4 Couples, 5 Singles, 6 Flags

Six Flags Squad at 6:00pm

Aside from hanging out in Santa Barbara, going shopping and enjoy hiking, this Wednesday I went to Six Flags with the best group of people. I was supposed to go with them to Catalina Island and relax for four days, but since we organized everything to late we ended up going all together to Six Flags for just one day. Some of the people were involved in the Honors Programs, some other in Phi Theta Kappa and the rest were in a relationship with one of the Honors Program or PTK members. It was a really cute and sweet group and we all got so along!!!

At 8:30am we met at Amber’s house and we all left to get to Six Flags as soon as possible. By 10:30 we were already running toward the first ride. Since it was a weekday, there were very little people and we got in so many rides in a very short time!!!! The cool thing about this group was that all the people were willing to go on any ride and so pretty much stayed the whole time together!!! The best ride was X2 and it was sooooooo cool!! Our feet were hanging and the rollercoaster was twisting around at such high speed!!! I don’t know why but I never get scared of the roleercosters and so I love to look at the panorama around me when I get on them… (I know I’m weird…).

The park closed at 6:00pm and we were all exhausted… the only thing we had left to do was eating a warm meal. We went to a place called The Lazy Dog in Oxnard where The Collection is. As soon as we got in and we asked for a table for 13 people they thought we were joking and they didn’t take us seriously. But then, when they realized we were actually serious they found a spot on the patio outside around the fire place… So cute and sweeeeett!!!

Mini-Food Fair Experiment

Yesterday night Linh and I had the greatest idea ever… We decided to make a mini-food fair at her house inviting some other SBCC Ambassadors and friends. As I probably mentioned in more than one post before, I LOVE Linh’s Vietnamese Egg Rolls, and she loves my Italian Tiramisu… So why not combining Egg Rolls with Tiramisu for dessert?!? That’s what we did, and it turned out to be absolutely amazing… Initially it was supposed to be just me and her, but in the end we ended up being around seven people and our friend Kim added to the menu Japanese curry!!!

At 6:00 o’clock, Jessica and I left to buy the ingredients for the tiramisu and then we went straight to Linh’s house. As soon as we arrived we started off with making the mix for the egg rolls and everybody was taking down notes to steal Linh’s recipe. Then, once the mix was ready everyone of us started rolling the rolls!! They looked so cute!! And I was actually able to make  the after Linh instructed me. While we were rolling the last egg rolls, I started to prepare the ingredients for the tiramisu. Tiramisu seems really hard and sophisticated, but it is actually super easy!! The whole process is just mixing a bunch of sugar, eggs and mascarpone cheese and then layer cookies and the mascarpone cream, finally top everything with cocoa powder… Isn’t it so easy? Easy it is and delicious, too!!!

At around 8:30 we started eating the egg rolls and the Japanese Curry.. OMG so gooooooooddddd!!! We were all sitting down and eating at the same time together… I felt like I was back home and having dinner together with my family… Here in America is really hard to cook dinner at home and share a meal with friends or neighbors. I missed it so much, and I loved that not only I had dinner with some of my close friends, but also I enjoyed food that I don’t find anywhere but in restaurants!! We are planning on doing this again… Let’s get ready for Mexican/Italian/Asian dinner!!

Let’s do it! Three, Two, One… Soccer Tournament

Everybody playing so hard..

This weekend it was extremely busy! After this Friday’s Phi Theta Kappa induction ceremony, the SBCC Ambassadors organized the yearly soccer tournament!! Every time every Ambassador, and especially the Committee leaders organizing the event (Stellan and I), are super worried that people won’t show up for the tournament. It is an extremely delicate situation because if we don't get the teams, the international office has to pay for the referees from their own pocket, and it’s a lot of money!!! However, even if at the beginning we had barely 3 teams and a list of about ten people without a team, on Friday we managed to get a total of TEN TEAMS!!! 

Jamela thought I was too red...

Getting the teams is always the toughest part, but as soon as we get the teams, we sort out the Saturday and Sunday schedule and we are ready to go!!! The Ambassadors checked-in the payers and gave them a wristband after they paid the 10 dollars for the tournament. Every team was giving the best and I am glad I decided not to play at the last minute… I would have probably been killed by a ball going at 40miles an hour!!! Even if this tournament is just an amateur tournament, all the players always turn out to be astonishingly good!!! 

The Winnerrrrssss!!!

