“God made a lot of world and I don’t wanna just see what’s been put in front of me, I want to go and see other things. He made this massive world, and I don’t want to just see America or just one part.”
In junior high, Marissa Pilcher encountered a culture vastly different from her own for the first time on a church trip to South Korea.
“I remember that being a really big moment of, like, there’s so much more outside of this world that has been created for me,” said Pilcher, a junior mass communications and Spanish double major from Little Rock.
Her time in Korea planted a seed, and throughout high school, she cultivated her desire to travel. In her sophomore year of college, she saw an opportunity to study abroad in Spain and took it without hesitation. With Europe at her fingertips, she explored not only Spain but also several other countries including Greece, France and Austria. Each culture was its own ecosystem of history, art and cuisine.
After returning from her semester overseas, she interned in Colorado with Fraser Valley Baptist Church over the summer. There, Pilcher was already planning her next adventure. Used to the convenience of travel in Europe, she was eager to seek out new terrain.
“All last semester we could just hop on planes and travel,“ Pilcher said.
Fortunately, she and one of her fellow interns, Meredith Shockey, a sophomore Christian studies major from Hoover, Ala., found affordable roundtrip tickets to California in October.
The pair arrived in Los Angeles over Fall Break, ready with a full itinerary.
The first day they explored the iconic LA sights. Beverly Hills. Hollywood. Sunset Strip. Classic locations that most only see in pictures or movies. Pilcher particularly enjoyed visiting Amoeba Music, an epicenter of new and used records on Sunset Boulevard.
“That was probably the highlight of the first day, was Amoeba,” Pilcher said. “You don’t see that much music in one spot ever.”
On their second California sunrise, the Uber transportation service brought them to the Santa Monica Pier and Venice Beach. Pilcher was keen on visiting the pier because it has been in the background of various films.
“It was cool seeing it in real life because I’ve seen it a lot in movies,” Pilcher said.
They also walked over scenic bridges in the Venice Canal Historic District, a section of LA modeled after Venice, Italy. They spent their remaining afternoon hours with their toes in the sand of Venice Beach.
“The sun had started to go down and we were just chillin’ and it was really good,” Pilcher said.
On Friday, they finally arrived at their most anticipated excursion location. Disneyland.
Pilcher had been to a Disney park once before as a toddler but remembered virtually nothing from it, so she was essentially experiencing it for the first time.
“It’s magical, and it was cool walking through, I think that was my favorite part was I was just wide-eyed and looking from side to side,” Pilcher said. “Disneyland is just the place where you can be a kid at 21.”
Miracles happen everyday at Disney, but perhaps the most miraculous aspect for Pilcher and Shockey was the lack of waiting lines. For the majority of the morning they hopped from story to story, each of the themed rides a creative representation of a beloved Disney tale.
“Most of them are little rides through different scenes of movies, and so it was really cool,” Pilcher said. “I love Disney, I’ve grown up on Disney, and so it was cool to have those brought to life in front of me.”
Pilcher especially appreciated how invested the employees were in maintaining the enchanted feel of the park for the kids. They worked cheerfully and in character. They made it believable.
“It was just a happy place. The employees love what they’re doing,” Pilcher said.
Their final morning in the Golden State, Pilcher and Shockey hiked the Cahuenga Peak trail, near the back of the Hollywood Sign. Along that path they arrived at what’s known as the Wisdom Tree. Reports say it was the only tree that survived the Hollywood Hills fire of 2007. From where they stood, they could see all of the Los Angeles that they had recently conquered.
“It was a nice way to end the trip with a hike,” Pilcher said.
Reflecting on LA as a whole, Pilcher remembered feeling comfortable with the locals’ laidback lifestyle. In a nation as populous and diverse as the United States, different regions can feel as distinct as separate countries.
“They’re chill,” Pilcher said. “They’re just kinda hanging out, they’re not really worried about too much.”
As Marissa Pilcher settles back into her routine at Ouachita, no doubt she is already searching for her next expedition. Although a world-traveler at age twenty-one, the pull to see and do grows with each new destination.
“God made a lot of world and I don’t wanna just see what’s been put in front of me, I want to go and see other things. He made this massive world, and I don’t want to just see America or just one part.”
