled by us and borrow designer couture. Halfway through the day, Shawn Johnson, Olympic gold medalist gymnast and Dancing with the Stars winner came in to get fitted for the Young Hollywood Party. Take my word for it when I say that she is the cutest 17-year-old girl! Everyone was tempted to pinch her cheeks. The work day was exhausting 9:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Our boss treated the interns to dinner at a dive on Sunset Boulevard called Cabo where she told us all the stories of people she has met and secret gossip for four hours. After that she got us into the Chateau Marmont for a drink and met Prince Harry and William’s first cousin; then headed down to Hyde bar where we blew through the line and walked straight in. All of us had to shut our jaws closed after being amazed by the power of knowing someone.