The importance of de-stressing

We all stress to a certain point, and it's inner and outer stress. Stress made me ill last semester and it is doing something to me this semester too. I do everything in my power to de-stress, and I have that as my personal goal this semester.
I have started meditating as a part of this and even though it helps to to relax in that moment, I still stress a lot. There is a war in my mind constantly and as much as I would love to NOT live in the future all the time, that's exactly what I do.

This is what's going on in my mind right now at this very moment:
-Keep track of the bloggers,
-Get my midterm back in envs
-Do I have any food to cook tonight?
-Will I get any sleep tonight, since I have nightmares that wake me up every single night
-Will I be able to do my best at the gym tomorrow morning before my 11 am class
- Start writing my english essay
-Finish my PR homework for wednesday
-Finish the 150 pages of my english book
-Grocery shop, when?
-Will I have enough money to go to coachella?
-Will I get to work this summer in Sweden?
-When will I have time to get a tan?

Stupid isn't it? I know the tools, I know that I have to live in the present and focus on what is going on right NOW, and right now, I am comfortable at my desk, blogging.

Beautiful spot I pass before entering my gym

The thing is that before last semester that I got it on paper that stress made me very sick, I didn't think that it was that serious. What can a little stress do to you? Well, apparently a lot.
That is why it is so important to listen to your body. I am doing that right now, and I am going straight to the cafeteria now before class to get a big bottle of water and breathe, count to ten and then focus on getting the midterm back.

I love going to the gym too when I feel stressed, because you can let everything out, and when I run or do something else at the gym, that is all I can think about.

I have spring break and my moms visit to look forward to, and that helps me to get through the days! No stress when you are here mom :)

Have a great week!

Be your own hero

Ok, I'm going to be deep in this one! But I have to share something that we are talking about in my english 111 class with Brett Land. Ever since that class started we have been talking about 'a hero's journey' and how in every movie, book, myth about a hero, they all share the exact same path. There is the hero in his/her home environment in the beginning, then something happens, "a call to adventure",  as Joseph Campbell calls it, a detachment that sends the hero out on a journey. The second step is "initiation" when he/she goes through a series of rough obstacles during the adventure, before the hero eventually returns to the home, as a new reborn person.

This goes for every hero in fairytales, but it also happens to every single person in this world, if you listen to your "call to adventure". The stage that comes after that is always "the refusal of the call" and if you continue to refuse your call, you will never become the new much wiser version of you.

I keep thinking about my own journey as we go through Joseph Campbell's work in depth.
Back home in Sweden, when I had just turned 26, I was in a really bad place. I was negative, I didn't appreciate what I had and I certainly did not enjoy my life.
What happened to me was that I just got so sick of being this person that I decided to act. (I also got inspiration from a person that I hardly knew, that told me about his dreams and what I should do)
I knew that I had to do something that would challenge me more than anything I had ever done before.
What is more challenging than moving to the U.S without knowing a soul there?

My second day in SB, Jan 2012

Joseph Campbell says to; Follow your bliss. Follow what makes you happy. I had a childhood dream about living in California and here I am. I followed what I somehow knew would make me a happier, better and wiser human being. It has been HARD, I'll tell you that. I have been through some rough times here, both physically and mentally, probably most mentally but I am a new person today. I am not completely done here yet, but when I go back home, I know that it will be as if I have been reborn.

This is my journey, I am actually in this series of events right now and I am so happy. So happy to be a part of a time when humans are acknowledging what truly makes them happy. All the material things, the image of being rich, that job that you hate, the way too big house.. Ask yourself this: Do
   you need a lot of money and material things to make you a better person? Or do you need people around you that inspire you, that love you, that you love, that you have fun with?

I am on the verge of changing what I thought was my future carrier drastically. Because if I could choose to do one thing my entire life that would not feel like "work" to me, it would not be a 9-5 job at a desk.

I wish you all a great weekend.

i n t e n s e

This past week has been intense I'll tell you! Is week 5 seriously done now? And is it really just 3 weeks till Spring Break? I need that break, and I need the love from my mom who will visit me during that time..

