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Not One More: The 23/5 Isla Vista Shootings
By Elizabeth Hardy (University of California, Santa Barbara, USA). “And when great souls die, after a period peace blooms, slowly and always irregularly. Spaces fill with a kind of soothing electric vibration. Our senses, restored, never to be the same, whisper to us. They existed. They existed. We can be. Be and be better. For they existed.” – Maya Angelou I thought a lot about writing this blog entry. My experience at UCSB has been fantastic; but I certainly feel to not include the following would be an injustice to giving a truthful account of my time here. On May 23rd, at approximately 9:30, Elliot Rodger began driving…
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…what “big freeze”?
By Elizabeth Hardy (University of California, Santa Barbara, USA). Needless to say, the cold weather has not hit Santa Barbara. In fact, most people were celebrating when it rained this past weekend – it has been the first big rainfall I have seen in the five months I have been here. Life here has recently been very, VERY busy. It seems Study Abroad is an opportunity to get involved in just about everything…. so that is just what I’ve been doing. Since I arrived back in January I’ve volunteered at Santa Barbara Film Festival, signed up to run my first 5K, started life drawing classes, got an internship and been…
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Christmas Time Away from California
By Elizabeth Hardy (University of California, Santa Barbara, USA). Well, I seemed to have blinked and my first quarter is over and done with, wondering where on earth a third of my time in the states has gone. It’s been a while, so I’ll give a recap of what has been happening on the west coast. Thanksgiving and Black Friday were, certainly, an experience. I was lucky enough to be invited by a friend in my house to visit her family in North California (near San Francisco) for Thanksgiving, so we took the 8 hour journey from Santa Barbara to experience the other side of California life. I found North…
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Learning how to learn.
By Elizabeth Hardy (University of California, Santa Barbara, USA). Happy belated Haloween! With midterms finally done and dusted, I guess it’s as good a time as any to tell you all about the different between the UK and US academic systems. So, let’s start with midterms. They sort of do-what-it-says-on-the-tin. I.e., an exam halfway through each module, just to see how you’re getting on. This highlights one of the main differences I have found – that there is far more of an emphasis on continual assessment in the states than in Manchester. For example, in one class I have had 3 scheduled tests, 3 unscheduled tests, a midterm and a…
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Nobody said it was easy, nobody said it would be so hard.
By Isobel Cecil (University of California, San Diego, USA). (I wrote this a month ago, and thought I’d posted it a month ago to. I’ve only just realised that my technical capabilities have failed me again and that it didn’t post. Hey, just another setback!) Here I am just a few days away from my long flight to California, and I’m finding it very hard to describe how I feel. Everybody keeps asking me: “Are you excited??!?!?” , to acquaintances I enthusiastically reply “Yeah! 100%! Woohoo!” and make some lighthearted joke about tanning/Mexican food/ surfer boys. However to those closer to me I tell the truth; I don’t have any…
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And finally…
By Elizabeth Hardy. So, more or less everyone has left for their exciting year abroad. And after patiently waiting for months watching other people have fun, it is my turn to go. And leaving the airport just a week ago, I had no idea of the crazy (but amazing) experience this week’s upheaval would be for me. To help me organize my thoughts, I think I’ll make a list. These are the things that have struck me most about California in my first week: Size. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING is bigger here. Be prepared for food to be about 4 meals worth. The good thing I have learnt is…
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