Day 6

Where has the time gone? It's been going by so fast. Today was a learning day for everyone. We woke up pretty early again. They had tater tots for the first time for breakfast and I got a plate full. We walked down to the marine center where we had media camp. We talked about our photos and had a writing assignment where we had to talk about how our time so far has connected the different cultures. After we got a tour of the labs they are doing ocean acidification work by studying sea urchins. We then got a PowerPoint presentation from a ocean acidification researcher about the basic information on this subject. My sandles broke so i had to go to the student store to buy need sandles and these are much more comfortable so im happy. We then had lunch and then back to the center for more learning on ocean acidification. We got an emotional plea lecture from a very proment urchin fisherman who is well known dfor his work on fighting this subject. He said this subject is still very new and the field is wide open so this is great science this is what I want to go into. We then broke into 4 groups to see what actually happens. There was a dry ice experiment to represent carbon being released, jenga game with marine animals on it and you had to pull certain animals based on cards with issues on the ocean, a scientist from USC came to have us look at plankton and coral in a microscope and a video about ocean acidification. After we went to campus point and got to go into the ocean. There were no waves at all but a strong rip curent. We got to snorkel out to practice for Santa Cruz island and I went out to a kelp bed but the visibility was awful so you couldnt really see anything. The water was about 65 degrees so it was just like newport. I was out for about an hour and a half so it was awesome. After we walked back to the dorms, showered up, and ate dinner. Then we went down tomthe beach again and had a sunset picture taking event. The view is incredible and breath taking. I went off on my own and sat on a cliff and just watched everything and soaked it up. We got done early and had free time and played simulated call of duty on our floor..western vs middle eastern kids. I died valiantly in battle :(. Tommorrow we leave for Santa Cruz island for 3 nights and their is usually no Internet service so I may not blog for a while. I hope y'all have a great time and enjoyed this so far. Btw mom we did laundry today so don't worry. Shout out to Tyler Perkins cause he is really loving the blog. Ps..aneesha is the coolest Canadian ever, Halla told me a cool story and it goes Randy is a donkey who lives on the beach who woke up one day and went swimming and then went to sleep.the end...yeah she's weird....night!

Day 5

Shout to ms dee from Alabama. Glad to see my blog is spreading. Ellie from Michigan says the Chumash village and randys blog is mindblowing. Everyone else is too busy singing Taylor swift to add to the blog. Today was a busy day. I woke uP at 620 to be ready for breakfast at 650. I got challenged to chug milk so I ended uP drinking 4 glasses of milk..each beating the set time. We got on the bus at 730 to head to californias marine exchange in San Pedro. We hit slot Of traffic coming from SB so it was about a 2.5 hr drive. This place handles all shipping and commecial boats that come into Any port south of San fan. They deal with slot of paperwork makng sure each boat is taken care of. We ate lunch their..I had a veggie sandwich with chips. Afte we got on the bus and drove up to maliabu to go to the raditional Chumash tribe site. I will pOst picture but this place is their originaal land and is set up exactly as their elders had it. They fought us the dolphin song of companionship, made traditional clapper sticks called wannokas, necklaces, we got to tour their site and take pictures. The tribe members bbqed us tri tip, chicken, made rice chcken and vegetable kabobs and more food...all food organic and grown locally. the tribe members got dressed in their traditional body painting and clothes and did a tribal ritual. We got dinner and a show cause we ate durring it. Their stoories dances songs were so cool and extruding to watch. Their culture is truly amazing and them keeping their language and livelihood alive after all they have been through is inspirational. I happy we got to go. They were going tot let us stay overnight in their huts but we didn't bring our sleeping stuff :(. I am super gulag I applied for this program. I have met some of the coolest and most interesting people I have everett with back stories you can't imagine. The photographer Matt told me stories of his job in Iran where he was at gunpoint. We are still on the bus home and they ate singing the tribal songs we learned and are on ceelo now. I'm typing on linas phone which is an iPhone since mine is dad so sorry if there are typos. Goodbye till tomorrow..we leave for the channel islands on wenseday! Ps Gina from Hawaii says aloha and Natasha from Pakistan says Saskatoon.. Hello :)

