Undecided/Undeclared Anteaters Blog

Archive for October, 2011

I didn't have any good pictures of me at UCI... So I improvised.

Greetings, everyone! My name is Angela, and it is an honor and pleasure to introduce myself as one of your five ZotBloggers for the 2011-2012 school year at UCI. I’m from a quiet little suburb named Arcadia right here in Southern California, where I attended Arcadia High School. However, I am currently nestling nearly-comfortably in Camino del Sol, where I am living up my first year in college. As indicated by the blog, I am yet another undecided/undeclared student with an interest that’s currently leaning towards the Humanities field.

Nearly all of my interests are centered on music, perhaps influenced by my being in band and marching band for the past six plus years of my life. My favorite artists include Norah Jones, Michael Bublé, John Mayer, KT Tunstall, and The Eagles, and my favorite composers are Alan Menken, Joe Hisaishi, Alan Silvestri, and Howard Shore. I am an ardent lover of musicals and Broadway productions, including Camelot, Hello Dolly!, Chicago, My Fair Lady, Phantom of the Opera, and Oklahoma!. I have far too many favorite films to list, so I won’t.

My first month at UCI has certainly been an interesting one to say the least. The first two weeks, which can easily be called the most relaxing weeks of college, have hands-down been the most thrilling. Friends were being made left and right, pounds were being packed on steadily from eating out more, and Facebook friend requests skyrocketed. Yet after the initial excitement, things began slowing down as work started piling on. Midterms came along and all of a sudden, my tidy, spacious room transformed into a sloppy den as my time became more and more devoted to staying in and studying.

However, even though I’ve been cooping myself up in my apartment save for the times I venture out to go to class or go grocery shopping, simple pleasures seem to creep into my daily happenings and cheer me up no matter how mundane my day seems to be. This, my readers, is what I get to share with you for the year: the perks of being at UCI. Hopefully, my blog will open your eyes to the little details that can really make a small, positive difference in your days here at school. Hopefully, you’ll be able to enjoy so much more than you thought you would coming to UCI.

This is going to be my introduction as a UC Irvine Zotblogger! First of all my name is Carlos
Alvarez, I am a current freshman here at UCI and I am very excited to give you my insight on
the campus and the college experience!  I am from South Gate, California (I know many of you
may not know of it but it is in Los Angeles) and come from South East High School. I have
quite a long story of how I got here to UCI and I am not going to make this blog as long as
that story, but I do want you as the reader to have an idea of who I am.

 First and foremost my educational path is quite complicated, I have spread this story around
and although it may be difficult to understand without the whole story I hope you can get a
sense of where I am coming from. I barely attained a small hint of middle school education
which is caused by a long difficult history for me. I have worked through high school trying
catch up, yet went on to win various awards, becoming involved in an abundance of community
service, taking leadership roles, winning scholarships, all kinds of acknowledgments for
someone who has a gap of nearly three years on his educational plate. Not to mention I came
into high school at the end of the year causing me to require summer school for two years to
match the required amount of credits. I made it through the four years at South East with a
dedication to succeed and desire to show the world what I was made of. Today I am a freshman
at UC Irvine, one highly prestigious university. Having been told I am a living example that
even without some schooling anyone with the fire to do well can do so if they try hard enough.
In actuality I see it as if you know you can do something and try hard enough, success is
right in front of you, all there is left to do is stretch out to grab it.

Now to my personality, the young man behind the mask. I am actually dorky or nerdy in a way,
kind of silly you could say, but I am also highly respectful and very kind (or at least I am
told) young man. My main interests include my family, a special someone in my life at Pitzer
College, basketball (Laker fan right here! real one too!), movies (I see a lot!), video games,
community service, having fun, and writing in many forms of art such as poems, stories, or
even scripts. I am much more complex than anyone would expect but overall I am a nice and
friendly person to be around when you get to know me. I am not the most open person except
with those who know me well but I am honest, always willing to talk, helpful, and positive as
much as I can be!

I intend to take you all on a ride with me to overcoming the fear of college in my blogs.
Hopefully this gives you an idea of how this mind of mine works, a bit of insight on my
experience, and an understanding of what kind of mentality I am going to be writing with.
I hope you can all enjoy my blog and that my experiences help those here or those with a
desire to attend. Get ready for a new year of Zot Blogging! Zot Zot Zot!

-Carlos :]

Well, hello, everyone! I am Vanda Moore and I will be your official “blogger guide” concerning Hall Life in the wonderful UCI! So a few things about me before I go on to talk about what I will be covering over the course of the year.

Let’s see now. I am an Undeclared/Undecided freshman (obviously) who wants to become a defense attorney in the future. I live in Quenya, Middle Earth right now. I am originally from Fort Knox, Kentucky. My family is a military family so we move around a lot but this is the first time that we were stationed in a state in the west. Therefore I am extra excited to be blogging about life in a dormitory because this campus as well as this state is totally new to me.

I love reading, but as of my junior year I never had much time to do leisure reading. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t have any books that I can consider favourites! Some include The Kite Runner, All The Unquiet Things, Hamlet: Prince of Denmark, The Scarlet Letter, The Colour Me series, the Inkheart Trilogy, Life of Pi, and 13 Reasons Why.