While I was supervising the tournament with some other Ambassadors, we played around with a soccer ball and tried to entertain the people sitting on the side of the field. I love the atmosphere that happy people can create!!! This is why I always try to act as crazy as possible and I try to make people laugh and feel good… The world is always a better place when people are happy!!! Yahoo!!! On Sunday I didn’t have the chance to show up and so I didn't see the end of the tournament. But I know it has beed a great success and I am so happy that even in Spring 2017 the Ambassadors soccer tournament was such a great turnout!!!

Let’s Be Formally Formal: PTK Induction

Today the Phi Theta Kappa Leadership organized the acclaimed Induction Ceremony to officially induct the new officers and members of the wonderful Phi Theta Kappa Family. The Induction Ceremony is held every year at the East Campus cafeteria at SBCC and it welcomes all the PTK inductees, officially makes them part of the PTK family and offers them a buffet with coffee, cookies, sandwiches and a CONGRATULATIONS CAKE!! The ceremony officially started at 4.30pm and everybody was seated and ready to hear the Induction speakers.

While we waited for the last few people to come into the cafeteria and take a seat, my friend and old blogger, Cameron Gonzales, played pleasant music with his guitar to accompany the wonderful afternoon. Immediately after the guitar stopped playing, Adam, the PTK President, started speaking, then the president of SBCC Mr. Beebe gave a wonderful motivational speech and finally Professor Mark Sanders officially inducted the new PTK members and the new PTK Officers! After that, everybody went to eat the Congratulations cake, and happily conversed.

I was the official Photographer of the event with my brand new camera Canon 80D… I loved taking pictures of the event and seeing all the smiles that people were giving each other naturally… Happiness! Then, towards the end of the ceremony, Professors Mark Sanders called out all the inductees for a group picture and we looked all so cute and professional… After the picture everybody started leaving and we couldn’t be more happy about the turnout of this event. And by the way, now I am officially a Phi Theta Kappa Officer and Leader!!!

I Believe I’m Losing Focus.. But It's All Good!!

Successful Women

Lately I have realized that even if I am really involved in school, most of the activities I am participating into are not strictly related to my major or what I think I will be doing in life. In fact, most of the times, my positions in the clubs I’m involved into are Public Relation Leader/Historian/Event Planner etc and not Filmmaker or Film Producer. However, even if these positions do not directly relate to what I believe is my interest, they still give me numerous opportunities to learn, expand my mind and become more independent! For example, who would have thought that organizing events would make me develop the skill to build strong and useful connections?? Well, if you don’t make connection in the film industry, I assure you, you don’t end up ANYWHERE! 

We pretty cool 'aight?

The last decision that is really far off from where I come from or where I want to go to is to attend the Sacramento Internship from the 1st till the 7th of April. I have never been interested in politics and I have to ashamedly admit that I know NOTHING about the politics of my own country. It is embarrassing but I know more about American than Italian political affairs.. However, lately the college environment has exposed me to many different political and social issues that previously I would have never thought would interest me. I finally understood how much potential each individual has in making our community a better and more just place, and I am ready to learn more about all this political stuff!! Now that I think about it, if one day I want to make a meaningful movie, it is necessary to have great knowledge on a variety of issues such as politics, society, culture, history etc… I will be one step ahead with a bigger luggage filled with knowledge.

We'll spend lots of time in here...

Today we had a formal meeting on the SBCC campus for the Sacramento Internship and I realized that I know most of the people that are coming!!! It will be such a fun and great learning experience.. All the interns will be sharing a room with another student in a nice hotel in Sacramento and the school will provide us with breakfast, two dinners and transportation. During the day we will meet with important politicians and experts to further our political knowledge on a variety of different issues.. I cannot wait for this, and I more sure than ever that it's not a loss of focus from my future goals, but just an indispensable addition to them. 

Let Women Be

Such a beautiful day

Today was a great day because it was International Women’s Day!!! Isn’t it crazy that women have a special day just to celebrate how unique and powerful we are? Oh yeah, we need this day to acknowledge how awesome we are!! Ook.. Let’s not make it an extremist feminist post… However, we don’t have to forget that there is a reason for having a women’s day that is not only to celebrate how great women are. As many of you might know, just a few decades ago women weren’t even considered eligible to vote! Nowadays we think that giving the right to vote to both women and men it’s an ordinary and not surprising thing… But gender inequality is still dominant in many departments of our and foreign societies, and this is way we need this special day.

