Being home...

Though I did not stick to my promise in my previous post about follow-up posts reflecting on my last few weeks in Los Angeles, I can share some further details almost 4 months on since I left the city. 

My final few weeks in Los Angeles followed the same patterns as previous, entailing a lot of fun, hard work and spending good time with great friends. As my time at UCLA came to a close and my final examinations were fast approaching, I made sure I experienced a number of last minute things with my friends so that I felt fulfilled when I stepped foot off US soil. Without providing too much detail, I spent time both in Huntington, Orange County and in Pasadena, two places relatively close to Los Angeles. Whilst in Orange County I was exposed to some fantastic beaches and views that rank highly with some of the other spectacular views I was fortunate to see during my year. In Pasadena, I was spoilt by great company and was enchanted by the quirkiness of the town. 

It became apparent to me today that there were a lot more viewers and followers of this blog than I ever imagined or anticipated, I therefore felt it was just that I provided an update on my last few weeks, my current position and how I feel a few months on now that my final year at UCL is well underway. 

On returning, I found the first 10 days tough, though elated to see family and friends whom I had missed much, I didn't know exactly what to do with myself. It became quickly apparent that L.A. though very real, immersed me in a dream-like state which was difficult to detach from. I suppose one could call it holiday blues, though my time in Los Angeles was far more than a holiday and to this day still bears very strong significance. 

In fact, I am reminded of my time there at least twice a week. I am currently working for the University of California at their London Study Centre, dealing with US students that decided they wanted to take the plunge and immerse themselves into a new experience for a year. The air in my office (joined by two other colleagues whom had participated in the exchange at some point) is permanently filled with nostalgia, with reflections and story telling a significant part of the job! It is without doubt that my time in Los Angeles set me up perfectly for this part-time job, and it is fulfilling being able to assist students much like colleagues in Los Angeles assisted me. To top it all off, this weekend is the 50th Anniversary Gala celebrating 50 years of University of California's relations with UK institutions. The event is due to host over 150 guests both from California and London each with their unique experiences or role in creating such experiences, it is going to be a fabulous event and I'm very excited.

Academically, things are continuing to move smoothly (though some issues with dissertation choice and execution are yet to be ironed out). The strong results I attained from this blog has set me up well for this fourth and final year where completing my degree with a 1st is more than possible.

To conclude this post, I would firstly like to express my appreciation for everyone that made this year abroad possible both stateside and at home, I know some were burdened more than others but nonetheless everyone knows who they are.  Secondly, I would like to highlight that I wish to continue my strong relations with University of California and I hope to return there in the future. Thirdly, I will post on this blog from time to time with pictures/videos that encapsulated my experience, but ultimately will move onto a new blog for this academic year to keep this one exclusively about my year abroad (I will post a link to my new personal blog if anyone is interested in the coming weeks). Fourthly, I have two ongoing academic blogs if the more academic aspects of my posts interest you (http://conflictorcooperation.blogspot.co.uk - based on the issues surrounding transboundary water resources & http://thefuturefortropicalfish.blogspot.co.uk - looking at climate change and the response/fate for tropical species)

Lastly, I miss LA! here is a picture of me and Sarah (another year abroad student) devouring one of the best things in California..... in-n-out. (no cliché intended)

Day 229 - Some reflections... But not the end!

Before I first began posting for this academic blog and taking extra notes in classes of the differences between Geography taught in the US at UCLA and how it is taught at home from experiences at UCL, the blog merely served as a way for me to communicate with my home geography department. In the first few weeks I struggled, I felt I had to dig deep, a process that was unnatural and forced. The blog felt very detached and impersonal, an aspect of my initial posts that makes reading entries of length difficult and indigestible. Now however, writing these posts has become natural and enjoyable, but most of all personal, I feel I’ve been able to fuse my academic experiences here at UCLA with my personal experiences sharing them with those who pay interest in reading about my time in Los Angeles. I’d be dishonest if I said I didn’t feel the process was at first laborious, however I now find it enjoyable and that is the reason why I intend to continue posting new entries beyond the submission date for examination. I believe it is important for myself to reflect and to allow my family and friends to be updated on my findings and experiences but also help advise those that are due to embark on a year abroad themselves. I aim to share my blog with the UCL study abroad team so that they can gain insight along with prospective travellers about integration, culture shock, and crucially the differences between the education system here in the US, and what to expect in comparison to what they’ve become accustomed to at UCL.

This brief post serves to highlight the importance of blogging for documenting such life changing and future shaping experiences. As I’ve learnt whilst being here, grades are simply not transferrable between US and UK universities due to the crucial differences between the way classes are taught, the materials used and the forms of assessment. Though sceptical at first, this is the most appropriate form of assessment but also makes sure the student extracts the most out of their study abroad experience and critically reflects on their academic and personal journey.

In two weeks I shall write another entry providing updates on my experiences, and importantly reflecting on how I feel at this stage of my year abroad, week 7 of my last quarter here at UCLA. Things are coming to a close, and this blog will continue to document it until the very end.

Day 229 - Last round of Midterms and Revelations

I write these next two blog entries, 19 and 20 in the thick of my last midterm season at UCLA. Hours prior compiling these posts, I visited the Aquarium of the Pacific as made mandatory by my Humid Tropics class. Interestingly it was my first visit to an aquarium of that scale, I saw many of the fish that I had learnt about in class, and it proved good revision for my upcoming midterm on Thursday. The previous Wednesday I had my first form of formal assessment for my Spanish South America class, entailing response to one of two essay questions. Based on the reading provided by the professor I was able to answer a question surrounding Latin American history of adopting western economic ideologies. In answering this question I felt free to discuss periods between the 40s and 70s where Latin America had for once shrugged off European and US ideologies to adopt Import Substitution Industrialization and more socialist policies led by then Chilean president Salvador Allende (Winn, 1989). This period of 30 years or so was the only period in which Latin America had some economic and political autonomy. Despite this, they still relied on loans from IMF and the World Bank and were eventually forced out of it by the Chicago Boys school of economics led by Milton Friedman in collaboration with then US president Nixon (Klein, 2007). I feel confident I answered the question aptly, and believe this was aided by my genuine interest in the topic area. 

I had concerns about this class initially as the lecturer, a PhD student, was only notified a week before class started that she would be teaching the course. Impressively, after overcoming the first two nervous sessions, she has proved to be a really helpful and knowledgeable teacher whom herself originates from the context of the content she teaches. I think one of the main take home messages I take from university education is that the most highly acknowledged and renown professors are not always the best teachers and you can sometimes get better taught by those less renown with more to prove, I imagine this to be the case in most geography departments around the world.

During the period since my last posts I have also been continuously training for my half marathon next month and making good progress despite having a setback two weeks ago with a knee problem. In addition to this I have been working just under 20 hours a week contributing my efforts as a supervisor to help the UCLA Store run smoothly. Most importantly however, was a realisation I made around 10 days ago after attending a seminar with a UN representative whom talked about careers with geography degrees. It had already been in my thoughts for a few months that one of the main reasons I study geography, for its broad interdisciplinary nature, might not apply anymore and may hinder my job opportunities post graduation. I’ve felt like my experiences with geography so far have made me well rounded, good at a lot of things but expert at not as much, giving me many options but not providing a lot of direction. Thus, I have decided I want to specialise, and do a masters degree in order to narrow my focus into an area within geography that interests me most and enables me to dedicate myself to a certain field or vocation. Initial research into masters programs at UCL and other top London universities have cemented this desire, and I hope to apply for programs either in Climate Change Governance or Environmental Economics the upcoming academic year.

This realisation I feel is crucial, and it is probably one of the biggest of my time here at UCLA so far, one I believe will shape my future. 

Klein, N. (2007) The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, New York: Picador.

Winn, P. (1989) Weavers of Revolution: The Yarur Workers and Chile’s Road to Socialism, Oxford University Press.

