Student Blog
Living in LA

Snow Day! ⟩
December 13, 2013, by Rob

Life Hacks Living in LA

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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The Greatest Feeling in the World: WINNING!! ⟩
November 19, 2013, by Kate

Community Living in LA

Alongside other great feelings like being with family, making someone laugh, having a fulfilling purpose in life and studying at USC, there is the best feeling in the world when it comes to a USC football fan: WINNING. This weekend was our annual Homecoming. The USC Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy put on a bunch of different events this weekend to celebrate our alumni as well as our current students. There was a Casino Night on Friday and a tailgate before the football game on Saturday. Our football game was against #4 ranked Stanford University, and we were, no doubt, the underdog. I attended the game with three friends from out of town, whom I had met while I was an undergraduate at USC. We celebrated our reunion on campus with other friends whom I haven’t seen in a while. It was truly a great day catching up with familiar faces!

The best part of the day, however, was being there to witness USC beat Stanford, 20-17. Our Trojans played a great game against the top-ranked Stanford Cardinal. Going into the 4th quarter, we were tied 17-17; it wasn’t until the final 2 minutes that we scored the game-winning field goal. And magic ensued. Fans rushed the field and surrounded our team and the coaching staff. It was such a celebratory moment full of happiness, and I could not have been more excited to be there. I’m still feeling the high from being there in that amazing moment with my old friends! What a great way to be reunited!

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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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