Reflections On My Time at SBCC (Lise Andersson)

In January 2017, I packed up my belongings and moved across the world. I had been wanting to do this for so long. It felt like it was never going to happen, but I stayed determined and the next thing I knew, I was was settling into my new home in Santa Barbara.

I am now finishing up my last semester at Santa Barbara City College. If I were to summarize it all, I would say that it’s been a crazy, but amazing ride. I honestly can’t imagine what I would be like, and what I would be doing right now if I never moved here.

I have taken about 24 classes since starting my first semester at

SBCC. Classes ranging from Criminology, to Graphic Design, to Astronomy, to Anthropology, to Public Speaking, to Political Science, and the list goes on. I think that one of the main differences between colleges in Sweden (where I’m from) and the U.S., is that in the U.S. you have to take classes to fulfill GE (general education) requirements, which are classes such as math, English, science, and so forth. All students are obligated to take these classes in order to graduate with an Associate’s degree.

I have learned and changed immensely since I entered my first semester. In all honesty, I didn’t have a clue of what exactly I wanted to study, and I changed my major three times. I went from Psychology, to Graphic Design, to Communication which is what I ended up sticking with. Although I sometimes wish I knew from the beginning what I wanted to study, I’m also incredibly happy that I did change my mind a few  times. It allowed me to take classes I otherwise wouldn’t and some of them ended up being my favorite classes ever. Studying at SBCC granted me the chance to really figure out what I’m interested in and what I want to get out of my education. Fast forward two and a half years later, I have gained so much knowledge and grown as an individual. I finally have a goal in mind that I’m passionate about and determined to reach.

I’m so thankful for all the opportunities that I’ve had at SBCC. I got a job at Starbucks in the campus bookstore my second semester and I have since then made an endless amounts of lattes and frappuccinos. I joined a non-profit organization called The American Scandinavian Foundation of Santa Barbara as an intern and helped them with their marketing and graphic design. I became the Vice President of SBCC Graphic Design Club, and I worked as a Teacher Assistant in a Graphic Design class. With this being said, I encourage all international students to be open-minded to all the opportunities that we are given; join clubs, get an internship, become a SBCC Ambassador, or work on campus. These experiences truly helped me immerse myself in the culture and make a web of friends in a place I didn’t know anyone at first.

So was it worth it? - 110% yes! I will forever be grateful for my experiences at SBCC. I’m graduating on Friday and it is without a doubt the best decision I’ve ever made. I’m so happy that I made this happen for myself. To be continued...

Follow my dream? (Ruth Zapico)

Should I follow my dream? Should I think about being stable? Is my major going to make me succeed somehow? But wait, is there many job opportunities in this field? What would I end up becoming? How much is my profit going to be?

Hello Readers! My name is Ruth Zapico Mancebo, I am an international student from Spain studying at Santa Barbara City College. I am sure that many of you have all this questions running around your head, going also back and forth, doing couple sprints until you get headaches. I would like to talk to you about my dream job and I would like to share the advice I got from my dad which is what keeps me strong and motivated to fight to achieve my dreams. Since we are young we dream about being a productive individual and doing something valuable with our lives. Many kids dream about being police officers, singers, pilots or some kind of professional athlete. However my dream was to be an actress.

While I considered my choices, I saw a lot of advantages in acting. It is a very dynamic and social job, and it is also a job with a good salary. I believe acting is a kind of “art” because not everyone can convincingly create a fictional character by layering emotions, on top of attitude, on top of actions. I believe acting can teach us to know and control ourselves in a deeper way, and it can gives us a higher self esteem. On the other hand, acting is a really competitive profession and is a hard field to get into. In the acting world, your level of experience or education may not earn you the job you are looking for.  No matter how hard you work, if you are not liked by your viewer you will not get the job. Another downside to acting, is that it is not the usual 9 to 5 job. You may be employed one day and then looking for work opportunity the next. In my opinion acting is a talent which can not always be learned, but can be improved upon. Acting does not depend on the effort, the hours or the work you put into it, but in fact, acting is a job that has a very subjective way of being judged. Not everyone has the same kind of humor, fears or feelings and all acting is open to interpretation.  

Therefore, I decided to avoid acting as a major and just take couple classes at Santa Barbara City College. (Which was a wrong decision. I should have made acting my major because I spend all day waiting desperately for those acting classes to start. A passion, is a passion). I decided to have business as my major. My plan is to graduate with a degree in business entertainment, media and technology. This degree hopefully takes me somewhere related with acting and film. After graduating I would like to receive my master’s degree either in advertising or marketing. I imagine myself working for a big multinational company in their marketing and advertising departments. I picture myself working for brands such as Nike or Adidas but my dream would be working with either Versace or Gucci. I would love to work for either of these brands because they are big, high end, and exclusive brands that need a really powerful marketing to keep their high status.

In the end, I have no idea where I am going to end up or what I am going to end up doing. All I know is that the harder I work and prepare myself for the future the better my resume is going to be and the easiest and faster I will find the job that makes me happy. My dad always told me that we have to do what makes us happy. If it makes us happy, we are not going to care about the amount of effort we put in or the hours we spend doing it. For this reason it will make us succeed easily. The money will come with that success; in fact we will have a personal success too. It looks like everything is a proportional and related logic. With happiness we will succeed and with the success will come the money.


Thank you Reader for getting all the way here. I hope you find whatever makes you happy!!

See you soon!

Ruth.

My experience at Santa Barbara City College (Astrid Sidibe)

It’s a bittersweet feeling that the semester is coming to an end. I have had such a great experience here in Santa Barbara both in and out of school. I have spent this semester with new found friends, myself and my amazing husband. In my last blog post I would like to share some good experiences I have gotten during my time here, mostly from school. The first thing was that I got this job as a blogger from the international student office my first semester here. Thank you Shelby! It made my semester even better!

The student Health Services, have been part of my support system while being here and that is a great place in school that offers a lot of different types of services. You can get 6 meetings with a counselor that you can talk to about anything for free during the semester. My counselor Betsy has been a great support during my time here. She is like mother nature herself with lots of  love and compassion.

THE WELL

I also fell in love with The Well this semester. It is a great spot for people to go to and work on their wellness. I am so thankful for Rebecca and her crew! You guys are giving us an opportunity and place to go and heal and grow. You ROCK!!

Thank you “Food Pantry” for all the food you have given us students! You are doing an wonderful thing for the students.

The CLRC center offer workshops that are very interesting and for free. I’ve been to 4 of them this semester and I have one more I would like to attend. They have been really helpful and/or a lot of fun. I hope more people take advantage and attend because you can learn so much and it gives a lot of value, at least to me. I really appreciate the workshops! It has been great! Also all of my teachers have been killing it during class this semester. They been really focused and driven to teach us what they know. So to my teachers I would like to say THANK YOU! I have had a great time here at SBCC!

San Francisco

Last I would like to share a little from our road trip last weekend. I went to San Francisco with my mother, brother and husband. It was a great weekend! We rode bikes over the Golden Gate Bridge, made a stop on our way to the bridge at the palace of fine arts, spent some time on Pier 39 and visit the famous prison Alcatraz. It is a lot to see in that city and also on the way back home especially on road 1, it was magnificent nature with beautiful views.  

If you ever get the chance to go there, then I think you should! Have a great day!

Love // Astrid S.