Busy weekend coming up!

Today is Wednesday and for me this is kind of like the calm before the storm. This weekend will be packed with so much fun stuff, I can't wait! I will be busy from tomorrow morning at 9.35 until Sunday morning, and then I have to study all day Sunday. One entire 6-7 page research paper needs to be done that day, and even though I feel like there is a lot to do for school right now, it's just 5 weeks left! That is  c r a z y. I say it every semester, but this one has to be the fastest one ever. I mean, we just started?! Well, this is a good thing because I am actually really looking forward to my visit in Sweden over Christmas now.

Starting tomorrow, we are going to host a Halloween Party at our place and then go DT to see all the dressed up people and have a good time. We have to choose wisely were we choose to go tomorrow night because that place is going to be where we have to stay all night, since all of the bars will fill up at 10 pm.
We have decorated our place with Halloween stuff and we are super excited! I love Halloween. I will take pictures of me and my matching roommate Louise in our pretty costumes and put up after the weekend.

Now to something I just heard about, it's "Open Streets" in Santa Barbara! This Saturday, Cabrillo Blvd will close down all the traffic and put up all kinds of fun activities! This will go on from 10 am to 4 pm and I will definitely be there. Some of the activities are; yoga, pilates, kickboxing, art exhibits, health screenings, music performances, street performers and much more. It's a perfect thing to attend on a Saturday.

www.sbopenstreets.org


And one thing that I thought about that i want to share with you all is; Look for activities, clubs and organizations to get involved with at SBCC! I remember what a teacher told me last semester, he said: "Universities and Employers don't look at your GPA and Degree anymore, since there are so many people with college educations nowadays. What they look at are internships that you have completed while in college." He recommended us all to get an internship while still in school.
And it is a known fact that it really boosts your resume to have any kind of volunteer work, memberships in school clubs and to be a part of the Student Ambassadors etc. That is something to think about that will benefit you.

It is really getting colder here in SB now btw! And the other day when me and Louise had been to Starbucks and studied, we stepped out and it was raining! And we got all excited and happy! How crazy is that. It's just that we miss the fall feelings you get in Sweden, where it's dark and chilly and you can stay inside under a blanket, drinking tea and light some candles.

Sunrise, from one of my early morning walks. Beautiful!

It's Monday alright

I woke up this morning and I felt a bit low. Santa Barbara must have had a little storm visiting last night because my window made banging sounds like it was about to break, and that woke me up several times. Anyways, when I woke up I took my morning walk as usual and I always meet the same people in Shoreline Park, so we always greet each other by saying Good Morning or just exchange smiles. That instantly makes me happier. My yoga class at 8 am contributed to more energy as well and by 10 am I was feeling really good.

I don't know where the low feeling came from this morning but I guess it's just a mix of tiredness, school stress and my over thinking that's haunting my head. The trick to always waking upp happy though, is to go to bed with happy thoughts! It really works, believe me. I must have had some pretty bad thoughts in my head before I fell asleep last night. Not making that mistake tonight!

The weekend was good, and I had a lot of time to think about what I want to do in the future and we cruised around a lot in the car that I rented.
I have to tell you about the coolest breakfast and lunch place in Santa Barbara; We went to The Shop Cafe  located on Milpas St on Friday. You order from a counter and there are tables where you can sit inside or outside. You kind off get the feeling that you are in someone's house, not at a restaurant or cafe. I had the best damn oatmeal (that's the actual name of the oatmeal) and it was delicious. Their prices are super good too! This is a must go for all of you. I loved it. http://www.shopcafesb.com/

Saturday night started at Arch Rock at Anacapa St, to have dinner and celebrate Erika's 25th birthday. I had chicken with mashed potatoes and mushrooms and it was sooo good! It was me Erika, Louise and Kirstine. We had conversations about crazy hilarious dreams and we laughed a lot. The night continued at Cadiz and then Tonic. Good night overall!


Oh, and last Thursday me and my teammates did great on our debate! I would never have thought it would be so much fun debating. I really got in to it and almost got mad at the other team for real, haha. We won the debate though and I am looking forward to seeing a new debate tomorrow in class.

Have a great day everyone! I am spending my afternoon at the big Starbucks on State Street to finish one paper and start another one.

Sweater Weather!

Fall made it to Santa Barbara, for real, yesterday. The fact that I can now walk around in jeans and a sweater without dying of heat is amazing.  I really love fall, it's a great period for new beginnings. 

The one negative thing about fall, is that it's flu season. My throat is a bit sore right now so I am resting from my usual workouts today. 

I just came from a very interesting meeting a few hours ago, that really set my mind in to motion. I wish I could tell you more about it but I can't right now. The picture is me in front of the Moreton Bay Fig Tree which is located by the train station is SB. It is the biggest, coolest tree I have ever seen. Apparently it is number 20 on the list of top attractions in Santa Barbara. 