Day 222 - Humid Tropics: The flaws in US College system

As I write this blog post on the 19^th April, I enter 4^th week of my final quarter here at UCLA. My focus for this post is the class I was most excited when I initially looked at the courses before arriving. Anyone who knows me well will know I have a fond interest in South America, be it on cultural, historical, economic or political levels. My interest with this region of the world is also very much engrained in its wonderful physical geography, the many different landscapes that are found, be it in the Andes where some of the most rich indigenous cultures can still be found (D’Altroy, 2003) or in the low lying Amazon rainforest which also contains a wealth of indigenous cultures, but more so in biodiversity and natural resources. Humid Tropics, feeds my interest in South Americas physical geography, looking at various aspects of physical geography just North and just South of the equator. Despite this, I have been very surprised with the content taught so far in this class. Religiously using the Indo-Pacific Coral Reef field guide (Allen and Steen, 1998), the first 3 weeks of classes have entailed simply learning the fauna and flora of coral reefs found distributed in the warm shallow waters of the tropics (Allen and Steen, 1998). The forms of assessment appear straightforward, the midterm consists of simply identifying the group that a certain set of selected fishes and coral plants and invertebrates belong to. In addition to this, our professor made obligatory a trip to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. This class has made clear some further differences between how geography is taught in the UK and US. It is very unlikely that any module in the UK would commit so much time to something rather specific and what I would consider unnecessary knowledge. I believe this is what frustrates me most about this class; the content thus far has not given me any foundation to apply it to the real world other than aiding my ability to identify fish when visiting an aquarium. On top of this, the class of 250 people is a hybrid of students from various majors (subject areas), as a result a large majority of the class do not have any background in geography, leading the Professor to spend the first class teaching basic concepts such as the ITCZ. For any Geographer this is frustrating, as at 3^rd year degree level concepts like this should no longer need covering. 

A fundamental flaw in the American educational system in my opinion is the cause of this. In previous posts I have alluded to the immense flexibility in studying classes from different departments. For example, this quarter I am studying a communication studies class and the previous two I took Spanish classes. This has advantages as one is allowed to broaden the knowledge they acquire and pursue knowledge in areas covered by other departments. However, the fundamental disadvantage, and what is currently reducing this class to insignificance, is that people choose easy classes from different departments with only one interest, to get the highest GPA they can possibly achieve. Grade inflation in the US has been a severe problem as mentioned by students I’ve spoke to and from the reading I’ve done before publishing this post. Grade inflation has led to competition for the very highest grades, so high that students no longer see the advantages in taking classes that interest them but instead enrol in the easiest classes from a variety of departments (that the US system allows) in order to attain 4.0 GPAs (Sabot and Wakeman-Linn, 1991). I’m not being cynical when I say this, as it is well known by most here the particular classes in different departments that are ‘easy A’s’, and those that are likely to have the least workload. This could also be a mentality that is brought on by the high intensity and faced paced nature of the quarterly system here at UCLA, but it is something that I definitely deem a flaw and one that is not really an issue based on my academic experience at UCL. It is important to note however that grade inflation is indeed a national problem in the US, but it’s also a problem internationally and is not uniform in its extent (Johnson, 2003).

Despite all this, the class has given me an incentive to visit the exciting Aquarium of the Pacific next weekend. My following post will be published in two weeks, offering more reflections on geography taught in the US and UK, further updating on my activities this side of the Atlantic.

Allen, G. R. and R. Steene (1998) Indo-Pacific Coral Reef Field Guide, Sea Challengers.

D'Altroy, N. T. (2003) The Incas, London: Blackwell Publishing.

Johnson, V. E. (2003) Grade inflation: a crisis in college education, New York: Springer

Sabot, R. and J. Wakeman-Linn (1991) ‘Grade inflation and Course Choice,’ The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 5 (1), 159-170.

Day 213 - Adventures at Will Rogers State Park

Sarah and myself being the keen explorers we are, decided last Saturday to embark on one of LA’s enticing hikes. Following up from suggestion made by a mutual friend of ours, we decided to visit the Will Rogers state Historic Park and spend our Saturday afternoon doing the relatively short Inspiration Loop hike to inspiration point which was to give us a good view of LA and its coastline stretching from Santa Monica down to Long Beach. Ready and prepared with water and sun protection we embarked on this trail using a map we collected from the quaint gift store located just above the main ranch. From the very start of our hike there was a lot of intrigue and risks as we found out that a large tick native to the area, can be present and gives bites that require immediate medical attention. Heeding the warning and advice, we completed the Inspiration Loop hike which was simple and of little challenge giving us a decent if underwhelming view of LA at Inspiration Point (figure 1). Disappointed by what this 30-minute hike offered us, we revisited the map and found that we could hike further, along the ‘backbone trail’ then return via an unmaintained track down Rustic Canyon. This extra hike, totalling 3 miles should have taken us about an hour and a half, finishing around 6pm for us to catch a bus back to campus. This route entailed even more risk than the last with warning signs of poison oak and prevalence of mountain lions in the area (figure 2). This only added to our excitement and motivation to explore further.