So, last weekend was spent in the Big Apple, New York! It was sooo incredible to finally see it, and I got butterflies in my stomach as the plane flew in over the city.
I stayed with my friend in Brooklyn and we started doing all the touristy stuff as soon as I stepped foot out of the subway and met her.
We had dinner at a really awesome Thai restaurant and then we went down to the water and saw the entire skyline by night. It was out of this world.

Friday and Saturday were packed with all kinds of things like seeing the statue of liberty (haha, although it was so foggy that we couldn't see her), Wall Street, Soho, the red LOVE sign, Times Square, Carrie's stairs (from sex and the city), and we went up to the top of Rockefeller Center and saw the breathtaking view. Plus we went to the famous "Raines Law Room" on Friday night which was awesome, and then we went to the

club Marquee.

Love sign

brunch in Brooklyn

I really loved the city and I will definitely go back. During summertime though..since it was raining the entire Friday.

Carrie's stairs

This week in school has been all about catching up, both on sleep and studying and right now I feel pretty good. I'm not going to let stress get the best of me again like last semester.
Plus it's raining the entire weekend so I will have plenty of time to study and relax. Maybe order a dominos pizza, since I haven't had pizza since I got back here in January.
I just have to say too, that I love my english 111 class with Brett Land. We get to read the most amazing books and stories, and I am beyond inspired. I am kind of deep and like to read about soul searching and analyzing dreams etc, so all of the reading assignments that we get in this class are perfect in my opinion.

Well, have a great weekend everyone!

LAX-JFK

Hey everyone,

This is a very short week! Hope you all had a great long weekend. I had a great one, but I got a little bit restless. Me and Louise were almost climbing on the walls in our apartment yesterday because we were so bored, but still too tired to do anything about it.

I only have my lab class in environmental studies on Tuesdays and today we visited Coil Oil Point, and saw very cute little birdies. We always get a pair of binoculars so we can see them clearly, and they were so pretty, and tiny! Our teacher described the baby birds as "popcorns on sticks" haha.

My Surprise on Valentine's Day

After that class today I was extremely productive, and did laundry, made lunch and did all my homework at the same time, before I headed DT and got everything I need for Thursdays trip to NEW YORK! I am sooo excited! It's my first time and I can't wait. Therese has a lot of plans for us this weekend and I feel like it will fly by in a heartbeat.
She is one of my very best friends from Sweden and I miss her a lot, so it will be amazing seeing her in just one day.

The stress and the sadness I felt last week is still a part of me, and I think it has to do with the fact that I'm leaving this city this summer. The weird part is just that I'm feeling this heartbroken about it so soon. I have like more than three months left but I still cry about the fact that I'm moving back home.
I'm NOT good at dealing with change, that's for sure..

Cielito Restaurant

This weekend it was Valentine's Day and I got a surprise..when I came home from the gym I found these beautiful flowers on our kitchen table! I'm a lucky girl. Friday night was spent on Cielito with 4 girls, and it was great, such a beautiful restaurant!


But the highlight of this weekend was our brunch at The Shop Cafe on Milpas yesterday. OMG, their Tug Boat is to die for! If you haven't been there yet you have to go! Their food is the best and the staff is awesome! 

The Tug Boat

 It's actually bedtime for me now, because tomorrow will be a long day, 8 am till 9 pm. A cab will take me to the airbus at 3.15 am in the morning on Thursday to take me to the airbus..I sure hope I can sleep on the plane!

Ups and downs..

lunch this Monday.

I went from being on top of the world last week to feeling very low this week. The stressful period that I went through last semester is in a way still lingering, and I find myself constantly stressing about all the things I have on my plate. It's school, tons of homework, my internship, working out, writing and reading assignments, applying for jobs in Sweden, trying to relax to not get my blood pressure up, and just coping with the thought of me leaving this place that I love to death. I actually have tears running down my cheeks as I am writing this. Yes, I'M A MESS.

should buy one of these..

