Is There Graduate School in Your Future?

Next week offers a virtual smorgasbord of workshops and admission panels for the UCSB student planning ahead for possible graduate or professional school culminating on Thursday’s Annual Graduate Fair from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. outside in the Arbor Mall. Most students can see the participant list of more than 80 graduate and professional business, education, law, medical, psychology programs by going to our web page at http://career.ucsb.edu under “Career Fairs”. Students might also wish to sort their options by going to the website http://gradschools.com.

Our staff is proud to have such a diverse and outstanding line-up for everyone. We work hard to pull in leading admission representatives to give further details on admission strategies, scholarships and financial aid options. We also team up with our local area Kaplan and Princeton Review test preparation services to give details for GRE, LSAT, GMAT, and MCAT. Most students do not realize that GRE and GMAT are now computerized so there is flexibility when you sign up and take either of these tests. Nor do students know that scores are good for up to five years after you graduate in case you decide to wait. Our Reference Letter Service is also good for five years after you graduate. We strongly suggest you solicit letters from your professors and/or TAs before you leave us this December or June. This way you won’t have to worry if these individuals will remember you one or two years out. Details are also on our webpage at: http://career.ucsb.edu/rls/index.html#at (more…)

Italian Food Snobbery

Going into my seventh week abroad in Italy, I am quickly realizing that I am more and more becoming an “Italian food snob.” This means that when I do eventually get back to the US, I will be the girl that is sitting at Gio’s with my friends who takes a bite of her pizza and throws it back to her plate saying, “GOD, this tastes like absolute crap compared to the pizza I would eat in Italy.” Then I would probably go into all the differences between these two slices of pizza and how no one will ever understand.

Trust me—I am not happy about this. I don’t want to be that annoying girl that comes back to school and only talks about how much better Italy is than the US, but if any one of you could try some of the food I have been exposed to, you would think that God personally reached his hand down to you and brought you up to heaven for seconds.

I think that I officially crossed the line to becoming an “Italian food snob” when I went on a field trip to Bologna with my program last weekend. Bologna—also known as “Grassa Citta” or “Fat City,”—is known for its fresh tortellini, aged Parmesan cheese, and balsamic vinegar, and a combo of all three of these things will bring you to your knees. (more…)

Pubs and Slang in Dublin Town

Hello again, everyone. I’ve been in Dublin for over a month now (the only way I’ve kept track is that I’ve used up my 30-day bus pass), and I figured I’d give you lot in the States an update on my adventures in Ireland.

First off, “How’s the crack?”

No, I’m not asking about your rear, or the quality of the cocaine. It’s craic, meaning “fun” or “good times”. So when they ask, “How’s the craic?” they just mean “What’s up?”/ “How’s it goin’?”. Little differences in slang like that can be a bit confusing for Americans when they first come to Ireland. You pick them up pretty quickly, but initially the new slang combined with a different accent (and the propensity towards mumbling that some Irish folk exhibit) can make your head spin. (more…)

Happy Halloween 2009 From Student Health

My relationship with Halloween is what you might call “complicated.”  I love the creativity and positive energy of our students dressing up.  I love this Gaucho spirit and unity.  Only at UCSB do you see your Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor, and Dean of Students come out to greet the crowds of students on D.P. on Halloween night.

I don’t like the violence, ass grabbing, fighting, property damage, and all the trash.  Last year, Halloween fell on a Friday.  In spite of the rain, over 45,000 people came to I.V.  There were over 230 arrests made and 560 citations given out (instead of treats). 55 people were transported for emergency care and over 50 cars were towed. Two people fell off the cliffs.

This year we will have around 250 police officers on the streets, on horses, and conducting DUI checkpoints.  But, if we have the same or more visitors as last year, it will take more than just the police to keep the peace over the weekend.  Here are a few simple things you can do to help: (more…)

Mercy’s Story

When asked, Mercy is unable to recall much of her early childhood. She does not remember a great deal about her family except that her father was a journalist and her mother ran a restaurant that was located near her home—although she claims that she does not remember where she lived. Indeed, she doesn’t remember much about Liberia at all…except for the violence.

“Always, there were a lot of shootings,” Mercy said with a note of detachment in her voice. “The soldiers would come and then they would shout and I would see people lined up. They would beat people, they would strip people naked, and then some people–well, there would be dead bodies. And people would even be stepping on the dead bodies in the streets. When I saw it, I would just get scared and I’d cry a lot.”

Mercy—now a refugee living in Ghana—fled Liberia in 1992 when she was just 7 years old after an especially bloody day in her home country.

“I just saw people running and then [the Liberian soldiers] were shooting everywhere. I was kind of running and what I could sense was that bullets were picking a lot of people out because people—a lot of people, even kids—they were just dropping on the ground. So I ran.” Mercy kept moving until she found family friends who were planning on fleeing the country. (more…)

The “Girl Next Door?”

Marge Simpson is the cover girl for November’s Playboy Magazine. She even has a “pictorial.” I guess you could say good for Playboy for taking a mid-thirty-something mother of three, who quit a promising career in the police force because of out-of-control corruption and sexism, and worked as a nuclear technician as a perfect example of the “girl next door.”

Weird, yes. But even weirder is the cartoon-like photoshopped women in recent Ralph Lauren ads. Woman 1: My head is bigger than my waist. Woman #2: I have no ribs/pelvis. And to add insult to injury, Filippa Hamilton, the model in the first ad, was fired by Ralph Lauren because she was too big. Filippa is 5’10” and 120 lbs. (a “normal” weight is ~150 lbs).

Those are damaging messages to send our friends, family, and culture. But Ralph Lauren isn’t the only one sending them: we are bombarded every day with these messages. They impact on how we view and talk about our bodies. (more…)

Unnerved by Responsibility, Democrats Signal a Yearning for the Minority

Our country’s pathetic excuse for an “organized” left, the Democratic Party, has once again begun to disappoint, much to the dismay of those that the party so vigorously claims to represent. Although time and again the Democrats have promised massive change and reform for America, the postwar and post-FDR left in the United States is somehow still reeling from an identity crisis that subverts its platform when viewed in the limelight. Aside from the four years of Carter and the twelve years of Reagan (ok, and Bush), the presidency has pretty much followed the eight-year cycle of alternating stewardship shared by the Democrats and the Republicans since the end of the Second World War. (more…)

J’taime, Togo

As I hopped on the back of a taxi-moto, the zippy motorcycles that serve as the main mode of transportation in Togo, and sped off along the brilliant coastline towards the tree-shaded boulevards, I couldn’t believe my eyes. “Au revoir, Ghana,” I thought. “Bonjour, Togo!”

When you step across the Ghanaian-Togolese border, everything changes. Togo is a world away. (more…)

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