Figure 1. View from Inspiration Point 

Figure 2. DANGER: careful for Mountain Lions

It wasn't long into this trail that we realised it was much harder than the last, entailing much steeper climbs and uneven camber on the ground. Despite this, we saw much more as we gained altitude, more vibrant wildlife, small lizards, tweeting birds, butterflies to name a few. Naturally, as we got higher the view got better, the trail got more interesting and we encountered bridges to cross. The video I took in Figure 3 shows some of this. At this point all was going nicely, the day was in its last few hours and the hike was becoming much more fulfilling. In order to get onto the Rustic Canyon trail we needed to depart the backbone trail and walk the Josepho Spur trail, which was approximately half a mile in distance. This trail was a steep descent down to the creek floor, and it was a much less arid environment, as grasses and other green plants were present; the shadows of the topography enabled a more humid microenvironment. At the end of this trail we reached the bottom of the creek where we would hike the Rustic Canyon trail back to Will Rogers Ranch. Shortly into this trail however we noticed a building covered in graffiti that was receiving a lot of attention from other hikers. We realised that this was much more than just one single building but in fact it was a whole series of structures that were worn down, derelict but full of vibrancy with the street art that was covering them. This was a massive distraction for us; figures 4, 5 and 6 show some of the most interesting things we saw here. We realised later that in fact by taking this alternative route we had stumbled unintentionally upon Murphy’s ranch, which was a Nazi camp for those awaiting the arrival of Hitler to the US in 1940.

Figure 3. Video of 'Backbone Trail'

Figure 4. Murphy's Ranch Building 1

Figure 5. Murphy's Ranch Building 1 (inside)

Figure 6. Murphy's Ranch Building 2

At this point in our hike we we’re completely satisfied with what we had experienced, and were ready to finish the hike and make our way back to UCLA. This however proved to be much more of a challenge than we anticipated. The unmaintained trail that we were taking back ran parallel to the creek, at times crossing through it, which normally isn't an issue in this arid area of California. However, a few days preceding our visit there had been heavy rain, and the river in the creek was discharging more than it normally would due to the lag time between storm and time this rainwater discharges. About half a mile after seeing the sights of Murphy’s ranch we encountered problems, the trail we thought we were following did not match up to the one we were supposed to follow on the maps although there didn't appear to be any alternative. Inconveniently, both of our phones, due to the many photo opportunities along the way were depleted of battery, and nightfall was descending upon us due to the time setbacks caused by discovery of Murphy’s ranch. The route we were following at this point did not appear to be much of a trail anymore, paths were not clearly defined and we just seemed to be following the river, crossing it on countless occasions. Our estimated completion of the trail (6pm) was well surpassed and at 8pm, after sun had set we were still negotiating this trail among the loud noises from frogs echoing around us. After a few falls into the river and visibility being significantly reduced, what was adventure became fear as we were scaling rocks along an undefined path. At 8:30 however, we thankfully finished the trail, coming to an abrupt end. By the time we were ready to catch a bus (at 9pm), buses were infrequent and we had to wait in the cold for 40 minutes for the next bus to take us back.

Needless to say this was an adventure like nothing I’ve experienced before. It is definitely one I will take back with me to the UK to share with friends and family. Despite the obstacle we encountered it was an amazing, hike and day overall.

