Activities

     Although at first I wasn't the biggest fan being forced to do activities, I am glad it was done because I was able to meet many people and learn a lot of things. The first activity I attended was the free movie night at IV Theater with my roommate. We went to go see Fast and the Furious and what better way to spend some bro time than seeing awesome cars, explosions, chicks and ridiculous physic defying stunts. Even though I had already seen the movie it was well worth it because it brought out the motor head between my roommate and I. Another activity I went to was the Co-Op in IV.

The Co-Op is a really awesome place. I strongly admire there business model and there mission statement. I also really like the hippy vibe and friendliness of all the staff. they have some really cool stuff although a little on the expensive side especially for college students I always manage to scrounge enough money to buy the amazing Thao Tea they have there. Im glad that the Co-Op was able to overcome its challenges and stay open for the incoming students and all those who may come. I also went to the internship workshop which was greatly resourceful. I really want to intern either for a company off campus or in the IT department here in school. I found out many of the different ways to look for and apply for an internship. I'm sure all those skills will come in handy in the upcoming years.

Naked Shakes

     The Naked Shakes interpretation of Macbeth was very abstract to say the least. It seemed to be one of the love or hate type of plays after talking to some friends and classmates. At first I was unsure of what I was was getting myself into but it turned out to be better than I thought. It was only until my senior year that I had read or seen Macbeth so the story was some what fresh in my mind. It was really interesting to see how they performed so much of the play without props. I feel as though it is a more modern performance making its way into minimalism. This in turn makes the audience focus more on the story line but I don't necessarily agree with that objective because I enjoy going to plays for the visual spectacle aspect. I really liked how they made the music using only the drum and the large sticks they had. It was simple but it did the job very well. I definitely look forward to seeing more plays but not of the Naked Shakes productions simply because it did not keep my attention at all times. The actors/actresses performed very well, some things were edgy but it is Shakespere. All in all I am glad I went to see the play and I applaud Dr. Appel's efforts on creating a new perspective on plays.

The Actor Abroad

     Dr.Appel's has surely had quite the life. I find it amazing that we have a theater professor that graduated from Princeton because it is not everyday you find someone who went to Princeton and much less for theater. Although I do not aspire to become and actor I now understand the, at times, difficult life of an actor. yet, I am inspired because he did not let anything stop him from doing what he loved, and it has clearly paid of because he's now teaching at a world renowned university.

BMW Factory - Germany

     Going to the Education Abroad Program office was very motivating. I have always

Ferrari Gates - Italy

Nissan Factory - Japan
Kind of  looks like UCSB

wanted to study abroad and after learning about all the different opportunities available and the resources that help you, it definitely makes me look forward to Junior year when I plan on going abroad. I have not set an exact location but I have narrowed it down to Italy, Germany, or Japan. The reason for these choices is because I plan on working for a car company once I graduate as an engineer and those are the locations of the big car companies. I hope that by winter quarter I have a solid idea of where I want to go in order to start learning the language regardless if they have their lectures in English. I also love learning about different cultures and what better way to do so then to go and study at one of their schools. I will most definitely be talking to my adviser in the fall to get his/her recommendation.

Dr. Lubach's Presentation and the Library Visit

I really enjoyed Dr.Lubachs presentation because he had a wide array of topics that tied a central theme together. I liked the back story as to how UCSB was able to lure our chancellor Henry T. Yang. I would have probably came here for the same reason. Its awesome that our chancellor has also made such great contributions to the sciences. I have always heard that Reddit is a great way to learn, debate and gain different perspectives  and after Dr. Lubach's presentation I decided it was time to learn more about this social networking site. I was impressed by his suggestion on how to be slick and ask a girl out on the sunset cruise. I found it cool/ironic his suggestions on how one should explore themselves as well as express themselves. I found the Storke Tower hacking story really amusing and I was glad that he was able to recognize the music from Portal. I am really grateful that we had the opportunity to learn a more in depth way on how to research on the internet. I had no idea how to do this, and a lot of my friends have library research so they try and explain it to, but I hadn't been able to grasp the idea. I think its awesome how you can access so much even if your not located in the library. I had no idea that there were so many journal publications available. I think I will be using Academic Search Complete most of the time since I am most familiar but I will definitely look into the other search engines. I’m also glad that they have such a quick response time when reserving a book from the whole UC library system.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is something that has been drilled in our head since the early years in middle school. However that fact has not stopped people from plagiarizing. The worst type of plagiarism is when it isn’t intended and is the result of being misinformed. Plagiarism is commonly the result of not correctly citing sources. Even when getting help from another person, or if it is mostly not your idea, one must cite the source. It is not wise for one to simply copy, not because it will get you in trouble but because it takes away from your learning. Finding out that citation is important is bummer because although straight copying was not allowed by my previous teachers, I was never taught how to correctly cite sources. However, I am doing my best in implementing what I’ve learned thus far in my writing class. The punishments for plagiarising have large repercussions on later academics. Even when using your notes as your basis, you must be able to prove it to the professor at a moments notice, incase there’s suspicion of foul play. All these precautions are going to be an important part of my college and academic career.

Librarian and Career Center

The librarian was very interesting last week. I was amazed at how much schooling one must go through to become a librarian. I also was unaware that we have specialized librarians for our research field. I’m also glad that she informed us of the correct way to search for articles. I will look more into the schools search engine when looking for research. The process it takes to publish an academic article makes it a much more credible and reliable source compared to something like a news article. It is also important to correctly cite and give credit to your source. Her life was very privileged. As a person who enjoys learning about new cultures and customs, living her life would be a dream. I’m not saying I lived a bad life but I would love to experience some of the things she has. 

Going to the career center was yet another opportunity to find out about one of the many resources available on campus. Knowing that we have a vast amount of job opportunities is a great relief. The handout hub was full of great information about internships. I will definitely be coming back more often in my upper class years, but as for now I will be looking more into my career choices as a computer engineer using their career library or I can use their computer lab/ website. Its also good to know that there are programs such as gaucho link that make us more appealing to hire.

The Fair

I was surprised at the variety of majors that offered insight at the event. I was especially looking forward to getting information about my major ,computer engineering. Hearing of all the people trying to get into the school of engineering motivates me to work hard to stay in the major. I was glad to see that they had the new GEAR booklet available, which contains information related to all the different engineering majors. I’m also glad I was able to learn about the technology management certificate/programs offered alongside engineering majors. I really want to own my own company/invent a new product, so participating in such program would give me the skills necessary to do so. I also visited the ROTC booth. I have always been interested in doing this program because it will help me use the knowledge I’m gaining in college in real world applications. Its good to know that they offer a strong program here on campus. At first I was looking into the AFROTC but after better understanding the challenges in that program such as commuting to UCLA at least once a week I think I will be better suited to looking into the ROTC program here. I also did the 2 minute pushup challenge and was able to get a shirt from it. I’m interested in doing the honor’s program here at UCSB especially since I want to go to grad school so I was able to learn about the requirements, an overall preview of the programs and its benefits.
The Student Resource Building brought back the memories of orientation but it also gave me a glimpse of all the programs available at UCSB. I will definitely be going there often for my higher level math courses as well as for help on the many papers I will have to write. I find it odd that the disabled help program was located on the second floor, seems like it wasn't very well thought out. Other than that, im glad to know that so many resources are available on the wonderful campus.