Acknowledging Achievements

When I decided to become a lifeguard, the first step to achieving this was to begin water safety and rescue training. I had not realized that this training was going to be as vigorous as it was. During the class, about nine other high schoolers and myself, spent four days straight in training. We were expected to be there from nine in the morning until five that night. Half of the day was spent in the pool, practicing rescues and treading water for ridiculous amounts of time, while the other half of the day was spent inside learning CPR and first aid. During these couple of days, I realized that being a lifeguard was an extremely big responsibility. Not only are you in charge of watching hundreds of kids horsing around in the water, but you also always have to be ready to perform the most severe of rescues at any given time. At the end of the training, we had to be evaluated on our water rescue skills as well as our CPR skills and our knowledge of administering oxygen. At the end of the evaluation, I remember being very nervous, but when they called my name, I walked into the conference room with all the confidence that I could portray at the time. When they told me that I had passed with flying colors, I had the greatest sense of accomplishment and thought to myself "If I could accomplish this without even being a swimmer, I can do almost anything I put my mind to!"

Now you're probably wondering why I told you a story about now of my most successful achievements. Well as I am learning in my Personal Development class, it is so important to acknowledge points in your life when you feel a sense of accomplishment-where you can feel great about something you achieved. For me, one of these moments includes completing the lifeguard training and also getting the job. Acknowledging your achievements can really boost your confidence and that is something I think is really important in society today.

If you plan on going to Santa Barbara City College, I highly recommend taking PD 110, even if you think you know what major you want to go into. I have learned so much about myself through the many personal assessments we have taken, and I have also discovered some possible majors and occupations that I am very interested in!

What a Weekend

This weekend my mom came to Santa Barbara to visit me all the way from Minnesota! Before this weekend, I hadn't seen her for about six weeks. I know many of you college students out there haven't seen your parents since school started and I really feel for you because me and my family are very close and being away from them for six weeks was hard.

Anyways, I had such a great time with my mom. We sure did squeeze a lot in. On friday when she got here, I picked her up from the airport and then we drove to Isla Vista so that I could show her that it really wasn't as crazy as she had imagined... (of course, we did drive through when It was day time... for a reason, haha). On our way back to Santa Barbara, we stopped to picked up some pumpkins to carve later in the weekend and do a little grocery shopping at Trader Joes. I highly recommend shopping for groceries at Trader Joes to all college students that have to cook for themselves. They offer a great variety of frozen single meals including enchiladas, lasagna, mac n cheese, pizza, raviolis, waffles.. basically anything you can think of. They also offer ready to eat, refrigerated chicken, which is a simple healthy add on to any salad or pasta dish.. not to mention it is delicious. Moving on, after we did some grocery shopping we stopped and ate at crush cakes. If you live in Santa Barbara, or IV for that matter and you haven't tried crush cakes, you are definitely missing out. There is two crush cakes locations in Santa Barbara and one in Isla Vista. They have the best sandwiches, salads and of course cupcakes.. and they also have a few mexican dishes and breakfast items. I would recommend the Grilled cheese, it is to die for.

On Saturday, my mom got to come watch me cheer at the City College football game. It was so nice to be able to look up in the stands and see her cheering me on (Even though thats my job. Haha). It felt just like the good old times cheering for high school games-only 100 times better because we were in Santa Barbara and you look past the stadium and see the beautiful view of the ocean.

Today we went shopping on state and then went to go see the movie Ouija. It was a classic scary movie with the "not so good" acting, but I still had fun! After the movie I had to go drop her off at the airport :( It was hard to say good-bye to her, especially because she was only here for about two days, but the distance makes our time together that much more special. Only four more weeks until I go Home for Thanksgiving, yay!

If you haven't already started college, my advice to you would be to spend as much time as you can with your family. They are the people that will stick by your side no matter what may cross your path. They will always be the people you can count on. And if you are in college right now, my advice would be to cherish every moment you have with your family and let them know how much they are appreciated when they do come to visit or vice versa.

Remember: Family is forever and most friends soon become whatever ;)

Time Management

Lately, time management has been something that I have been lacking...
I think it might have something to do with the semester being half over and the fact that midterms are in full effect-meaning I have more studying to do than ever. My problem here is that I have so much homework and studying lying ahead of me, that the thought of starting the never ending process is grueling.

This past weekend I had full intentions of starting my homework and thought I would begin studying, that was until life got in the way and watching tv and hanging out with friends sounded much better than being secluded in books all day. So as you can predict, I got absolutely nothing done this weekend making for an extremely stressful week.

I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS.

