Grades and wanderlust

Passport, check. I-20, check. Backpack, check.

It is over. After a somewhat stressful semester, I took my last final today and am officially on a break. I believe most people are taking their last final exams today, or have taken them already, and will soon be preparing for the holidays. If you are from out of town, or out of the country like me, you too will have to pack up and travel, which typically is either very exciting or incredibly boring. Regardless of how you feel toward packing, we now have to wait for our grades to be posted. And, as usual, some professors post them right away while others understandably take longer. Some grades will please us, others not so much. It is part of college life, though.

My personal recommendation is to relax. Now that we have (hopefully) aced all our exams and just need to wait for the confirmation, we can focus on what really matters: the break. Go outside, go to the beach, go see your friends, and make up to the last couple weeks of withdrawal. If you are going home, wherever it may be, I wish you a great holiday and that you have a memorable time alongside your loved ones. Personally, I am not going home; instead, I am going to backpack in Mexico. I’m so excited! So if you too are not going home but are travelling somewhere new, I also wish you a great time. However, to you, I hope you enjoy the wanderlust and exhilaration that always comes with new adventures.

The plan

I won’t be blogging until the spring semester begins, so I guess you’re only hearing from me again in January. Anyway, have an awesome break and may the curve be with you.

(I formally apologize for the pun)

 

Finals Week

The last week of the semester is arguably the most stressful one. Or at least it is for me. This is the moment when everything catches up with you -- all the exercises you did, all the tests you aced, all the essays you wrote, and of course all those that you didn’t. Also, the pressure of taking final exams is rough; however, we have a special schedule during this week, which helps. All exams are arranged in such a way that we do not have conflicting times and, at the same time, I do not think that anyone takes more than two finals in the same day. Thus as long as you plan your week well, you should be able to study for everything.

Because we solely have final exams this week, no lectures, my personal strategy for surviving is this: first, I set a new schedule that began last week so that I can go over the material with no rush; then I make sure to wake up early every day, and have breakfast to get me going; I go to bed early, which is around midnight for me, so I can get some rest; I set a good setlist that motivates me because life without music is not worth living; and, I am not going to lie, I drink a lot of coffee. Actually my roommate just converted me to tea, so I’ve been drinking a lot of tea lately, but that is another story.

I know, finals week is stressful and requires a lot of sacrifices, but it is part of going to college, right? Besides, it will pay off one day, and winter break is just around the corner! And this is going to be a great break!

If you need some extra motivation, listen to this song because there is nothing better than Janis Joplin telling you to try juuuuuuuuuust a little bit harder.

The Walking Dead

Nope, I am not going to talk about the TV show. Instead, I am going to talk about the World Dance for Humanity. I mentioned this organization a while ago, and now I realize I never told you guys what happened. First, just to refresh your memory, World Dance for Humanity is a nonprofit organization that raises money for projects in Africa (and it is based right here in Santa Barbara!) and this year the SBCC Ambassadors, which I am a member of, decided to support them. So we learned the choreography for Thriller by Michael Jackson, dressed up as zombies, raised some money at campus, and danced (duh!) downtown and in front of the bookstore. Honestly, it was a little embarrassing  at the beginning, but it was also so much fun.

In downtown, we met at the Sunken Gardens where a few hundreds of people gathered together and either danced or watched. Even the mayor showed up. It was nice to see so many people coming together for a good cause. Indeed, this event was much bigger than I thought it would be which I believe is a good thing. Many people were in costumes when they arrived; however, some like myself didn’t, and we put our makeup once we got there. I needed help with mine, though. As a warmup, we danced Beat It by Michael Jackson, and only then we actually showed off our Thriller moves. Honestly, everyone knew what they were supposed to do, and it was such a remarkable experience.

At SBCC, however, things were a little different. Firstly, there were fewer people. Secondly, we practiced again a couple of time before the actual presentation, and I think we surprised many students and staff members. To me, it was interesting that some people decided to join us on the spot even though they had no makeup on, which made the whole thing more organic and interesting.

Also, we raised enough money to send two kids to high school for a year. Isn’t it amazing? Anyway, I just thought everyone deserved to know what happened.

By the way, just in case you want to check it out, this is their website: http://worlddanceforhumanity.org

Just a bonus if you, like me, are a Stephen King fan:

                                                                   Yup, The Shinning!

 

Friendsgiving

I read somewhere that, when you are abroad, friends become family. I can assure you that this statement is true, but I would change it to “when you are away” – I think this is a little more appropriate. It does not matter what your background is, nor why you left, or how long you are away for, we all need people whom we can count on. Also, when you are in a new place, it is natural to sometimes get homesick or to miss those who are not around even though leaving was your choice in the first place. Being an international student myself and, thus, having my family five or six time zones ahead, it is expected that I would eventually miss them. However, I have friends whose families are literally a couple hours away (they could just drive there every other weekend if they wanted to!) yet they report longing their loved ones. Regardless, when these sentiments arouse, we can only count on each other.

I said in another post that I love American holidays, and it is still true. But the problem with Thanksgivings is that you know everyone else is eating turkey with their families, so you want to do the same. This is one of these moments when you need to rely on your friends, and trust that they will take care of you. At least that is what I did. Some friends and I gathered together and had this amazing dinner. It was our little Friendsgiving.

For this feast, we all cooked, so we had food and drinks from all over the world! We could try a little bit of the culture of Japan, Brazil, Sweden, Syria, the United States… Needless to say it was delicious, and I believe we all had a great time. Again, it is good to know that I can rely on people, and that they will take me

If I was to leave you with one piece of advice, it would be this: find people who you enjoy being around and who you can count on. Whether you are coming from across the globe or across the state, your friends will make being away a little easier.