Gap Year Goals

I am taking a couple years off before continuing my education. I made a list of things I want to do before continuing in school:

1) Support myself financially 
2) Save money so I can better support myself in school
3) Spend quality time with family
4) Move to a new city
5) Get a real-world, adult job
6) Learn how to cook food besides ramen
7) Backpack through Europe
8) File for an E.U. passport
9) Complete a yoga certification and teach in the city
10) Practice my Spanish
11) Learn some Italian
12) Volunteer at a hospital or clinic
13) Try fun restaurants in NYC
14) Run a race in NYC
15) Join a Crossfit box
16) Open my own credit card
17) Read a few good/inspiring books

Mid April Update

This weekend Brandon and I checked out Smorgasburg in Brooklyn, a whole event dedicated to upscale food-truck-like vendors at one of the piers at Brooklyn Bridge Park. I had spicy tuna Japanese nachos, Brandon had Chinese fried chicken, and we split a hibiscus-mint homemade soda. There was everything there from ramen burgers, to grilled cheese, honey-lavender ice cream, to vegan burgers. It was the hottest weather I've experienced in NYC so far - and I've been forewarned that today (mid-seventies) is extremely mild compared to what's to come in summer (eek!).

The weather felt balmy and warm, swarms of young people and young families milled around from table to table trying to find the most tasty, exotic, or inventive food from the spread. My dad took me to a few Asian-Central American fusion restaurants this year, so I was intrigued by the spicy tuna nachos!

A Quick Trip to California

My father gave me the opportunity to go home to Aptos to visit my mom and touch home base. It was so nice to breathe the ocean air, wake up in my own bed, and be comforted by so many familiar sights, sounds, and smells. An added benefit was gathering all my spring clothes to bring back to New York City!

My mom was so kind and generous with me! I was only home for 40 hours, and I had a lot of goals to accomplish in my short visit home - my mom was a good sport about driving around with me to all my favorite dinner spots, coffee shops, and hometown stores. I was SO happy to get to go to Manuel's - my favorite restaurant! I think there's only one birthday in my life that wasn't celebrated there, and that was when I was living abroad in Granada, Spain. (Though to be fair, we might have celebrated after the fact when I got home in December… who really knows…)

One of the best parts about Manuel's is that we can walk to the restaurant from our house! I've really underestimated what it means to live close to the beach - its a treat I always took for granted. Though I'm still enthusiastic about living in New York City, California has so much more open space.

My mom has such pretty flowers growing in our garden! The flowers were so dewy after a recent rain. It was so nice to be home.

I'm glad we got to go to Starbucks! Though my mom and I try to support local business as much as possible, we've really embraced the Starbucks by our house when they opened about eight years ago. We always end up seeing someone we know there. I love it when my mom is so happy!


Another second treat of being home was going back to Santa Clara to see professors and previous advisors and mentors. It was awesome to tell my advisors what I was doing in NYC and how I'm transitioning to the big city life.

Santa Clara University is so beautiful! I feel like I experienced and grew so much here.

A third treat was meeting up with Anastasia for lunch! She is so beautiful and such a good friend. Her wedding is next year, and I'm so proud to be her maid of honor. I can't wait to start helping plan the wedding and the bachelorette party!

 All in all the weekend was magical. I felt guilty for being a tourist in my own family and group of friends - for popping in after being gone since the end of December only to turn around and leave, but I was nonetheless so thankful to be home.


Although I wouldn't trade anything for the trip I had home, the real reason I was on the west side of the country was to attend a medical conference with my dad in Las Vegas. For four days, we attended the Trauma & Critical Care conference in Caesar's Palace. Not surprisingly, much of the surgical techniques and lingo went way over my head, but the speakers and topics were still inspiring.

In the mornings before the conference I got to get in a quick workout in the gym! I hope I can soon start making enough money to get a gym membership here in New York City! I so miss the luxury of a gym. I love running outside, but with this strangely prolonged winter in NYC, I have to really convince myself to go out. 

Wow! The Bellagio gardens are so so beautiful! It really felt like spring - though it was such a tease since it's currently raining outside my window on the Upper East Side.

Thank you for a great trip Dad!

Spring is Slowly Coming to NYC...

I've really started to enjoy my Saturday rhythm. I teach the ACT from 10-1 pm, come home and get smoothies or coffee with Brandon, and then we take a walk through Central Park.

The weather is very slowly starting to get nicer, encouraging fun spring time activities, and we were clearly not the only ones to want to take advantage of the weather. Central Park was beautiful, crisp, and fresh. Since I've only lived in NYC since January, I've only seen the park as a quiet, snowy patch of wilderness in the center of the city. Memories I have of my runs at the Reservoir are marked my frozen swollen fingers, visible exhaled breath, and burningly cold ears. I hardly see anyone on my runs and often imagine I'm far outside the city due to the silence.

But Saturday was magic; the park was like a bear taking an indulgent, sweet stretch from a long hibernation. Soft, inviting jazz music played as I noticed parents corralling their toddlers; puppies pranced happily on the sidewalks as marathoners-in-training sped by on the roadway; couples nuzzled on park benches or munched on waffles from the nearby food truck. The sun kissed the park, which invited laughing people to bask in the spring-time-glory at the cafe next to the thawed-out lake. There was a soft breeze that caught my hair; the air felt fresh but crisp - a reminder that winter may not be ready to let go of its stronghold in the city. But spring seemed to be winning. Spring was at least winning over me and the rest of the city's residents who enjoyed the park on Saturday.

New Year, New York, New Job!

Healthcare Innovation Technology:

Last week I began my first job in the "real world" after college. I'm privileged to be an Assistant Researcher at a health innovation lab. We work with companies ready to launch cool new technologies in health and we help evaluate health initiatives in the developing world. The office is very dynamic, and there is always something new to do and learn!

I find it a bit ironic that I left Silicon Valley only to end up at what has the vibe of a tech start-up. I always wanted to get into more research opportunities in undergrad, and it feels great to be working at a research institution. I'm starting to get trained up on some really interesting studies, and I'll be able to share more once they're completed/published!

Check out the webpage to learn more about where I work! www.hitlab.org

Paz,
Briana

Final Class Day

I've had a wonderful time teaching SAT prep for Kaplan here in Manhattan. I received a wonderful location - Kaplan Manhattan Midtown - to teach. The building is like a school in itself with lots of classrooms and tons of exam prep happening: SAT, ACT, PSAT, LSAT, MCAT, USLME etc. The environment is pretty cool.

But most of all I like working with my students! I'll miss this group. Tomorrow is my last day of teaching with this cohort, and I'm ready to send them off to do well on test day. I'm currently preparing to teach the ACT prep class in the coming weeks.

I'll keep you posted!
-Briana

Ignatius Center Profile

Before I left SCU, I was invited to create a Student Profile for the Ignatius Center. I owe the Ignatius Center a lot for my spiritual and professional growth while I was at Santa Clara.

Check out the link to my profile here: http://www.scu.edu/ic/immersions/profiles.cfm?b=474&c=15884