Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara is a beautiful college town located along the Cental Coast of California about 85 miles (140 km) west-northwest of Los Angeles. Following a devastating earthquake in 1925, the city was completely rebuilt in a Mediterranean Spanish style. Santa Barbara is home to the Santa Barbara Mission, The University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB), the Presidio, the Museum of Art, the Paseo Nuevo shopping center, the County Courthouse, the Lobero Theatre, Stearn's Wharf, the Santa Barbara Brewing Company, and many other exciting locales.

Stearn's Wharf lies at the southern end of State Street, Santa Barbara's main street. It features several impressive shops and good restaurants. Just east of Stearn's Wharf, along the beach on Cabrillo Street is the Santa Barbara Arts and Crafts Show, which features all authentic works sold by the artists themselves.

Santa Barbara holds an annual Fiesta (originally known as "Old Spanish Days") in August. The Fiesta features Spanish food, music, and wild parties, and lasts for several days. A Summer Solstice parade is also held along State Street and draws 100,000 tourists every year.

UCSB is one of the ten campuses of the University of California. It has 18,000 students and a beautiful campus and is ranked 13th among public universities by US News. It is also considered one of the nation's leading party schools. Students can often been seen carrying surf boards or riding bikes or skateboards.

The Santa Barbara Brewing Company is a very fun bar/restaurant, featuring several excellent brands of homemade beer as well as dishes cooked with beer. Santa Barbara also features several other excellent restaurants of many ethnicities.

LANGUAGES: French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese