Welcome to Dead Week

Contrary to the whole idea of dead week spent slaving away in the library, caffeine coursing through your veins, this week at UCSB has been glorious. 

The beautiful sights of new parts of campus, having a bit of an explore after draining my bank account for housing payments. 

In addition to a lot of activities on campus this week to keep spirits high, there have been a number of themed days at Carrillo dining commons. The first one was quite a surprise as the dining area was transformed with enough crepe paper to make a swimming pool cover in purple, green and yellow. Not only were the staff getting into the festivities with costumes and bead necklaces but there was a mullet clad middle-aged man doing song covers. Needless to say the day was a hit and the food was all new and experimental with some fruit punch, catfish sandwiches, stuffed pork roll and fried dessert dumplings. Following themes didn't get quite so festive but our inner nerd and Irish came out with some further festive meals. 

To celebrate finishing all my essays during pre-dead week I got up early to head out for some Stand Up Paddle-boarding or SUPing at the Excursion Club calls it. After hanging out and getting to know some more of the staff and meeting fellow SUPers we carried down the boards and kayaks to Isla Vista beach to paddle out. The weather was incredibly beautiful, as per usual, and the water surprisingly warm for a winter day. 

One of the UCSB events scheduled in the lead up to dead week was Dog Therapy Day! The event was put on by the SRB Student Wellness Centre and the staff provided about 12 puppies for us to pat, cuddle and hang out with to de-stress. The puppy I am pictured with is a black lab just like lovely Whetu back home and she was the cutest. Another dog that Nadia and I got to meet was an actual relative of the dog used in shooting Lassie the movie. Needless to say we were pretty impressed.

The final awesome part of this week was a very impromptu picnic out at Sands to farewell our beautiful friend Laetitia. Whilst I've only been able to get to know her during Winter Quarter she has been a great addition to our motley crew and we will all miss her lots. Belgium can have her back but I can't wait to go and visit her in Europe!

I also can't wait to be on spring break next week and will give you all a full update after an amazing time with family catching up.

Nina