Lately on Facebook there was an official SBCC Event that promoted International Women’s day and that asked to wear read to symbolize unity among the female community. When I woke up this morning, to support this amazing day I wore a red T-shirt, a red hat and red shoes and I was ready to shine! I was waring so much red that I felt like a juicy tomato walking on the SBCC campus. But, oh well, red is my favorite color, so why not wear it for such an important purpose??

A red spot on the lawn

As I was walking on the SBCC West Campus I saw a bunch of people standing or seated down on the West Campus Lawn. In front of them a microphone hold by a woman dressed in red. Powerful speeches concerning gender equality, unity, love, and peace were delivered by different speakers that would get up and grab the mic. It was so emotional to see how much people care about making society better for every individual regardless of their gender, characteristics and preferences. I am so glad that in America women’s day is such a great day.

iHeart Radio Music Awards!!!

Amazing ticket of mine :)

What a wonderful experience today!!! I cannot wait to tell you all about this overwhelming Sunday… Well, let me start right now! This weekend I had the great opportunity to attend the iHeart Radio Music Awards held at the Los Angeles Forum in Inglewood. My friends Christian, my friend Claire and I put our names in a ballot and we all won a free ticket to the Awards pit! Isn’t it all incredible??

Chainsmokers with the Mic, and me on the right :)

As I mentioned, the awards were in LA, and as probably I have mentioned I have a driver license but I don't have a car! Besides, my friend Claire doesn’t have a car either and at the beginning Christian, the only person with a car, wasn’t supposed to come.. Not to mention, the Californian public transportation system sucks and there was no way for us to get to LA but getting an Uber for 200$… Ok, the search for a transportation lasted about two days and then Shivani came up to me and said that I could borrow her own car for the weekend… Wooooooww! Problem solved, yo. So, on Sunday morning, Claire and I left Santa Barbara at 11.00am with a shiny car and two awesome tickets. It was my first time driving to LA all by myself but I made it out all in one piece!! 

The best....

When we got to the address typed on the ticket, we parked the car and then we lined up for the check-in. At about 2:30 the event organizers loaded us on big buses and escorted us to the Forum… After a quick debrief on how to behave in the pit once the show would start, we waited for an hour in the forum’s pit… That hour was one of the longest of my life, but then… Light, Camera, Action!!! The live show had started!!! Awards were given out and outstanding performances of artists such as Katy Perry, Bruno Mars, The Chainsmokers, Coldpaly and Ed Sheeran were taking place all around us… Even Miley Cyrus, John Legend and Justin Timberlake were in the same room as I was… Craaaazy!!! Oh and I forgot to mention that I for the whole day I didn't have time to eat ANYTHING.. So after the show I went with Claire and Cristian to Rusco’s and got the best Fried Chicken & Waffles…

Lots of Goooooooddd Food!!!

And this is the time of the year when the awesome SBCC Ambassadors organize the International Food Fair!!! Yesterday, all the Ambassadors brought at the Antioch University patio lots of food from their country of origin that they personally cooked!! Each country had their own table with the correspondent flag hanging in the front and lots of good food was being served!! I would day that the International Food Fair is one of the most successful Ambassadors’s events because it gathers lots of people from City College, but also from Antioch and UCSB and it is able to celebrate diversity just though tasting.

Friday morning I went to Tino’s (the only Italian grocery shop in SB) and I bought all the necessary ingredients to make TIRAMISU!! Last year, I made two trays and I didn’t even have the chance to try it!! This year instead, with the help of my friends Brian and David we made four trays!! Its took us an hour and a half but it was delicious and at the food fair it finished in just 30 minutes!!! People just loved it and I am so glad that this Italian dessert is always such a success.. Proud of my country!

After finishing serving all the four trays of tiramisu, I went around and socialized with new people and grabbed all the possible food!! This event is amazing to meet new people, chat, have fun with friends and try foods that I have never tried before. Even if there was lots of good stuff, Linh’s Vietnamese egg rolls are always the best… She made nearly two hundred of them and they finished as quickly as my tiramisu!! Wow!! Luckily she saved me two and i had the opportunity to savor this delicious egg rolls. I am so sad that this will be my last Ambassadors food fair… We can have it just once a semester and this is going to be my last… Uff… Maybe I’ll create my own international food fair wherever I transfer next year!!!