I understand that everyone is going to go through this procrastination at some point so I've began to think of ways that I could have prevented this impossible, pile-up of a work load, while still being able to enjoy myself this weekend.

The first thing that came to mind was: "Why didn't you just wake up an hour or two earlier and get some homework done, so that you could enjoy the day out with friends while not letting your homework pile up?" Well I know the answer, because sleeping in on the weekends without setting an alarm is much more pleasurable. However, this is college and I am ultimately here to study, so some compromises have to be made if I want to enjoy time with friends and achieve good grades. So this coming weekend, yes I will be setting my alarm and getting that studying done before I have time to regret it.

Another thing I thought about was the fact that I spent more enough time watching pointless television when I could have been going over lecture notes or spending some time jotting down a few math problems. I remember saying I just don't have time for all this homework as I'm sitting on my bed flipping through channels. (Classic college student move, I know.) Needless to say, this weekend my TV will be off until I get a significant amount of homework done.

Priorities, priorities, priorities.

This weekend I learned that I really need to keep my priorities in mind and with that, I will have time to do both my school work and have time left over to hang out with friends. I'm glad I had a weekend where I put off all of my homework, because now I know I will never do that again!

Santa Barbara vs. Isla Vista

For all of you future Vaqueros: You probably have been faced with, or will face the decision of whether to live in Santa Barbara or Isla Vista. Now in my opinion, there are many things to take into consideration.

Are you the kind of person who likes to go home at night after a long day at school and relax, or would you rather go out and socialize to re-charge? If you would rather have quiet, relaxing week nights, I would definitely suggest living in Santa Barbara. Most nights, aside from the weekends are pretty chill and relaxed. However, if you love the social scene and re-charge your day by hanging out with crowds and meeting new people, I would say Isla Vista would be a better match for you. There is always something going on up there.

Are you good at managing your time? The reason I ask this is because Isla Vista is about 15-20 minutes from City College. If you are the type of person that roles out of bed 10 minutes before class, it is probably in your best interest to live in Santa Barbara. I know if I had an 8:00 a.m. class and lived in IV, I would never have the motivation to actually go to that class. So choose wisely because you are ultimately here to attend class.

And another thing that you need to realize: Even if you don't come to Santa Barbara a partier, that will most likely change once you get here. Santa Barbara and Isla Vista are filled with people who love to have a good
time. Coming into this school year, the last thing I though about was partying or "going out," but once you head over to IV or even attend a party on the mesa in Santa Barbara your views will quickly change. No, its not about going out and drinking. It's about socializing and meeting all kinds of new people. You DO NOT have to drink to have a good time. Just remember that.


Goodluck on your housing adventures. Whatever you decide will be an awesome choice :)

Isla Vista

Santa Barbara

Eating Healthy on a Budget

Moving away from home for the first time can be extremely difficult. We have so many things going on, that eating healthy is probably the last thing that is on our college-kid minds. Not to mention, there is an unlimited amount of unhealthy options available in college. Ordering pizza every night or grabbing a snack from the vending machine on the way to class may be quick and easy, but it could also lead to the infamous "freshman 15" and can also break the bank. However with a little planning, eating healthy during college can be affordable and convenient. 

On the go or in between classes? Instead of heading to the vending machine for a snack, pack some healthy snack options in your backpack. Pack a few different items to choose from, that way you have some options to choose from. If you live in housing that provides a meal plan, grab an extra piece of fruit at breakfast to carry with you through out the day. If your dining hall allows this, it is an easy, affordable way to keep fresh fruit on hand. Other budget friendly snack items might include granola bars, yogurt, nuts or string cheese.

In your dorm/in your apartment...

Although Ramen noodles and boxes of macaroni and cheese are easy to prepare and are considered affordable staples in a college students diet, they shouldn't be your main meals. Sure, it's okay to eat these common dorm foods every once in a while, but they don't provide you with enough nutrition to be your lunch and dinner every day. It is a good idea to keep a variety or more nutritious foods on hand in your dorm. A few good options include: carrots, fresh fruit, oatmeal, sandwich bread, deli meat, peanut butter, pre-cooked grilled chicken breast, brown rice, canned tuna and milk just to name a few. Eating healthier can also help prevent illness; something that is so easily transmitted in a scene such as college dorms.

All nighter? Pulling an all-nighter is exhausting but by properly fueling your body, you may be able to keep your energy levels up for a night full of studying. It might be tempting to go grab the entire carton of ice cream or order an entire pizza for yourself but you would benefit much more from a snack that will provide your with substantial energy, such as popcorn, trail mix or even a bowl of cereal. This will also save you money in addition to providing you will essential nutrients to help you stay focused.

