Final Post and Macbeth

This last weekend the entire INT 95 class was required to attend one of the shows that the theater department was putting on. Their version of Macbeth was interesting, to say the least. I am not a particularly huge fan of theater, and will generally only really attend a showing if it has received great reviews, or I have friends or family that are performing. However, I enjoyed the non-traditional style of this particular theater performance. I did enjoy the various ways that the actors created the sets using their own bodies, and the creativity utilized throughout the play. However, I found that the play was slightly difficult to follow, though the plot summary that was given to us helped tremendously. I believe that having the same actors play multiple roles made following the play slightly more difficult, but I understood it fairly well. The actors seemed extremely well-prepared, which is a nice change to many of the various theater performances that I have seen.
Though this did not particularly inspire me to learn more about the theater and dance programs offered through UC Santa Barbara, I will still support the various performances, because I understand the tremendous amount of work and effort that goes into organizing and creating these pieces of art. I also enjoyed watching a Shakespearean play, as opposed to reading it. I feel that actually being able to watch the events unfold helps to better conceptualize the plot, emotions, and minor occurrences that may go unnoticed in a simple reading.

Dr. Appel and the Education Abroad Program

Dr. Irwin Appel is someone who has been involved in the Theater and Dance department at UCSB. During his presentation at our INT 95 lecture, he presented a lot of information about the department, and how to get involved. Though I have had many friends in theather, the only experience I ever have with theater was being a narrator for a play in the third grade. However, I have heard many good things about theater, and may have to check out the program.
Secondly, my class and I checked out the EAP (Education Abroad Program) building this last week, and we learned a tremendous amount about traveling abroad for school. This is a program that I am very interested in, and would love to participate during my junior year. Although I would love to travel to Germany or any Spanish speaking countries as I am familiar with both languages, I would like to travel to an area that is less frequented, in order to hopefully prepare myself to eventually join the peace corps. In the EAP building, we learned a lot about the necessary prerequisites (or lack thereof) for visiting various nations, and the multiple different ways that you can stay in those areas--for example, staying for a quarter, a year, or doing a complete integration program, which I think is very cool! I look forward to preparing for embarking on an education abroad program.

My Experience with Social and Informational FSSP Events

I have done multiple social events since I came to UCSB. We were technically required to do four activities for our INT 95 class and the Freshman Summer Start Program (FSSP). I realized that activities were great ways to meet friends and integrate myself with the community. Although I enjoyed all of the events that I went to, I did not like the idea of “required” events. I understand the premise for required events; namely, you want to have students getting out and interacting with each other over common interests. This is a brilliant idea, but I feel that it would be more constructive to have an informational session to raise awareness for the various clubs that are on campus, as opposed to having required events. In the following sentences I will describe the events that I attended, and my experience with each.

I watched two free movies offered through the Isla Vista Theater, which I enjoyed tremendously. Being able to see relatively new movies in a theater for free was an excellent way to spend time with friends, especially for those with a tight budget. The two movies I saw were Stoker (a horror/thriller), and Fast & the Furious 6. An academic fair was one of the required events, which was beneficial to me, since I learned a bit about the Education Abroad Program (EAP). However, though there were booths for many majors, there was no booth for Linguistics. Alas, I checked out the Communications booth and learned a good deal about that. Finally, I attended a career services workshop, where we learned a lot about how we can pursue work, internships, and ultimately a career using various resources offered through UCSB.

Dr. Lubach, Reddit, and Crazy Wildlife

This past week my INT 95 class visited the Davidson Library on campus in order to meet with academic librarian Sally Weimer for an informational session. I learned about many useful resources that I was previously unaware of, including a massive database of electronic scholarly articles. Our guest speaker this week was Dr. Lubach. He was a very informed speaker, and by far my favorite this entire summer. He advocated the importance of critical thinking, and various avenues and methodologies through which you can approach the realm of critical thinking. One of my favorite parts of his lecture was the point where he talked about balancing critical thinking in social situations. Sure, you may be able to refute someone else's claim, but that does not mean it is appropriate or kind to do so.

Local raccoon stopping in to say hello

Another thing that Dr. Lubach spoke about was a recently growing social board called Reddit. As an avid "redditor" for almost 3 years, I am happy that Reddit is beginning to accrue the popularity it deserves. This website is divided into several "subreddits," which are essentially sub-forums ranging anywhere from funny jokes, politics, news, religions, any hobby you can imagine, to intense academic discussion. The thing I love about Reddit is that (bar many of the more popular default subreddits) it is an awesome place to learn about anything you have ever been curious about, you just need to know where to look. In conclusion, I would like to include this picture of a raccoon--because as other Gauchos well know, the wildlife can be pretty insane around campus at night. Thankfully, if you leave them alone, they will usually scamper along on their way. I would be lying if I said that many families of raccoons and skunks hadn't accidentally snuck up on me, and of course vice versa.

Plagiarism and How to Avoid It

                Plagiarism is a very important topic to consider when composing anything academically-related. I am no stranger to the parameters that entail plagiarization of academic compositions, it was something that was deeply ingrained into my high school brain. Although many of us have had encounters with plagiarism, either directly or indirectly, many of us (including myself) had not been properly informed of the possible consequences of even the most minor or accidental forms of plagiarism in college.

