LA Film Festival: Day 2 - Volunteering & Night Lights

[Read my previous post - LA Film Festival: Day 1 - Couchsurfing & LA Nightlife]

Sunday, June 17

The Fellow Couchsurfers

As I mentioned in my previous post, I tried Couchsurfing for the first time. I was going to be one of three couch surfers staying at my host’s apartment. One girl was visiting from Canada, the other from Colorado. Living with them for a week, I was able to learn so much about them, and learn from them. Both have Couchsurfed numerous times, namely around the US and Europe, and listening to their travel stories was really motivational. I even learned some Italian: “Mi chiamo Valerie.” I learned some German and Portuguese too, but those were too complicated to remember…

My First Shift

Honestly, I wouldn’t say volunteering is too exciting. It really is just simple ticket-taking, line-organizing, and overall assisting where necessary so as to make for a chaos-free festival. I think the hunger added to the “struggle” too. Being a poor college student, I made myself a sandwich from the groceries I bought the day before and squeezed it into my small purse for me to eat on my break. It was a pretty awesome sandwich though. Soggy, but delicious.

But what really drew me to volunteer in the first place is not only the free movie passes but the people. My first shift, I met a lot of cool interns and volunteers. Everyone I met, whether they were a student or an aspiring filmmaker, shared a strong passion for film and entertainment in general. Many were going through the same thing I was: figuring out the ins and outs of the entertainment industry and pursuing their passions one step at a time up this competitive ladder of film. Some of these interns and volunteers gave their insight along the same lines of:

• Be patient
• Be persistent
• Be passionate

My shift ended around 10PM, so afterwards I got to exploring the night lights of the L.A. LIVE area with one of the interns.

Awesome theatre

All in all, it was a good night.

For more on my spontaneous week in LA, check back soon for LA Film Festival: Day 3 – Scarlett Johansson & a Toshiba Commercial

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