Student Blog
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California Love ⟩
January 24, 2024, by Jaida

Community Life Hacks Living in LA

California. The Golden State. Never would I have thought that I would be calling this place ‘home’ for 3 years. Filled with numerous beaches, palm trees, and sunshine for days, this state has more to offer than I realized. As someone who is not a local, I can recognize where my own understanding of this unique environment falls short of the experiences that make this place so special to Californians. I can also recognize where my own biases and upbringings as a Southerner have impacted my perception of the people here (I had no idea what an ‘Erewhon’ or ‘Cava’ was).

Here are some of my own takeaways about California that you should be mindful of and how you can take advantage of your new home!

Be mindful of:

• Traffic/Driving: “It’s only 5 miles away. The drive can’t be that bad.” That’s what I’m used to saying when driving around home in Arkansas. I was so quick to judge my friends here who would complain about driving (I am humble enough to say now I have learned the error of my ways; sorry friends). Driving in California is not for the weak; there will be days where you will spend more time on the road than at your actual destination. Californians have unspoken rules about driving that as an outsider, until you get yourself on the road, you won’t understand until you’ve experienced it. Tip: call a friend/loved one while you’re waiting in traffic! You know they’ve been dying to hear all about your life in the program and it’ll make you feel better. You can also listen to podcasts or take it as an opportunity to practice some of the mindfulness techniques you will soon learn from RRE class!
• Prices: I remember as I was driving from Arkansas to California, the progressive increase in gas prices as I got closer and closer, had me shaking my head the entire time. The days of cheap items and tax-free weekends were over. Since then, I have accepted my new reality of the high cost of living here, but understand now that California would not be what it is today without it. Tip: if you can, sign up for EBT to receive monetary assistance for buying groceries.

Take advantage of:

• Fun Experiences: My bank account hated me for the amount of money I was spending at Disneyland and Universal, but just like a kid in a candy store, I couldn’t help myself! Although I love all the nature activities there are to do back home, being able to go to amusement parks and beaches whenever I want is a plus in my eyes. Cool events like themed club nights (High School Musical and One Direction night made teenage Jaida so happy) and shows at the Hollywood Bowl are ones that I would’ve never experienced back home and I am grateful to be living in a state that gives me access to new and exciting experiences.
• New Cuisines: Being raised in the South, I pride myself on the delectable cuisine that is ‘Southern/Soul food’. Comprised of foods such as ribs, fried chicken, cornbread, baked beans, mac & cheese, I was a bit saddened to know the “southern food” here will never taste like how it is back home. However, I have been able to try so many different cuisines that are not as widely present in Arkansas (shoutout to cohort A for introducing me to Korean bbq, pho, and chilaquiles!).

While your experience may be completely different than mine, I hope that this advice can help you in preparing for your transition to living in California.

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Trojan Spirit ⟩
December 3, 2023, by Samantha

Community Getting Involved School/Life Balance Videos

Hello! My name is Samantha Osuna. I’m in my second year of the Entry-Level OTD program & fifth at USC as a student in the Accelerated Bachelor’s to Doctorate program. As my fifth football season as a Trojan was coming to an end, I spent some time reflecting on the beauty of college football & the Trojan spirit that makes USC football games unique & exhilarating. I realized that this Trojan spirit–which represents the resilience, determination, & indomitable will of USC students on the field & in the classroom–is something I’ve cultivated over the last four & a half years or so. I know that not everyone in the Chan Division has had the same access that I have had and that American football may not be everybody’s cup of tea, but I do believe that USC game day has something to offer everyone, from tailgating to watching the band. It is the ultimate representation of Trojan spirit & the perfect way to share about it with others through a vlog! The 2023 football season may be over, but it’s never too late to embrace the Trojan spirit &, as always, Fight On!

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A Tribute to Open Mic BBQs, Swiftie Listening Parties, & Mid-Class G.I. Snack Runs ⟩
May 1, 2023, by Mika

Community International School/Life Balance Videos

Hello everyone!

