The 1108 (Fall 2017)

The

1108 Hike, Hike, Away

Test Drive

Find out about Santa Barbara’s most accessible hiking trails

Read Before Buying a Car

Relationship 101: UCSB’s Love Story?

Most Beautiful Campus Views What to See, Where to Go

A guide to SB county’s top spots to visit and enjoy S

Fall 2017

T

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his has been such a great quarter. The students have been relentless in their passion to learn English. As in previous quarters, I expected a lull around midterms and again at the end of the quarter, but each class was invigorating with the constant questioning and discussing that happened in Linguistics 3B. For a majority of the students, it was their first quarter, so it is quite impressive to get a group together that rebels against the typical freshman “quietness�. I wasn’t sure if we would get to this publication this quarter, but yet again, these students really motivated me to get them the time to do it.

I am very thankful for this group as they made my job not only enjoyable but also challenging. I knew each day coming to class that I had to be there mentally 100% or else they were going to rip me to shreds. That expectation went both ways which made this group all the more special.

We, as a class, challenged each other to dig more deeply, to search further, and to elevate ourselves to levels that we would have never reached on our own.

I will miss this group, but I also look forward to the next knowing that this classroom dynamic is very much attainable.

Enjoy the magazine, Keith Corona Lecturer

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Hawaii

By Sam Xiao, Ruiqi Tao, & De Gao

Far away from noisy city, and return to plain, comfort, and tranquility!

The Channel Islands National Park contains five different islands that off the Southern California coast. This American national park is far away from the noisy city. Here, you can breathe the fresh air, enjoy the sunshine and the natural beautiful of ocean and mountains.

Transportation

There are several ways to get on the islands: Park concessionaire boats (Island Packers) and planes (Channel Islands Aviation) or private boat. PLEASE also remember that there is no transportation for you on the islands, but you should always have fun on the islands by walking on your feet. Just enjoy what you can get from the island and get all out of it.

Public boats: Everybody knows that if you want to get on a small island, you could always take a boat. We have public boat all year round just for people who want to go to see our beautiful islands. Island Parkers will take care of you if you decide to use public boats as your transportation. Whale watching trips is offered as well.

Public airplanes: We also have public airplanes all year round for people who desire to get on the islands through airs, Channel Islands Aviation is what we call it. Try it and you will love it.

Private transportation: Using private boats or private airplanes are always ways to get on the islands. Just make sure you do maintain a minimum 1000-foot altitude above us, otherwise, it would be so scary...

Here are the Top three islands where are prefect for hiking Hiking San Miguel Island San Miguel Island provides several trails for visitors with spectacular hiking opportunities. Most of the visitors participate in the 23 km round trip hike to Point Bennett to view the thousands of seals and sea lions that live at the west end of the island during spring and summer. Another popular hiking trail is to the Island’s forest. Caliche is a type of hardened calcium deposit (Wikipedia).

It is a prefect island for people who likes challenging hiking trails.

Hiking Santa Cruz Island

Smugglers Cove is the most popular trail on the island and for good reason as it is beautiful. People sometimes can see whales and dolphins from it. Also, if you would like to explore this island a little bit more, Scorpion Canyon is going to be a great one.

What’s more? If you are the type of person who likes coastal trail, Potato Harbor to the Bluffs Trail then to Cavern Point is going to be a great choice. At there, you will find the best spot for taking beautiful ocean view pictures.

Hiking Santa Rosa Island

Most of the island is covered by rolling hills and steep dramatic descents. Also, this gorgeous island has one of the rarest pine in the world. The island is home to 500 plant species including 6 found nowhere else in the world, 100 bird species, and three mammal species (Wikipedia). It is a prefect island for people who likes to explore the wild.

Camping in channel Islands

Camping is recently established on five Islands: above the Landing Cove on Santa Barbara, on the east islet of Anacapa, at Scorpion Ranch on Santa Cruz, at Water Canyon on Santa Rose and above Cuyler Harbor on Santa Miguel. Camping is not allowed on the Nature Conservancy’s western 76 percent of Santa Cruz land. Campers have to experience overnight trip to channel Islands National park, so they have to choose a relatively safe transportation. People can visit the park without tickets, but they have to pay 15 dollars per night per site fee which includes service fee and the reservation fee. People also can order reservations earlier and they need provide date information, transportation information and the number of campers. All of the campgrounds are far from the boat landing areas. Also, campers have to camp within designated are, for the condition in Island is primitive. People need to keep clean while camping and fire is limited. People should put all food into storage boxes due to animals, like mice and birds. People also must keep zipper closed, because foxes and ravens are able to open it. It is better for campers to research the Islands where they plan to camp before starting.

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Partnerline: Love Difficulty

By Lingrui Wu, Ziyi Liu, and Yangfan Zhou

In the mind of every single person, there is always a craving for a partner, so do I. When I stepped into college, I imagined that I would find an intelligent and admirable partner. However, the reality strikes me. Although some of my friends got their partners when they just came into the college, I don’t have one. Sometimes I am wondering why they can find their partners easily. Why is it so difficult for some Chinese international students like me to find a partner in our school?

To know more about the situation, we randomly surveyed some Chinese international students. We are surprised to find that people who don’t have a partner are more than 70%.

Starting with a possible explanation, people around us is not our ideal type of partners. Let’s analyze in a mathematical way: the people we meet every day is a set (Who are the people around you? How long do you spend with them? How frequently do you contact them? etc.); the type of person we expect to build special relationship with is another set (What does your ideal girl/boyfriend look like? What kind of similar hobbies do you think you may share?

