- ONE WEEK LATER -

L.A. is even bigger and more overwhelming than I imagined.

Unlike a lot of the people back home, I have some experience in large, metropolitan areas. I grew up in Kansas City, after all. But L.A. is different. It doesn't have the massive downtown full of skyscrapers like I've seen in pictures of New York or Chicago, but it's sprawling and crowded. The traffic is awful, the buildings are square and generic, and the plants and trees are all short ...