I am discovering as an intern in social media that it is not about completing the tasks you are handed at work, it is about going above and beyond the task you are given. Honestly, I just realized this like a month ago. Since then, I try to put that little bit of extra effort in to everything I do. Put a thought in to what I do. What do I want to accomplish by doing this? And I also use a lot of my free time researching  new things.

And this time of the semester I'm starting to plan for the upcoming spring semester, what classes I will take. I only have one class plus lab that I need to complete my AA degree so I have 9 units to fill with 3 classes that I think will be good for me. I have already decided to take Public Speaking with Cameron Sublett, who is one of the best professors I have been fortunate to have. Prof Sublett is one of the few who's lectures I have felt truly inspired by every single class. I took his Communication 101 class last semester and I learned so so much about my self and about how to understand others. 

I went down to Chapala street to rent a car at Enterprise yesterday. I needed a car to be able to go to my meeting this morning at 7.30 am, and also because Louise and Erika are driving down to LA tomorrow, so they can use it. I absolutely LOVE driving. I could easily drive for hours with my favorite music on really loud and just think about life. So if you know someone who is selling a car in the SB area, let me know!

I would like to try something for this blog post. I want YOU to comment (anonymous if you'd like) and just type one sentence or just one word about why you read my blog. You could be one of my family members, one of my friends, acquaintances, or someone that just found this blog through SBCC's website or the Blog website, it doesn't matter, I want YOU to leave a mark. That would make my day!

Oh, and we are preparing for Halloween at our apartment right now. We are buying decorations and planning a fun party..

The value of Education

Hey guys,

It's a very energetic, happy and excited Malena sitting at her desk today! Who would have known that you can feel so good about yourself just by learning new things and experience something new.

Before I started at SBCC, I wasn't to excited about the idea of going back to school. I believed in the power of working your way up to higher positions and I still do, although, the value of education according to me, is not just the degree and your GPA on a piece of paper, it is the changes that happen within you.




An education does not mean sitting through classes and manage to get an OK grade, it is all about your attitude towards it. I have grown and learned a lot not just from my classes but from inspiring teachers and classmates too. I have met so many people at this college that have touched me in some way and that I have learned from. Think about it, you are fortunate enough to go to a school where over 20.000 completely different people with totally different lives come every day with the same goal as you, to get an education, and to grow as a human being. Use the opportunity you have to talk to new people and learn from them.

I am really taking advantage of every opportunity I get, and right now I am so excited because things are really starting to happen for me!



This weekend that is coming up, we are welcoming our friend Erika who will arrive from San Francisco on Thursday morning! I really look forward to spending time with her, she is hilarious. My roommate Louise and Erika are going to Universal Studios on Thursday night for a "horror night" where you get chased by zombies and ghosts and all kinds of scary things. I am honestly too scared to go, but I think it could be a lot of fun for the ones who actually like that stuff! There will be horror nights at Universal until November 2nd.

This week in school is a pretty stressful one where I have had one midterm in Philosophy , I have one paper draft due for History, a debate in my English class and I have an important personal meeting tomorrow morning. And even though I feel stressed right now, I know that no feeling is better than the one I will have inside on Thursday afternoon when this week is over!

Have a great week everyone!

New students!

I remember it like it was yesterday, the day I stepped foot on the huge American Airlines plane that was taking me from London to LA. The 11 hour flight that I spent thinking and speculating about what my upcoming 5 months would be like. I remember thinking "Well, Malena, if you don't like it or if things don't work out the way you want them to, you always have the option of just returning home. And it's only going to be 5 months, then you will be back home in Sweden." 

But as you can all tell, everything did work out and I don't just like it in Santa Barbara, I am completely in love with it, and never in my wildest dreams I would have imagined my self 2 years later sitting by my desk located at the Marketing Department at SBCC, being a member of the Phi Theta Kappa, doing great in all of my classes and working towards my degree. 

The things I remember worrying about were stuff like:

*Will I meet friends?

*Where and how will I find a place to stay?

*What will my classes be like?

*Are my english skills good enough?

What I did, was to search on facebook for other people who were going to move to Santa Barbara at the same time. I found a group called "SBCC Spring 2012" and it had over 100 members. That group helped me find a lovely girl named Sanna (who came to be one of my closest friends) who I started e-mailing with. We arrived in LA on the same day and we decided to share a hotel room in Santa Barbara. (That's were the picture is from, our very first breakfast) The second day, we sat down and looked for housing on www.craigslist.com . We found an apartment at Oceano/Cliffdrive almost right away and we ended up meeting the landlord and got the apartment on the same day. (The picture) From my own experiences and from what I hear from everyone else who are living in Santa Barbara, is that the monthly cost per individual is between $550 to $750. With room for exceptions of course.

                                                                

We were in SB early though. We arrived on January 4th and school didn't start until January 27th. So that is one tip, be here in time. And it is good if you start looking for roommates before you arrive, and you can do this by searching on facebook, or put up an ad on craigslist saying that you are looking for roommates. 

