Week 1, 2 and a lil of 3

Hellooo all!!

Hope youre all having amazing, inspiring, fullfilling, final days of 2017. I cant believe its December and nearly the Holidays. I guess my mindset is in a completly different mindset than I normally would be so close to the holidays. And being in the sun on flipflops, not around my own family most likely doesnt help in that way either. Allthough I absolutely can’t complain on this side of the world. Im being surrounded by great vibes, positive, inspiring and motivating people, my new/old “Moorpark Family”, an amazing sunshine, and a lot of dancestudio’s and a MASSIVE Entertainment world.

Soo much to talk about already and so much that Ive experienced in only the first 2.5 weeks, that Im a lil overwhelmed and dont even know where I should start. Because of that this might be a lil of a chaotic blog but I will try my best to make it flow as much as possible. (Also still getting used to writing in English instead of Dutch, so bare with me please, and for my dutchies who don't do English, maybe use google translate?!)

Allright! LOS ANGELES! What a City. Its so crazy big, thats its almost a miracle that its still called a city and not a state! Without a car you barely get around here as everything is quit far away. Im lucky that most of the things I need to be, or be around are all in the Valley or Hollywood, which normally is a drive between 15 and 30 mintues from where I live (I live in the Valley). My first two weeks I lived in Studio City (in the apartment of my friend from Amsterdam Valerie and her Sister Natalie). Than I moved to North Hollywood where I rented a room till January. And I actually have found a room from January on in Studio City again 10 minute walk (yay) from Valerie. Allthough I just found out that the rentboss never received my messaged where I confirmed that I wanted that room and was ready to put the deposit down, so now thats all back up in the air. So will see how that ends. I did love that room and the location (mostly) so I hope it will work out. Otherwise the gypsy life keeps going and Im sure I will find something!

Like I said you need a car here to get around as the public transport here doesnt really do much. You have the bus, which is called the ‘metro’ and that already says enough. Thinking that everywhere else in the world the bus is clearly called a bus and a metro is the tube underground. But I guess LA might wants to be different. That being said, the busstops dont have timetables and the busses go once a hour. So If you do decide to take the bus you always have to leave the house very early, as you might be waiting for a whole hour to just get on the bus. Reminds me a little bit of the busses in Curacao.
There is one metroline, that goes to some of the main areas of LA, but even that feels like too much trouble. Thank god I live in the time that UBER excists, as UBER is MY LIFE! Its way cheaper than caps/taxis, especially when you take uber pool (you share the car with more people) and they pick you up in front of the door and drop you of infront of where you're going. Because Uber is such a big business here, I feel like the most commen side job people have in LA is being an Uber driver.
In NYC for example, that city is such a city of the night, that you have so many jobs in hospitality, like working in bars or restaurants. But LA is more a morning/day/fit/healthy city and most people make money I feel like by being an uberdriver on the side in their free times.
Beside the people that live in areas like Beverly Hills, those people eat gold and their houses are like one apartment block in Amsterdam, with the 'Vondelpark' as their garden.

So because of this transport you do end up spending quit some money on transport here to get from one place to the other but you kinda have to. I did buy a bike on the USA version of ‘Marktplaats’ (ebay/craigslist). Which i bought from the cutest grandma and grandpa. And I told them, that on the days that I miss my own grandparents I would come for a cup of tea with them. They even were nice enough to bring the bike in the car from their house to where I live, which saved me biking 20 miles to get it home! And now Im able to take my bike, if I wanna go for a quick run of groceries or places around that are douable to do on a bike and are just to far (like most things) to walk. No bikeroads here, so I will be driving on the sidewalk as the carroads are too busy.

