Final Chapter of UCSB

Recent events warrant an update to this travel-live-love-eat blog!

Seth Rogen, Danny McBride, and Craig Robinson came to UCSB because we "demanded it" on a website called eventful. More students from UCSB than from any other university declared that we wanted to have the premier of This is the End at our school, so these guys came to our school and we got to see the movie for free. The most original, substantial thing I could think of saying to Seth Rogen was "you were awesome in Knocked Up," to which he replied "thanks, man!"

Here's Justin, Alicia and Lauren at our "ABC" a.k.a. "anything-but-clothes" party. Lots of fun!

Turns out, the base of the satellite chair isn't connected to the top half. You can see Lauren on the floor there buried under her computer. :) It's happened to all of us.

Here's the iconic Storke Tower surrounded by a bunch of rainbow flags in the grass during Pride Week at UCSB. UCSB's been a welcoming, loving, accepting place. Getting to live among things like this as a UCSB student made me very happy.

Cave exploration on the beach!

I was ecstatic to hear a few months ago that I'll be moving back to Spain in the fall! I'll be sharing what I can about North American language and culture with public school kids as an Auxiliar de Conversación in a village outside of Málaga. I'm very hungry for more España and I look forward to new adventures. Given the opportunity, it would be hard not to go back to Spain and to think that at 22 years old my greatest adventures are behind me.

I called Justin in a fit of flustered excitement when I heard that I'd be going back to Spain, and he was just as excited as I was. To celebrate that night, he took me to a tapas restaurant downtown called Alcázar!!! We had patatas bravas, tortilla española (Spanish tortilla/omelette), and quesadillas. This place was an awesome find! As part of the cool décor, they had the original black-and-white Frankenstein movie playing against one of the crimson walls. Spain and horror movies: the perfect fusion of our interests! More important than the food and atmosphere was the incredibly sweet gesture of support that it was for Justin to take us out for tapas that night.

In May, Jeff Bridges came to UCSB for a Q&A before a screening of Tron and Tron: Legacy in IV theatre. I would've felt uncomfortable getting any closer than this and asking for a photo, because I really didn't know who he was before meeting him. Justin, however, got a closeup picture with him, and Lauren was able to commend him for his continued support of local farmers by shopping at Plow-to-Porch.

Here's Justin and me at the Reel Loud silent film festival on campus, for which he'd spent all year working as the art director. Justin painted all the backdrops in the distance, each of which was based on a different Hitchcock movie. So many people got to see and interact with his art. It was an amazing display.

I had to snap a selfie during one of my last shifts at DLG so I'd have a little memento of the three quarters I spent there. I was more than ready for my time in the dining commons to come to an end, but I wouldn't trade the whole experience for anything. I made some friends, got to practice my Spanish, never went hungry, and met Justin at DLG. With that said, I'm glad this was one of those good things that did have to come to an end. I enjoyed parts of it, but will not miss coming home damp and achey, wearing that chocolate-milk-cheese-vegetable-ice-cream-cereal-meat smell that pervades the dish room. Peace out, DLG!

Studying with Justin was usually painless and even relatively efficient at times. :)

1. When Philosophy 1 is over, we'll never have to revisit these concepts.

2. Philosophy 1 will soon be over.

3. We will soon never have to revisit these concepts.

During spring finals week, the quarterly undie run came right through our street. Here are Lauren and Alicia spraying a bunch of scantily clad gauchos over the fence with the hose as they headed for the beach! What a scene.

We did it! My final days as a UCSB student were filled with the normal prod of commitment to my classes, but I also spent a lot of time reflecting on what it meant that I would soon be done.

I remember having three main fears before I got to UCSB:

1. The curriculum would be too hard.

Not the case! I was genuinely passionate about my studies, so doing well was not exceedingly difficult.

2. I would get fat.

The victory here lies in the fact that this old fear no longer requires any attention. Next!

3. I wouldn't make any "progress" on the gay front.

18-year-old Luc would be proud to know that this would one day be laughable.

"You know, I didn't use to be brave--In fact, I wasn't very brave at all. But you have made me brave, [UCSB]. So now, I'm gonna be brave for you."

You'll see.

Left to right, here's Joey, Lindsay, me, Justin, Lauren (poking me), Dustin, Alicia, Heather (Adam's girlfriend), and Lauren's brother, Adam.

To celebrate Lauren's, Alicia's and my graduations, Lauren's Mom threw a party at this house that they rented downtown. We all got to eat, drink, laugh, and get to know each other in this beautiful place for the night. This was the perfect celebration. Everyone got on well and I think we all had a lot of fun.

Panorama of the backyard - nailed it.

Here's Alicia, Lauren, Justin and me in my room soon before we all moved out. There's been so much shaytoonery and so many breathless laughs in this room! I fucking loved this house. I don't care how small our room and my bed were or how loud our door, the closet, or belligerent pedestrians outside were. I had a blast with these guys this year and this place was home.

