Today on the way home from work, I took the scenic route along the coast of the Monterey Bay. Yesterday on the way home from work, I stopped by a local and organic farm stand for some kale and strawberries. On my way to work each day by bike or bus, I can look below me and see the bay or look toward my destination and see redwood trees, fog, and deer. I couldn't ask to live and work in a better place than this.
Since I last posted, I've graduated from college with a degree in English Language Literatures, acquired two part-time jobs, visited the Bahamas for the first time, and gotten back on my road bike. I've ridden up the hill to work four times in the past two and a half weeks of working, and my goal is to bike to work 2-3 times a week. It's 45 minutes uphill, and the hardest part is the last leg of it. I love the energy it gives me when I arrive at work, especially since my job is mostly sitting in front of a computer emailing people, posting on social media sites, and developing materials for teaching students and the campus community about sustainability. When I go outside to eat during lunch, I am surrounded by an enormous redwood forest full of deer, birds, and green everywhere I turn. I am incredibly blessed to have the chance to work in such an incredible forest.
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My other position is also a lot of computer time, but I can do it from wherever I want, which usually means in my house, which I just moved into within the last two weeks. We have a cat named Nicco. It already feels like home, perhaps because this town feels so much like home to me now that I have gotten to know it better. Being a resident is a lot different than being a student, and I'm trying to embrace this time of change in my life by exploring new things, attending more community events, finding the free music events and the beautiful quiet beaches where I can bike and just be. No homework, no exams, no papers. And this new freedom is why I'm back on here writing--I have missed writing freely about what I want to write without any editors or timesheets associated with it. Now I have the free time to post here, and I don't want to get into the habit of saying "I'll do it later." In this time of change, I can choose to make things into habits. Biking to work. Posting on this blog. Drinking more water and going outside first thing on a Saturday morning. I want to truly live and be here in the physical world, not in the world of online social media/email/reading about life but not living it. I get sucked into that world every day at work.
In the coming posts, I'll talk more about the work I'm doing right now with the two part-time jobs. Both are environmental education positions within two inter-related communities in this region. I have only just begun them, and I am excited to delve deeper into understanding the relationships I can develop between the two. Just today, I attended a social media meeting hosted by the social media manager for the University, and she shared that she's starting a marketing and communications group that will meet monthly in town in addition to the University group she convened today. Given my role in the community as well as on campus, I think attending meetings like these will help me build my network even further than it currently reaches so that my work can effectively connect the communities around me. I am trying to stay open and aware to all possibilities for becoming involved in ways that not only further the goals of my work, but also further my goals of being an active and contributing member of my community. I also want to get to know more people who live here!
After the meeting today, a few of us went to happy hour at West End Tap & Kitchen, which is right across the parking lot from Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing, where Santa Cruz Bike Party almost always makes a pit stop for a dance party. I had never been inside West End Tap, and it was delightful! It was fun to continue the conversations about social media that had begun during the meeting and to learn more about those who were there. The jalapeno calamari were incredible, in case you ever go! I am so grateful that I am connected with people who go to happy hour at great places like West End Tap & Kitchen, and I look forward to many more experiences of new places and meeting new people in Santa Cruz in the coming months. I'll keep you posted!
Thanks for reading!
Green Gal
Since I last posted, I've graduated from college with a degree in English Language Literatures, acquired two part-time jobs, visited the Bahamas for the first time, and gotten back on my road bike. I've ridden up the hill to work four times in the past two and a half weeks of working, and my goal is to bike to work 2-3 times a week. It's 45 minutes uphill, and the hardest part is the last leg of it. I love the energy it gives me when I arrive at work, especially since my job is mostly sitting in front of a computer emailing people, posting on social media sites, and developing materials for teaching students and the campus community about sustainability. When I go outside to eat during lunch, I am surrounded by an enormous redwood forest full of deer, birds, and green everywhere I turn. I am incredibly blessed to have the chance to work in such an incredible forest.
In the coming posts, I'll talk more about the work I'm doing right now with the two part-time jobs. Both are environmental education positions within two inter-related communities in this region. I have only just begun them, and I am excited to delve deeper into understanding the relationships I can develop between the two. Just today, I attended a social media meeting hosted by the social media manager for the University, and she shared that she's starting a marketing and communications group that will meet monthly in town in addition to the University group she convened today. Given my role in the community as well as on campus, I think attending meetings like these will help me build my network even further than it currently reaches so that my work can effectively connect the communities around me. I am trying to stay open and aware to all possibilities for becoming involved in ways that not only further the goals of my work, but also further my goals of being an active and contributing member of my community. I also want to get to know more people who live here!
After the meeting today, a few of us went to happy hour at West End Tap & Kitchen, which is right across the parking lot from Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing, where Santa Cruz Bike Party almost always makes a pit stop for a dance party. I had never been inside West End Tap, and it was delightful! It was fun to continue the conversations about social media that had begun during the meeting and to learn more about those who were there. The jalapeno calamari were incredible, in case you ever go! I am so grateful that I am connected with people who go to happy hour at great places like West End Tap & Kitchen, and I look forward to many more experiences of new places and meeting new people in Santa Cruz in the coming months. I'll keep you posted!
Thanks for reading!
Green Gal
Your post is a delightful celebration of your new life now that you have graduated from college. We are all so proud of your dedication to succeeding at U.C. Santa Cruz and to beginning your new life. May you enjoy every moment as you turn the page to this next chapter.
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