Where Dreams Are Made in the USA

I consider myself a city person. It’s perhaps the beautiful skylines and countless things to do that attracts me to these areas with huge, dominant buildings. London, Rio de Janeiro, Barcelona, Macau, Tokyo, and Paris are just a few of the international city destinations that I hope to be able to cross off my bucket list in the section of “Places I Absolutely, No Question, Need to Visit”. And while I hope to be able to spend equal amounts of time in all of these locations, there’s one destination a bit closer to home that I wish to stay in a bit longer. That place? Los Angeles, California. This may seem surprising to some, as it is very uncommon to hear, “I really need a vacation, I should go to Los Angeles!” The more likely travel location for the average overworked American would probably be somewhere with white sands, big seas, and colorful margaritas. In my case, however, I feel as though I have a special connection with this famous (and infamous) town where dreams are born (and often times “reconsidered”).

I’m from Seattle, Washington, a well-known city in the United States. Seattle, and the state of Washington as a whole for that matter, has a popular reputation for its rain. While the rain does impact the state during the majority of the year, summers here are absolutely gorgeous, and are usually rain-free. Los Angeles, on the other hand, has perhaps an opposite reputation, in that it’s almost always nice weather year-round. I’m not an enormous fan of the rain, so in my ideal future, I would spend much of my year in Los Angeles, while enjoying a bit of the summer months back in my hometown. I’m currently a college student who interests include all things media. I have a fascination with the art of movies, television, and popular culture, which is why Los Angeles is more than perfect for someone with my tastes. I have such a passion for wanting to see all of the things I see on screen in person, and in order to accomplish that, I have to spend much of my time in this city. All of the cameras and lights entice me and really drive me to work my hardest to be able to call that my daily surroundings.

It has always been one of my missions in life to spend time doing what I love to do, and one of the unsaid requirements in being able to do those things is being located in a place that interests me. I’ve been to L.A. twice in my life, and during those two times, I knew that there would be more for me to do every single time I would come back to the city. Los Angeles may not be the conventional getaway location for most Americans, but this city is somewhere that I feel I belong. It’s as though it is calling me to go there, and one day, I will gladly answer that call. The times in my life that I have spent traveling have just begun, and I am absolutely ready to go on those journeys.

-Jonathan Keyes

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