16 Weeks Already?

Well my first semester at SBCC: Done... or almost. With just one day of classes left, I'm feeling particularly emotional that my journey here at SBCC is progressing at the quick rate it is. It's definitely been a ride, but I've still got one more semester to go before I'm even over the hill. A lot of things have accumulated to develop my feelings towards the school and my life outside of academics. Through being a student, a friend, an athlete, and an employee, I've grown a lot these past few months as an individual and am extremely pleased with my decision to study and live here.

As a student, I have loved all my classes. My teachers are awesome and are super understanding when it comes to anything I approach them with. I thought that maybe taking Express to Success would give me too much on my plate with two math classes, but I totally lucked out with my Professor Gabe Pretel who's done a great job making sure students understand the material. In fact back in high school I got a "C" in algebra, so getting an "A+" this semester was a surreal feeling knowing my hard work had paid off.

My marketing class has been super interesting as well, we've had a few video projects due throughout the class which I love since I took photography in high school and use to make videos in my free time, so it didn't even feel like I was doing assignments, but just doing what I love. English Honors has also been awesome, the concepts we discussed were both deep/intellectual but also relevant to the real world which is what I love most! Applying things in the real world that are relevant to the classroom in an academic way. The teacher, Ryan Harrison has been super influential in his philosophical teaching style. By opening our minds and thinking about the "next step" while also obeying the Honors Program unofficial motto "Do More" and covering all the bases to create powerful writing pieces. I think Professor Harrison's class has taught me more than all of my high school teachers put together. All-in-all, a challenging, yet very enlightening semester at SBCC, leaves me eager for the next one!


As a friend, Santa Barbara has opened my social circle quite a bit. I live at Beach City, which totally promotes social events. Not to mention, Isla Vista is a short Uber ride away. Living with roommates has been interesting and has given me a lot of great stories, I can laugh at. I definitely think living with other people opens up your mind and I recommend everyone tries living with other people at some point just to get the experience. I was a little concerned that I wouldn't make friends while attending a two-year college. Starting off only knowing four people and not to mention, there isn't greek life! Now, I've got some great people here in Santa Barbara and I'm forever thankful for.

The typical state of the kitchen... 

Athletically, I'm a little out of shape, not going to lie. After running cross-country and playing soccer in high school, discontinuing my training after graduation has taken it's toll, but nothing a little gym class next semester can't fix. On the flip side, although I can't run a five minute mile anymore,  I'm getting some five star performances out in the pacific. Almost every surfing session, I notice myself improving, so I hope I maintain that progress and keep learning. It's pretty hard to beat the feeling of carving up and down a wave during sunset on the Californian Riviera.

Job wise, I love what I do. Social Media Marketing for SBCC is awesome, especially after my Snapchat takeover! Most people around campus (or at least young people) now know who I am and it's fun to get out and go to school events and promote them to further strengthen my love for the school. Blogging is fun for me too, but sometimes I wish I had more to share with you guys. My schedule is pretty similar from week to week between waking up, cooking my scrambled eggs with bell peppers, to drinking my morning coffee to either grinding hard at the library or shredding down at the beach for the rest of the day if I'm not in class. So I can keep doing the things I love, I will pursue a restaurant job as a food-runner or possibly a server next semester. I think I will be able to handle working 3-4 days a week on top of school. College has steadily drained my bank account and I really value money in a new way.

It would be an understatement to say the first few months of college have been awesome! I'm really looking forward to the next ones on my journey through adulthood. Santa Barbara is the perfect place for me to find myself and follow my passions while pursuing academic responsibilities and having fun in the life, I can only live once. This place has no doubt made me a better person than the day I step foot here.

 I really mean it when I say this, but this place is a hidden gem and I'm grateful to say I'm a Vaquero.

John

Why the Express to Success is the move

I think it's fair for me to say my love for Santa Barbara wouldn't be what it is if it weren't for the school. Apart from being footsteps from the beach, SBCC offers an array of programs and student services to help students succeed. Services ranging from the Transfer Academy, Writing Center, and to my personal favorite the Express to Success Program.