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etc.); and the intersection created by those two sets is our potential girlfriends or boyfriends. If we don’t have boyfriends or girlfriends, it means that the intersection of the two sets is an empty set. To have a partner, no matter a boyfriend or girlfriend, we should maximize our interaction set. To achieve that, we can either make the left circle bigger by meeting more people or make the right circle bigger by modifying the standard of choosing a partner. Also, there are other factors that may prevent us from maximizing these two circles, such as the image, the habits, or the personality.

According to the feedback of our survey, most people claim that the reason they cannot find a partner is that they have fewer chances to meet new people and have narrow social networks.

That’s due to their intrinsic or isolated personalities.

For Chinese students, going to a university that is 10,000 kilometers away from home definitely needs more courage to get to know others and the whole environment. Both boys and girls will encounter difficulties to find partners. In the feedback of our survey, except for the 70% people who have no partners, among the rest of 30%, 20% claim that personality is the first priority for finding a partner.

Besides, the feedback also shows that 86% of people think that an outgoing and extroverted person is much easier to find a partner. The feedback of our survey shows that among those 30% people who have a partner, 18% of people responding that their partners are extroverted. Generally speaking, for girls, they are reluctant to join in some clubs or step out of their comfort zone. Therefore, they have fewer opportunities to meet new friends, losing some chances to recognize ideal partners who have similar characters or interests with them. Moreover, most girls like to hang out with people they knew well and are unwilling to make new friends. Take me as an example. Although I want to know more friends and take part in activities, it is difficult to step out.

the 1108 Boys can experience these difficulties as well. When getting into these difficulties, both boys and girls fell pressure and choose to pay these efforts on other things instead.

Apart from these intrinsic personalities, people spend less time and fewer budgets on “finding a partner”. Most single respondents replied that they are unwilling to spend time, efforts, or money on partners. In the survey, while 77.1% of respondents think people should spend no more than 4 hours per day staying with their partner, in fact, more than 40% of respondents who have partners spend more than 4 hours on that. Most surprisingly, approximately 20% of students actually spend more than 10 hours on their partners each day.

As students, especially students who don’t have partners now, studying is the priority. If finding a partner takes much more time than we expect, we are definitely unwilling to ever take actions for it.

We either think it is not worth it or believe it is hard to insist. Moreover, when people spend time with partners, they also spend a certain amount of money too. To avoid the differences in living expenses, our survey only asked the number of proportion students spending or willing to spend on their partners. Worth noticing, although the proportion of expectation is similar to the real spending proportion, most people agree that the spending proportion should be around 20% of living expense, the average spending proportion is higher in the reality than the expectation. One even responded the percentage spent is 95%~100%. For students who don’t have

partners, it shrinks their own budget and decreases their life qualities, completely opposing to their initial goal – find a partner to make life better.

Time is too short and budget is too tight to build a rigid and stable relationship. Hence, these students are either more willing to pay more on academic materials, or less willing to spend money getting themselves prepared to find partners such as buying new clothes, attending parties, or inviting potential partners to dinner. And it is impossible to fall in love within a second, or spend nothing at all to reap a relationship (you will only get an R.I.P instead).

Finding a partner is difficult because the reality and our expectations usually don’t fit with each other. If you have a partner now, then congratulations! It is an unforgettable experience to have someone to rely on and share funny things. If you haven’t got a partner, you don’t need to feel disappointed. You can still improve and be a better self. Try to accustomed to the new life and join different activities then, starting with knowing more people, or saying hi to your neighbor. After a long period of time, you will feel that it is good to stay single!

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Beyond Residence Halls

By Yuqing Wang, Fiona Fei, and Yuchen Zheng

Tired of curling in the tiny dorm that has no space for a normal-size desk and a yoga sheet? It is time to think about living off-campus.

Why living off-campus is a good option? The prices of off-campus apartments and campus dormitories tell everything. At UCSB, the lowest rate is the combo of a small double room with a 10-meal plan, and it costs $12,781 per school year, which is about $1600 per month. However, the rent of most off-campus apartments ranges from $550 to $1000. Even with the meal plan fee, the off-campus housing expense is less likely to exceed the rate that campus residence hall offers. For this reason, many students think living outside of campus is a better choice.

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Also, transportation is not a problem that we commonly think it is. Commuting from UCSB campus to apartments in IV or Goleta is easy. There are plenty of bus lines that run between campus to the surrounding college towns. Most of the apartments are within walking distances. If you own a car, that will be more convenient since parking spaces are provided for tenants in most apartments.

Walking down the tunnel from campus to IV, we are given plenty of options of apartments to choose from. Besides price and transportation, there is a lot more to consider. This time, we visited Campus 880 together, which is located on 860 Camino del Sur within thirty minutes walking distance from Campus. There are also bus services connect it to the school. Line 27 is 2 minutes away, and other lines (11,15X, 24X, 28) are 4 minutes away. After our trip there, we have some house hunting tips to share with you.

The inside of the apartments is the most direct aspect of evaluating the living condition. Unlike our dormitories which include beds, desks and chairs, most apartments in IV have only the rugs on the floor, and you have to buy furniture by yourself. But at Campus 880, out of our expectations, they have all pieces of furniture ready for you, along with electricity, water, internet and cable, which saves your time and preparation. Although the rent for the apartments that include furniture and other utilities is usually more expensive compared to those apartments that don’t include them, students have less to worry about. Students should check whether utilities are available before renting.

