Last Year, Best Year

Hi everyone! 

I am posting from Paramount Studios in Hollywood, I'm on location for Pac-12 Football Media Days. I'm about halfway through day one and it has been an awesome experience so far. I knew I would be traveling a few weeks ago, so I was able to talk to my professor in advance letting him know about this trip. All of the professors are very helpful and understanding when we miss class for work and are always willing to meet on another day to catch you up on material you missed! It definitely puts less stress on me because I have never been one to miss class. The professors really understand your work schedule or if you have cool opportunities to travel, so they are willing to do anything to help.

For this blog post, I wanted to focus on the upcoming year I have left in California. I know two blog posts ago I wrote about my last year in a review, so I’ll try and not do that again. But every time I think about it, I can’t wrap my head around the fact I’ll graduate with my Master’s degree in 10 months. It’s so cliché to say, but time has seriously flown and if you get to be a part of this amazing program, cherish and take in every single moment! It’s seriously been the best year of my life and I’m so excited for this next one.

For those who don’t know me well or haven’t picked up on my interests through previous blog posts, one thing I really like to do is travel and explore new things. At the beginning of June, I decided to go on a new adventure with a fellow classmate, Nicole Loscavio, and move to the East Bay. She was living about an hour and a half from San Francisco and got a super, amazing job with Levi’s and needed to be closer to the city. I was previously living with Alyssa Nakken and Madeleine Larsen (also in my class) in San Francisco in the Outer Sunset neighborhood. We lived three blocks from the beach and were far away from the heart of downtown, which was great. It was so quiet and peaceful in comparison to the area I worked.

With my lease coming to an end and only a year (potentially) left in California, I definitely wanted to experience something new, and the East Bay was where I felt most comfortable. Even though I live on the other side of the Bay Bridge, getting to downtown San Francisco is a lot easier than commuting from Outer Sunset. Also, the East Bay is a lot cheaper than the city. So, for those of you looking at this program or those who were already accepted and are looking for a place to live, the East Bay is definitely doable. Even though you’re across the bridge, public transportation makes it all really easy to get places.

Going along with adventures, I decided to take on a challenge of getting another job during the summer since my work at Pac-12 Networks is a little slow. I’m halfway done with my first season as the media relations assistant of the San Rafael Pacifics Baseball Club. My classmate, Vinny Espinosa, is the media relations manager, so he allowed me to come and help him out for the season. The experience has been awesome and everyone I work is amazing from the general manager to the players. It’s also a bonus getting to work with a good friend from class.

Although my time at USF is halfway over, it still feels like just yesterday I was sitting at orientation. I never would have guessed I would be doing half the things I am doing, or everything I've already done, so I can't thank USF and this program enough. If you're looking for a change or experience new things or even go back to school, I wouldn't recommend anywhere else but here.

I will definitely give updates on the next blog with whatever adventures I get into!