Figuring out the right path to take

Lately I've been struggling a lot with not knowing where I want my life to be after this semester ends. I can't believe that this is my fourth semester at Santa Barbara City College. I remember walking into my first college class and thinking that I have so much time to figure out what the next steps would be. It's so crazy how when you're living in the moment it seems like you have so much time, when in reality, you blink and your time at community college has expired.

Anyways, I have been spending so much time thinking about where I want to transfer and how I want my life to be next year and I'm sure as many of you are also finding out... it is such a hard decision. One day I find myself wanting to stay in Santa Barbara and go to UCSB. Santa Barbara is so beautiful and I almost feel like a fool for even having a grim thought of possibly wanting to leave such a great place. However, on the other hand I sometimes find myself wanting to get out of this 'rut' that I find myself in here in SB. Although it's such a fabulous place, I feel like I might need a change; maybe experience a different part of California and meet new kinds of people. It is such a hard decision, and luckily those of us transferring next year have about two more months to decide...but that also means two more months of running our brains ragged trying to figure out what the best possible decision is for us. 

Although I go back and forth between wanting to stay in Santa Barbara and wanting to branch out and try something new, I always seem to come back to the fact that I may not be able to move around much and experience new places when I am actually established and have a job after college. I think this is one of the great perks of going to a community college; you have the opportunity to experience yet another college/city/environment after you finish your first two (or three) years. I think for anyone that is transferring next year this is definitely something to take into consideration! Best of luck to those of you aboard the same struggle bus as I am, we will eventually make a decision, and I have faith that it will be the right one!

Welcome Back Vaqueros!

I hope everyone had a fantastic break. I know if you felt anything like I did at the end of winter finals, break was very much needed. I also hope that everyone has had a great start to the semester as well! 

Well if nothing else marks the beginning of a semester, the line at the book store sure does. Today I went in to the book store absolutely dreading it. I usually order my books online and pick them up in the store about a week after I order them to reduce the stress and aggravation that comes along with trying to find all of your books in mobs of students and then having to endure the extremely long lines. (I still recommend ordering your books online, as opposed to picking them up in the book store on the spot, because a lot of times the books on the floor run out!) However, I was pleasantly surprised when I headed into the book store today. The line was of course quite long, but I found all of my books super easily and the line actually went by super fast! All of the workers in the bookstore were also super helpful as well. A+ to the Bookstore this semester! Thank you for making the beginning of the semester a bit easier to handle, and for making the bookstore bearable. 

If you've been in college for a few semesters, you know books aren't exactly cheap.. and if you are new to college, I am sure you are finding this news out right about now. Over my previous three semesters I have found a few ways of saving money on books that might be helpful to you guys as you are making your rounds at the book store. First and foremost, RENT your books of possible. I know I've debated on this a couple times thinking I could possibly get more back during the book buyback than I would save on renting the book, however this is usually NEVER the case. Many people are very disappointed with the small amount they get back during the book buyback at the end of the semester, so if the option is available just rent your textbooks. Another option that might be available to you might be an online book or an 'e-book'. These types of textbooks are usually half the price of an actual textbook, however, not everyone is able to read text online and learn as well as if they had the actual text in front of them. The last thing I always try to do to save money on textbooks is split them with a friend or roommate. I have been lucky enough to be taking some of the same classes as my roommates, so we all go in on the textbook and sometimes split the cost three ways, which diminishes the cost significantly! You could also go in on a textbook with someone in your class, and that way you are guaranteed a study buddy for the semester, which could be helpful!

I hope everyone has a great rest of their first week back, and continues to have a fabulous semester!

Knapps Castle

Out of all of the things to do in Santa Barbara, going to Knapp's Castle is definitely among one of my favorites. The castle, or should I say the ruins of the castle are located up the 154. The drive is about 30 minutes from Santa Barbara City College, but it is definitely worth the drive.