As I said before Ive experiences Los Angeles as a super healthy, fit lifestyle. As long as I remember being alive, I have never been a morning person and especially the last 10 years Ive been a nightowl. For some reason, my jetlag was in the beginning a part of that, here in LA you change into a morning/day person. Mostly because the sun is up and shining form 6.30 on and the sun is down by 5pm, and theres less to do here at night, Or you just don't see it and thats why you don't feel like you're missing out on anything. Because of the heat and all the sunlight early in the morning you just want to jump out of bed as soon as possible, so you can make most of the day, now that the sun is still out. Because LA is such a driving city, you also barely see people walking down the street as everybody has one car a person so walking around is already rare here. And especially at night when its dark and quit on the streets, you try to do that the least as possible as most people are outside at night only in their cars. Don't get me wrong, I've still been out for a drink here and there but def not to compare to Amsterdam or my experiences in NYC. (everything closes here also at 2am)

Fun fact about the traffic: You even have a special line on the highway thats called CARPOOL, and when youre with 2 or more people in one car, youre alloud to drive on that line as its always busy on the roads in general and because most people drive alone in their car, you actually have way less traffic in the carpool line. Youre alloud to be driving there when youre with 2 or more in one car. If you do decide to drive on the carpool line when youre alone in the car you can get a fee/ticket of 341 dollars.

Anyway, The first 5 days here I was pretty much alone and walked around loads in my neighbourhood during the day, as I love walking and love getting to know and see what is around my new house, that way. Did some dance classes, got myself a social security number (BSN soort van),a bank and Ive met up with Giannini (dutchdancer who I did my first year of my Bachelor Dance in Amsterdam with and who lived here now for about 6 years already and has worked with artists like Rihanna and Lady Gaga).
He has helped me loads with explaining how a lot of things work here in LA and how the entertainmentbusiness works. It was such a great way to be coached and guided a lil in the right directions (THANK YOU), as of course I have to restart all the way from the beginning again. From which teachers, danceclasses, agencies have great names and are good, to how should I represent myself here with my resume, headshots etc.

After those 5 days my dearest friends Rowen and Valerie arrived! Valerie moved from Amsterdam to LA since September this year. (we did not plan this together but what a gift it is to do this adventure together and experience everything with a partner in crime) and Rowen came on holiday for 3 weeks to be with us. And what a great time its been! Even tho I just moved here it has felt a lil like a holiday, because my girls are here with me, and we had to experience so many new things together these past few weeks. We have done Sooo Much! Its crazy! We’ve been on a roadtrip to Malibu beach, biked along Venice and Santa Monica beach, played volleyball on the beach, went to a rooftop (many more) to have a drink and sit in the sun – but ended being picked for a new commerical shoot about LA where they wanted to shoot us for-, went shopping in different malls, ate a lot of times at the Cheesecake Factory, went to the movies, went on several work outs and many hiking adventures up the hollywood hills in Runyon Canyon park, went to a goalsetting session/lecture from a girl I know from NYC, where we learned a lot about making dreams come thtrough by planning and making proper goals. And ways how to make the big goals into lil goals and how to make those goals happen even when you dont feel like doing things you need to do everyday. We went to Six flags the rollercoasterpark, where they literally ONLY have rollercoasters, about 15, and they are all different and crazy in many ways! The rollercoasters on this side of the world are definitely from a whole different level than we know them in Europe. Ive felt some actual fear here and there for the first time in my life. Haha. All togehter it was such a nice way to get to know my way round this big but great city while being with my friends from home! Of course youre meeting a lot of people along the way and make new friends (we met some German dancers too, who understand our feelings / experience and move to this side of the world like no other), and I have some people here that I know from NYC so all together, im not alone!

Beside all the fun Ive achieved 3 auditions so far (ill get back to that), had a masterclass from Wade Robson, have done one videoclip shoot as an extra for Rudy Mancuso and Mia Mitchell, had one invited casting for a Samsung Galaxy Commercial, (unfortunately didnt get it) and did one commercial with my girls for Discover LA, where we got paid for in cocktails. For my first weeks, without an agency. Im very proud of that. Of course I have a lot more on my wishlist for the newyear, and because of that Im super excited for everything 2018 has to offer! 'Nobody said it was gonna be easy, but in order to Kick Ass, you must first lift up your foot.' And so far the 'lifting of my leg' is getting me one step closer to where I was yesterday,

Good my auditions!.... My first audition was for M.E 7 week Dance Course from Rhapsody James. Ive done her one week intensive once in NYC in 2014 and have learned so incredibly much during that week, that I can only imagine what a 7 week course can do to me. I made it till the final round, but she is also holding Auditions in Londen and in NYC, so we will hear by the end of January if Im chosen or not. Its also very expensive, so will see how we will make that adventure work....