Day four part two

Ventura was very interesting. The place was called channel island national marine center so sorry for the misinformation. Also, I forgot to mention we did a beach clean up at henrys beach so we all felt very accomplished. At the channel island center, we watched a video about hows the islands became national parks and a little information about each specific island. Catalina island isn't apart of being a national park which I didn't know. This is because it has many homes on it already and some if it its privately owned by the wrigley family..yes the owner of the cubs stadium and the gum. they had a tide pool we could look at and an upper deck to get a great views of ventura harbor and the ocean. Next dinner was provided by the place and we had pasta, salad, bread, etc. we had down time before the presentations so we took alot of group pictures and fun photos. When this was over, we went to the lecture hall where graduates students were going to present their study on the kelp forrest. Before this happened, two people were slated to speak before them. the first man, who works as a biological science expert for the channel islands trapped about his research and data of how el ninos effect the animals living in the kelp forrest. He fascinated me so much that I went up to him after and said where I'm going to school and his research is exactly whati like to do. He told me santa cruz is the perfect place to go, but it's all about experience and I need to get my scuba license asap..mom.dad:). After he talked, the next guy was a dna sequencer and study of specie dna differences. He was extremely extremely smart and absolutely blue my mind with what he talkes about. I was into it, but my fellow friends were having a hard time staying awake haha. this two guys took so long that our bus arrived before we could hee the kids talk! The first guy started at 7 and the second guy ended at 850. As one of my kleaders said, "welcome to college" haha. besides for us there, the general public was there too so it was a packed house. On the bus ride back to ucsb, which was about 45 lon, I played mash on my phone with the girl from hawaii who had never heard of it before. Pretty soon the whole buys was around me wanting to do it, espically the middle eastern kids. They were so entertained by it and couldn't stop laughing. Such a simple game could bring all these different cultures together. I had a blast on the bus and look forward to our drive down to malibu tomorrow.look out southern california, I'm back for a day! W are visiting the chumash indian tribes main location and learning more about 26th

Day four part one

We just entered ventura! I'm on my phone right notes on a buds duo sorry for the typos. Today had been really exciting so far. We woke up at 655 tip get to breakfast at dlg at 715. ASB camp is here so goiter the theme of the day, they were all dressed up like super heros. I went sounds with my camera and went up to random printer and asked to take pictures of them because some of their costumes were epic. I will post pictures later. After, we got sac lunches and went on a fifteen minute bus ride to henrys beach to the watershed conservatory. we learned about maine debris and its effects. Wee every down to the beach and did differ water quality test like salinity, ph scale, and the visibliity of the water. We are our lunch after. I had a vegetarian sandwich with chocolate chip cookies and an apple. we had a good talk about where we came from and how we becamet interested in. marine science. A girl from hawaii hulla danced and I have a video of it and shes pretty good. After, we had a photo assignment to thane pictures of people on the beach that person to our theme. My theme is how ewe are connected til the ocean do I got in the water and took pictures of fishers and bogey boarders. I have some really neat pictures that the national geographic photographer really liked. I wasin for about an hour and the water felt awesome. We just arrived art the ventura national park visitor venter so I wall talk trio you later for part two

Day 3

Hey everyone. Day 3 is over. It was an amazing and awesome day. We had a great breakfast at 8 am so we had to wake up at 720. That sucked but it was worth it. We went to the rec pool and did the pool test to test our swimming skills. We had to swim across a full Olympic size pull and back, hold our breath under water the whole pool, tred water for 5 min straight without hitting the bottom or going under. We had to doneach thing 3 times besides for the treading water. It was so much harder then you think. I could only hold my breath for bout half the pools length. Some people who scuba and snorkel regulary were about to go one way and back half of it. It was unreal. After that, we got to test out our cameras underwater which can go 33 ft deep. The pictures are very clear and can do some neat things. Then we got to put on fins and a snorklel max and practice snorkeling. I had been before so it was easy but it got me so excited for we go to the kelp beds off one of the channel islands. After it was all done, it was twelves and we went back to the dorms and showered. We went to dlg for lunch and I was starving so I pigged out. After, we went to the marine classroom and had media camp where we reviewed our pictures from yesterday. A national geographic photographer is here as a leader and gives us tips on how to photograph and improve our photos. Some of the sites he has seen and taken pictures of are amazing and unbelievable. After this, we did a community circle activity and we presented everything we brought from home..everyone was amazed will farewell is from irvine and couldn't believe it haha. This took us to dinner at 6. I went and sat with the middle eastErn students to learn information frommthem. Ntheyntough me Arabic phrases to say and told me about their lives. We need to feel lucky how nice we have it. The Egyptian kids told me aboutnthe riots and how they were apart of them and when they got democracy how they partied all day and night. The palestinen and Iraq kids talk about shell bombings and they hate being occupied by American troops. The lebianan kids talked about the fig with Israel and having a drought. This really put into perspective how good we have it. They all dress like us too which I didn't know and have allnthe same music and tv shows and movies which is cool. After dinner, we went back to the marine center and we all recieved a copy of the national geographic and chose two photos that popped out to us and why. We received a he assignment tonit to describe our fondest memory of the ocean. Tomorrow we are going to Henry beach and checking out the river and doing a beach clean up. Then we are going to Ventura to visit students studying the kelp forrest and receive a lecture from them. I may not be able to blog tomorrow cause we will be gone all day..we have to wakenup at 630 and be on the bus by 745! Immreally enjoying my time here and hope you all are enjoying reading this. I miss everyone and hope your all safe and having fun. Much love...randy