All of the hikes in Santa Barbara and Santa Barbara County are beautiful, however this one is a little bit different. It's only about a seven to ten minute walk to the ruins of the castle which makes it a great spot to go if you aren't feeling like a rigorous hike and just want to enjoy some gorgeous scenery.  Once you get up to the ruins there is a sort of platform with a bunch of different levels, but don't be fooled, this is not all there is to knapps castle. If you go past the main platform and continue down through the grass/dirt where the paved pathway ends you'll find another set of ruins. This is personally my favorite place and favorite view of the entire scene. Down on what appears to be the second level is a rope swing which captures most of my attention every time I head up to the castle. It reminds me of being a little kid and not having a care in the world besides hanging out with your friends and enjoying the beautiful outdoors.

I strongly recommend this little place if you need a break from your crazy busy life. It is so serene and relaxing, the view almost lifts a weight off of your shoulders all in itself. Sometimes you just need a little get away, and this place definitely makes you take a step back and appreciate all of the beauty in life.

p.s. this place would be a fabulous location for a date, trust me.. take notes my friends (;

(34.5233° N, 119.7931° W-The GPS Coordinates)

Going Home is Bittersweet

I hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving and a great time visiting with their friends and family! I had a great holiday as well as a relaxing couple of days at home spending time with my family.

The Santa Barbara Fam

You know, it's definitely a bittersweet thing...being back home that is. It's so weird because almost everyone is home from school to celebrate the holidays with their families, yet when you take a step back and look at things, everything is so different. You might not even see the friends you were so close with because everyone is trying to spend time with their families before heading back to college. Priorities are different and I think that's something that I have been noting a lot lately. During your first year in college you are essentially still a baby. You look forward to going home and seeing all of your friends, sharing all of your crazy college stories and hanging 24/7. However, this year I have noticed a change. When I go home, I spend a few days with my family, hanging out and catching up and then I'm ready to head back to Santa Barbara to get back into the swing of things. It is such a weird thing to realize, that my life is now in Santa Barbara. All of my friends are here now and not back at home. Sure there are still friends I love to spend time with back in Bakersfield, but as time goes on you realize that even your closest of friends drift away in some ways, mostly because everyone is going in their separate directions and their own paths of life.

Although this is sort of a sad time in life, it is also such a happy time. I've realized that in order to grow up, this change has to happen. You have to make your life where you are planted. So enjoy your time when you're back at home, but realize that it's okay to want to go back to your new home, your college home.

Cold Weather

Well I'm sure you have all noticed that is it getting quite chilly outside... and you know what that means... a much higher possibility of getting sick. Getting sick during the semester is quite possibly one of the worst things that can happen, but being sick during the last few weeks of class or even finals is just not acceptable. However, although we can take extensive measures to try and stay healthy, sometimes getting sick is inevitable. I'm going to share a few tips about staying healthy throughout these next couple of weeks and also a few tips about what to do if you do end up catching a nasty cold.

Staying healthy:

1) Make sure to drink lots of water and eat balanced meals throughout the day. Fueling your body is extremely important and also helps to keep you from feeling run down which in turn reduces the fact of catching a bug. 

2) Check the weather. As I'm sure all of you have figured out, the weather in Santa Barbara can change dramatically, even throughout the course of a day. Make sure you are wearing layers in the morning even though it will most likely get warmer though out the day. 

3) GET SLEEP. Your body is much more likely to catch a virus when you are sleep deprived, so try to minimize those all nighters as much as possible so that you don't find yourself in bed for 3 days missing essential class time.

I know all of these tips are mostly common sense, but sometimes these things do get overlooked when we are caught up in all of the studying for finals that occurs during the last couple weeks before christmas break.