Now I did just write an entire blog about how to eat "healthy" in college but this is just to add some healthy aspects into your diet. The overall healthiest diet, is one of balance. There will be some nights when you want to order Chinese food or pizza, or eat one too many cookies. There is no shame in that. Your body needs variety and after all we are college kids!

Oh Lorde

This weekend I went to see Lorde in concert! For those who aren't familiar, Lorde is the one who sings the previously overplayed song "Royals". I went with my friend Chynna, and we decided to rock the whole "Lorde" look, wearing all black and the like. Our seats were terrible, but we still had a blast.

While at the concert I realized something very important. Now let me remind you Lorde is a very, very unique individual and is sometimes though of a weird or strange. However, I recognized that she is so happy and confident with who she is, because she is her own type of strange and weird. She is herself and doesn't strive to be like someone she's not and because of that she has become successful in reaching her goals and achieving her dreams. 

I think this is a great thing for everyone to realize, especially college students! 

Being yourself:

Forget all you may think you know about yourself. Forget what holds you back. Die in each moment so that you can live in the next. If you must say your opinion, do so and move on. Don't remain in that moment. Define things, but don't let things define you. Don't try to please anyone by trying to be someone else-not your friend, not your enemy, not your teacher, no one. To be anything but yourself is to restrain life itself.

And remember everyone is their own type of weird; thats what makes the world such a great place!

Familiar Faces

This weekend I got to see some familiar faces! My tutor/family friend and her daughter, from my hometown (Bakersfield) came out to see me cheer at the City College football game! It is always nice to see familiar faces in college, especially people who mean so much to you.

To be honest, leaving Bakersfield wasn't all that hard for me. I had lived in many different places growing up. I got to experience the midwest being born in Illinois and moving to Michigan I got to experience the east coast when my dad had a job transfer to Virginia, and I ended up moving back to the midwest before my dad got transferred to Bakersfield, California. Because of all of the moves I had been through during my childhood I got to experience many different ways of life, I guess you could say. Although I had some great times in Bakersfield, I also went through some hard times and met a lot of people that weren't the best influences, making it easy for me to move on. However, there were a few people that I met in Bakersfield that really left footprints on my heart, and it has been hard to be a couple of hours away from them.

I was so excited to be reunited with a couple of those people this weekend! Before the game we went to breakfast at Savoy Cafe & Deli. It was delicious, I really recommend their yogurt and granola, along with their chocolate chip muffins! It was so great to get to see them, and I am so thankful to have people who will sit through an entire football game in 98 degree weather just to watch me cheer! Yes, I am pretty sure it got even hotter than 98 degrees on Saturday. After the game, we went to backyard bowls and talked and visited some more.

It was a great feeling to catch up with friends that I hadn't seen in a while. I am so grateful to have such amazing people in my life!

Thank you Beth and Emma for coming out to visit for the day! I had a ton of fun and can't wait to see you guys again!

College Life Balance

There are a million little things we are learning about being a college student right now. Names, faces, where we're going on campus along with little tips to survive the year, all of which stem from our experiences and mistakes. Along with these little lessons we are learning, we are also encountering much larger lessons within this first year.

I believe the biggest lesson that most of us are working through right now, and the lesson that will have the greatest influence on our future is the learning of balance in addition to responsibility. Within the first few weeks of college, many new responsibilities were sprung upon each and every one of us. Many of us now live in dorms or apartments and are away from our families for the first time. It takes time to learn, understand and handle all of these new responsibilities. We are considered adults in college and because of this we have to take care of ourselves. We are responsible for making sure we stay healthy and are getting adequate amounts of food and rest. We are responsible for cleaning up our rooms, doing dishes and doing laundry. --Doing laundry was definitely a tough one for me.. haha. I had waited until my laundry basket was filled to the rim and then sat at the laundry mat for about three hours, washing, drying and folding. That was one to the responsibilities I had to recognize and in turn I learned to never let my laundry pile up.-- Along with household responsibilities, we are also responsible for going to class and getting all of our school work done onetime. We no longer have parents around to nag us to do all of those things, so our greatest responsibility of all is making sure we can balance school and still allowing ourselves time to maintain a social life and enjoy college.

It is easy for us college students to become wrapped up in the social side of college, with all of the parties that go on almost every night, especially if you live in Isla Vista. But in order to become responsible adults we must, at times, put away our social life for a couple of hours to ensure that were are making the responsible choice of getting our school work done. Now that doesn't mean we should lock ourselves up in the library on the weekends, it just means we should take care of our responsibilities before it is party time. 

It takes time to understand and master the balance of all these responsibilities that are being taken on all at once, but balance, I believe, is the key to a successful first year in college.