Virtual Explorers: Russian Nonfiction Writing Program Student Anthology - Class of Fall 2020

California Dreamin’ Artem Kotov Here I am sitting at home craving for travel and trying hard to cure my wanderlust. I open Google Earth and spin it like a real globe and point somewhere I haven’t been before.

Searching for this place is like reading Where’s Waldo? looking for something you are not even sure exists. Blurred images of streets, buildings, people. Where do I go next? Virtual traveling sounds easy but it’s not. Where am I googling (flying) to?

Thankfully, I don’t need to buy tickets and rent a hotel room. I catch a last-minute flight, hop on a virtual plane to LAX, and just in seconds, I’m there. I hop off and Lyft to Downtown LA. Where to next? Well, there are many options: Grand Park, Grand Central Market (I stop by for a second. Me want an ice-cream sandwich from McConnel’s Finest Ice Cream), Angels Flight (Who would say no to travel up and down the hillside in old-school train cars?), The Last Bookstore, Grammy Museum, MOCA. Oh, the places I’ll go!

It’s time for me to go explore other spots. Again, where to now? Hollywood! I take a bus (zoom out Google Earth) and head out (choose a destination first). I press the plus (zoom in) and I’m in Hollywood. First, I walk around Hollywood Blvd Walk of Fame, and then I have to see a famous Hollywood Sign (I’ve been there 16 years ago and it was under maintenance so I have to come back — I should have been there this May but coronavirus, you know, changed that). And my friend also lives nearby so I should probably stay over and call it a day.

Rise and shine (I tell myself). My day starts with a breakfast probably with Mexican vibes: Taco Bell or Chipotle? (Let me step out real quick. I’m going to go get me some tacos. Will be back soon!)

Oh, hey! So, I sit on a beach and eat tacos. The wind gently touches my hair, it’s still early and all I can hear is the song of seagulls. Everything is quiet now and you just enjoy the magnificent view. But suddenly the whole city awakens. I see people walk, laugh (I wonder what makes them laugh), run (where?) and talk loudly about anything and everything (indistinct chatter). I stand up and go where the wind blows. Suddenly I decide to buy tickets to Disneyland because why not? I wonder how things have changed since the last 39