El verano en Santa Barbara

¿Qué hiciste este verano? What did you do this summer? I had a busy summer in Santa Barbara, California. I’m working on my master’s degree in Hispanic Language and Culture at UCSB and I’ll graduate next summer.

I spend six weeks there during the summer. I live in an apartment not too far from the campus. I fly out to California so I don’t have my car with me while I’m there. This summer I got around on my bike with its little basket in front that that I used to carry my books and groceries.

I was pretty busy with my classes this summer, but we had some extra excitement. There are usually several wildfires in California during the summer and this summer there was one called the Gap Fire. When it was biggest, the fire burned about 9,000 acres and it was about ten to fifteen miles from where I lived. It took almost a month for firefighters to contain it. Governor Schwarzenegger even came to check out the fire because it was so bad, but I was too busy doing homework to try to meet him. Helicopters were out all night dropping chemicals on the fire to keep it from spreading into the city. Our power went out almost every night for two weeks. I had to do my homework with a flashlight! Take a look at this slideshow that shows pictures of the fire. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpUgLThV-4k

The fire made things pretty hot outside, but there was also a lot of smoke in the air. It also rained, but not water-it rained ashes during the night and in the morning so my classmates and I had to buy masks to wear when we were outside because we kept choking on ashes. I didn’t look ridiculous at all wearing mine.

As you can see, I had a pretty busy and kind of bizarre summer. I was ready to come back home to get ready for the school. I’m excited to be back here at Lakeview and can’t wait to get the school year started.
¡Nos Vemos!