My second auditon was for Ultra Angels/ dancers, for Ultra (20th) Worldwide Music Festival. This is a music festival with Dj’s, such as all the famos DJ’s as Armin van buuren, Hardwell, David Guetta, Sunnery James & Ryan Marciano, Tiesto and many more and it travels all over the world, from Miami, to Brasil, To Japan, to Croatia (yay) and so many more places. They use dancers and aerialists in their show, so thats super nice and exciting! Also here I made it (together with Valerie) to the final round, but once again they are also holding auditions around the world and only are looking for a few dancers, so fingers crossed.

My 3rd audition is a MASSIVE STORY and a crazy experience I would love to describe in details right here. But for my own protection (I might have bended some rules), as you never know who ends up reading this blog, and also because we had to sign a paper for the artist YES ARTIST (ask my mum haha), that we have to keep everything confidential, I cant tell too much. If you know me well enough, I can say that THE DAY Ive dreamed about all my life, actually has happened, and I couldnt control my nerves unfortunaley enough yet, as a brainfart took over. The road to actually make it to the audition was an absolute miracle, a lot of hard work (thanks to the great network Ive been building for years), and some luck. Unfortunatley I didnt make it, which of course made me super SAD. But I decided to give myself some credit and not be mad that I fucked up but be proud that I showed up and was there. For now, like some might have seen on my social media already, it will be about;

‘Showing up everyday with an excellent attitude, doing my best, leaning back, celebrating what is, and steadily keep working with the grateful expectation and belief that the universe will be sending me a new opportunity. ‘

Theres so much more I could talk about, as these past 2.5 weeks have been overwhelming and so much to take in, but I think this will be enough for now. Natalie, Valerie her sister is organizing for us a Xmas dinner, this weekend, so I definitely wont be alone for Xmas! Also some other dutch dancers are here that I know from back home, so we basically are becoming eachothers family here, on the otherside of the world where we all came alone, trying to make our biggest dreams reality.

Thank you all for taking the time to read this and I hope you enjoyed it. I wish you all the bestest wishes and happy holidays with loads of love, a lot of food and wine, and being surrounded by your family and/or friends.

Ive experiences in LA that everybody here are such goalchasers (here you feel so close to the fire), who are all living on such a high frequence, are all so positive (the weather helps), reaching for the stars, that Ive realized again (As all the self help books keep saying)....

Its important to surround yourself with people that keep you up, are realistic and optimistic and wanna bring out the best in you and theirselves, and push you when you can't push yourself. The sky truly is the limit, and only you can get yourself up there by working really hard. So its important to be around(near or far) the people that give you energy and dont take it away from you, inspire you, just as much as its important to tell them that you love them and that you believe in them (vice versa), as that will keep you being on a high frequency and that will motivate you most on the days life might drag you down. Nobody says its always gonna be fun and easy, and you just got to remember that obstacles and challanges are the agents of growth. And theres nothing nicer going through those moments while being surrounded (next door or with long distance) having the bestest circle around you. (, I LOVE MY CIRCLE, wouldnt be here without my friends and family)

Hope 2018 will give you all that you imagine and may you all thrive in every area of your life!

Best Wishes for the NEW YEAR! Until soon.. xxx


PS before I forget. The whole FIRE SITUATION. We def have experienced some of it, like the air tasted like ash and have seen some parts along the roads that were burned. But it was all quit far from where I live, So if the news wouldn't tell me its still happening, I wouldn't really know it was happening. Like i said.. Los Angeles is big. But just so you all know I was safe and sound the whole period!