Student Blog
Mixing it Up! ⟩
January 15, 2014, by Clarissa
The spring semester started a couple of days ago and I can’t believe it’s my last semester in the program! It’s hard to imagine not seeing my classmates every day, some of which have become so dear and special to me. The time has flown by and I’m getting nostalgic already.
The one thing I’ll miss most about USC is the community. Not only have I met those with amazingly compassionate hearts and bright minds in the OT division, I’ve also become acquainted with future colleagues through interdisciplinary interactions. It’s normal for students in any graduate program to feel engrossed in the world of their own discipline — school can be pretty consuming! This is why I appreciate opportunities to interact with students from other schools. Not only is it a great learning opportunity to learn about related professions, which is important to future practice, but it also puts OT’s unique characteristics into perspective.
Last semester, we had several functions where we could mix and mingle with other disciplines, including a mixer with the public health school at a cute little café in downtown LA, another function initiated by the pharmacy school, and several tailgates with physical therapy. The USC chapter of Phi Theta Epsilon, the national honor society of OT, also organized the annual OT/PT Forum where practicing OTs and PTs spoke about patient cases where collaboration was critical. Students of both disciplines were given the opportunity to brainstorm about these cases too. Pretty cool, huh?
Here’s a picture of the OTs with our new public health friends at Eat, Drink, Americano in downtown and of the OTs and PTs putting our minds together at the OT/PT Forum!
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Holiday Break Balance ⟩
January 10, 2014, by Jen
Living in LA School/Life Balance
With almost 4 weeks off from classes, I made sure to catch up on some much needed rest and relaxation. I spent the beginning of the holiday break in my hometown in the bay area. I was able to catch up with friends and families as well as engage in some of my favorite occupations: hiking, playing with my dog, and eating. After spending time in Northern California, I flew down to visit more of my family in San Diego. It did not feel like winter in San Diego’s 70-80 degree weather and I enjoyed every moment of my time there. For New Year’s Day, I went to the Rose Parade in Pasadena. I had never been before, but because I now live in Los Angeles it made it very easy (and fun) to attend. One of my favorite floats was the Cal Poly Universities Float (although I am a little biased since I attended Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo for undergrad). The float, titled “Bedtime Buccaneers”, won the Crown City Innovation Trophy. I was very proud of the work they did. Since the New Year, I’ve been spending time with friends and preparing to return to school. My break was full of balance which is one of the most important things to have.
Cal Poly Universities float, “Bedtime Buccaneers”
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It’s Winter Break Time!!! ⟩
December 18, 2013, by Ryan
Living in LA School/Life Balance
Well, finals are over and it is time to relax . . . and I mean relax. I had a final on Thursday so that afternoon I went to get my nails done with a friend of mine. It was just what I wanted, something relaxing. And I never treat myself like that. I usually do it myself. It was great! I felt relaxed and had some great girl bonding time.
Then after our last big final on Monday, a bunch of us went to brunch and celebrated the end of our fall semester. I can’t believe I only have one more left! We had a blast! The restaurant was empty (because it was 12:30pm on a Monday) so we would rotate seats around the large rectangular table so we could all talk and catch up after the crazy busy 2 weeks we just had.
And yesterday I went on a hike in the Pacific Palisades, up Temescal Canyon. It was a beautiful day and does not feel like Christmas is just next week. After the hike, we all got frozen yogurt and ended the day playing Balderdash at a friend’s house. So, I would say my vacation so far is going great!
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Oh Happy Day! ⟩
December 16, 2013, by Clarissa
I just took my last final today for my Current Issues in Adulthood and Aging class — hip hip hooray! I always have trouble picking from a jillion things to blog about but since it’s a jolly day, I’ll blog about jolly things — the OT Ugly Holiday Sweater Party! As the social chair of OTSC, I always look forward to planning and implementing this event. This event is a young tradition, started only last year, where the students get together and eat, participate in an ugly sweater competition, decorate gingerbread houses and ornaments, and make holiday cards. This year, we held it at the Center for Occupation and Lifestyle Redesign, which is a beautiful Victorian house owned by the USC OS/OT Division. The homey atmosphere, festive decorations, and Christmas tree made the party that much more enjoyable.
It has been so long since we had the opportunity to be creative and do arts and crafts! Participating in crafts reminds me why I so strongly believe in OT — meaningful ways of occupying my time lifts my mood, boost my self-esteem upon product completion, and, since I like doing crafts with other people, increases socialization. Basically, it’s a recipe for well-being. Unfortunately, in the midst of projects, finals, and papers, my creative brain has taken a backseat so it felt great to unwind and create again. On top of that, I was able to catch up with so many classmates and get to know first years. I get lonely with my laptop as my only companion during finals week.
This year, we also teamed up with another student group in our division called Design in Action. They encouraged the students to build gingerbread houses with universal design in mind — they created ramps, grab bars, handrails, and wheelchair accessible doorways. It was a fun way of incorporating some of the principles we learned in class and I loved hearing our classmates’ stories about each house. I was really impressed with some of these houses. Here is the first place winner along with some happy OTs!
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Snow Day! ⟩
December 13, 2013, by Rob
Last Friday I was giving a tour to a prospective student when what should we stumble upon but a giant snow pile next to Tommy Trojan on the main campus.
I’m always open to the unexpected when touring students on both of our campuses — you never know what might happen — but I was not prepared for snow! Being from Chicago, snow is nothing new to me, but after almost two years of sunny southern California, it certainly was a surprise.
Turned out, they had trucked in a load of snow and dumped it in the middle of campus for everyone to enjoy.
So naturally, I indulged my Midwestern roots (and my inner child) and had a good old fashioned snowball fight. I would love to brag about how I “won,” but the prospective student somehow managed to get snow down the back of my shirt. Fortunately for me, the snow fell between my outer shirt and inner shirt, which made the situation even more comical. Afterwards, I juggled snowballs for the first time!
Such good-natured fun was exactly what I needed in the middle of preparations for finals week. We had a big project due that morning and an essay due that afternoon. I was tired and just a little stressed. After playing in the snow, none of that seemed to matter. A little bit of occupation-based snow therapy was exactly what I needed!
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