All student services here at SBCC are no doubt valuable, however I believe the Express to Success Program(ESP) is particularly beneficial. In short, the program enables students to take either two math classes or two english classes simultaneously during a semester. Meaning you can kill two birds with one stone in a sense. The classes are no doubt rigorous as you'll have class 4 days a week, but the results are worth it. I'm currently enrolled in the ESP Math 107/117 class and must admit that I wasn't too excited to have class everyday, but I believe it's led me to strengthen my math skills and also really like the subject. By having class 4/7 days a week, you truly get to know your professor and your professor really gets to know you. I think this allows the professor to better understand the needs of the student allowing them to teach in a more personalized way to confirm student understanding.

ESP allows it's students to get up to speed and even get ahead on their journey to complete their necessary course requirements for transfer or complete their degree/certificate. Additionally, the program comes with specialized counselors who are always ready to help along with a private study area and on-site tutors.

For any SBCC student, current or future I strongly recommend this program to help you on your journey to transfer or earn a certificate/degree!

Till next time!

Up, up, and beyond (SBCC Colloquium)

Earlier this week SBCC hosted its final faculty colloquium of the semester, and was quite a thought provoking one to say the least. The colloquium discussed the future of space exploration which is quite closer to becoming a reality than most might think, it certainly surprised me. The colloquium was led by two SBCC professor's Dr.Kelley and Dr.Young, who did a great job demonstrating the actual probability of going to space.

First of all, as a business major I can only help but think of all the business opportunities that come along with space exploration and inhabiting another planet, essentially creating a whole new economy. But I'll keep those ideas to myself for a bit.

However, along with the ideas that came into my mind, it was also quite fascinating to hear the statistics given by Professors Kelley and Young. I have never been too interested in space travel or at least going into this faculty colloquium, but after I've definitely put a lot of thought into it. After researching Space X's plans to send two rockets to Mars in 2022 and another four rockets in 2024, I'm excited to see the accomplishments of the human race are on a universal scale. Though some of the statistics the Professors shared were almost scary in a sense that space is so vast, yet we are so tiny really gave me a new perspective.

However, I think if our tiny race(relative to the universe) can accomplish such an achievement as becoming a multiplanet species it would be the greatest advancement of our existence. Which actually reminds me of a Mark Twain quote that applies to such a concept: "it's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog" Go humans, and go Vaqueros!

My love affair with coffee

On the rail because you know how I do

Well week 11 of the semester did not disappoint. More specifically Halloween was Tuesday, which meant I had to get all my work done so I could go out with my friends. We ended up going to a concert which was particularly fun because the music they played is similar to the music played at a music festival I'm going to this New Years in Lake Tahoe, CA. I actually went to the same festival, Snowglobe last year and had so much fun I have to go again. Therefore the concert Tuesday served as a nice little taste for what's to come this winter break. Not to mention the photographer of the concert snapped this cool shot of my high school friend, Will and I gigin' on the rail which he ended up posting on the concerts Facebook page. So what's new? I'm on the rise to fame;)

But back to the real world of being a college student, I managed to rally for my 8 am class the following morning and finished an English paper shortly after. How? Let me tell you the secret of my success: Coffee. 

Now there are two types of people in this world: coffee drinkers and non-coffee drinkers. And as I'm sure many of you know, once you start drinking coffee it's hard to stop. So before college I never had any interest in coffee. Simply, I thought it tasted disgusting and saw no use for it. Now however, fast forward to homestretch of my first semester of college, and I drink at least one cup every day and sometimes two if I know I'm going to be up late doing work. Don't get me wrong, it still tastes gross and I suffer with every sip, but it does help me jump start my day to get me going. 

