Organic Chemistry Shenanigans

Fractional Distillation Apparatus 

I feel like organic chemistry has taken over my life now that I have two 4 hour labs and 3 hours of lecture each week on top of the countless hours I spend studying for this class. But for some odd reason I can't help but love O-chem. Aside from the brutal work load I get to do some pretty fun things in lab. The other day I made ethanol from sucrose (in other words I was making some booze). The fermentation process took about two weeks and after that came the distillation. The picture to the left is the macroscale fractional distillation apparatus I set up to distill my product. I'll avoid rambling about the interesting chemistry behind this, but it's experiments like this that remind me why I like this class. I wonder how many people can say they've made alcohol at school... Of course none of us drank our final products, which is probably a good thing after finding out what a horrible moonshiner I would've made. My final product was only about 70% pure ethanol, which is nothing to brag about when some of my classmates had products that were over 90% pure. In my case, it's unfortunate that the labs are graded on purity but I promise not all of my experiments turn out this bad.

Here are some of the other toys (equipment) I have in my laboratory locker.

The JSB Cafe

One of my favorite places on campus is undoubtedly the JSB Cafe. It’s always nice walking into a restaurant and being addressed by my first name, which usually stems from a combination of good service and how often I go there. This is the case at JSB Cafe; I eat there with my friends anywhere from 2-3 times a week. In most cases eating out so frequently can get a little pricey, but luckily the JSB has great food at reasonable prices. Another perk is that they are conveniently located in the middle of campus, which is something you can never go wrong with, especially when I’m there all day several times a week. The JSB is a full service restaurant ran by the student chefs of SBCC's culinary arts program. They serve delicious food ranging from soups, salads, sandwiches, burgers, wood fired pizza, and fish plates along with their daily specials. I also can't forget to mention their milkshakes and freshly made baked goods that include cookies, brownies, lemon bars and loafs of bread. The JSB is open Monday through Friday 11:15 to 1:30 so next time you get hungry while on campus I would recommend checking this place out!

One of the JSB's Wood Fired Pizzas that are made right in front of you.

One Of the Sandwich specials served last week

The Southwestern Barbecue Chicken Salad 

Back to the Study Grind!

I was trying to put off the reality of starting school for a little bit too long and even though it’s only the second week of classes I already feel behind on my work. This semester I’m taking Organic Chemistry II, Physics II, and Molecular Biology. For the most part, these classes start off where they left off last semester so I’m scrambling to remember the things I learned several months ago while trying to pick up on all the new stuff. I finally hit the books and started studying, but in no time I was stuck staring at a whiteboard boggled by a physics problem that took up the entirety of the board (as you can see in the photo above). And just for the record, sitting on the ground while trying to solve a problem only makes you look more pitiful, but sometimes its necessary. Despite the underlying negative tone of this blog I’m actually excited for this semester and should hopefully be back in the groove of things soon!

Here We Go Again...

Rough day, but it helps having this view

Congrats to everyone for making it through the first week of school, hopefully others were more graceful about it than me. With it being my third year at SBCC most would probably assume that I'm pretty good at adjusting to a new schedule since I'm so familiar with the campus, but leave it to me to make some classic freshmen mistakes. This morning was a prime example. I started off the day by sleeping through my alarm and not waking up until my friends somehow managed to get in my house and drag me out of bed. I should also probably mention that these friends woke me up 15 minutes past the time I was supposed to pick up them up for school. The time it took me to get out the door was rather impressive but I suppose there wasn't much time to primp my hair with only 20 minutes to get from Isla Vista to the school. I surprisingly found a parking spot fairly quick and was only running about five minutes late, which wasn't too bad considering the circumstances. But then my next rookie mistake occurred. While rushing to class from across campus I got the room numbers mixed up and ended up walking into a lecture hall with about 100 people quietly listening to the professor, and in my flustered state it took me several steps to realize that I was in the wrong class. Next came the embarrassing walk of shame back out the door, but this time they weren't so quite; I now had an audience of 100 giggling college students and an old professor of mine shaking his head. After making it the proper classroom I naturally had to endure some comical ridicule from my professor with his jokes about how he had already dropped me for being so late on the first day of class. Once I got through that I was finally able to get my morning rolling, and luckily didn't have any other major plot twists throughout my day. Hopefully I don't have any more mornings like today this semester!

New Year + New Semester = New Stories

The Beach Bungalow I Stayed at in Koh Phangan 

I Finally Understand Cat People 

Sitting still for extended periods of time while trying to remember how to take notes was an arduous task after not being in a classroom for about five weeks. It's never easy coming back to school after a long break, but I suppose I had to get back to reality eventually. Usually I'm more excited to start school, but this particular Winter break was so much fun that I'm not entirely ready for it to be over. From start to finish I had an awesome break, but traveling to Thailand was definitely the highlight! My roommate and I spent a few weeks backpacking through Thailand exploring all the great things it had to offer. It's hard to narrow my trip down to a single favorite moment so instead of listing out all my adventures check out some of the photos I captured while abroad!

View of Bangkok from This Beautiful Temple

Got to sleep on this beach for a night.
You may recognize it from the Leonardo DiCaprio movie "The Beach" 

The GoPro and Selfie Stick got some good use!

Koh Phi Phi Don

150 Foot Tall White Marble Buddha in Phuket 

Sorry for the overload of photos! Couldn't resist sharing them

Time For A Much Needed Break!

The Sunset Over Campus

This past semester can be described as a roller coaster with far too many ups and downs, but I'm glad to have finally made it to winter break! I'm looking forward to these next few weeks of relaxation away from school. I'll be spending part of my winter break back home in Santa Cruz while the other half will be spent exploring Thailand! In my time away from school I'll be signing off from my blog, but will be back in late January to fill all my readers in on my adventures abroad. I hope everyone has a great winter break!

T-minus 8 Days

Follow the Light!!!

And the count down begins. Well, the countdown actual began on the first day of school, but now the end of this semester is finally tangible; only 8 days to go until I'm done with my last final! However, this is a bittersweet number. I'm so close to the finish line yet have so much to do in such little time. Now that I've submitted my college apps and took my last midterm this morning it's time for me to buckle down and start studying for finals. This upcoming week is gonna be no joy ride, but winter break is the light at the end of this long dark tunnel of a semester.

Seeing that this has been the most demanding and rigorous college semester of mine I decided to reward myself with a vacation. At the end of this semester I'll be packing my bags and heading to Thailand for a few weeks. My roommate and I will be backpacking from one end of Thailand to the next with plenty of stops in between. This will be my first time traveling to any Asian country so I'm excited to see what Thailand has in store for me!

I wish everyone the best as you wrap up this semester! Stay strong, and study hard, only 8 days left!