June 4, 2007. The plan was to spend the day at Universal Studios Hollywood. Before proceeding to the infamous theme park, we dropped by a Catholic church (because my parents felt guilty that we didn’t attend mass the previous day), then, we picked my godmother up in Los Angeles, where she’s working as a caregiver. I actually missed her. It made me feel a little bad that she had to leave the Philippines and work as a caregiver two years ago.

Now that I’ve come to think of it, Universal Studios relies much on a century of Hollywood entertainment hegemony for us to desire being there. The rides were okay but not exactly world-exceptional. The backlot tour was so-so. I haven’t seen some of the movies that supposedly used some of the sets we were shown, so it didn’t really feel surreal or special to me when they brought us there.

Probably the best thing I enjoyed was the food passes we could use in any of the dining establishments in the park. Boy, it was pigging out galore. I loved it. We had all sorts of large servings of good fried American fast food.

All in all, Universal Studios Hollywood is a nice place to spend time with friends and family. It would probably feel more special and spectacular if you were a heavy consumer of American entertainment. Otherwise, you’d feel weird when people around you seem to be so amazed at some set or attraction you don’t recognize.