What I think is an awesome asset to our school, that many don't know about is the on campus Starbucks located inside the Campus Store. Starbucks is awesome and has many different types of coffee beverages to choose from. Trust me I love Starbucks, but as a coffee drinker if I don't get my coffee in the morning then I know its going to be a hard day for me. Im sure all the other coffee drinkers understand that. The problem with this is after going to Starbucks everyday and consistently buying coffee, it really takes its toll on my sensitive college budget. But here's the solution: 

A KEURIG!!

Let me tell you how much I love this thing: It saves me money, makes got coffee in minutes, and did I mention it saves me money? Not going to lie, its nothing special just your average coffee machine, but do I have some memories with this thing. From 8 am classes to midnight papers this KEURIG is always there for me(unlike Starbucks which closes at 4:00) and is far cheaper too. The average coffee drinker actually spends $780 a year on coffee from nationally recognized coffee shops according to an CBS report and through using a KEURIG, the average coffee pod costs 0.58$ and the machine is about $80. So once you pay the $80 for the machine itself, thats only $200 a year on coffee pods. I'll take that deal any day. Not to mention the accessibility of having coffee whenever you want.

The introduction of coffee into my life has surely benefited me, apart from the occasional struggles of going to sleep at night, I'm allowed to get out the door on time to class ready to be engaged in those early morning classes and tackle my day. Overtime of course, the taste  gets better and therefore I can more easily cope with the challenges of being a college student. Coffee also provides many health effects which benefit it's user and lead to a healthier lifestyle by increasing fiber intake and lowering risk to many diseases.

Anyways, coffee is a big help in college, so hopefully from this blog for those of you current coffee drinkers I've opened your eyes to an alternative to the expensive Starbucks coffee as well as an option that's accessible no matter the time of the day. And as for those of you non-coffee drinkers, perhaps you'll give the lifestyle of bouncing off walls from productivity a chance, and also lower your risk to disease simultaneously. 

Till next time! Go Vaqueros!

65° and rain, winter's here

Well this is awkward. After returning home last week and deciding I would appreciate the Santa Barbara weather more, it got cold.  Yes, it is the last week of October, and it's finally cold after entering the 60's. No blue sky, no sun, and waving palm trees. I think since I moved to Santa Barbara my comfort zone for temperature now ranges from 75°-85°. So in other words I finally wore pants for the first time since I've moved here. Here's a picture as proof that the impossible finally happened.

It even managed to rain in Santa Barbara. Not really, but it did rain in my apartment! Yes, raining in my apartment. First of all, I currently live at Beach City. I like it a lot: good social life, lots of events, cheap, and the staff are super helpful. However, as I was going to bed last night I couldn't help but notice a sound. Specifically the sound of water coming out of our light sockets in the hallway and bathroom. Yes at 1:00 am exactly, twas' quite the situation to deal with after waking from a good sleep. After initially putting buckets under the pouring waterfalls, I then realized I'd spend the entire night setting alarms every other hour to empty the buckets. I quickly found the power box and cut the water making the leaks drip to a stop. And with my luck of course, Beach City's office would be closed Sundays so I can't get help unless I hire my own plumber. Beach City has workers for that so I can manage with no water for a night. Life without water hasn't been too bad, after showering at a neighbors, hopefully I can sort this out and move on. Definitely expect a post at the end of the semester with a personalized review of Beach City, my apartment vendors. Here's a quick recap after my visit to Niagara falls: 




I'm not going to lie that after the water incident last night I'm going into this week a little stressed. I've got a group project due, math exam, a meeting with my counselor to plan out my classes, a blogging and a social media worker meeting, a meeting with the Economics club President, not to mention it's also Halloween Tuesday, so I'm going to a concert that night. 



You can bet I'll keep you updated on how it all pans out so stay tuned! 
And lets hope I can get these leaks fixed, go Vaqueros!

Home Sweet Home

After a busy week filled with homework, exams, projects, surfing, and work: why not go back home and sleep in your real bed, right? My thoughts exactly. I am one of the unfortunate ones who hasn't brought a car to college so shoutout to Katie for the ride, twas' appreciated so I could see my beautiful hometown.

