Student Blog
Living in LA

Halloween Weekend ⟩
November 2, 2011, by Chris

Living in LA School/Life Balance

Halloween weekend was quite eventful. It started off with me catching a 9:30am flight to San Francisco for a fair at USF. Immediately after the fair I made my way to the airport to catch the first half of the USC v. Stanford game. I barely made it through security in time to catch the opening kickoff. I was able to watch most of the first half before having to board my plane back to Los Angeles. My plane landed in time for me to listen to the end of regulation and I made it home to watch the three overtimes that followed. After the game, my roommate and I decided to get our costumes ready for the greatest Halloween party ever. We actually planned a costume change during the party. We showed up to the party as Forrest Gump and Chinese take-out, but changed to Things 1&2 during the party. Now, it’s back to the reality of class and work.

⋯

Veuve Clicquot Polo Classic ⟩
October 24, 2011, by Chelsea

Classes Living in LA What are OS/OT?

In OT 550 “Foundations of Occupational Science” we had an assignment last week that was to attend a sporting event instead of going to class . . . pretty cool, right? The purpose of the assignment was to examine the components that comprise play for adults, such as intrinsic motivation, self-actualization, creativity, lack of seriousness, etc., and also to see how sporting events are representations of political, social, and religious rifts in society. Well, I decided to go to a sporting event I had never seen before: polo. The Veuve Clicquot Polo Classic takes place at Will Rogers State Park in Pacific Palisades. Ladies in broad rimmed hats scattered the lawn surrounding the field holding glasses of champagne in one hand and a golden Veuve Clicquot sun umbrella in the other. Men in suits and wearing Panama hats lounged in their lawns chairs. Needless to say, it is quite a classy affair. For only $15 you get a day full of entertainment, socializing, and lounging in the sun! In class the following week we discussed our experiences and related them to the themes in the readings. It was so interesting hearing about everyone’s experiences and trying to collaborate with the whole class to reach an agreement about what constitutes play. Some say we work to play, and some say we play to work because without play we would get burnt out. And then there are those that get paid to do something they truly love and never really “work” a day in their lives. Once I become an OT, that will be me!

⋯

Spartan Race and OT school? ⟩
October 5, 2011, by Chris

Living in LA School/Life Balance

I’ve decided that I’m going to register to compete in the Spartan Race in Malibu next month. For those of you who don’t know, the Spartan Race is a 3 mile obstacle course involving mud running, rope climbing, balance beams, etc. I’ve started to kick up my training recently and it will be interesting to see if I can maintain my work-life balance. The USC OT flag football team will start its season on friday. Hopefully we don’t get stuck in an all male league again.

⋯

Flamenco Anyone? ⟩
October 4, 2011, by Kimberly

Living in LA

Last Saturday night I went with friends to El Cid, a restaurant in Silverlake (a neighborhood near downtown LA) that offers dinner shows on the weekend featuring authentic Flamenco music and dancing. Now if you’ve never seen Flamenco, I would highly reccommend looking it up on YouTube to check it out. It is a unique style of music and dance that originated in Andalusian Spain (the south). The guitarrists, drummers, vocalists, and dancers all train for many years to understand not only their mediums, but the culture of Flamenco and the history behind it.

We had a great view of the show from our table in the balcony of the restaurant. It lasted for an hour and was passionate, emotional, beautiful, and very unique. I would recommend it to anyone who wants a little different venue for a Saturday night dinner out. It was nice to be with friends somewhere different than the local bar, to enjoy a lovely meal, some good Sangria, and the show. So if you live in LA or are thinking about USC, make sure to check out this and other cultural-unknowns throughout the city. There are many to explore and experience. Ole!

⋯

Student by Day, Athlete by Night ⟩
September 28, 2011, by Kimberly

Living in LA School/Life Balance

While in the OT program, our time is taken up primarily by either being in class or studying/doing projects related to class. But for those of us who need to get out and be active and were previously athletes in high school or college, finding time to work-out is essential. Last year a group of my fellow students trained and ran the LA Marathon. Others take classes through USC, surf, do yoga, or form their own running groups on the beach for example. This year, in order to keep myself on a work-out schedule, I decided to train for the LA Triathlon. I have done all three sports (swimming, biking, and running) throughout my life, so it wasn’t too big of a jump to combine all three.

The race was this past Sunday and it was a blast! We started in Venice Beach and swam in the Pacific, then biked up Venice Blvd and Olympic Blvd to downtown LA. The final run was right through the middle of the LA skyscrapers. It was neat to be a part of something so huge and with people who were as crazy as me to sign up for the race. Of course there were also the professional triathletes who do this for a living, and those who had the thousands of dollars’ worth of gear. But the rest, like me, were just interested in trying something new and completing it for the sake of doing so. Overall it was an awesome experience and one to definitely go down in the books.

Though school is our main job right now, many of us in the program do make sure to take time to enjoy the outdoors and get active. Some call it finding balance, others say we are “OTing ourselves” and making sure we don’t get too overloaded with reading. Either way, LA is the perfect place to explore all kinds of options to stay active. Just get out there and give it a shot!

⋯