Given that California State University, Monterey Bay (CSUMB) is located so close to the beach, it is no surprise some students have beach or ocean themed tattoos.
Freshman Nathan Oliver has a simple line art tattoo of a wave on his left forearm. While his tattoo is simplistic, the meaning behind it extends far from just a simple love for the ocean and holds a much more significant meaning to him.
“The story behind my tattoo is the significance of a wave saying that people all come and go. Waves always come back, so it’s like never lose hope because people will come back,” he explained.

Oliver got his first and only current tattoo this past April.
“What made me decide to get a tattoo was I was 18 and all my cousins were getting one and I had been wanting one for a while,” Oliver said.
Even though this was Oliver’s first experience getting a tattoo, he felt that the whole process was pretty easy.
“The tattoo process was fairly simple. As long as you keep it moisturized and take good care of it, there should be no problems,” he said.
While Oliver only has one tattoo at the moment, he seems very eager to continue his tattoo journey in the future.
“Once you get one, you can’t help yourself by getting more,” he said.