I also love to watch movies and listen to music! Some of my favourite movies are Gone With The Wind, The Road to El Dorado, Inglourious Basterds, The Imitation of Life, Scarlet Street, Johnny English, Puss in Boots, and Lord of the Rings. As for music, I absolutely ADORE Michael Buble and Demi Lovato. Both are such inspirations.

Anyway, moving onto the more important things now. My year long topic to cover for the Zot Blog is Hall Life and some of the things that I’ll be covering will include:

1. Single Rooms versus Double/Triple/Quad Rooms
2. Dorming versus Commuting
3. Communal Facilities
4. Noise During Quiet Hours
5. Hall Mates

UCI Welcome Week Target After Hours Event

What’s up everyone!!!!!! My name is Dennis Han and I will be a part of this year’s Zot Blog team! I am extremely excited for my freshman year of college and I hope you are too because you will be going along this journey with me.  Originally, I am from Santa Monica, California which is about a 45 minute drive from here. My major is currently undecided/ undeclared but I know that I want to switch into business administration. The business administration major at UCI is very competitive to enter, but with my determination and optimistic approach, I believe that I am capable of getting in.

So far at UCI I have been having the time of my life. New friends, new environment, and even a new home! Since the involvement fair that took place on welcome week, I have attended a ton of club/organization events, hall festivities, and a numerous amount of dance workshops. The events and activities available on campus are too many to count and there are so many that it is impossible to attend all of them. After being here for the last 5 weeks, UCI has been a truly amazing experience with so much do to and so much to get involved with. Most people think that since UCI doesn’t have a football team, students are unable to come together as a community and have school spirit. But I can now tell you that is all false. See, due to the fact that we have no football team, students have used their imaginations and creativity to form all these unique clubs and organizations, so that students of the same interest can find what they enjoy and share their passion with others. Also, ASUCI (undergraduate student government) organizes and puts on awesome concerts and events that students come out to and celebrate every single year. I recently attended Shocktoberfest which was a school sponsored event with special invitations from the Rejectz, Hoodie Allen, and the Newboyz. I found my way to the front while the artists performed and had a blast! Students are offered so many opportunities here at UCI. Anyone saying they are bored on campus surely hasn’t been taking advantage of all the events going on.

This year, I will be blogging about student health and wellness. Oftentimes, students get so caught up in their studies and involvement that they forget how to stay healthy. I know this because I, personally, have experienced it already and know how easy it is to not eat correctly or simply not get enough sleep. I think that  staying healthy is the key to being a successful student here at UCI which is why I will be taking on this challenge this year. Join me on this adventure of learning how to take care of yourself while studying and having a blast!

I look forward to blogging more about my experiences here at UCI. Please feel free to leave any comments, questions, or concerns. Thank you and make sure to come back every week for a new post by me. Have a ZOTtiful day.

- Dennis A.K.A. Denny Han

Hey everyone, and welcome to my Zot Blog! My name is Sabaa, and I look forward to posting my experiences of my first year at UCI.

I’m from Thousand Oaks in Ventura County which is about an hour and a half from Irvine. Currently, I am an undeclared/ undecided major, but I’m interested in pursuing psychology or law. I live in Loma Hall, Mesa Court, and I am part of CHP (Campus Honors Program). My favorite hobbies are reading, listening to music, and playing videogames. Some of my favorite books include the Harry Potter series, the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, A Walk to Remember, The Kite Runner, and Sense and Sensibility. I also enjoy watching movies in my spare time, and I especially love watching action, fantasy, and super hero films. My favorite TV show is Glee which I am absolutely obsessed with and never shut up about (just ask my dorm mates).

Even though I’ve been at UCI for just over a month now, I already regard it as my second home! I’m not joking; whenever I go back home for the weekend, I feel “campus” sick. My dorm mates are all amazing people, and it seems like we’re becoming a family already. At first, it felt so bizarre to be living on my own without my parents, but I’ve grown used to it although I’m not sure they feel the same about me. Classes intimated me during the first week especially with the overwhelming number of students in my lectures, but now, I’ve grown accustomed to them.

For my blog, I’ll be discussing fun activities to do around UCI. Since I first arrived here, I’ve heard people consistently complain about being bored on campus especially during the weekends. Well, I hope to change some of their (and your) minds once I write about the multiple, various events and facilities. In addition, I see this as the perfect opportunity for me to get out and gain new experiences for myself. I am not a social person, and I don’t go out so often. I also have trouble maintaining balance between my studies and leisure time. Therefore, the blog won’t be just providing information for you all, but it’ll also be giving me a chance to experience different things and reflect on them; plus, I’ll be having fun myself! Hopefully, my blog will provide you with immense information and prove that UCI has its fun aspects. I definitely aim to enjoy the different exciting aspects of the campus and develop  my social skills.

I hope you all enjoy my blog as well as the other blogs from my fellow U/U Zot Bloggers. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave a post. Thank you, and until next week, take care!

Zot zot zot!

-Sabaa