Most houses in America are built of wood, which means that

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they are not fireproof. However, some newly built apartments like Campus 880 are constructed in concrete. There are so many earthquakes happen in California each year, and when choosing a house, safety is guaranteed if you live in a sturdy one. The building material of the house is one feature that students should check out when renting the apartment.

Leasing details are also important. For examples, different estates have their own leasing standards and requirements. Some allow tenants having pets, while others don’t. For some, you have to pay the rent for the whole apartment, while for some you only need to pay your portion to the manager. It’s better for you to be clear about these terms before signing the contract.

Besides living in the apartment, connecting with the community around the apartment is necessary and unavoidable. Thus, noise becomes a noticeable problem. Apartments in some neighborhoods are assigned quiet-hour rules to ensure that the residents can enjoy a quiet environment to rest at night, especially for we students who have studied for a whole day.

Campus 880 has quiet hours which vary from weekdays to weekends from 11 pm to 1 am. Also, the guard and the security are vital because they are the ones that make an action if the neighbors don’t obey the quiet rules.

Some communities like campus 880 provide a non-exclusive study room, which is extraordinary good for students because some may think it’s too quiet to study in their room at night, and their bed attracts them too much. The study room enables them

to study in a more favorable environment, thereby improving the efficiency of studying, and review together with the neighbors who are most likely to be UCSB students also. Check out the study room if it’s significant for you.

For those who love social, some apartments may also provide hanging out places to holds activities and parties and offers chances for residents to do volunteering jobs and part-time jobs with paid nearby. For instance, campus 880 is joint with an ambassador program. UCSB students with a GPA higher than 3.0 have a chance to tutor the youth in St. George Youth Center and get paid for about 12 dollars an hour. Their salaries return in turns of cutting down the renting fees. The residents can get reduced renting fees for at most 200 dollars a month if they work for 17 hours.

FYI: Leasing season starts right now!

If you plan to live off campus with your friends next year, it’s better to start looking for apartments now because the earlier you start, the higher chance you get the kind of residence you want, especially when you have a large group of people who want to live together. If you wait until spring, apartments might get filled up. So you and your friends may end up scattering around IV. To start the whole house hunting process is not that hard. All you have to do is to call the landlord’s or agent’s number, and they will take you and your friends on a tour of the house.

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The Curious

By Haoyu Wang, Xinwei Dong, and Hongning Wang

We took a survey on some UCSB students and staffs about their cars. Most people bought pre-owned cars rather than brand new ones. Many local students prefer to buy cars online-- there are some good Apps on their smartphone such as Craigslist. Also, some local students would buy cars from personal sellers who posed the sale information online, and others bought their cars from family friends, which is more convenient and guaranteed. However, for most of international students such as Chinese students, when they just came to America at the first time, they are more willing to trust Chinese dealers in order to avoid language problems.

Different websites may have different offers, thus you can select several offers that you are interested and save the contact information of those nice offers.

The next step for you to do is to contact car dealers. As the report states, you can contact personal sellers as well if you are looking for pre-owned cars. It is noteworthy for buying pre-owned cars that you need to pay attention on the mileage and the title of the car. In order to check those, you need to ask for the VIN number (it is sole for cars), and you can check the car’s condition with the VIN number Instructions in how to buy a on carfax. Here is a small suggestion: pick the ones with clean title rather than car the salvage ones. Once you’ve decided, you need to pay the bill and the car dealIf you want to buy a car, at lease you need to get a permit in order to purchase er/ owner would help you set up insurance in order to let you drive your car the car. Everyone wants to drive safely, safely. THIS IS IMPORTANT (checkout right? While you getting your permit insurance part with further explanation)! and driver’s license, it is a good time for you to check out information online. What’s more, if you felt hard to afford the car, the car dealer/owner may make Therefore, you can have an idea about a lease with you so that you can pay the the brand and the type of the car you bill monthly that is more affordable for want to have. There is one more thing you need to check online though -- price! you. page 8 / fall 2017

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Reviews on car dealerships Dealership — 10% tax Chinese — It is very convenient for Chinese student. People can choose to pay in full amount or pay monthly which is a loan to buy the car even people do not have social security number. Moreover the biggest advantage is that their cars will be cheaper than brand distributor’s.

However the car may have some potentially issues but not very serious.

Chinese Dealership in Santa Barbara:

• CAC — no store

• HJ — one store in LA

• HumaCar — every state has a store Locals — Almost the same with Chinese dealership, but they do no allowed a loan to buy the car until you have social security number.

Half coverage. The biggest difference between full coverage and half coverage is that if you hit others’ car, insurance company will pay the repairs for both parties when you have full coverage, but Brand distributor — All cars are quality if you only have half coverage, you have guaranteed, so cars are usually sold in an to pay for your own repairs. The amount expensive price, and they don’t allow a of insurance fee depends on car’s Make, loan to buy the car until you have social Model and Price. The more expensive security number. the car, the higher the insurance fee.

Please drive safely even if you have full Personal car transfer — the easiest way coverage, because every time that you to buy a car, but quite unusual, and also have an accident, the insurance fee will it is the only way that buying a car withincrease. out paying 10% car tax.

“Warning: It is your responsibility under California Law to obtain liability Insurance insurance or be subject to penalties for violating section 16020 of the vehicle There are lots of insurance companies code, which may include loss of license in the United States. If you buy a car or a fine. The insurance acquired by the from dealership, they will suggest you lienholder does not provide liability covto choose GEICO and Progressive. Alerage and does not satisfy your responsimost every insurance company has two bility under California Law” kinds of insurance: Full coverage and page 9 / UCSB

I

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can still remember my first impression of Santa Barbara: gorgeous! The city is not big though, but full of the beautiful scenery. As a student in the University of California, Santa Barbara, I can visit the beach everyday enjoying the island, seashore and sunset. During weekends, it is a relief way to go outside school to chill. Even though there are many attracting options for you, the following places are the top four places we highly recommend you to visit and appreciate the beauty of the city.

