Student Blog
Living in LA

New Digs — clarification ⟩
February 14, 2013, by Ricky

Living in LA

I would like to make a clarification about my comments in last week’s post, entitled “New Digs.” While I didn’t really bad-mouth my new neighborhood, I am feeling bad about calling it “not-the-nicest” area of Los Angeles. I don’t think that was a fair representation. So, I am staying on the eastside of LA, about a mile and a half south of the Health Sciences Campus. Again, not a recommendation for everyone — but I love it. I live just near the heart of a pivotal region in the rich history of my people, the Chicano people. If you’re open to it, you may find it is a great place too. Not only is it culturally rich, but the location is prime and it lends itself to easy travel in and around LA. LA rocks!

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New Digs ⟩
February 7, 2013, by Ricky

Housing and Transportation Living in LA School/Life Balance

Some of you might remember me venting about all the things I had going on last semester. Winter break gave me some time to reassess and consider making a few changes. I concluded that the likely best thing I could do was rent a room nearby campus, just for the last semester. But being the budget-conscious ex-accountant that I am, I was still hesitant . . . up until my first week of classes. After sitting through all 6 classes for the first time, I was like, “oh heavens no. I need to move closer . . . and then I have the comp exam to worry about . . . oh my . . . looks like I’m moving to LA.” All I really needed was a place nearby to lay my head and shower — I planned on going back home on weekends anyway. I came pretty close to renting a couch in someone’s living room — so glad I didn’t. I ended finding a great place down the street from campus, with my own bed and bath for a very affordable price. It’s in “not-the-nicest” area of Los Angeles, but it’s really not so bad for a guy who can hold his own. It’s close, clean, gated, has pretty much all my preferred amenities, and my landlady is great. While I wouldn’t recommend it for everyone, I just thought I’d let ya’ll in on the fact that options like this exist. While searching for a place, I looked on Craigslist, asked classmates/friends, and checked for postings around campus. Take note of that last point because the best places I saw came from ads in the med-school buildings across the street from our building. I’ve only been living there for 2 weeks and so-far-so-good. I’ll be sure to give ya’ll an update later down the road. Cheers!

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Fun in the Sun ⟩
January 22, 2013, by Amber

Living in LA School/Life Balance

After just one short week back in school, I was gifted with five days off over this Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend. I had already hunkered down mentally for the semester, so it was pleasantly jarring to realize I had five days of freedom ahead. And as if on cue, the winter decided to take a break and become summer for a while. Being a Northern California native, it will never cease to amaze me that there are days throughout the winter when one can have a proper beach day in Southern California, bikini and all. Armed with said bikini, along with bikes, roller blades, boogie boards, and surf boards, my husband and I escaped to the beach for two days. I spent a good amount of time perfecting my boogie boarding skills, which are meager to say the least. We enjoyed a long bike ride along The Strand, picking out which beach mansion we would most like to live in. We soaked up the sun, visited with various friends, and I even got a tan! It was a beautiful weekend, and I feel rejuvenated as I start my semester this week in earnest.

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Welcome back! ⟩
January 16, 2013, by Paula

Community Living in LA School/Life Balance

It is a bit scary how quickly 4 weeks can go by — especially when it is the last time that you will have no obligations for an unforeseen period of time. After a month of break, we have all returned to the Division here at USC and are settling into new class and work schedules. It has been great to see everyone again! Some congratulations were in order for classmates with exciting news from the break — engagements, OTD residency decisions and summer fieldwork placements. Each of the professors I have had class with thus far have commented about how close we all seem, since it is very difficult to quiet the chatter and hugging at the beginning of a new class. I guess it goes to show what happens when you throw 100+ OT students into an auditorium.

Over the break, I had a wonderful time catching up with family and friends. Many adventures were had and I was happy to play tourist in my hometown for a while, going sight-seeing in San Francisco and other Bay Area cities. My sister was gracious enough to allow some friends and I to use her home as our own for a weekend so we were all able to try out “city living” for that period of time. Definitely a highlight of my break — what a wonderful, beautiful city. I was also able to spend a fair amount of time in San Luis Obispo (my favorite non-home location, as many of you know) :]. It was great to relax there with friends and see Occupational Therapists who I had the opportunity to work with prior to entering this program.

The break was rejuvenating, restful and full of new memories, just as I had hoped it would be. I did find myself anxious to return to school, who wouldn’t be ready to kick off the LAST semester of graduate school?? I look forward to the electives which we have the opportunity to take this semester as second year students. I have chosen to take the SI, motor control, hands and dysphagia courses so you can bet that I will be sharing my experiences with all of you!

Enjoy this snapshot of my time spent over break!

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OT outside OT school ⟩
November 7, 2012, by Kendra

Community Living in LA What are OS/OT?

Last weekend I attend wedding #527 of the semester in New Orleans. While chatting with the bride’s mother, I learned a dear friend of hers is an occupational therapist who manages a skilled nursing facility in San Antonio, Texas.

Let me meet this girl I said!

It was a really exciting moment for me, getting to ‘talk shop’ with a seasoned professional and hold my ground while doing so. In chatting I discovered she did the validity studies in the early ’90s for the Allen Diagnostic Modules (ADM). Validity and reliability studies are essential for evidence based practice. We need the evidence to show our assessments measure what they say they do (validity) and consistently between testings and different testers (reliability). It just so happens this semester I am interning with one of the developers of the ADM!

It’s moments like these that I am so proud of my education. Not only do I get to go to school with the movers and shakers in the OT world, but Los Angeles is also a city of brilliant and imaginative occupational therapists. I felt, even though I’m still a student, I already have the education to collaborate and work on par with seasoned professionals. Add to that my job as a student ambassador makes attending these kinds of functions; weddings, bridal showers, etc., so much easier to navigate because now I can talk about OT in a clear, succinct way. It was so rewarding getting to offer insight and swap stories with a professional who has been working in the field for 40+ years. And it is especially rewarding to see someone’s internal light bulb go on when they understand the value of an occupational therapist.

This is why USC is #1 in OT!

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