Day 211 - Defining Terrorism

The communications studies class I’m enrolled in this quarter on terrorism in the media so far has proved interesting. Terrorism has never been something that has been covered in great depth in geopolitics/political geography classes I have taken so far. The insight of the rather eccentric and scattered Nushin Arbabzadah has shed light on misconceptions, gaps of knowledge and mistreatment of the term ‘terrorism.’ Her experience as a correspondent for the BBC and Al Jazeera has exposed her to media ‘etiquette’ when it comes to the term. Something I found interesting was that in the quest for objectivity, media outlets always shy away from the use of the term ‘terrorism’ or branding someone a ‘terrorist,’ rather the utilise buzzwords like ‘gunman’, ‘insurgent’. This emphasises the anxieties people have in using such a term when its meaning is dynamic over time and rarely understood (Crenshaw, 1992). Although this class is a communications studies class I believe that a lot of the content could be applicable to geography. I would say that is very narrowly focuses on an aspect of popular geopolitics, how media and popular culture shape or are shaped by political views, or conflicts. The special case of terrorism in the mass media however, is an interesting case, and I believe it is a class containing unique content and insight that wouldn't be possible back at British universities. From a country that has suffered greatly, yet engrosses itself frequently with terrorism and the media, here in the United States I believe terrorism is a more common than niche area of study that possibly came to the forefront of importance in the aftermath of the disastrous 9/11.

What I’m currently finding interesting is the nonexistence of limits to what is being shared by Arbabzadah and discovering to what extent American students are aware of the ‘Just War' rhetoric frequently employed by its nation (Flint and Falah, 2004), and the American exceptionalism employed in their media (Dittmer, 2011).

Crenshaw, M. (1992) ‘Current Research on Terrorism: The Academic Perspective,’ Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, 15, 1-11.

Dittmer, J. (2011). ‘American Exceptionalism, Visual Effects, and the Post-9/11 Cinematic Superhero Boom,’ Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 29(1), 114-130.

Flint, C. and G. Falah (2004) ‘How the United States justified its war on terrorism: prime morality and the construction of a ‘just war’,’ Third World Quarterly, 25, 1379-1399.

Day 210 - No more Spanish

The following three entries were drafted on the 8^th, 9^th and 11^th April respectively, however remained in draft form since then until now due to a heavy workload.

Last quarter when enrolling in my classes for Spring, I made sure I was enrolled in four so that I had the option to drop one of the classes after realising it didn’t live up to my expectations. This week, the second week of the quarter, I have dropped one of these classes. Unfortunately, the class that I decided to drop was one that could have potentially improved my Spanish to a new level of fluency. Spanish 150 ‘Topics in Contemporary Studies’ is a class that focuses on short story literature from Cuba in the early-mid 20th century. The professor, who lectured about technical terms in literature for an hour and 50 the very first day of class, had a dialect from Colombia which was interesting as his pronunciation of words were different to what I have been exposed to thus far. I decided to drop this class because the reading requirements were rather strenuous and I felt that a background understanding of the history of short stories was necessary, something I didn't have. The gap in difficulty between Spanish 25 and Spanish 150 was one I felt would have been too difficult to bridge. This isn't all bad however as it has allowed me to take an extra geography class this quarter on Spanish South America, a region of the world that, if I haven't made clear already, fascinates me. After exposure to first lectures of this class it is clear that it is very broad and that it won’t go into much detail or specificities, keeping the study on a broad regional level in term of politics and economics for the region. Dropping my Spanish class was a big decision for me as I felt that it was very important for me to take some sort of Spanish class through the year so I can maintain and build upon my current level of fluency. However, the content of the class just didn't fit what I wanted to get out of the language, and wouldn't carry a useful amount of real world applicability. When I studied Spanish in the UK at UCL, the second term would have come to a close by now and I wouldn't practice much Spanish until the final exam came around in May. This huge gap between March/April when classes end, and September when I would take a new class proved to be detrimental to my fluency in the language as it is extremely easy to forget a lot of the language if nothing is done to maintain it whilst not having classes. Thus it is very important for me to avoid this issue, and I intend to by reading the short stories assigned in the class I dropped, watching TV shows, and mainly by reading the book I have on the socioeconomic and political development of Colombia (Jimenez, 1985). I have been reading this book for a while now and I have found it very useful in learning important terms related to geography. In addition to this, the book will help me in my Spanish South America class, which is essentially identical to the content of this publication. However, most importantly I need to maintain my oral proficiency, by conversing with Daisy and the other Spanish-speaking people I know on my dorm floor. If I stick to this, I will be able to maintain my fluency I’ve build up over a long period of time.

Jimenez, M (1985) Historia Del Desarollo Regional en Colombia, CIDER: Universidad de los Andes.