Do you appreciate daily the incomparable environment we share here at UCSB? Enjoy the gorgeous cliffs, picturesque sunsets and long stretch of beaches… with waves. Besides the oil remnants stuck to the bottom of your feet, Santa Barbara has a lot to offer the surfing college student. Go to class, surf, run to class, run to surf, class, surf… surf… surf. Though the waves are not as large or as clean during Fall Quarter, the warm rays of the sun leave you feeling as though summer has not even left.

If you’re attending UCSB and have never touched a surfboard, you’re missing out. This does not mean to ask the guy next door to teach you – that would not be a successful move. Just know that there is more to life. To you, school is filled with class, papers and napping. Such a life does not exist to a surfer. While you sit at your computer, looking at the latest Facebook/MySpace news trying to create a life, we research the latest surf report, looking for killer surf in Santa Barbara. There’s nothing wrong with getting your homework done and all that – school is great, learning an unending task, but realize that there is more than what is found in the classroom, or simply on campus for that matter. We all want to learn something and establish goals during our time here, but it is those who put knowledge to practice, realizing it in their lives, who will actually be successful.

Campus point is a good first step towards the surfer life. With its close proximity to Isla Vista, there is no excuse to not attempt to surf here. No, there are not usually waves, but at least you’re getting wet and paddling around while getting those arms ready for the winter. Sands and Devereux however, bring on a whole different rhythm.

On its own, even the walk down to Sands amps a surfer. It is hard to be more than dissatisfied with the current surf at the end of the trail, but that will all soon change. When you are lucky, decent waves are all yours and the energy on the water is incredible. You find yourself catching hours of proud waves all to yourself, making for a stoked and determined surfer who will likely work even harder on that paper than the kid who cannot leave the room until his school work is done.

If true size and shape are your specialty, check out Santa Barbara locals in the snapshots at some of the Central Coast’s most unpopulated surf spots. True, you may need connections to get to surf waves like these, but it is worth the trouble to catch a wave that reminds you of what life really is.

Getting barreled and laying out tricks add other dimensions to the sport in themselves. When skill is applied on a wave, great things can happen. Not everyone will experience this kind of high, but all surfers know that surfing well brings a sense of personal accomplishment that only surfers can realize.

Take advantage of your surroundings – do not lock yourself up with papers and MySpace addictions for too long. Many college kids do not have the option of watching the sun set over the Pacific Ocean daily, breathing fresh coastal air or admiring a horizon with such possibility, let alone surfing, all within a minute’s walk from campus. Get outside and feel your surroundings; surf, sit, listen. The likelihood of such a carefree life at your fingertips after the college years is slim. So please, do not forget to the surfer life to the fullest while you all are still here.