Hasta luego, El Embarcadero!

We're all here <3333333333 >< >< ><

Thanks for the laughs and the sound advice whenever I needed it.

Well, now it's all over. What do I make of all of it? Sometimes it's hard to cope with the fact that some of the people and places that have been central to the life I love are now far away. It's an unfortunate trend that not every person that I come to love in one point of my life can have as strong of a presence in every chapter that follows. 

But it's okay! Because any important people and happy memories from the past are always inseparable parts of the present. I wouldn't be the same me without the formative memories I've made with the people who have touched my life in these past four years, who are now off on their own adventures. I figure they're like scaffolding; even if they can't be permanent parts of the structure I become, lasting parts of me wouldn't exist without their momentary presence.

Bye for now, UCSB. I'm excited for what you've prepared me for. I owe it to you to go live an awesome life.

Winter Quarter Photos and Memories

Now that it's over, I thought it'd be fun to share some photos and memories from winter quarter of my senior year at UCSB. Here are some highlights!

Here's Leah and me at the Born This Way Ball in January!

Here we are scraping the Staples Center ceiling! Even though we had two of the worst "obstructed view" seats in the house, Leah looked five feet to our left at one point and said with ironic sincerity "it would suck to be them." The concert was a lot of fun! As you'll hear in the video below, Leah and I sang every word to every song.

My very favorite Gaga lyrics: 

"Tonight I will return

the fame and riches earned.

With you I'd watch them all be burned."

Emily's all booked to come visit California this summer! We still gotta get Cesc on board!

Here's that one time I slept during Winter Quarter.

 Here's my roommate, Lauren, taking family dinner out of the oven!

It was fun hanging out with my work friends more this quarter! Here's Brittany, Emily, Justin, Leah and me. These people make it fun to work at DLG, and I think that guy in the v-neck's pretty cute.... shhh.

 Justin and I'd been meaning to try this Korean-Mexican fusion takeout place in IV for awhile. As it turns out, Korean BBQ in a burrito is delicious!

I decided a little before Christmas to train for the LA Marathon in March. Here's a picture I took on one of my more euphoric runs. There's nothing quite like this scenery, good music, and that runner's high!

This was one of my favorite weekends of the quarter! Justin and I took a weekend road trip down to hang out with his best friend AV in Granada Hills.

Justin, my roommate and me - "We're all here!"

 Not until I got home from bowling one night did I realize I was still wearing these. They are cooler than the Old Navy shoes I left as collateral for them, so I'd say I made a pretty good deal.

It's always a Kodak moment when we get to eat outside of the dining commons. Coffee, waffles and bagels with Justin is weekend happiness :-)

Here's Nkem, Tyler, Jenny, Justin and me at Jenny's 22nd birthday party!

I thought it was funny that my brother and housemate both texted me about how fantastic Beyoncé was at the Superbowl.

Justin's surprise b-day party with some work friends!

 I completed my marathon training goal with no problems! Twenty smooth miles meant to me that I was as ready as I was going to be to run from Dodger Stadium to the Santa Monica Pier in just a few weeks.

 Dustin came up to visit one Sunday! We had pizza, beers, and some laughs. I was happy to show him where I live and introduce him to my housemates and Justin.

 Gio's with Dustin and Justin

 This slide from my Evolution and Cognition class was the last slide of my last psychology lecture at UCSB.What an eye-opening privilege it has been to study psychology at UCSB.  It's the end of a big chapter, but I don't think this is the end of psychology for me.

 I'm actually extremely comfortable in this picture. This is right after I finished the marathon last weekend. I can truthfully say that I gave it my all, so when I crossed the finish line and that endorphin rush of mile 26 ended, my body was DONE. I walked over to a clear sidewalk and planted myself there until the pain cleared.

When I could drag my ass off the concrete to go find my family, everyone was there to welcome me with open arms! Here's my dad, Dustin, my mom, and JR greeting me in Santa Monica. I was so pleasantly surprised at how well the race went. I shaved over 45 minutes off my last marathon time, finishing in just under four hours.

 My family made this a special day.

Winter quarter was full of changes and happy memories. I'm ready to recharge over spring break and come back to new classes and a new work schedule next quarter. What I'm not ready to do is face graduation and leave UCSB, but the fact that it's only a matter of weeks away will be a constant reminder in the spring to make the most of the moments I have left in this place.

Último capítulo de Granada

Some of the sweetest parts of the beautiful year I got to spend in Spain came at the end. Here are some pictures and stories from my last few months in Granada.

One of a few outdoorsey adventures that Emily and I went on when it started to get hot was this hike to the top of Granada. We packed up some sandwiches and hiked to this wall that used to enclose and defend Granada.

