From Norway to Petaluma, here’s how we spent our summer break.
Life in Longyearbyen
Sally Shapiro / Daily Nexus
This summer, I went on a trip to Longyearbyen, Norway, the northernmost city in the world. The town I visited is so small that the polar bear population actually outnumbers the residents. In fact, everyone leaves their cars and homes unlocked in case of a polar bear encounter, which is very different from my life in sunny Los Angeles, where leaving your door unlocked is unheard of … and polar bears are nonexistent.
My first thought was: “How could people live in a place so conducive to loneliness?” When asking locals this question, they just gestured to the glimmering icy blue waters and breathtaking rocky mountains and said, “Why would I want to live anywhere else?” After just a day spent in Longyearbyen, I understood the sentiment from the locals. Since returning, the high from the natural beauty still lingers, and I wished I never had to come down from the top of the world.
Sally Shapiro, Staff Writer
Home sweet Corona
Zack Kramer / Daily Nexus
This summer, I was at home.
That isn’t to say that I spent my three-ish months of break simply rotting in my bed — instead, I did what I loved.
I went on walks around my neighborhood, visited friends, saw art, listened to music, rekindled a love of reading, spent the weekend at the lake, turned 19, had jury duty for two weeks, got into my first car accident, went on vacations, spent time with those I love and did what I love.
I was at home this summer, but that home was wherever I went.
Home … well, now it’s UCSB, and I hope everyone finds their home here as I have.
Zack Kramer, Staff Writer
O Canada…
Alicia Siebers / Daily Nexus
This summer I fled the country, aka I worked at an environmental science and sustainability pre-college program in Canada for a month. Just when I thought I missed UCSB dorm life, I was back living with 150 high schoolers on the University of British Columbia campus. I taught lectures, chaperoned field trips, ran labs and advised a small group of 15 students by day, and I took on resident assistant duties by night. I got paid to share my environmental passions, meet industry professionals, attend leadership sessions and see grizzly bears and humpback whales with a bunch of teenagers who even said I had a “positive aura.” Best summer job ever.
Alica Siebers, Copy Editor
Spilled my guts this summer!
Kendra Martinez / Daily Nexus
After nearly a year of waiting, August finally came and my two best friends and I had the pleasure of attending the Olivia Rodrigo GUTS World Tour at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles.
Walking through the gates of the Forum kick started my adrenaline after waiting in traffic for what seemed like hours. All around us there were thousands of people dressed to the nines in purple, glittery, fabulous outfits. We grabbed our merch and headed towards the Forum’s signature white columns that were decorated with pictures of Rodrigo and some of her iconic lyrics. We chose to take our pictures in front of a pillar with a poster of Rodrigo singing and another pillar decorated with lyrics from Rodrigo’s song “obsessed.”
We headed inside to find our seats and mentally prepare for the immense star power we were about to witness. The arena erupted when Rodrigo came on stage singing “bad idea right?” as her opening song. The night flew by as we sang along to all of Rodrigo’s set. Once the concert came to a close, we ventured out of the Forum to a nearby gas station in hopes of securing an Uber. Once we did, we went home. It was truly one of the most memorable nights of my summer.
Kendra Martinez, Assistant Artsweek Editor
Petaluma, CA: the egg basket of the world
Lauren Chiou / Daily Nexus
If you’ve seen me in the past two years, you know about my signature accessory: a navy blue baseball cap that says Petaluma. It’s an admittedly random wardrobe staple — Petaluma is a small farm town in the Bay Area, once considered “The Egg Basket of the World.” It’s home to the World’s Ugliest Dog Contest, the World’s Wristwrestling Championship and an annual Butter & Egg Days Parade & Festival. Meanwhile, I’m a Los Angeles native that shudders at the sight of dirt and has an inexplicable fear of animals.
But Petaluma is the city my grandparents chose to start a family in. It’s where my mom grew up and was named Miss Petaluma in 1992. So, as the direct descendant of Miss Petaluma, wearing that navy blue Petaluma baseball hat is in my blood.
Happy to report that for the first time in five years, my family visited my grandparents in Petaluma over the summer!
We only drove up for Fourth of July weekend, so I didn’t get a chance to see ugly dogs or wrist wrestling. We instead spent time around the house. My brother and I flipped through photo albums and laughed at pictures from the ’80s. We watched the downtown fireworks show from the driveway. My mom tried to convince my grandpa not to paint the house green (he did anyways).
Petaluma might not be the most glamorous summer vacation spot, but during my 48 hours in the egg basket, I wondered if this is what it must’ve been like to grow up in Petaluma. And, oddly enough, I felt perfectly at home.
Guess it’s in my blood. Or on my hat.
Lauren Chiou, Artsweek Editor
London calling!
Stella Mullin / Daily Nexus
Still technically summer for a quarter-system student, I moved to London in early September, and I will call the capital home for the next three months. Sunny days, ocean jumps in between classes and getting away with wearing flip flops to class have turned into triple layering, umbrellas, double decker buses and boots. My beloved Rainbows were replaced with a pair of Doc Martens. London is loud and noisy and confusing and every time I think I have figured something out, I quickly realize that I have, in fact, not. But it is also everything I have wished to be a part of.
As an English major, I cannot begin to describe how at home I feel around people who always carry a book, who can sit in a coffee shop for hours and who wear trench coats. Notting Hill and its colorful houses, particularly the blue door and travel bookshop, Piccadilly Circus and the array of theater it has to offer, original Beatles’ lyrics in the British Library, Big Ben and Westminster Abbey and everything in between. I sit on the upper level of the red double decker buses simply because I cannot do that anywhere else.
Although I am halfway across the world and am creating a new life for myself here, I cannot part ways with the Daily Nexus, even just for a little bit. Keep watch for a column between myself and the Artsweek staff at home sharing my (probably messy) adventures in a city that cannot be more different from Isla Vista.
Stella Mullin, Artsweek Editor
This appeared in the October 3 printed edition of the Daily Nexus