It’s been a while since I last wrote a blog and I can’t believe it’s my last one! Bittersweet as it is, I want to dedicate this post to my classmates in the Post-Professional Master’s program — the wildest, most spontaneous, and the most generous set of people who I’m proud to have gotten to know the past 9 months.

To MA-1 Batch 2023,

Looking back at our first week of orientation, we were all a bunch of new faces filled with excitement and hints of anxiety for a new adventure in a new country. I remember how it was a struggle to remember all 50 names despite the x number of times we had to introduce ourselves in each class. I love that now I can recall everyone’s name and associate a special memory with each one of you!

One of my favorite memories was welcoming the school year with our summer barbeque party in the OT house. I loved getting to know all of you and I really appreciate the energy you all brought in with the activities and games prepared for us. I will definitely not forget when we turned the party into an open-mic night where everyone sang songs from their country and even tried to get our program director to sing with us. I think we love singing so much as a class that some of us even spent 6 hours of non-stop karaoke together!

As the Fall and Spring semesters progressed, I loved getting the opportunity to work with all of you and learn more about the OT practice in your respective countries. I loved how we all resonated with many common issues we as OTs faced (check my past blog: 10 Things I Hate About Occupational Therapy) and it somehow felt like I was in the same boat with people who understood and validated what I was feeling and going through. As how we say it in Filipino, I had a “kakampi” (teammate) to go through and navigate these issues in practice. I felt this not only with the similar concerns we had about the OT practice, but also with all the requirements and exams we have gone through as a class. I will miss looking back at anyone during class when I hear sounds of crumpled plastic since I know someone is opening food to share with everyone. I will also definitely miss having someone ask me, “Let’s go to Global Initiatives” to say hi to the staff there while we search for snacks.

Aside from learning each of your practice in your respective countries, I also loved learning each of you as individual persons! I love how some of us made a Taylor Swift cult and had a listening party at midnight for her latest album. Remember when we teamed up together to battle the rest of America to successfully get tickets for her concert? That was one of my favorite memories from that semester. I also love how I was able to share my love for Korean drama and Korean oppas with some of you, sharing when they have their recent posts up or trying to help each other find them when they visit LA.

I also appreciate everyone for being so down to help each other get through life in LA, whether by offering a ride or by offering their place to host some hangouts (shoutout to the MA1 House)! I really appreciate your generosity and I am so grateful I got a lot of weekend memories to remember — baking, going to Dockweiler beach, searching for good coffee in Silverlake, traveling to the Grand Canyon, celebrating Lunar New Year, or simply just hanging out.

Soon we’ll all be separated again and we will all be in our different paths but wherever you guys go, I hope you all remember that there will always be this loud and enthusiastic Filipina always cheering you on!

I want to end my blog with a quote I found online in Pinterest that encompasses what you guys mean to me:

“One day all of us will get separated from each other; we will miss our conversations of everything and nothing; the dreams that we had. Days will pass by, months, years until this contact becomes rare. One day our children will see our pictures and ask: ‘Who are these people?’ And we will smile with invisible tears because a heart is touched with a strong word and you will say ‘It was them that I had the best days of my life with.’”

أحبك
我愛你們
사랑해요
Te amo
मुझे तुमसे प्यार है
Mahal ko kayo!

Until we meet again! 🫶

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The Pre-OT Club Gets Crafty ⟩
April 3, 2023, by The Pre-OT Club

Community Getting Involved School/Life Balance What are OS/OT?

Hello world!

My name is Taylor Kamemoto. I am a current pre-OT student and a senior at USC majoring in Psychology and the Health & Human Sciences. I also have minors in Occupational Science (a.k.a. best minor ever), and Musical Studies in Flute Performance! I am super excited to introduce the Pre-OT Club’s blog!

