Fall Quarter of my Final year

An update as to what this fall will look like for me (sorry, no pictures on this one)

Classes

I'm taking 4 and I only have class Tuesday and Thursday (how great is that, 4 day weekends)!

My classes are...

112A. Economic Theories of Political Behavior (4)

An introduction to theories of political behavior developed with the assumptions and methods of economics. General emphasis will be upon theories linking individual behavior to institutional patterns. Specific topics to be covered will include collective action, leadership, voting, and bargaining.

SOCI 137. Sociology of Food (4)

Topics include food as a marker of social indifferences (e.g., gender, class, ethnicity); the changing character of food production and distribution; food as an object of political conflict; and the symbolic meanings and riuals of food preparation and consumption

MGT 172. Business Project Management

This course covers both the process aspects of project management –– planning, scheduling methods, milestone setting, resource allocation, budgeting, and risk mitigation –– as well as the human capital management imperatives –– communication, feedback, team work and leadership. Project portfolio management theory and practice will be covered as well as R&D road mapping.

And...Intro to Acting...because why not? It's my final year of college.

So far, the classes seem incredible. The professors are a lot of fun and the subjects are things that I have a real interest in. It should be a great quarter academically.

Work

I still have 3 jobs. Campus Tours (since freshman year), Student Involvement Leadership Consultant (SILC) (since sophomore year), and Alumni Discovery Ambassador (since last year). They are probably the most incredible jobs a student could have at UCSD because I get to set my own schedule for each of them AND I get paid pretty darn well for a student job.

There are some postings about the SILC position in another blog entry so I wont go too much into it. But for each job I have amazing coworkers and the opportunity to meet and work with some of the most astounding students that UCSD has to offer.

Clubs

The only club I'm involved in this year is the Student Foundation, a foundation whose mission it is to teach UCSD student about philanthropy while raising money for the foundation so as to be able to give out student scholarships (you can read about the foundation at http://studentfoundation.ucsd.edu). I'm actually the Chair for the Development Committee, so it's my job to help educate students about philanthropy and encourage them to donate to our foundation.

I may join the sailing team if I can manage the early mornings and the drive to Mission Bay for practice. We'll have to see about that one (I really want to do it though!)

Otherwise, I have a long list of all the things I want to do during my final year in California. I haven't yet visited Yosemite National Park, nor have I driven the entirety of the Pacific Coast Highway (a drive I'm hoping to make by bicycle at some point). There are plenty of wineries left to go tasting at and a number of beaches and festivals I haven't had the chance to attend. So this year is for exploring San Diego and California because I'm seeing it as my final year here and the last time I'll have the freedom to take long weekends as I please.

And yes, I did say final year as at this point in time I intend to move (somewhere) after I graduate. I'm hoping to spend a few months volunteering abroad, then possibly settling on the East Coast or in Europe for a few years with a job (what job that is is yet to be determined).

If you have any suggestions my ears are always open!

Adams Avenue Street Fair

San Diego has a TON of different street fairs in the various 'areas' of town. Earlier this summer I went to Hillcrest's Gay Pride parade and ongoing festival, and I've been able to visit another of other neighborhoods while they had their weekly farmers markets and street fairs.

So today, Sunday September 27th we headed to Normal Heights for their annual street fair. I brought a coworker, a few of her friends, and my friend Rachel and for a few hours we perused the streets looking at jewelry, posters, crafts, hats and listening to some amazing music.

Anyone who says San Diego is boring clearly hasn't looked around hard enough!

Sailing San Diego

I absolutely love sailing and thanks to one of my friends since my freshman year, I learned that and once in a while get to go out on Mission Bay in San Diego and do so!

The last time we went was the day of my friend, Kat's, 21st birthday. It was a beautiful day and the first time we went all the way out to the ocean!

San Diego Music Awards

The San Diego Music Awards occur in September of each year and it just so happened that a friend of a friend new someone who needed some 'seat fillers' to attend the show and fill seats in the front rows so that when the video camera's scanned the crowd it looked like a big one. So there we were with free tickets to fill front row seats at the SDMA's. We loaded up my car, fondly called the 'couch car' because of its large and comfy seats, and drove to the Viejas Casino.

Some artists stood out by smashing pigs heads hanging from sticks on stage during their performance, while other stood out for their awesome music. I'd suggest a few musicians that I'm fond of if you're interested in exploring some SD music (look them up on myspace).

Metric Mastercraft

Anya Marina

Children of Nova

Gregory Page

The New Archaic

and

The Silent Comedy

Of course Jason Mraz was there as well, winning the award for album of the year (he's pretty big for a local).

SILC Training

Each year we get to start a new year with a new team in the SILC Program! SILCs are Student Involvement Leadership Consultants who work for UCSD's Center for Student Involvement doing, as our title implies, consultations for student organizations. We do everything from make reservations for meetings/events in the university event spaces to consulting students on how to get involved. At UCSD last year there were 475 different student organizations, ranging from academic orgs to dance groups to greek clubs to the Society for Creative Anachronisms (they dress up like knights in shining armor and re-enact epic battles).