MUST VISIT: McCONNELL’s ICE CREAM SHOP Food can always represent the culture or individual characteristics of a city. The direct impressions of people especially tourists can also significantly rely on food. McConnell’s definitely can represent Santa Barbara for its crafting and unique ice-cream with serious attitude towards treating and completing things.

McConnell’s is the most famous ice-cream shop in Santa Barbara downtown and nearly everybody here knows and loves this brand. McConnell’s locates at 728 State Street in Santa Barbara downtown and students in UCSB can take bus 24X or 11 to get there. Others may go to downtown by Uber or car and downtown has a big parking lot for customers to park their cars conveniently.

McConnell’s provides a variety of ice-cream for customers to choose include both classic flavours such as vanilla, dark chocolate and strawberry as well as creative flavours like peanut butter chip, caramel chip and chocolate chip sea salt cookies. Customers can choose waffle-cones or cups to hold their icecream. Waffle-cones in McConnell’s are all homemade and smells really tasty rather than artificial aroma. If you are not sure which flavour to choose, you can ask staffs here to try samples and the staffs here are all very friendly.

There is always a huge line in front of McConnell’s that people are looking forward to their ice-cream every weekend which proves how famous it is. Many customers here state that McConnell’s is the best ice-cream all over the world. Believe me, everyone should definitely try it when comes to Santa Barbara.

MUST VISIT: COURTHOUSE

Have you ever seen a courthouse that makes you take 100 photos without even knowing? Have you been to a courthouse that can provide you with God’s eye view of the city? If your answers are

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no, then come and visit the most fantastic courthouse in Santa Barbara.

This courthouse is located at 1100 Anacapa Street in Santa Barbara. If you are a staff or student in UCSB, you can get there by taking 24X (downtown direction). Getting off at Transit center, a five-minute walk will get you in front of it. While you are on your way to the courthouse, you can also enjoy the phenomenal scenery of Santa Barbara. If you wanted to see it so badly and don’t want to wait, take an Uber for 20 dollars.

For those who have a car, the courthouse provides free parking.

Walking through the grassland toward the main building of the courthouse, I am sure you will be amazed about the intricate building along with

the clear blue sky and vast green field. I could not believe the astonishing architecture in front me was

the 1108 the food, some bands will perform there, so people could enjoy their time eating seafood and listening to music, which is very relaxing.

the courthouse the first time I came as it touches me with romance and elegant style. The architecture consists four buildings in old-fashioned Spanish style with the white color to show the solemnity and sedateness of the courthouse.

There’s no need to pay to visit the courthouse. Walking straight in the hallway, the peacefulness embraces you with the seriousness of the courthouse. But at the same time, the magnificent Spanish paintings make you feel as if you are in Alhambra. On the top floor you will be able to witness the beautiful city of Santa Barbara as it is the highest point in town. Weddings were held here, prayers were sung here and blessings were made here. So don’t hesitate to come by and visit. You WILL be amazed.

MUST VISIT: SANTA BARBARA HARBOR Santa Barbara is a coastal city that is famous for its beautiful ocean and beach. A must go place, therefore, will be the Harbor where we could see the ocean and enjoy the view. The Harbor is at 132 Harbor Way. It’s pretty close to UCSB if you drive or take an Uber because it will only take around 18 minutes. However, if you don’t have a car, it’s totally fine because you can take the 15X bus from UCSB bus loop to get to the Harbor.

The Harbor is really spectacular because you can see a large number of ships there. What is even more exciting is the annual Harbor & Seafood Festival! If you are lucky enough to get there at that time of the year, you can buy sustainably harvested, high-quality seafood, which is both tasty and fresh. Also, you can meet fishermen face-to-face and ask them questions about how to select good seafood or how to cook that seafood. There are many people who will sell souvenir and seafood soup. People could walk around and decide what to buy. In addition to

MUST VISIT: SOLVANG If you are looking for a unique experience in Santa Barbara, exploring the community of Solvang which was founded in 1911 by Danish settlers and holds Danish-American charm and tradition can be the best choice. Solvang is a city in Santa Barbara County and one of the communities that make up the Santa Ynez Valley. It’s just 56 km from the south facing beaches from Santa Barbara. So it’s very convenient to get there. If you have a car, it will only take you 45min to get there. Even without a car, arriving in Solvang is simple. Don’t worry! You can take the Clean Air Express.

Stay away from the hustle and bustle of the city, just stroll in the tranquil and ancient streets, admire the traditional Danish architecture. The Danish-style windmill, various Danish buildings and Hans Christian Andersen statue can create an authentic Danish atmosphere that let you feel you are in the Danmark instead of the American town. You’ll be fascinated by the delicate stores along the streets where you can find the most trendy European style and many exquisite handicrafts. Besides, tasting the authentic and memorable grape wine in Solvang should not be missed. Grapes are planted, nurtured and then produced into high-quality grape wine. In Wine Country, you will have a unique romantic experience about the vineyard and witness the procedure of how the grape wine is made. It must be an interesting experience for the wine lovers. After visiting the Wine Country, just sit down in a bakery and enjoy the fresh dessert, which can offer you a feast of flavors. All in all, Solvang is a magic place that you will never forget.