Los Gatos (my hometown)

Now lets get down to business. I currently live in Santa Barbara, last week it was 85 degrees Fahrenheit and because of this weather I tend to wear flip-flops (I have an awesome flip-flop tan I'm quite proud of), I wear shorts and t-shirts along with the occasional tank top. So after leaving paradise, I was quite disappointed the Bay Area welcomed me home to rain and stepping in a big puddle when I got out of the car after a 5 hour car ride. Gross. Point is after a few months at SBCC its seemed I've become accustomed to the weather and forgot the rest of the world has seasons. This leading me to the realization I take the weather here along with many others for granted and don't appreciate it enough... expect some pretty campus pictures this week to prove my point.


However!!

1.) While I was home with the influence of my nurse Mother I got my flu shot! Getting the flu shot is very important especially as a college student because you don't want to miss any class, so you don't end up behind on work. However, this was especially a big deal for me since I didn't get the flu shot last year because I have a fear of needles and ended up being sick for like 3 months straight, no joke. For those of you who didn't know me pre-blog you wouldn't know this, but if you know me you know I hate 3 things: needles, seeing blood, and snakes. So for all the doubters here's a picture as evidence that I overcome my fear of needles and got the shot, now I'm all good and ready to tackle the rest of the school year (10/10 recommend you get the shot)

Didn't get a spider-man band aid:/

2.) In addition to improving my odds of good health I had a very healthy Nutella crepe with my middle school math teacher, Mr. Cal. After planning my trip home, I immediately messaged Mr. Cal asking if he wanted to meet for some food. He's one of the teachers who teaches you more than just math. It's hard to find a teacher who really cares about their students and gets involved with the school to better understand student lives. For that reason ever since 7th grade I've been staying in touch with Mr. Cal and seeing whats'up. He's definitely been one of my favorite teachers throughout my schooling and always manages to share some of his wisdom with me making me more than happy to meet up with him and chow down at a local cafe.

Mr.Cal and I post destroying some Sweet Peas crepes

3.) Lastly, I clocked in on that host grind to get my money up. The restaurant I worked at in high school doesn't have many hosts, so whenever I return home, I plan on picking up some hours and making some money. So I did exactly that. 3 shifts later, 2 hours of overtime, and 1 free dinner, I'm quite a happy employee. I must admit it's really cool that the restaurant allows me to work when I return home, so shoutout to Willow Street  if any of you find yourselves hungry in the South Bay.

Willow Streets chicken tequila fettuccine
with chocolate milk and chocolate cake... 

Some words of wisdom I think worth mentioning while on the topic: The more you do something the better you get. This is an idea I completely believe in and have found successful not only in the workplace but on the soccer field and academically as well. At Willow Street when they first hired me, I hated the job and considered quitting after 3 weeks (don't tell them that), but stuck with it in hopes to be able to save for my senior trip to Waikiki, but that's beside the point. After hating the job because I wasn't good at it, I stuck with it and picked up more shifts and got better every time I worked. Through practice, repetition, mistakes, and most importantly learning from my mistakes I quickly found myself to be the strongest host and simultaneously started to enjoy working.

Some motivation for the week: If you want to be good at something, do it.
Also how can you hate your job when you get this after a
8 hour shift:

I'm feeling pretty good after this weekend as it served as a great vacation allowing me to recharge my batteries and connect with my roots. I hope everyone's getting ready for the week and remember if you want something: go get it, simple as that.
Vaquero up baby! Stay tuned I've got some exciting blogs coming up!

John

Shredin'

Ladies and gentlemen, the time has finally come... I finally have a surfboard! Yes, after living 5 minutes from the Pacific Ocean it has taken me almost 2 months to finally get a board down here. A very deserved shoutout to my Dad for coming down and giving me one of his boards, love you dude. 

