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.