Wednesday, September 25, 2013

First week of fall..and it's hotter than ever!

Being Swedish, I'm used to the different seasons, and the extreme weather changes. We have seasons here in Santa Barbara too, but it's soo different! This week is supposed to be the first week of fall, and it's like 90 degrees outside. That's not fall to me!
Since I have been here for almost 2 years now, I have seen all the seasons change here throughout the year. The way I see it, is that when late fall and winter hits Santa Barbara, it's like the swedish spring. Except for night time, when it can be really cold here in SB.

Anyways. My sister just left me. She took the airbus from Hyatt Hotel that goes straight to LAX for $50, and her plane leaves at 5 pm. I was so sad to see her go! We had 3 amazing weeks together though, we've been to many walks, morning and night time, along the beach, or in my favorite park, Shoreline. We've had so much good food: Sushi at Arigato, Hamburgers at Eureka, Mexican food in LA, the best ceasar salad in town at Natural Cafe to mention a few. I actually heard from my friend that Santa Barbara is the second city after New York to have most restaurants per square mile! I don't know if that's true, but SB do have a lot of restaurants, and amazing one's too!





I mentioned in my last post that I am very into yoga and pilates, and I am actually taking a class here at SBCC this fall that is called PE 149, which is basically a gym class. You have to be at the gym for 36 hours this semester. The gym is really good, and very clean, and they have a lot of great instructors there to help you with different machines etc. I am there about 4 times a week, and I usually run on the treadmill and then use this amazing little green rubber band that you put your legs into, and work your legs in a lot of different ways. I love it. I am very active, and working out is a huge part of my life and my wellbeing.

I try to go on hikes as well but so far I have only done two. Inspiration point and seven falls. I think me and my roommates took a few wrong turns along the way but we got to see amazing views, and we got a great leg workout. The last one we did was on my birthday in August.




Another thing I love to do is shop. I would consider my self a shopaholic, for sure. I love walking down state street and visit all my favorite stores. Urban Outfitters, Victorias Secret, Sephora, Forever 21..and many more. I usually take a break at Starbucks to get my favorite skinny vanilla latte (with 2 pumps of vanilla) or their chocolate smoothie with protein powder and banana, yuuuum.




Have a great week everyone! And please, feel free to make a comment if you have any questions about SBCC, Santa Barbara or about me.


Monday, September 23, 2013

LA weekend and Hamburger cravings..

So this past week just rushed past me! We are in week 5 of the fall semester and the assignments, quizzes and paper dues are rolling in! I feel like I'm in control though, and I feel completely motivated.
I really enjoy my Yoga class that I'm taking mondays and wednesdays at 8 am-9.20am. It really helps me to relax and I have been sleeping better since I started doing yoga. I took a pilates class this spring and I loved it too. These two are great workouts, they work on your body strength and increases your flexibility.

Me and my sister and two of our friends spent the weekend in LA. We stayed at a hotel in Hollywood and we had a blast. We went out to one of the clubs on friday, did some shopping on saturday and then spent the night having an amazing dinner. Sunday morning, we had breakfast at Urth Caffe which was sooo good! Then our friend drove us to the bus station where we took the bus home to SB.






A lot of people from home ask me about the study- and work opportunities that I have as an international student in the U.S. I will try to explain how I am currently planning my future.
This is my 4th semester at SBCC, and I am studying towards my Associates Degree in Marketing. This requires 60 units, where 24 of these units are Marketing classes. The remaining 36 units are picked to fill the general education requirements. This is a link to see the an example of all the general education for an AA degree: http://www.sbcc.edu/apply/files/gereq.pdf

You can also earn the units at SBCC that you need to make a transfer to another school in order to achieve your Bachelors degree, but currently that is not what I am doing. In order to get all the units right, I would recommend seeing one of our student counselor, they are very helpful!

My sister is leaving on wednesday, so I am going to spend the hours when I am not in school or at the Marketing Department, just enjoying her company before she takes off to London again. We are having dinner tomorrow at my absolute favorite hamburger spot: Eureka! located in paseo nuevo, down town. They have the best gourmet hamburgers in town, and the absolute best sweet potato fries in the entire world! Yummie.



Monday, September 16, 2013

Is it possible to feel like you belong in two completely different worlds?

The answer to my questions is: Yes, it's possible!

I moved from Sweden to Santa Barbara early January 2012, which means that I have lived here for almost two years now. That's crazy to me, since I was so sure about the fact that I would stay 1 semester, and 1 semester Only. I would never have imagined staying here for 2 years.

There are a lot of swedes living and studying in Santa Barbara. I hear different numbers all the time so I'm not sure about this at all, but I think that there are about 400 Swedish students at SBCC.

In the beginning when I first arrived to SB, I found it comforting that there were so many of "my people" living here. It was like having a little bit of Sweden with me. Now a days, I still have many Swedish friends here but I enjoy spending time with Americans way more. I love the fact that this is a completely different    culture and how different Americans are from Swedes. I notice changes in my self too. I have grown. I am way more open, more confident and actually a whole lot happier now than when I lived in Sweden. In a way, I would call my self an americanized swede.

My hometown in Sweden.


After every semester, I go back to Sweden (for summer and for christmas). When I do that, the two completely different world crashes in to each other and I always feel very confused. Yes, I love living here and I am very happy but Sweden will always be my home. That's where my family and really close friends are and I love being home seeing them. So I love being home when I am there, and I feel like I belong there, just as much as I feel like I belong here.





Time will tell where I will end up in the future, and for now I'm just going to enjoy my life in this amazing town and focus on my studies. SBCC have taught me so so much and coming here is the best decision I've made in my entire life.


               
                                                                                  <--- Shoreline park by night











Shoreline park by day

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

"When I look at this, I find it hard to believe that it's real"

Week 3 of fall semester is almost over, what happened?! I guess it's like that: time flies when you're having fun! And I am having so much fun right now. All my classes (History 102, Philosophy 100, English 110+120, Yoga, and Gym class) are all really great, and I love all my teachers. They are all pretty tough classes, but I like that because then I know that I will learn a lot this semester.

I am back as an intern at the Marketing Department here at SBCC and I am so grateful that they choose to keep me this semester too. I have this project with all the bloggers to complete and it is a great challenge, to be the "leader" of all the bloggers but it is such a good experience!
It is extra special for me that I get to work as an intern at CC because of the fact that I am an international student. Even though I call my self fluent in english and I have been living here for almost two years now, I still learn new words almost every day at work and in my classes!

My life in Santa Barbara right now is amazing. My sister is here visiting, and obviously she is Swedish too, but she is studying abroad in London so she flew over from London to LAX last wednesday and she is staying for another two weeks which is awesome! I love having her here, because she is my best friend in the whole world, and it feels so good to have a family member close now that I live so far away from home. I took here to my favorite sushi restaurant last friday, Arigato, at State Street. Their Wipeout rolls are to die for if you love cream cheese in sushi as much as we do!

As we were walking down the stairs on west campus on our way DT, she looked at the view over the grass, the beach, the ocean and the mountains and she said:
"When I look at this, I find it hard to believe that it's real"

I know how she feels, because I feel the same way about this town. I love it's beauty and I can't believe that my home is in paradise: Santa Barbara.


The view from West Campus


West Campus



Me and my sister at Arigato Sushi.

Malena