We were on top of the world! Eating our ham sandwiches up here, we took in views of the Albayzín, the Alhambra, and the city below. Somewhere to the very right and halfway up this picture, you can see our apartment.

Another Emily and Luc day of fun! We took a bus out to Monachil where we crossed flimsy bridges, hiked up in the mountains, and swam.

Monachil

Of course the good eats continued through the end of the year! This is Alina's salmorejo, which is a cold, gazpacho-type tomato soup made with bread, tomatoes, olive oil, and garlic, garnished with hard-boiled egg and ham. Salmorejo is refreshing and full of flavor.

Before anyone knew it, June rolled around and it was time for the early Cena de despedida (farewell dinner) for our California program. All of us who stayed for the full year had a nice dinner at Restaurante Las Tomasas in the Albayzín, whose patio views of the Alhambra set the scene for a perfect dinner among friends. This in my mind was quite long before it made sense to start being sad about leaving, but it was a nice excuse for everyone to get together. I thoroughlly enjoyed being in the company of these ~50 (including those that went home in March) California kids this year and feel lucky to have shared parts of this experience with such a fantastic group.

 

Here's Emily and me at the feria in Granada. The fair was full of casetas, which are little enclosed dance floors, bars or restaurants that play flamenco or other type of music while people danced and enjoyed the fair. Aside from these casetas and the Spanish women walking around in traditional flamenco dresses, I found the fair shockingly similar to the type of fair you'd see in California. The rides, the funhouses, and the carnival games were all things you'd find at the OC Fair.

Later in June, Sara and I went to see David Bisbal in concert at the Palacio de Congresos in Granada! I first heard David's music in high school when my Spanish teacher came around and stamped everyone's homework, so seeing him in the flesh was pretty cool. Any time there was a quiet moment in the show, people would scream "GUAPOOOO!"  

Ave María, Al Andalus, and Mi Princesa are my favorite of the songs he performed. Surprisingly, he didn't perform Bulería.

Alright, so the end of the year did involve some work. Here's Cécile and me studying for our June and July finals. We tied ourselves together in an effort to force ourselves to stay at the table and focus, but it just turned into a ridiculous distraction.

Between my very widespread finals, I wanted to squeeze in a few adventures and take in the Spanish sun while I still could. Here are Lauren and Jamie walking in Cabo de Gata, which is a beach east of Granada in the province of Almería. We slept out in the open on the beach that night, which seemed like an idea simple enough to work. Soon after we fell asleep under the sky of a million visible stars, I felt the pressure of little feet on me. I awoke abruptly and saw this cheeky little fox scurry away into the dark! The next day, we saw an octopus hanging out in the shallow shore water, colorful little fish, and a naked man on the beach. It was more of an exotic little getaway than we'd expected!

The night before my last final exam, Spain won the Euro Cup! Emily, Cécile and I did a little lap around Granada to check out the celebration in the streets that night. People everywhere were chanting, honking, and proudly waving their Spanish flags.

After I finshed my last exam, Emily, Cécile and I sat down for one last home-cooked chicken meal at home. When we were eating, they gave me this gift bag with this hat they knew I wanted, an Aztec print scarf, and all of the refrigerator magnets we collected from our travels this year. The hat and the scarf were one final effort to make me "European."

Do I look European or do the cargo shorts give me away?

This was our last dinner out in Granada. We went for Italian food at La Mafia. I got pizza with jamón serrano (cured ham). Delicious Spanish-Italian fusion. The next morning Cécile headed home to Switzerland. It was only a little bit sad, because within a matter of days we would leave to go visit her.

This was my last night out in Granada. The night before we left for Switzerland, Emily and I wandered up into the Albayzín for tapas and wine. We ended up splitting a bottle of wine at the Mirador San Nicolás, then went to this nice little outdoor bar nearby where we had some more wine, traded watches, and took pictures. Being out til 5 the morning of our 9:00 bus to Madrid was irresponsible and ridiculously fun. That morning I packed three of the same pair of beige shorts and no jacket for my trip up to Switzerland and rainy Sweden. Could've thought that one through a little better.

 I'll yell it from the mountaintops: My Mom and Dad have supported me, quite literally, to the ends of the earth. This year afforded me with friends, happy memories, and learning experiences I would not have been faced with on a hundred vacations or through ten years at UCSB. Everyone has a different plan and a different path, but for me nothing could have been better. It all started with and goes back to my parents. Thank you, Mom and Dad.

I checked myself in this mirror every time I left my building in Granada. Every time I walked up to class at Cartuja, every time I left my building with a cheap bottle of wine and that Marry-the-Night spirit, and every time I took my overstuffed Ryanair-sized backpack out to discover new part of the world. I made sure to take one last look in this mirror before the next big adventure of my story: my trip back to California.