Now if you do get sick, fear no more!! SBCC has an incredible health department. I have been to the health office several times, and I have always had such a great experience. The doctors are extremely nice and helpful as well. I went in a couple weeks ago because I was congested and had a sore throat. The doctor took me back even earlier than my scheduled appointment and I walked out with not only a prescription, but a little goodie bag of cough drops and pamphlets on how to stay healthy during the school year. My advice to you would be to utilize the health office as much as possible, it is included in your tuition, so just do it.

Call 965-0581 x2298 to make an appointment or

stop by Student Health SS-170

Life always keeps moving forward

During this time in our lives so many things are changing constantly and sometimes it's hard to get a grasp on everything thats going on. It's also hard to realize that as we grow up, people start to go their own ways, ways that benefit the lifestyle and career choices they are trying to pursue. This has been ever so present in my life lately... I have felt myself becoming more and more distant with people who I never would have thought I would grow apart from, and anyone who has ever experienced this knows just how terrible of a feeling that is.

I'm not going to lie, I have been pretty down about the fact that I feel that my best friend and I are drifting apart but today I came to the realization that this is only part of life and that just because we might not be able to call each other, or text each other everyday doesn't mean we won't keep in touch every once in a while. I've also realized that drifting apart from someone might be in the best interest of each of the people involved in the friendship because different life paths call for changes in relationships, and the need for new, different relationships in order to keep moving forward. In thinking about it this way, I've gained a new perspective and am able to keep a more positive head on my shoulders knowing that this is part of life, and I hope that if any of you are going through the same thing, this post helped you to understand that everyone will go through this at some point, especially in college, and that this is all part of lives magical cycle.

Just know that with whatever you are going through right now, whether it be feeling distant from a close friend, being stressed out about your hectic schedule or even a mid-term or paper coming up everything will work out. My advice to you is that if you are ever feeling down, upset or stressed out, just know that almost every other college student is feeling this way to some degree, so keep on pushing on and you will be just fine!

Have a fantastic week everyone!

Social Media

Lately Ive been thinking a lot about society's addiction to social media and then I came across a story that really opened my eyes. Essena O'Neil, an instagram famous Austrialian model spoke out to the world about her new, refined views on social media. Over the past week Essena changed over 2,000 of her instagram captions to things like "stomach sucked in, strategic pose-nothing about this is candid" or "I didn't eat all day in order to attend this shoot". Essena is speaking out to let everyone, young girls and women in particular, know that not many things in the media are actual representations of reality. Of course, we all know this in the back of our minds, but for some reason, many people still admire these models and envy the lives they portray through social media and instagram. Finally, Essena gave the world the real truth about social media and the lengths at which people will go just to make it look like they live a 'perfect' life.

This story was actually very interesting to me. I'm not going to lie, I've looked at pictures of 'insta-famous' models and have wished to some degree or another that I had the lifestyle they did, and I think most girls our age can agree that they have done the same. However, since reading about Essena's effort to stop the unrealistic portrayal of life through social media, I've realized that this lifestyle that so many people want to obtain, just simply does not exist. Essena stated that she was completely consumed by being insta-famous. She would constantly be focused on checking her instagram to see the amount of likes her pictures were acquiring. She was obsessed with taking the 'perfect picture'. She would pay people to take excessive amounts pictures of her to make it seem as if  she was living life in the moment and just happened to catch the perfect picture-when in reality she spent long hours at photo shoots and many days not eating to maintain what society portrays as the perfect body.

This story just really opened up my eyes and in a way changed my views on social media completely. You could be having the worst day ever, and post a picture of you staged at the beach and give off the portrayal that your life is absolutely amazing. I've realized that I would much rather call up a friend, let them know I'm having a bad day and vent, rather than post a picture and hope that the amount of likes I get will make me feel better about my self, or my day..whatever it may be. I hope this article changed your view as well, because we deserve to be actually living life and not worrying about what other people views upon ourselves are. As Essena implied, go out and enjoy life through the real world; there are so many beautiful things to see, and so many great things to do, stop hiding behind a computer, or phone screen and LIVE LIFE.