By Yingfei Gao, Ershu Lu, Zhitong Ye, and Tianyi Zhang page 11 / UCSB

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Life at

R.E.E.F.

Walking along the path of Lagoon road beside the ocean under the intoxicating sunset, you will smell a scent, a feeling of damp and warmth from the sea, and then you will see an authentic building, where everyone can find their joys, R.E.E.F.

Q A

What is R.E.E.F.?

: What is R.E.E.F. stands for?

: R.E.E.F. stands for The Research Experience & Education Facility.

Q: Where is it?

A: You start from San Nicolas Hall on campus, go along the Channel Islands road, turn right at the end, then go straight forward. R.E.E.F. will be on your left-hand side after you see the big marine science building and the beautiful beach.

Q: What is in R.E.E.F.?

A: The REEF is equipped with state-of-theart touch tanks and aquaria, from 2 to 2,000 gallons. Therefore, the visitors can experience touching sea animals like sea stars, urchins, etc.

The R.E.E.F. also utilizes a high-tech life support system for the research tanks, which highlights current, on-going research at UCSB and the Marine Science Institute. The research tanks collect many kinds of sea animals from not only the water around UCSB, but also from the oceans all over the world, and the faculties make the research tanks reconstruct the living environment for those animals.

What happens at R.E.E.F. Walking into the R.E.E.F. we can see many clean tanks with sea animals living in, the water flow is connected to the ocean to ensure that the animals can adapt to the new environment.

Q: Who is taking care of those animals in R.E.E.F.?

A: The faculty who takes care of these animals are volunteers. Most of them are undergraduate students at UCSB who are interested in marine biology and enjoy working with animals.

Q: What are these volunteers doing in R.E.E.F.?

A: According to Ian Packard, who is one of the student volunteers working at R.E.E.F., the daily work of most volunteers can be divided into two parts. The first one, to look after all the animals, feed them, clean the tanks and report death if necessary. The second part is to help the Oceans-to-Classrooms (O2C) education and outreach program.

Q: If I want to visit R.E.E.F., do I have to be a student of UCSB? A: Actually people who want to visit R.E.E.F. don’t have to take courses at UCSB. R.E.E.F. is open to the public. So if you are interested in coming, feel free to do that at any time when the R.E.E.F. is open.

How to volunteer at R.E.E.F. Q: If I am not in a marine major, can I still apply to be a volunteer?

A: If you think that R.E.E.F. sounds like an excellent place to you, you are welcome to join this community. R.E.E.F. is open to everyone, especially to people who have the enthusiasm of working with marine animals. Please realize that you don’t have to major in marine in order to be the member of R.E.E.F. Everyone can be involved make the contribution to this house.

Q: Sounds great! How can I apply?

A: If you like working here, just apply online.

Sent your class schedule and application to the following email outreach@msi.ucsb.edu.

You must apply before the eighth week of every quarter. Chances are rare and spaces are limited and competitive, so don’t hesitate, and start to apply right now!

By Siqi Zhao, Changsheng Su, Shanbin Wang

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o G

h g i , Go H e k i H

There are multiple choices to spend the weekends for a UCSB student. Hiking the trails in Gaviota State Park is one of the best choices to enrich their weekends.

We will introduce three trails in Gaviota State Park and share our experience for one of them.

Easy trail: hot springs

The hot springs trail is about 1 mile total round trip and have 400 hundred feet gain which will take approximately 45 minutes. The trail starts from a parking lot about 2.5 miles north of the park entrance. With its scenic view along the trail, relatively short and wide road and two sulfur springs at the end of the trail, hot springs trail is a nice choice for tourists who wish a relaxing and enjoyable trip.

Moderate trail: Wind Caves

The hike to the wind-swept caves is 2.5 miles round trip with 600 feet of elevation gain and is accessible year-round. The first half of the trial is easy with flat pavement. After this part is a single track which is covered with sands and little stones and becomes steeper, so it’s very slipper and a little bit hard for beginners. Along the trial, you will see the winding Highway 101, wind caves and significant ocean view.

Hard trail: Gaviota Peak

There are two ways for the Gaviota Peak trail.

One is the traditional trail which is 3.15 miles one-way.

The other one is Trespass Trail which is 3.35 miles oneway. The evaluation of these trails are 2150 feet. The trailhead is at the 132 exit of Highway 101, and the parking fee is two dollars. It’s a long trail but the trail is spacious and not rocky until the last intersection at the very end of the trail. At the peak, you can have wonderful pacific view and mountain view. Most part of this trail has a broad and grand view of the mountain which never cease to amuse its visitors since it varies from gold grass fields to a lush forest, and even offers a glimpse of small towns on the foot of the mountain. Sometimes, there is a change of tone such as the last part before arriving peak which is a narrow steep road with trees on both sides. With its stunning scenic view, Gaviota Peak trail definitely is a great

By Shiheng Wang Elia Xu Crystal Zhang

place for hiking lovers or anyone to enjoy themselves and appreciate the beauty of nature.

