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.