I've always surfed because back home in Los Gatos, I'm only a short half an hour drive from Santa Cruz (huge surf town). So I've always surfed but have never taken it too seriously. My Dad however, being from rainy England is obsessed with the scenic California Coast and catching waves on his days off from work. From this, my Dad has always been very enthusiastic to take me out to surf but I never been too interested since he's in his 50's and somehow manages to kick my butt time after time when we're out in the water. Whatever though, give me a year in Santa Barbara and I'll be cutting circles around him in my sleep. So I asked him to bring a board down and he did (homie) and now I've finally got something to do on weekends (besides homework) ;)

Left me and Evan right

Usually, when I'm back home and go out in Santa Cruz, I use a longboard, because thats what I had and didn't think much of it. Longboards are fun to use, easy to learn on, and aren't too much work. Now this is the interesting part: being the cocky athlete I am, I told my Dad to bring a shortboard because I wanted try something new and though it'd be fun. Easier said than done. Shortboards are a whole new game compared to longboards. So the board itself is a custom made board from an artist named Troy Freeman made for my dad and the board itself is a 6'9" which isn't too short, but in terms of what I'm use to: it's tiny. 

My first time out: I ate it to say the least. I’ve never duck dived (to dive under an oncoming wave) before, so to be honest I got flattened by some barreling waves more than I would have liked, but that's all part of the game and makes you learn real quick. I managed to get 2 or 3 rides which didn’t last too long but I’ll take it for my first time on a short board. The primary difference between a shortboard and longboard is a shortboard is harder (in almost every aspect). I wasn’t expecting such a challenge but it’s nothing I can’t handle and improve on. So after getting trampled by a few waves I decided I wouldn't take any more beatings. That night when I returned home I watched a youtube tutorial on how to duck dive, went in the apartment pool with my board, and practiced till I could do 5 duck dives in a row. 15 minutes later: I am now the best duck diver in the game. Catch me at your local beach shredding the swell... of course is easier said than done. I plan on going out 2-3 times a week and hopefully I can get pretty good over time and kick my Dads butt when I return home over break. 

The other thing about surfing is I so wish I had a picture of the sunset when I was out there. Truly incredible. There’s nothing like looking up at pink clouds while catching the days last sets with the sun on you; absolutely perfect. So a little surprise for this weekends blog, but I’m going home and will be sure to grab my GoPro so I have a water proof camera out there to take pictures to share with you guys and maybe some wipeout videos too if the impossible occurs ;) 

Like I said the goal moving forward is to get in the water 2 or 3 times a week to consistently improve and get better. Something I really believe in is the more you do something the better you get so thats something I’ll be trying to emulate in coming weeks, stay tuned…

First Time At UCLA

Being one of my potential transfer schools I was more than excited to finally see the UCLA's campus for the first time. After a combination of public transport systems between busses and train rides I finally arrived in Westwood to see their beautiful campus. I linked up with one of my high school best friends who's a student in the art program and also invited me to his frats event that night, Lambda Chai Alpha.

Here are my impressions after my first visit to the school. For starters, the food: The cafeteria is bomb. Here at SBCC our cafeteria is no doubt stellar, but UCLA is in a league of their own. I was truly impressed with the food, leading me to stuff myself, like the hungry college student I am. Also a bonus for campus food is the In-N-Out down the street.

More impressive however, was the beauty of the campus. Despite not having a beach bordering the campus the school makes up for this with a combination of new modern buildings along with the old fashioned red brick halls. For being in LA the school also has a lot of nature including big lawns and even pine trees giving the school a nice combination of nature and modernness.

I really liked the campus and had a great time while I was there as it's always great to see old friends. All in all a pretty successful trip south to further strengthen my desire to transfer.

Back to the books for now.
Stay tuned!

