Last Blog!

On Tuesday, Professor Irwin Appel gave us a presentation on the Theater and Dance Department at UCSB. He explained how he his parents may have shaped his love for live theater and that he had always wanted to become an actor when he was younger, and never expected to become a professor. However, he loves being a professor and teaching at UCSB because of the energy of the students always give him. He recommended us to take classes we wouldn’t normally take, and I found that to be very good advice because exploring new things can possibly lead us on different paths. His enthusiasm for theater made me quite excited to see the production of Macbeth, and I must say I was very impressed. I thought it was very creative how they used sticks in substitute for different props including swords and tables. Theater seems like an interesting class, so I may take one course during my freshman year to see how it is. 

On Friday, we had the pleasure to go to the Education Abroad Program office and receive a presentation from one of the peer advisors, Maya. She was very informative and made me extremely interested in joining. So far I am thinking about studying abroad in either France or Italy because of their fashion industry, but for many of the programs, I would need to know the language and I don’t think I have time to learn a whole new language in a year. I want to explore my options and hopefully study abroad during my sophomore year, but I would need to take all the Pre-Comm courses before I can go abroad. I’m glad UCSB give students the opportunity to study overseas and embed ourselves in different cultures. 

5th Post

On Tuesday, we listened to Dr. Lubach’s presentation which I found to be very interesting and informative. He talked about balancing between partying and academics, and keeping a healthy lifestyle. His enthusiasm and sense of humor made the lecture fun to sit through. I have enjoyed all the presentations so far, and I’m looking forward to the next two presenters during the last two weeks of FSSP. 
In addition to Dr. Lubach’s presentation, we got the pleasure to hear from another librarian on Friday during the INT95 section. I was really excited to go to the library and hear about all the resources we can acquire through the library. The librarian brought us to one of the computer labs and showed us how to use the search catalog. It was very useful because now I know how to search for books related to my classes. The library provides so many services; from research assistance to library instruction to study areas, I was impressed by all the resources that we are able to use. The website has so much useful information and it has all the information we need to know about the library. I am looking forward to taking advantage of all the resources the library offers because it can help with not only my classes, but it can also help with simply gaining information about the community. 

4th Post

Plagiarism is a common problem, especially now because students often refer to the internet for information and unintentionally type out the same words in their own assignments. This is a very important topic to discuss nowadays because of how easy it is to access the works of others. From the article “What is Plagiarism,” I learned of what would be considered as cheating and plagiarism. Although citing and incorporating ideas from other authors and writers is important, I agree with the author of “What is Plagiarism” that our paper soon loses its original thought when we quote too much from other sources. The second article, “How to Avoid Plagiarism” was helpful because it showed specific examples of paraphrasing and quoting so we, as writers or students, can avoid the unintentional plagiarism at times. I found this article to be very useful, because I can now refer to this article in the future if I have trouble citing from different sources. I am glad INT95 took the time to find these two articles, so all of us can read it and understand the exact meaning of plagiarism. 

3rd Post

I was really glad the librarian came as a guest speaker and spoke to all of us during the lecture because I learned about the many resources the library offers. Because of her passion of being a librarian and for helping students, it made me want to hear about what she had to say about the library because she didn’t just deliver it, but she made the lecture interesting to sit through. The librarian was a graduate of the UC system herself, so it was really great listening to her experiences and of how and why she decided to come back to work at one of the UC campuses. She gave great advice and provided different resources for us to seek out, all of which was very useful. Most libraries do not allow people to eat indoors, but our school does! And we have a mini cafe on the first floor which is convenient if we do not feel like going to Starbucks to grab a cup of coffee. I really need a job during the school year, and the librarian said there were job openings, so I might take advantage of that and apply for a position in the fall. 

2nd Post

Today, there was a career fair in front of the San Nicolas lawn for FSSP students to look around at. I went to the College of Letters and Sciences booth and talked about some of the units needed. I also went to the Education Abroad Program booth where the person discussed about the different study abroad opportunities available for students. I would very much like to take advantage of the study abroad opportunity and go to London/Paris during the spring quarter of sophomore year hopefully. It was great talking to the advisors as well as other students to see what they would like to do in their own different majors. In class on Friday, we talked about being resourceful and most effectively using the things around us. That was a very important topic to discuss, especially in college because getting different connections can lead us to different internship and job opportunities. So for the fair today, even though I may not be considering majoring or minoring in some of the departments, it was still great to just talk to people and getting connections. 

Besides majors and minors, I would also like to talk about the Student Resource building, which was where we went on Friday during class. I have never been to that building before (other than during the orientation party) but I found the place to be very helpful. I never knew that both EOP and CLAS were in that building, so I was really glad Zack brought us to that building to explore. The building itself looks fabulous and the interior design was really nice. Working there would be amazing, so I am going to check GauchoLink in the fall to see whether or not there are open opportunities to work there.

Introduction

My name is Melody Su and I was born in New Jersey, but I moved to Rancho Palos Verdes, California when I was 3 years old. I have one sister, Cher, and she will be a sophomore in high school in the fall. We have a really close relationship even though we have different interests. I decided to do FSSP because I wanted to be familiar with the school before the fall quarter, and because I wanted to get a head start by fulfilling some of the GE classes. So far, FSSP has been a great experience and I have really been enjoying all the activities, meeting new friends, meeting the professors, and exploring the community. 

I love makeup, so during my free time I like to experiment with the new makeup products I buy in addition to watching makeup tutorials on YouTube. I am majoring in Communications; I would like to pursue a career in marketing and public relations, preferably in a fashion or cosmetics company. I would like to take advantage of the study abroad program which UCSB offers by going to Europe and exploring the routes of the many designer brands. During high school, I was very involved in volunteer work so I would like to help out around the community here as well. Because of my obsession for makeup and my weakness as being a shopaholic, I am planning on working either on or off campus. So far my experience at Santa Barbara has been amazing and I am really excited for the next few years at UCSB.