Experience of hiking the Gaviota Peak

We departed at 8:45, filling up the car on the way, and got the Gaviota Beach Road at 9:30. Getting wrongly into the park lots for the wind caves trail, we got the trailhead of the Gaviota Peak, the Gaviota State Park, at 9:45. There is a sign showing different directions to Trespass Trail and Gaviota Peak Trail. Follow the Gaviota Peak Trail path, and when a giant tree appears, go to the left way of the divergent path which is for the peak,while the right way is for the hot springs. Along the road we can see the 101 highway and rolling mountain ranges. We were not the only team hiked since we met an old couple and several other groups in the trail. It was an interesting experience to say hi and have a short dialogue with other hikers. We took a rest on the halfway, and arrived at the peak at 11:50. In fact, the peak is not the very mountain top. Standing in the breeze, we saw the immense sea and winding coastline. There were two ways to get to the

mountain top, and we followed the old couple to the right side. This part was very steep and slippy with weeds on the sides, but after got the mountain top we thought the view worths all these difficulties. After taking photos, listening to the old couple telling their story of 25 years’ hiking experience and 54 years’ sweet marriage, our hiking is close to a good end. The way down is the same, but more dangerous and Crystal twisted her ankle. At 13:50, we got the successful end of our trail!

At the top of the mountain, the ocean view is impressive. It reminds us of our hometown, which is at the other side of the ocean. We felt like that we conquer the nature. Hiking is just like the life. We have to focus on each step, be cautious and careful. It’s not a bad idea to take a break in our hurry life, reviewing the way we came from and appreciating the view along the road.

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BESTrooms The “Best” Restrooms on Campus

by Zhijie Xia, Jiale Liu & Jieru Lu

Have you ever seen the ocean view when you go to the restrooms?

You can enjoy it in one of the restrooms in UCSB. Location: Bren Hall fourth floor Tips: Most students and staff think the restroom is in the Marine Science Research Building, but it is in the Bren Hall, and only fourth floor has the best view because the views of other floors is blocked by trees!!!!

Adding a big window next to the closestool, the restroom become different. Unlike the normal restrooms, people are always fond of playing with their phones and reading newspaper when they do about their business. Nevertheless, individuals see wide pacific ocean in this private room. Assumed a situation, when a UCSB student go to the restroom during an intense exam, unlike the general restroom that the student is in a poky space, he/she is able to empty him/herself to see the beautiful view, which make them feel relaxed.

The most cozy restroom in UCSB Location: Marine Science Research Building 4L floor When we went to the Marine Science Research Building to seek the best view of restroom, we came across this restroom. Pushing the door, we saw wet wipes, decorations, hand creams, and sanitary towel on the washbasin, which seemed the restroom at home.

Also, because of the warm light and wall papers, it feels more comfortable than the white-light restrooms.

Therefore, coming to UCSB, you not only can tour UCSB library or Storke Tower, but you also is able to visit the two restrooms above!

The biggest restroom in UCSB Bookstore 1st floor

Location:

and dirtiest restroom on the campus.

In this restroom, there are ten students doing their business at the same time. Owing to the fact the distance between the bookstore and each building is similar, bookstore always has a large number of students to pass through. But due to the largest restrooms, there are few queues in this restroom. It is very convenient for students to go to other places on the campus after they finish releasing themselves. In addition to that, for visitors who are not familiar with the infrastructures on campus, the restrooms in the campus bookstore is no worth to go as well!

The smallest restroom in UCSB Location: humanities and social science building 1st floor Comparing with the biggest restroom in campus bookstore, the restrooms in HSSB 1st floor is one of the busiest and smallest among the restrooms on UCSB. There are many classrooms in this building, and a lot of students would probably figure out this place on their course schedules. Since it is hidden in the center of the building, so it is relatively small, but students in our school might be very familiar with this location, and it never lacks the flow of visitors. Thereby, it is the smallest, busiest

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The newest and cleanest restroom in UCSB Location: bioengineering building This building is opened on October 19th. The restrooms no matter the furnishing or the equipments are all very new.

For example, unlike the other hydrovalve, the newest hydrovalve in the picture is automatic. Since it is just opened for few months, many classrooms and laboratories have not been utilized yet, so there are not many people walking inside the building.The restrooms there remain as the newest and cleanest ones in UCSB. The oldest restroom in UCSB College of Creative Studies Although it looks obsolete nowadays, it occupies the most prestigious academic standing in UCSB. This building is not allowed everyone to enter, which becomes increasingly mysterious. Since it was built during the time of 2nd world war, it is one of the oldest buildings, so does the restroom in it. Thanks to the limit number of students who can enroll the college of creative studies, this old and small restroom can still play an indispensable to satisfy those super scholars’ needs.

Location:

The most hidden restroom in UCSB T.B.A Have you ever found the most hidden and secretive restroom which locates in the area of UCSB? If yes, it is prepared for you to check out!

Location:

the 1108

for Mexican Food

GroupM

Being enthusiastic about food in Santa Barbara, three members in GroupM, Anne Lin, Annabelle Zhang and Hanwen Zhang, explored a famous Mexican food restaurant called “Los Arroyos”.

Experience the delicious Mexican food with our GroupM

When we chatted with our linguistics instructor, he recommended a Mexican restaurant “Los Arroyos” to us passionately. We have tried Korean, Japanese, American food in Isla Vista after we came to the United States. However, we stayed away from Mexican food, unwilling to give a try because we dislike the tacos and burritos provided by the dining commons which are too bland to us. For Chinese students we known at UCSB, almost no student finds Mexican food delicious. We used to be like them as well before we went to the “Los Arroyos”.

Inside the “Los Arroyos”

Decorations inside of the Los Arroyos is like an old bar with many wine bottles hanging on the ceilings. Many old couples are talking, drinking and enjoying the delicious food there. Small flowers and candles are placed on every table, making the restaurant warm and beautiful. Waitresses there are super kind and they even introduce the whole menu just in case that customers may have some problems with it.

Eating in “Los Arroyos” is an enjoyment because of the super comfortable environment and welcoming waitresses.