I actually started working for the SILC program when it was first created 3 years ago and the past two years I had the privilege of serving as one of the 2 student Leads. This year we had an amazing 3 day training and have spent the last week, UCSD's Welcome Week, introducing all the new students to the many ways one can become involved on campus.

So here are just a few pictures of the people and things we've been doing as SILC's working the student org "One Stop" desk.

Road trip to Colorado

A friend of mine needed a copilot for a portion of the drive from San Diego to Maryland and it just so happened that the portion of the ride she needed help with was one that I have not only made a few times, but was looking for the opportunity to do again (because it meant I got to go home to both Collbran and Fort Collins!).

So Jackie and I took off on August 31st with our first stop in Vegas. After a fun and random night of clubbing (all paid for by a group of gentleman who had just returned from Iraq) we left early the next morning for Bryce Canyon, Utah. A beautiful national park (but ridiculously expensive to get in AND to camp-$45 for the night total) sunset over the main attraction was a bit uneventful but the sunrise the next morning was absolutely astounding.

We then drove to Arches National Park in eastern Utah and did a quick drive-through and photo shoot of the beautiful stone features that were there. Jackie is a photographer so we took a lot of time finding good vantage points-which meant we simply drove and they appeared around every corner. Honestly I would highly suggest for one to stop in Arches as opposed to Bryce Canyon because it's much cheaper, it's larger, it has better views, and it's just better all around.

But of course in my hurry to get to the Collbran house in time for Nana's turkey dinner we left Arches without going to Moab for gas and a mere 2 miles from the Colorado border the car sputtered to a stop. Fortunately Jackie has AAA and we are both easy-going, so we listened to music and hung out until a tow company found us with some gas (2 hours later). Eventually we made it to Collbran and had some delicious turkey and stuffing that Nana prepared.

The next day we went and hiked on the Grand Mesa near some of the Mesa lakes, then went back to the house and played with two foals in the front apple orchard. Eventually night settled in and Linda and her family came over to join us for a backyard bonfire. My boss at UCSD's Alumni Affairs, Greg Murphy, also happened to be road-tripping the same route and he and his friend joined us in Collbran for the bonfire and the place to rest their heads.

Friday of that week we embarked on the 5 hour drive to Fort Collins to mom's house and with a full gas-tank we stopped by Glenwood to shop before getting to Denver and it's Friday afternoon traffic. Finally in Fort Collins we got some Thai food for the family then spent a night out on the town. Unfortunately my sisters weren't with my mom so I didn't get to visit with them this trip home as I had expected, but I got to show Jackie the town and re-unite with one of my best friends from elementary school in Carpenter, WY-Ali Epler :).

On Sunday Jackie and I shopped until after we were supposed to leave for the airport, and once again in a hurry, we ran out of gas on E470 after a confused detour (what happened with all the toll booths, seriously?). Because we were 1/2 mile from the exit with gas, I talked Jackie into walking to the station while I stood with her dog and the car, holding a sign that merely said "GAS". (A nice woman actually did stop and pick up Jackie as she walked along the interstate and gave her a ride to the gas station and back to the car! Colorado is such a great place to be!) Though I was an hour late for my flight back to San Diego, United happily put me on a later flight and I happened to be on the same plane as a good girlfriend on her way back from Kansas City!

Getting home was a relief after many worries about making it to the next destination but it was a great trip and 8 days were spent with Jackie with many laughs even through the stickiest of situations. Yay for good trips!

(ps pictures will come soon...they were all taken on her camera and I haven't gotten to see any yet)

Solo Stay in Burnt Rancheria Campground

One of the things I've found that I can count on to re-center myself and relax is to escape to nature for a little while...so escape I did! 45 miles east of San Diego is Mt. Laguna, where I found the Burnt Rancheria haven of a campground. Using a guide book given to me by a dear friend upon her departure back to Ireland in June, I actually visited 2 other campsites and an OTV (off-terrain vehicle) state park, as well as a military base before finding a campsite that met my requirements. Quite-in the trees-good hiking nearby-and most of all seclusion from the other campers. So there I found myself and set out to set up my tent and figure out what activities were the most important to complete before sunset.

I went on a beautiful little hike overlooking a pretty vast tree-lined canyon and managed to get a bit lost when I took a side trail that lead me back to an empty campground-obviously not the busy one where my tent was parked. I did find my way back and managed to do some journal writing, calendar organizing, and guitar learning before the sun went down (I, of course, forgot to bring a lantern or even a flashlight for nightfall).

But that was all okay because I got to enjoy the incredible starry sky for a few hours instead. Man do I miss the Colorado night skies!

I went to sleep that night without the rain cover on the tent so that I could see the stars before bed and the next morning I arose with the sun and went for a hike before making my way back to San Diego. It was a beautiful evening and I was so fortunate to be able to take off on my own and do it!