So I apologize for this post, that i can't be the positive Malena that I usually am, but I'm only human and I am not feeling well. Last night I had two dreams that really relate to how I feel. In the first one, one of the trainers at my gym held my head under the water surface so I couldn't breath and I panicked, tried to scratch his face and kick him but he is so strong that I was completely helpless. The second was was me back in Sweden, working as a cashier in a supermarket, and I was so unhappy that I cried the entire time I sat there and scanned all the food that the customers were shopping. In that dream, my biggest regret was leaving California.

This is stuff that we all have to deal with. Nothing lasts forever, and I am about to move on to a new chapter in life and it is incredibly hard for me, even though there's 3,5 months left.

Lotusland yesterday with my Lab class.

I am leaving for New York to see one of my best friends next Thursday and that will be a much needed break for me, although I am already stressed out about missing HW time when I am there. I will try to talk to my teachers to see if I can start preparing the upcoming homework assignments this week..

I hope everyone else is feeling fabulous and enjoying this great Santa Barbara weather. I'll try to feel better and be positive in my next post.

Malena

Spread the love!

One of the things I really love about SBCC is the view.

I am high on life right now. I feel so good about my classes, my internship, my roommates, my friends, this town..etc etc. Even though I sometimes feel like I am overwhelmed by all the studying and working that I need to do this semester, I notice that staying occupied with learning and develop through my internship is what I LOVE. Honestly, I love learning! I already got to use one of my ideas that I got in my Public Relations class for my internship, and we are doing a little social media contest for Valentines Day. I am so excited.

The contest will be on Instagram, and you will post "What I love about SBCC" and use the hashtag #sbcclove . We will choose a winning picture on Thursday February 13th and the winners picture will be posted on our official facebook page on Valentines Day! The SBCC facebook page currently has almost 17 000 followers so the winning picture will be seen by a lot of people!

This is the end of week two by the way, and this week went by faster than ever. It's weird thinking that Spring Break is only 6 weeks away, and I can't wait for it because my mom in visiting me from Sweden during that break!
I decided I didn't want to leave SB for spring break like most of the students do, because I need to hold on to my money. So me and my mom will have our own vacation here in SB which is perfect.


What else is going on..Me and my roommates are going to IKEA in Burbank on Sunday, and that will be fun. Although I will not be getting stuff for myself, I should actually try to get rid of stuff instead since I am leaving SB pretty soon. But, I look forward to eat meatballs and buy some other swedish food in their store.

And I just wanna throw in a little tip, if you want to work out at a gym that is not too expensive, you should really check out 24 hour fitness down on State Street. It's not super fancy or anything but it has all the stuff you need, and I am in love with their yoga and pilates classes!

Have a great weekend!

Super Bowl, studying and eating

This weekend started off with a dinner DT at Enterprise Fish located on lower state. It was me, Louise, Kirstine and her roommate Stephanie. I'm not a big fan of seafood, so I had the chicken, but the girls all tried different things and we were all very happy with our food! We had some wine too before we went down to Cadiz to just sit down and talk for a bit before we went home.
Friday was really all about studying for me, since I had a lot to read for both my marketing classes. I love it though, because it's what I'm interested in.

Saturday was gym and studying, and then came Super Bowl Sunday! The original plan was to go DT and hang out at one of the bars but then we decided to stay at our place instead, and just get some food, snacks and wine. We made the right decision since it was raining yesterday! We had a great time, even though the game wasn't all that exciting...and we all got a stomach ache from all the tortilla chips and guacamole.



So, basically this weekend was all about good food and studying. We usually go and study at Roco, also on lower state, next to Backyard Bowls. I actually tried my very first bowl this weekend (!) I know, I'm so late, but I absolutely fell in love with it. So good!
I tried the Brasil Bowl, with acai and bananas, because bananas are my favorite fruit! I eat like 20 bananas in one week, ask my roommates..

I have to run off to class now, but have a great week everyone!