International Student Advisor

It's been more than a few weeks now, I suppose it's time I talk about my new job that I just love, and wonder how I got to be so lucky to snag this. I had been applying to and interviewing with jobs all throughout southern California and having a hit or two here or there, but nothing surfaced. When this opportunity came around, so did two others, and while all of them looked like they might pull through, I was really hoping the "good one" would not only materialize, but also materialize first, so that I didn't feel obligated to say yes to someone else.

Well, that both did and didn't happen. While this job was offered to me and I happily, happily accepted, I turned down the other ones and when I did so, I was then offered a different position including domestic and international travel, in an attempt to keep me. I went through a small crisis that Chrishon was able to guide me out of, and I stuck with the "good one" that I had been looking forward to, that really was the best opportunity.

So now, I am an International Student Advisor at a University of California, and so far, it has surpassed my expectations and been wonderful. In general it has also just been a nice change of pace to be an advisor and have a more quality role in the operations. I like having a functioning role in itself, especially helping students, and not just supporting the general office mill. I am finally free of the front desk phone lines and walk-in traffic, free of supply ordering and processing requisitions, and instead I am asked which supplies I need ordered, seen by appointment only and get to help deliver training and resources to the students. This year, I was signing the administrative assistant cards on Administrative Professionals Day, and not receiving them!

The team I work on is great, the campus is vibrant and fun, and I love my position, counseling international students and being involved in social activities for them, and even helping lead our peer advisors, who are domestic student volunteers who help organize and attend activities to help the international students adjust to life in California.

My first day on the job... they had a welcome sign on my office door, as well as a thank you card in my box, thanking me for choosing them and their team. They also gave me a shirt, a team polo, and a fancy coffee tumbler

One night I locked my keys in my car and my mom had to come to my work to use her Triple A for me, so in the meantime I gave her a tour of my office

This caption is either "Busy At Work" or "That Was A Lie"


My UCR swag, in direct contrast to this next one... lolololol

That's right! Proud alumni, with a small picking of postcards from my collection lining the bottom, including this gem...

Circa 2001 in Dublin, Ireland. I found this picture while going through boxes in the garage recently. I had to put it to good use

The view from the office's kitchen. See that damn C? That's what I've hiked to like seven times now

Some of the staff in the office who participated in the Hijab Day, a challenge to all women to wear a hijab for a day and reflect on your experience. It included a free headscarf and they taught us how to wrap them

During the Spring training for our International Peer Advisors. Look how cute they are doing an ice breaker, while the Queen Bee (me) overlooks them from the front of the room, drinking from a water bottle

It reminds me a lot of working at UC Santa Barbara when I was an intern for our Health Education department. I loved it and I loved the jobs our advisors had, which I think is was encouraged me to go into higher education; I loved the atmosphere and their work with our student population, and now I have exactly that, and with the international student community too, it couldn't be more perfect for me right now!