                Plagiarism was always something that was extremely frowned upon in high school; we were always advocated against using the work and thoughts of others without direct citations. However, the consequences of plagiarism were very minor at best—maybe a failed paper; sure, this was something terrible for our grades and possibly our overall GPA, but it never had the consequences that plagiarism in a college environment entails. In college, if you are caught plagiarizing the work of another person, you can have everything taken away from you. Through the articles that were given to us in class regarding plagiarism, we learned many ways to avoid unintentional plagiarization. One of the biggest ways to avoid plagiarizing the work of others, in addition to preventing major headache on late-night homework sessions, is to make sure you cite your work the instant you insert it into your paper. By citing all necessary and pertinent information when you actually type it, you save yourself from having to go back later and cite those items, and possibly forgetting one accidentally.

Thoughts on Discovering Your Passion

                At my last INT 95 class lecture, a librarian was the guest speaker. She had a very unique childhood, growing up under a father whom was an established author. She spent a lot of time traveling the world, and had always love the library as a peaceful and comforting area. This was very appealing to me, because it shows how her childhood influenced her to pursue the career path that she ultimately chose.

I think that this is the case with many of us—our childhoods play an immense role in what we choose to specialize in later in life. We spend a lot of time searching to complete a part of us that is missing. By narrowing our focus to a particular career or lifestyle that we love, we can satisfy that yearning for dedication to a particular passion that invokes a certain happiness within us. For me, that passion is traveling. I love traveling, but traveling is often a costly and demanding expenditure. However, through pursuing a career that is entwined completely and naturally in travel, I can follow my dreams while simultaneously securing a future for myself.

Sometimes, discovering what makes you happy is easier said than done. So much emphasis is placed on certain careers, we often forget what is out there. You could be following a route that so many others have taken before you, and perhaps it just doesn’t feel right. At UCSB, my INT 95 class and I visited a career counseling building. Understandably, some may shy from the idea of seeking career advice. At first, I was apprehensive to seek out the information that they provided. Sometimes, doesn’t it feel like we should absolutely know exactly what we are doing? We are adults, after all. However, this is not the case at all. As I continue to grow, I continue to realize that everybody else is in the same boat I am in. Though some of us may be more or less prepared for what lies ahead, it never hurts to have a little bit of direction and advice. The Career Services building can help with resume building, finding jobs, internships, or even discovering careers that you never even knew existed—all for free. It is an excellent service, and one that I can see myself using often in the near future.

Major/Minor Academic Fair

Today I went to the Major/Minor Academic fair in order to learn more about my major, and possible directions I can take in order to further my education, and eventually settle in on a solid career path. Unfortunately, I could not locate any booths dedicated to my major—Linguistics. However, I was still able to find a substantial amount of useful information for the future.

                I learned a lot about the EOP—Educational Opportunity Program. These are services that are tailored for students in order to help them find direction, assist students in issues with regards to school, future prospects, and even personal concerns. In addition to learning about the EOP, I discovered a lot of information about the study abroad program, which I am planning to incorporate into my junior year. I believe that traveling abroad is a perfect way to meet new people, and familiarize myself with, and amalgamate myself into different cultures.

                Speaking of meeting new people, a common issue that people have when starting college is making new friends. There are many ways to make new friends, you just have to know the right places to look. There are various clubs you can join, such as the UCSB Adventure Club, various major-related clubs, dance clubs, and of course sports clubs. In addition to joining clubs, you can meet people in your dorms, the dining commons, and school-sponsored activities to name a few. Making many friends is one of the key parts of having an amazing time at college. 

Introductions and Formalities

Hello everyone! My name is Pedro Perez. I am currently entering my first year of college at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and I could not be more excited! I am attending arguably one of the most beautiful campuses in the States, have already made many great friends, and I have had many memorable experiences in my first few days here.

I am a Linguistics major, as language has always been a fascination of mine, and would love to pursue a career dealing with the science behind languages. I believe that my love of languages originated from being born in Mexico, and being taught both English and Spanish, with no distinction between the two, other than which parent I was speaking to. This provided extremely confusing to me at first. Although I began speaking some extreme form of Spanglish, I slowly grew to realize the differences between the languages, and the patterns, appropriateness, culture, and applicability behind each. To this day, I have taken 5 years of Latin, and 3 years of German, in addition to remaining bilingual. I have pursued my love of languages quite a bit, and plan to continue to learn more about language, and eventually learn even more languages, to help better amalgamate myself with the various world cultures.

Although Linguistics is my primary focus, I also like to spend a lot of time playing my guitar, and longboarding (and if there are any longboarders in the SB area who slide, I would love to get together and hit up some local hills!). I also play soccer, and rock climb. I love going on adventures, be it hikes, road trips, or even traveling. I am thankful to live on one of the most beautiful beaches in California, and am thankful that the biggest complaint I can voice is that the beach is often closer than my next class. 

I am excited to make many new friends, and I hope that everybody has a great time, and takes advantage of all the fantastic opportunities we are given here. Through this blog, you will get a glimpse into the life of a fresh college student. Hopefully my posts will be enlightening, put a smile on your face, or at least help you avoid some of the mistakes that are so easy to make upon entering college.

Cheers,

Pedro Perez