If you’re an undergrad interested in Occupational Therapy, you should definitely check out the Pre-Occupational Therapy Club! We are a club focused on spreading knowledge and awareness about the profession of Occupational Therapy here on the USC campus and even beyond our community walls. We have a wide range of club meeting topics, including inviting clinician guest speakers, hosting graduate student panels, social bonding events like game nights, philanthropy events such as gardening and food drives, and engaging in shared occupations together. These events allow club members to connect and find a sense of community with other Pre-OT students while enhancing our knowledge about the profession of OT. I have been involved since my freshman year (yes, we even had Zoom meetings during COVID) and I now serve as the current president.

So far, my favorite event this semester has been Craft Night! We worked directly with our club’s faculty advisor, Dr. Amber Bennett, who helped us reserve a space in the Center for Occupation and Lifestyle Redesign®. Dr. Bennett provided us with craft supplies such as wooden items to paint, ceramic piggy banks, scrapbook paper, and magazines. We had no guidelines and let our creative juices flow! We each created something unique. I used scrapbook paper to collage a picture frame and a clipboard. After an hour of crafting, we shared our projects with each other, and I was very impressed with what everyone created! I saw a box with a collage lid reading “Fight On,” a wooden “Statue of Liberty,” and fun collages. Check out our crafts below!

Email us at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) to be added to our newsletter and get more information about our club! You can also follow us on Instagram at @uscpreotclub. We are always looking for more undergraduate students interested in Occupational Therapy and anyone who appreciates the nature of occupations and meaningful activities. Fight on, and welcome to our blog!

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23 Truths for 2023 ⟩
January 18, 2023, by Yoojin

Community First-Gen School/Life Balance

Happy New Year Chan! I compiled some of my favorite quotes. There’s a good mix of bookmarked lines from cherished books, reminders for when life is a little rough, and encouragements to live a compassionate and sacrificial life.

1. “To me, there was magic in learning.” — Michelle Obama, Becoming
2. “Occupational therapy is more than a job. For many it is a calling. We felt drawn to it.” — Amy Lamb, OTD, OTR/L, FAOTA
3. “Do what is good. Advocate for what is right. And fight for what is important.” — Bryan Morales
4. “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” — Martin Luther King, Jr.
5. “There is hope, even when your brain tells you there isn’t.” — John Green, Turtles All the Way Down
6. “It always seems impossible until it is done.” — Nelson Mandela
7. “I wasn’t going to let one person’s opinion dislodge everything I thought I knew about myself.” — Michelle Obama, Becoming
8. “We don’t do all our growing up between birth and adolescence or even our twenties. If we’re fortunate, we never stop.” — Diane Guerrero, In the Country We Love: My Family Divided
9. “The presence of anxiety is unavoidable, but the prison of anxiety is optional.” — Max Lucado, Anxious for Nothing: Finding Calm in a Chaotic World
10. “Unexpected kindness is the most powerful, least costly, and most underrated agent of human change.” — Bob Kerrey
11. “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle.” — Plato
12. “We often suffer, but we are never crushed. Even when we don’t know what to do, we never give up.” — 2 Corinthians 4:8
13. “An education is not so much about making a living as making a person.” — Tara Westover, Educated
14. “Why can’t I just eat my waffle?” — Barack Obama
15. “Listening to an underserved population is how you begin to understand them and serve them better.” — Constance Wu
16. “Friends love through all kinds of weather, and families stick together in all kinds of trouble.” — Proverbs 17:17
17. “Being yourself is all it takes. If you want to impress someone don’t be someone else just be yourself.” — Selena Gomez
18. “Living without passion is like being dead.” — Jungkook
19. “Rest and self-care are so important. When you take time to replenish your spirit, it allows you to serve others from the overflow. You cannot serve from an empty vessel.” — Eleanor Brownn
20. “Family is the most important thing in the world.” — Princess Diana
21. “It was possible, I knew, to live on two planes at once — to have one’s feet planted in reality but pointed in the direction of progress.” — Michelle Obama, Becoming
22. “Fall seven times, get up eight.” — Naoki Higashida
23. “Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.” — John F. Kennedy

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