About Me Blog Blurb

01/06/2015

My name is Shirly Ribak and I am a first year pre- Economics major. I was born and raised in Rishon LeZion, Israel until the age of nine when I moved to the United States. Once in the United States, I resided in Santa Monica. Santa Monica has become my favorite city in the world. The deep blue oceans, green hills and mountains perfect for hiking, mesmerizing sunsets, and a picture perfect view of a lit up urban city during dark hours are just a few reasons why I became so appreciative of living in this city. When it was time for me to graduate Santa Monica High School and move out of my parents’ house I realized that I needed to move to a location that could bring me as much joy as Santa Monica. I was therefore drawn to UC Santa Barbara. I had never given UCSB much consideration as my potential future home. Once I had visited, however, my opinion of the school altered drastically.

            While realizing how similar Santa Barbara and Santa Monica are, I also realized my unwillingness for major changes in my life. So, since moving out was an inevitable major change, I thought I’d lessen my encounters with differences by going to UCSB. Now that I have lived in Santa Barbara for two months, I am so glad that I chose to come to this university. I walk around campus everyday so blissful to be a part of such a tight- knit and interconnected community full of incredibly intelligent and lively students from a variety of different locations. Since moving to Santa Barbara, I have become involved in many clubs. For one, I am involved in Model United Nations, which is a club that hosts and attends multiple annual conferences in which students debate real policies that are currently being discussed by delegates in the United Nations.

As much as I love SM and SB, Israel will always occupy the biggest space in my heart because it is such a wonderful place yet its image is too often falsified by the media. Thus, I am also involved in AIPAC and Mishelanu, which are political and social American- Israeli organizations that work to shed a more realistic light on behalf of the small Middle Eastern country than the one put forth by the mass media. I believe that the places I have lived in and traveled to have greatly influenced me and I cannot wait to be able to greatly influence them as well.