9/10 INT 95 Lecture- Phenology

On tonight’s INT 95 Lecture, we had Brian Haggerty, who is a UCSB PhD student, as guest speaker. He started off discussing how he gets interested in plants. He mentioned that he loves backpacking and eco adventure. Besides the journey of his life, he wanted to encourage us to explore ourselves and those possibilities, but he stated that we do not necessary need to have everything figured out at this point.

In the beginning of the actual presentation, he started off with the advanced technology and led to the issue related to our environment. He also addressed that we had alternated the earth, and the global warming problem was severe. He proposed three methods to address and engage government and citizens to this issue. However, he pointed out that studying in Phenology can be a more practical approach to learn about these problems and understand what actually changes are made to the earth.

As he introduced Phenology, we learned about how Phenology is an ancient science. Phenology had been applied in various forms in different cultures for a long time. Phenology could serve as indicators for hunting, shape our economy, and, most importantly, serve as an indicator for climate change. He brought up four key terms for us to remember. The four key terms are: global temperatures rising, ocean acidification, ice loss, and drought severity. Close to the end of the presentation, he taught us that climate changing has a relationship with the seasonal timing. I did not know much about Phenology before the presentation, but I now know that Phenology has a very strong connection with global warming. In the end, he introduced us an app where we can adopt a plant and record its growth daily. I found the app to be interesting, and I would probably adopt a plant some day.

9/3 INT 95 Lecture - Professor Appel

On last week’s INT 95 lecture, we had Professor Irwin Appel, who is from the department of theater and dance, as guest speaker. He told us about his career as an actor and the reason why he decided to become a professor at UCSB. When he was young, he was very into acting, and he wanted to be become famous eagerly.

Besides the stories of his life, he suggested us to take a class that we never thought of taking it before. He stated that we might find something new and inspiring from the class. Moreover, we would possibly be able to explore more of our interests if we step out our comfort zone and try new things.

Professor Appel had traveled a lot throughout his acting career, but he told us that he considered himself as a New Yorker. He likes the atmosphere of a busy city more than the sunny weather and the relaxing atmosphere in Santa Barbara. He urged us to go to New York some day in our lives.

Professor Appel also discussed about the Macbeth play with us. I could tell that he was really excited for us. He mentioned about how the play would be entirely different from what we would imagine and what we did in high school. He emphasizes on the fact that only minimal props are utilized in the play. I did not understand what he was trying to express about that during the lecture, but I immediately comprehended what he was trying to say after I watched the play.

The photo below is from the UCSB Department of Theater and Dance website.

                                    King Duncan and soldiers. Photo credits: Sarah Kouklis

9/6 (Fri) - Macbeth

On Friday, September 6^th, my friends and I signed up and went to the Shakespeare play directed by Irwin Appel, who was the guest speaker from last week’s INT 95 lecture, at Hatlen Theater. My friends and I arrived at the theater at 6:40, and the theater was filled with people already. I took a flyer on my way in to the theater. I was surprised that many of the audiences were not UCSB students, but adults living close by. I was very glad that FSSP gave us the opportunity to watch this play for free and before other UCSB students.

I found the flyer to be very helpful for me to understand the play. My high school had us read Romeo and Juliet, Othello, and Hamlet, but not Macbeth. I had always enjoyed reading Shakespeare’s work, so I was really excited to watch the play.

At the beginning of the show, I was actually scared by the creepy and mysterious laughs from the actresses. Their facial expression was so frightening, but I assumed that it also meant that they were really into the play. Even though the actor and actresses had minimal props, the play was very engaging and understandable. The play probably would not be as successful, if the focuses on the actor and actresses were shifted away to the customs and props. The way that the play was presented was successful and stunning. The only reason that I thought students would not enjoy the show was that they do not know much about the story.

Some of my friends felt sleepy during the play, because they could not understand what was going on. During the intermission, I told them the summary and some important details of Macbeth that I had read online before going to the play. They all seemed to be more interested in the second part of the play.

8/31 Faculty Field Trip

On last Saturday, August 31^st, I went on the Faculty Field Trip to Santa Barbara Historical Museum and Presidio. At 10 o’clock in the morning, my roommate and I went down stair to meet up with Dr. Gallucci at the lobby. There were not many students at the lobby, because many people went home for the three day weekend. Dr.Gallucci led around 15 students, including my roommate and I, to the bus station and took 24x Express to downtown Santa Barbara.

