Student Blog
Living in LA

Los Angeles: Tales from a (wannabe) Foodie! ⟩
November 4, 2013, by Kate

Living in LA

I love to eat. It is definitely in my top three favorite occupations, alongside sleeping and shoe-shopping. One of the best things about living in Los Angeles is that you have some of the best restaurants and food available to you in one city. Some of the best Mexican food is located right near the University Park Campus. I also love to find new taco trucks; last spring, two of my classmates decided to compare their two favorite taco trucks by creating a social event out of it and asking fellow OT students to vote and declare a winner. Some areas in the city have a specialty cuisine, for example, Glendale is home to many Armenian-Americans and Lebanese-Americans, and you can find DELICIOUS places for Middle Eastern food. Korea-Town specializes in, you guessed it, Korean food, and there are a ton of great Korean barbecue places that are yummy and have a great atmosphere. With all the great options, I have to say that this weekend, I discovered one place with a life-changing pretzel. Yes, a pretzel.

I have never been a fan of large pretzels because I find the salty bread a bit odd to my palate. But, my opinion changed on Friday night when my friends and I went to a new restaurant/bar to watch the USC football game. A friend of mine ordered the “Giant Pretzel,” which I was not too excited about. I took one bite to appease my friend, and I’ve got to say, it changed my mind forever about pretzels. The pretzel was salty and the honey sauce was sweet. Just perfection! I’ve uploaded a picture of the pretzel so you all can ogle over my culinary discovery as well. I think the lesson I learned this weekend was to never judge a food before tasting it, or at least, that not all giant pretzels are created equal. Just another reason why I LOVE LA.

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Night with a legend ⟩
October 3, 2013, by Rob

Living in LA

USC has a program called Visions and Voices that “features theatrical productions, music and dance performances, film screenings, lectures and workshops” in an effort to “affirm the human spirit.” I don’t know about all that, but what I do know is that because of this initiative, I got to see a rocking concert put on by Elton John!

Tickets for all these performances are free, so you can imagine the number of entries into the lottery for the limited seating available at Bovard Auditorium on the University Park Campus. I was one of the unlucky majority to be placed on the wait list, but decided to show up early anyway hoping for enough extra tickets to get a seat. There was already a long queue, but I sat down and read a book for several long minutes before making friends with a few freshman behind me. They were about to leave (a huge mistake!), so I decided to teach them how to juggle.

We were about 70 or 80 people back in line and, right before the show began, they finally started letting people in 10 at a time. When we were about five people from the front they stopped us and we got worried that they ran out of tickets. Turned out they were collecting their few remaining VIP seats and my two new friends and I ended up with orchestra-level tickets! What a rush.

And did I mention all these events are completely FREE!?

Elton John was still rocking the house at age 66. He played a bunch of older songs and the place was jumping. In the middle of the program, they did a brief sit-down interview with him, where he shared a lot of old stories as well as some of his feelings about new music and his new album. Then he played some songs from that album and finished things off with a bang. As “Rocket Man” echoed in my head, I burst out from the auditorium and happened to run into my two new friends. We shared a hug and they were clearly ecstatic, yelling out “This is why we go to USC!”

One of the many reasons why.

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Talking to Undergraduate Students ⟩
September 30, 2013, by Kate

Community Living in LA What are OS/OT?

Today I had the chance to go talk to some of the undergraduate classes at USC about the field of occupational therapy. It was so great to be back on the University Park Campus (most of the master’s classes are on the Health Sciences Campus, which is northeast of downtown). Since I graduated in 2006 I have gone back for football games and other special events. But it was really neat to be back here on a Monday, going to a class with undergraduate students, and telling them about my new career path and passion.

It is so easy for me to share my love for all things USC and now for all things occupational therapy. Sometimes I wish it was easy for everyone to feel the same feelings!! I know everyone has their own path and journey in life, however. It’s just very exciting when I see other young minds at one of the greatest universities in the country working towards something greater than themselves. I asked the class the question: “After you graduate, what do you want out of a job?” It warmed my heart to hear the first thing out of multiple students’ mouths was “I want to make the world a better place,” and “I want to be fulfilled.” And I know USC and the occupational therapy program can give students what they want out of a career. What can I say? USC and OT have my heart!!

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The Sound of Music ⟩
September 23, 2013, by Kate

Living in LA School/Life Balance

This weekend was full of studying for me. We have some exams coming up this week, and so over the weekend, I had to sacrifice some of my social time to hit the books, which is just part of being a graduate student. However, since I’m learning so much about balance and the importance of play and leisure, I did take some time this weekend to hang out with some of my friends from the OT program. About 27 of us got together and went to The Sound of Music Sing-a-Long event at The Hollywood Bowl. It was pure joy and the most fun I have had in a long, long time.

There was a costume contest before the movie started, where little kids and adults alike dressed up as characters or lines from the movie. There were “charming sponges” (in reference to Uncle Max’s character), “bowing ladies” (in reference to the lady who wins an award during the festival performance), and nuns galore. The winners were 13 nuns, each with a number on her costume, strung along with rope, to represent “a long line of governesses” that had come before the character of Maria at the Von Trapp household.

When the movie began, the entire auditorium sang along to the words of the songs, cheered when Maria and the Captain were on screen, and booed and hissed at the Baroness and any mention of the Nazis. During “Edelweiss,” we all put our cell phones in the air and swayed back and forth. The evening was full of magic and friendship, and it was just what I needed to recharge my batteries going into this week.

Good news for you: this happens every year! Each year, The Hollywood Bowl does this sing-a-long event to The Sound of Music during September. I know I will try my best to attend next year!

Here’s a picture of me with my mittens on, enjoying some hot cocoa! Although it is Los Angeles, it got pretty chilly this night and I came prepared!

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My Room and the Person-Environment-Occupation Model ⟩
September 20, 2013, by Clarissa

Life Hacks Living in LA School/Life Balance

This past week was so eventful with fun, fieldwork, and organizing my room! The Occupational Therapy and Science Council held a pool party at one of our classmate’s beautiful apartment complex in downtown Los Angeles, the Medici, with yummy food and good company! I also had my first day at my Level I fieldwork this week at a school-based pediatric setting, which was really cool. My clinical instructor was so great and I’m excited to go back!

Surprisingly, though, room organizing was the highlight of my week. I’ve been living out of a suitcase after returning to LA post-Level II fieldwork. Standing in that inferno of clothes and papers, I was thinking about the Person-Environment-Occupation (PEO) Model that I learned about in my Mental Health immersion last year and, yes, I started OT-ing myself. My occupation is being an OT student, my person factors included my decreased motivation to study whenever I looked at my room, and my environment was a chaos of my personal belongings (minus the one clear walkway from my door to my bed). To improve my occupational performance as a student, I went to work and I am now SO EXCITED that I like being in my room again! My bookshelf is also the new apple of my eye. The moral of the story here: stay balanced and make time for the little things.

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