Rajas con Queso

According to Hanwen in the GroupM, the dish he ordered was “Rajas con Queso”. “It consists of two soft tacos with grilled pasilla chiles, onions and chicken, topped with Monterey jack and queso fresco cheese. The grilled pasilla chiles tasted a little bitter, but with the cheese, the taste of bitterness became fresh and adds a special flavor to the tacos. However, continuing this meal without any sauce, the taste of the dish would still be bland.

At the mo-

ment that I added a sauce called Guacamole Salsa to the tacos, everything changed. Finally I found authentic spicy food here! The sauce tasted spicy in a way that I have never experienced before. Sichuan food is always so spicy that I feel like that I am burning in the process of eating. However, Guacamole Salsa is just spicy enough that I can realize. Moreover, the fresh and juicy taste and the green color of Guacamole Salsa gives me a feeling of those organic vegetables. For me who are already used to the way how food is spicy in Chengdu, the taste of the Guacamole Salsa is a totally new experience.”

Maria’s Enchiladas

Annabelle expressed her opinions about the “Maria’s Enchiladas”. “To my surprise, the appearance and the taste of the dish Maria’s Enchiladas were not the same as the Mexican food that I had in the cafeteria. I was attracted by the delicate plating and various vegetables on the dish. There were two big burritos covered with cheese, cabbage and tomato, while salad was on the side of the dish. Grilled chicken and steak were put inside the burritos. Taking the first bite, my mouth was overwhelmed by sourness from the sauce.

Despite of this, OMG! it was tasty! I couldn’t stop eating it.”

Changing the attitude

The real Mexican food, like Los Arroyos, a Mexican restaurant whose name means “the river” in Spanish, is actually different from the food of the dining commons. At the moment we tried the spicy taco at Los Arroyos, we found out that we had a totally wrong impression about Mexican food.

There is nothing wrong sticking to Chinese food since our international students are already used to its taste. However, sometimes trying some new kinds of food would be surprisingly rewarding. So why not go to Los Arroyos someday in the future and have a wonderful time there? page 15 / UCSB

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The Gauchos and the Sea

As is known to all, UCSB is famous for its fantastic oceanview. Since our university locates near ocean, we have opportunities to enjoy the gorgeous landscape everyday. We have listed top 3 places for you to go and spend a day with the beautiful ocean view. There are Goleta beach park, campus point and the mysterious beach(which name is unknown), just come with us!

Goleta beach park

Goleta beach park is the only public park located at the east of the UCSB. Students can walk through the Henley gate to access the park or drive to the first exit at 217 freeway. After arriving at the beach park, we can see a lot of palms trees, a seafood restaurant, a pier and several barbecues there. By taking off the shoes and step on the soft sand, we can get closer to appreciate the sea. As we walk on the pier, there are lots of people fishing, most of them stand by the fence and waiting for fishes patiently.

If you go there around the time of sunset, you can see a bright sky with sparse clouds, and the light reflection of the sun dye the clouds into red. The sky is tending to be in pink color and then to blue. The campus of UCSB is straight to the middle of the sea, and the mountains that are far away make a great contrast to the bright yellow color of the sun. What surprisingly, the color of the sea is the same as the sky, so the whole view is like a painting with different colors. After several minutes, all the color shed, fishermen clear up their packages and enjoy the seafood. If you don’t want to go back early, you can stay at the restaurant nearby the sea, eating the fresh and juicy seafood while listening to the sound of nature that is created by the ocean waves. What a romantic night to stay at the Goleta beach park!

Campus point

Campus point is one of the famous ocean views around Santa Barbara which has fascinating history and enchantment. It is situated within the campus, which is also known as Goleta point. “From 1870-90, Goleta Point was used as a whaling camp, with Italian and Portuguese

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crews situated at the locale” (United States Congressional Serial Set 15). Campus point is attractive during dusk and midnight. After the moon falling down, you can lay your eyes on glorious stars in the sky. I could imagine how much nicer if I choose to spend a night in the weekend looking at stars glowing light instead of dancing in loud music and talking about normal boring things during weekdays. One of my friends who like photography took a picture at campus point last months. Everyone who saw it couldn’t believe it’s taken around campus, for they hadn’t gone to Campus point at midnight before. Here is a brief direction for you to get to campus point →

Mysterious Beach

The night is charm, the night is beautiful. Night is the best language of the beach and It’s the best skin of the Santa Barbara. If you love stars, love the beach, you should love the gorgeous night of the Mysterious Beach.

The sun has set, but it’s never dark in there. The faint light of stars and the moon is bright enough to illuminate visitors’ heart. When you tilt your head skyward, you can clearly see millions of shining little stars dotted on the dark blue canvas of night. At there, you can be anybody and no one cares who you really are. Your mind starts to blur with fanciful possibilities…

By looking at our introduction and those amazing photos, can you still wait to go? Stop hesitating, grab your camera, and gather some friends to enjoy the beauty of the nature and create your special memories at UCSB!

By Yihan Lyu Yihan Wu Lu Tian Yucheng Huang

T

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he upcoming finals make us nervous and exhausted. After hard work, we need some good places with comfortable chairs and attractive sceneries to release our pressure. Thus, we recommend some places as follows for you to be the most enjoyable.