How To Live With Roommates Pt.1

Living with roommates can be difficult and it's inevitable you'll encounter some disagreements throughout the year. Between dirty dishes and consistently leaving things out of place, there'll eventually be some tension between your differences. However, there are ways to prevent said tension by setting rules each resident must obey. Commandments of the house if you will. Below is a copy of my apartments personal commandments :

All the commandments contribute to a cleaner living space but commandment #9 is the most influential commandment motivating my roommates to follow the other rules. When someone doesn't obey a rule, they are forced to donate a dollar to a jar. Eventually, once the jar fills we spend the money towards something our apartment needs for the week such as paper towels, food, or a new X-BOX ONE video game. Having a small reasonable consequence for disobeying the rules is what motivates my roommates to clean up because we're all already broke enough as it is.

If you're having any disputes with your roommates I encourage you to communicate to them rather than holding it in or letting it slip. A tip to minimize assigning blame to a specific person is to use "I" statements rather than "you" statements. For example instead of saying "Jason, YOU left YOUR used scrambled eggs pan out and YOU left the milk out again, can YOU put things away?" try phrasing it as "Hey Jason, sometimes I feel frustrated when I wake up in the morning and need to cook breakfast before class and have to clean a dirty pan and use warm milk, maybe we can work on putting things back where they belong together". By using "I" statements rather than "you" helps take away the blame and focuses on the problem and why it's a problem. By using "I" statements your roommates won't feel targeted or feel like they're being nagged to do something.

Why did I think it was a good idea to go to LA?

To begin the week of 9/11-9/17, I had an exciting meeting with the Transfer Academy to plan out my remaining semesters at SBCC and fill them with the necessary classes in order to transfer to my desired school. As of right now I have my eyes set on New York University with hopes of potentially transferring after my first year, however the tuition at NYU is quite a load(especially out of state) so perhaps it would be in my best interest to stay a second year in Santa Barbara. While going into my second year in Santa Barbara I'm hoping to successfully please all the course requirements for UC Los Angeles and UC Berkeley. Yes, I'm aware in my first About Me blog post I mentioned how I was hoping to stay in California for school but after careful consideration I feel that since I was young I've always wanted to live in either LA or NY at one point of my life and maybe because I'm from California I may be bias towards LA but I think New York would be a great fit for me. I love big cities and more importantly I love busyness and productivity so what better place to study than in the city that never sleeps. I think the city itself is something in itself and I don't need to persuade anyone otherwise.

On top of the excitement of transferring I also had the pleasure of hosting the first Snapchat takeover for SBCC, this was not only SBCC's first Snapchat takeover but also the first time I've done anything like this. It was definitely an interesting experience for many reasons. Obviously nothing was of a surprise to me considering the Snapchat followed my daily routine but it was really cool to be able to share my life with so many people at once. Also it was a lot of fun to walk around campus and have people recognize me from the Snapchat, I almost felt like a celebrity.  All in all I think the day went fairly smooth and had a lot of fun promoting SBCC student life from my own perspective and is definitely something I'd be open to doing again.

 




















Perhaps most exciting was over the weekend I went down to Loyola Marymount University to see a high school friend and had a lot of fun with him and I also had the opportunity to tour LMU's beautiful campus. The following day I met up with a group of my high school friends and hit the streets of Hollywood Blvd to celebrate our friend Sierras 18th birthday. Going down to LA for the weekend was a fun time and a great opportunity to really see the city and checkout some college campuses but I think NY might have the edge;) However what was really cool is I met the producer for SKEETV and started talking with him about business and career opportunities for a few hours and got his contact information for a potential job which is pretty cool even thought he's stationed down in LA. It felt like everyone I met while I was in LA was a part of a startup or had some important roll in the art industry which was super cool to learn about I must admit. Anyways the cons of LA was I woke up really late everyday and now I'm scrambling to get all my homework done so maybe I should just stay in Santa Barbara from now on. Lesson learned, but I'm looking forward to an exciting week with a meeting with my counselor and attending an NYU orientation. Wish me luck and I'll keep you posted along with the rest of the usual shenanigans!