Another tip is to contact people who already live in Santa Barbara (through facebook or craigslist) and ask them if they have contact info to different landlords in the area. Most students who study at SBCC live either on the Mesa (which is pretty much were the school is located), downtown, or in Isla Vista which is located about a 20 minute drive from SBCC. 

The school website also has a link that provides a lot of great information about housing in Santa Barbara: https://www.sbcc.edu/housing/

Well, thats a little bit about housing. Feel free to ask me questions about it!

And when it comes to my personal life, it is pretty much the same: workouts, studying, working, eating my favorite food in the world (oatmeal with banana and milk, I could eat it for days) looking forward to Halloween etc. I had my first midterm today which was in yoga class. We went up as a group and had to lead the class through one of the 3 sun salutations. I did some practicing last night at our place.

I feel like I just want to ride off of this amazing wave of gratitude that I am on right now. I am amazed by all the great things in my life that I have worked so hard to accomplish. They are paying off.

Much love

Happy thoughts - Happy life

I sat and talked to my roommate Louise last night, while watching How I Met Your Mother and eating chicken with ranch dressing, about how I never experience the all known "Sunday anxiety". I used to  feel it when I was back in Sweden and wasn't completely satisfied with the situation I was in, but since I moved to SB I can't wait for the school weeks to begin.

This is probably because I love learning, and I love to stay busy doing things that I know are going to benefit me in the long run. My classes gives me a new perspective on things, and my internship teaches me about the career I want to pursue. I have grown so much since I started to educate myself and it's something that I am truly valuing.

I also believe in the power of positive thinking. You are the one who decides how you feel about every aspect of your life. It is really hard to turn a negative situation around and see it in a different light, it is something that needs practice but it is crucial for your happiness. 

This weekend started off with a roomie dinner on Friday night. We made mashed sweet potatoes, cheese layered chicken in the oven, avocado salad, pastry and blackberry jelly. It was sooo good and we ate a lot, so much that one of us looked like she was 6 months pregnant haha. 

I got a lot of school work done too and I worked out at the school gym friday and saturday. On saturday night me and Louise decided to hit the bar scene with our danish friend Kirstine. So we started out in the funk zone, but Seven was too crowded, and we weren't really feeling Reds either so we walked down to Cadiz, which is one of my favorite bars in Santa Barbara and it was crowded as usual. We always meet people we know and have a good time there. 

After that, we went to Eos and then ended our evening at Tonic. We had a lot of fun and since we came home pretty late we allowed ourselves to sleep in on Sunday.

This morning, I jumped out of bed at 6.30 am and took a 1 hour walk. It is kind of cold but so refreshing outside at that hour so I love waking up and get energized by a morning walk before my classes.

My yoga class this morning was held outside at the stadium. It was really awesome practicing yoga and breathing the fresh air. I really loved it. 

My next post will be about housing in SB, and how you as an international student can look up housing from your home country before you come to SB. Please, write me a comment if you have any specific questions about housing in SB!

Fall=Halloween, holidays and jackets.

Today is Oct 9th, and I just literally woke up this morning thinking September never even existed, we just skipped right in to Oct. That's how fast time flies when you go to SBCC. This is the end of week 7 so next week we will be half way through the semester. Insane.

The upcoming weeks are going to be so much fun. Me and my roommate Louise ordered our Halloween costumes last night, and we giggled a lot because we are so excited for Halloween. I'm not going to tell you what we are dressing up as, you will just have to go DT that Thursday and find out!
Oh, and a tip, Halloween night DT is CRAZY. Plan your evening, and make sure that you're DT early, because every single bar is filled up by 10ish. And as you can see, last year, I was a cat.

After Halloween, we have Monday off  November 11th (Veterans Day) and at the end of November there's Thanksgiving weekend and we get Thursday off.

After the Halloween costume was ordered last night, me and my 2 roommates tried to study, but we ended up listening to old really funny songs from our teenage years ("Gunther and the sunshine girls" for all the swedes who actually know what songs I'm talking about), so we started singing and laughing again before we finally managed to get some school work done.


I love having roommates. We get along really well in our apt, and I am so grateful for those two, I can't even describe it. That's one really great thing about college, you're never alone. When you are moving in with people that you don't know, you are pretty much forced in to getting to know them, and I see that as a great thing. Even if you are different from each other, there is always something you can learn from one another. Over the years in SB, I've had several roommates. Starting with Filippa, Sanna and Sebastian, to just Filippa, to Jennie and Camilla, and now Jenny and Louise.


Back to present: Today is blog meeting day! I am meeting with Savanna, Kiki, Rachel, Helena, Ramon and Nicolas today. I met with Lashea, Daniel, Alicia and Travis yesterday. Since I am a marketing intern I was a part of developing these blogs, and I'm really happy with the result. Make sure you check these guys out at:

www.sbcc.edu/blogs

Today is pretty cold, so I really got the fall feeling and I love it! I love that I can wear jackets now. (FYI, I have 21 jackets in my american closet, I am an addict) And I love to hide under a comfy beanie.



Keep commenting and let me know what you want me to blog about! Thanks to all the visitors that found me, warms my heart.