After we arrived at the Santa Barbara Historical Museum, we looked at many different paintings of the Adobe. Even though I did not know much about paintings, I enjoyed looking at the jewelries, customs, and items that were preserved until present day. For lunch, Dr.Gallucci took us to a café named Panino. I ordered an Italian combo sandwiches, and I found to be very delicious. Close to the end of the field trip, we went to the Presidio. Dr.Gallucci led us around and told us many of his thoughts on this historic site. It all made more sense after Dr. Gallucci’s explanation, because I did not know much about the history in Santa Barbara. I was glad that I was able to be in an actual adobe after looking at the paintings at the Historical Museum. Visiting the Presidio made me understand the spacial relationship of an adobe to other items better.

After the field trip, I went to look around downtown Santa Barbara with my roommate. We ate some frozen yogurt before we headed back UCSB.

8/9 IV 101 On Patrol with the 5-0

After returning from the Food Co-op field trip, I participated the “IV 101 On Patrol with the 5-0” at 4 o’clock on the same day. The presentation was given by UCSB Police Department Corporal D.Miller. Although there was no food at this event, everyone came for the raffle. The big prize was a brand new beach cruiser with a U Lock. I admitted that I, like many other students, went to the event for the beach cruiser too. The police introduced many common arrests and citations in UCSB and Isla Vista. I found the presentation very informative, because many of us would not know how serious things could be and how to avoid them. There were many ways for one to be arrested without knowing the laws here. For example, people cannot sit on the curb. Another tip that he provided us was to have at least one partner at all times when we go to party. He said that most of the police will let go of people, only when they are almost 99% sure that the person who is not sober can arrive home safely. Thus, having companies are very important for students who want to party at Isla Vista.

Besides learning how to party safely, I had also learned many interesting facts about Isla Vista. I had learned that the theft rate is extremely high and 25% of the crime in Santa Barbara takes place in Isla Vista. For this reason, I still could not decide whether or not to buy a bike.

8/9 Wellness Field Trip – IV Food Co-op

Wellness Field Trip – IV Food Co-op organic vs. non-organic tasting meets.

On Friday, August 9^th, I went on the field trip with the Wellness staffs to Isla Vista Food Co-op. Again, many students, including me, went to the field trip because there were FREE FOODS. We followed a person from the Wellness center to the Food Co-op. It was about a 15 minute walk. On the way to the Food Co-op, I had also made many new friends. One of them even becomes my best friend now. For that reason, I am already glad that I did attend the field trip. After we arrived at the store, we met the owner. She seemed to be very excited to see us. She told us about the history of the store and the reason why she came back to Isla Vista to run this business. I could tell that she really loves her job.

After her introduction about the store, she provided many organic food and non-organic food for us to taste. I had learned the difference between organic food and non-organic food. I was surprised that the organic foods taste so much more delicious than non-organic or processed foods. Organic foods are much more juicy and refreshing. Besides organic fruit, chocolate, and chips, my favorite one was the organic guacamole dip. I had tried guacamole before, but I never really enjoyed eating them. However, the organic guacamole dip at the Food Co-op tasting was very delicious and refreshing. I fell in love with guacamole dip immediately.

8/16 EOP International Desserts Social

EOP International Desserts Social

On Tuesday, August 16^th, I went to the EOP International Desserts Social located at the San Nicholas Rec Room. Many of the FSSP students were already in line when I arrived there. I figured that almost every events use food to attract students to attend, which I thought to be very effective. After my roommate and I signed in with the EOP staffs, we headed in the Rec Room to look for food. There were a lot of tables set up in the room, each with a little tag on it. On each of the little tags, there were different country names on them. Each table represented a country. I was surprised that EOP actually prepared so many different kinds of desserts. Moreover, there were about six kinds of desserts for one country. Before I attended the event, I was only expecting for about five different countries only.

I tried desserts from Denmark, Japan, Mexico, and Belgium. I wished I was able to try more of them, but I was too full from all the cakes, cookie, mochi ice cream, and bread. Besides the desserts, they also serve a variety of beverages. It was my first time drinking Italian soda. I remembered that the soda tasted like bubble gum.

Besides having the opportunity to try so many different international desserts, I hope EOP can introduce us more in depth about every single dessert. I think it will be very interesting to learn about the desserts’ names instead of just eating them. However, the EOP international dessert night was fun.