Day 2

Hey everyone. We just got done with day two and I checked out an iPad for fifteen minutes so I'm going to type fast. I woke up at 7 am and went running with emiliano, a student from gainsville florida..yes he has met Tim tebow. We ran around the lagoon and I showed
Him athletic republic pushups and p90x workouts that don't involve weight..let's just say he wasn't having fun haha. We went to the cafeteria for breakfast and I had scrambled eggs, pancakes wafefles etc. We had a presentation by the chumash indian tribe about their local customs and history in This area. It was pretty legit since they did tribal dances ad songs. Next as a group we walked to the marine science center and learned more about our experience. We received our own cannon cameras we get to keep and we get new batteries and memory cards everyday so we can take as many pictures as we want. We received a tutorial on them and was broken into our photo projects group. I have a person from Washington, rhode island, and three kids from the middle east in my group. Next we ate lunch at the dlg cafeteria and they had a taco bar! I pigged out and it wasndelicious. Next we went to the reef( research exploration education facility) we got a tour of it and they had pools where we got to hold sharks and star fish etc. We went Down to the beach and hung out after then back ton the marine center and had our first photo assignment. We just took pictures of anything tontest out our cameras and I'll upload some sick pictures later. We went back to the dlg for dinner and then back to the marine center where we learned about issues in the marine environment. We got a lecture from NOAA officials and I already knew most of it so I was able to share knowledge. We just got back and now my time is up. Yeeeee I got it done in fifteen minutes. Bye till tomorrow

Day one part 2

Dinner was delicious. After we did some icebreaker events to get to know people. After we had free time so I went for a 3 mile run around the lagoon and on the beach and came back and joined the pick up soccer game my fellow participants were playing. Their rule is lights out at 1030 so its bed time. My roommate is snoring pretty loud already so this is going to be fun..

Day one

Hey everyone. Right now we have some downtime so let me give you a quick update..my dad and I left at 6am for lax and we got there around 7 and after baggage and security, it was 745. My flight didn't leave until 930 so I sat and read the whole time. Finally when we took off, it was a fifteen minute flight to santa barbra. I sat through security longer then my flight, haha, but the program wanted me to fly and paid for it so no complaints..the girl next me on our small plane, katie, is into the oceans too and being outdoors. She is a professional hiking and ski hiking guide in alaska, colorado and washington. We have many of the same interest so it was good talking to her. When I landed,i met a leader jim and another participant, thomas from san francisco who is going to university of michigan wolverines in the fall. We arrived at ucsb and I'm staying in a double dorm. For being a college dorm, its pretty big, much bigger then my future santa cruz one. There are two large desk, dresses with drawers, hangers and shelf space and the bed is surprisingly comfortable. Since thomas and I were the first kids here, we toured the whole campus and got lunch in a dining hall. Freshmen orientation is going on for ucsb so its packed and I actually saw a kid from my school, alex kim. After lunch, we walked down to the beach (3 min walk from my dorm) and we kicked the soccer ball around. Its like 65 degrees and overcast so I didn't go in the water but hopefully it'll clear up as the program goes on. After I walked back and took a nap then my roommate woke me up comeing in. his name is ajeeb and he is from lebanon. he doesn't talk much but hopefully he'll get more comfortable and start talking. Since I was up, I wandered around by myself and walked around the whole lagoon which is probably about three miles. There were trails and cliffs to climb so it was pretty fun. We have a meeting soon then diner so I'm going to be getting ready for that so see you guys later....
Ps..the dining hall food here is delicious and I'm on my phone so sorry if there are toys and errors. I'm trying my best to make sure I spell check and fix the typos

Preview

Ocean for Life 2011
The 2011 field study will be held in Santa Barbara, California and on Santa Cruz Island hosted by Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary from July 14-26, 2011.

Hey everyone. I am going to be blogging about my experience during the Ocean for Life Program. I will be sharing to you about everything I learn and the experiences I encounter. I do not know how much computer access I will have so I will try to update this as much as I can.


Here is some information:



Thirty students, including 12 from the United States, were selected out of hundreds of applications for the 2011 OFL program, through a highly competitive process. The American students hail from Illinois, Arizona, Michigan, California, Florida, Rhode Island, Washington, American Samoa and Hawai`i. Eighteen students were selected by The GLOBE Program from the Greater Middle East, including Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, Lebanon, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Morocco.

The Ocean for Life program is designed around three main themes: a sense of place, interconnectedness, and ocean conservation and stewardship. Activities focus on ocean science and exploration, cultural exchanges and youth media projects. Students will document their experiences through video or still photography, mentored by staff from National Geographic Media Camp and American University’s Center for Environmental Filmmaking.

VISION
Promote cross-cultural understanding between world cultures through a greater appreciation of the ocean and how it connects us all.
MISSION
Provide high-quality, immersive ocean field studies and follow-on education programs to facilitate cross-cultural learning, appreciation and lasting experiences between multi-national students.

Thanks for reading and I will keep you posted!
-Randy