The most aesthetic room: Art & architecture room in the first floor

If you are crazy about art, you should not miss this room -- the Art & Architecture room on the first floor, a room decorated magnificently by various kinds of artworks. Although it is called “the art room�, everyone is welcome to embrace this artistic room. Before walking into the room, you will be attracted by some small but vivid sculptures in the showcase on both sides of the door. The emotion and action of the sculptures are created lively. In this aesthetic room, you are surrounded by appealing landscape paintings and there are settled chairs for people to appreciate these wonderful paintings. So if you are tired of study, enjoying these masterworks seems like an ideal choice to relax. You can take a

of the first and second floor. The square tables separate the sofa into three parts, so you can rest in your individual space and others can sit at the same time without disrupting you. We recommend you to bring your own pillow and blanket and enjoy your temporary mattress!

Additionally, the round shape of the sofa is convenient for a group of friends to chat and have some snacks for breaks!

Places hold the fantastic view of the campus and nature

Too tired of boring textbooks and academic articles? Read some interesting novels while sitting on the balcony outside with old trees. On the Oceanside of the second floor, you can find several chairs in a square balcony that is one of the best places to touch the nature. Sitting there, you are exposed to the whole nature: the green and yellow leaves in the old trees come to your face, forming a natural sunshade for students.

Thanks to these old trees, everyone sitting there are able to take a fresh breath with a pleasing fragrance that the leaves release into the air. So the most relaxing thing that

By Jessica Poon and Tianyuan Nan

seat in front of your favorite painting and watch it for half an hour to refresh your brain.

The most comfortable places

The Egg Chairs

The Egg Chairs located on the first floor on the Oceanside are the most relaxing seats that you can find in the whole library. They are designed to help students take a rest after a long study. You can lie down, relax your back, and stretch your legs like sitting on a cozy sofa at home. The sunshine through the french window in front of the Egg Chair provides you energy and warms up your heart! However, there are only two sides available, so please be patient for the most comfortable experience in the library.

Round sofa

When you feel tired and pressured sitting too long on the studying chair facing the wall, you should take a nap on the round sofas located on the Oceanside

we suggest you is just to read a book with this kind of beautiful scenery. Sometimes, the wind stirs leaves and the soft sound falls around you. Your pressure is spontaneously blown away.

The Eighth floor is where you can enjoy the finest view of UCSB. The highest floor in the library is separated by the book racks into north and south orientation.This floor has limited seats beside the windows for students who choose the eighth floor to have a chance to study with the panoramic view of UCSB. In the afternoon of this cold winter day, bathing under the warm sunshine on the south side will give you inspirations for your final papers. Looking out the windows, you will see the shining sparkles waving in the sea. Moreover, sitting on the other side allows you to appreciate the whole view of UCSB. Embrace yourself in the peaceful scenery and reach the peak of the stroke tower at a close distance like it is in front of you. Therefore, the eighth floor is where you should go if you want to feel yourself studying in nature.

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Backstage Pass

by Zelin Li and Zhiheng Li

In the past two years, Fan established this band. All of them are the fans of music but most of them is not in music major except Vincent. They wanted to make this band better to make their college life more interesting and to let them have something to memorize in the future. They depend on any shows to attract fans in order to improve their reputation, and most of the shows are provided

by CSA and CSSA. When they saw the audience passion, they will have a bigger motivation to make this band better.

As the only one who is in music major, Vincent’s dream is to be a music producer. He also plays as the tutor in this band because he can provide many professional helping. Vincent was invited by Max when he first saw this band. Vincent liked the enthusiastic atmosphere, so he decided to join this band. Because of their enthusiasm toward music, they spare an hour to rehearsal in downtown weekly. Their handwork and enthuthsiasm make them love music even more.“At first, it was harsh.”

Vincent produced a forced smile when we talked about the beginning of the band.

Although now they have a small and comfortable studio in downtown as rehearsal location, things can be totally different 2 years ago.

“We don’t really have a place to rehearse, most of time we rehearsed in members’ home, but the noise was too annoying for neighbours and we have to move due to the numerous reporting of noise nuisance,” Said Vincent, “We had to rehearse on a roof of a parking lot building. I know it sounds romantic and looks like a movie scene, but it’s nothing related to romance. It was cold, and most of time we have to bear the windy or even rainy weather.”

Worth celebrating, eventually they found a comfort studio in the Santa Babara, and the ex-

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pense is cheap and affordable for them

Except the academic pressure, the pressure on expense can also be a challenge for the band.

“We rent a studio, and we go dutch for the fee of that, but besides that, there are also some else expense which we have to undertake.”

Keyboard, guitar, bass... Members usually bought the equipment for themselves and take those equipment to the performing place. But drum is different. It’s too expensive for a college students, and the drummer can’t really find a place to store it.

As a result,everytime when it comes to performing, the band has to rent a drum set in the guitar center and move it to the performing place.

“That’s quite inconvenient, we have to use a truck to move it and carry those heavy drums by ourselves. Although we go dutch for the fee of renting, it can still be a huge cost for everyone in the band. But, what can we do? We need drums, and we need music.”

Although there can be so many challenges, Great advances haven been made during this two years. The band has created their first original song “Psycho”, and all the group members love it so well.

They also made a lot of famous performance among international students, and are invited to perform in many activities. But when the question comes to the most memorable performance, Vincent answered with no hesitation:

“It was sep.9th, and we performed under the stroke tower. It was our first public performance.. and we were all so excited for that. Many foreign students were attracted and clapped for us around the square. And you know, the stroke tower, it’s a meaningful place for all the UCSB students, and performing uder that is such a precious memory for all of us. I guess I will always keep this story and told it to my grandchildren when I am 60 years old.”

It’s quite moving hearing from Vincent Gao about their band. The passion they have for music, and the great effort they have made for their dreams... It’s such an encouraging story.