A new school in a new country means a new start. There may be mixed feelings – excited for something new or scared of what is not known. However don’t be! What you should do is look forward to what is to come. One of the best things that I have done since coming to Irvine is to get involved on campus. You have plenty of options for extra-curricular activities that related to academics, professional development, and social activities. But the question is how do you get involved? For the sake of this post, I’ll talk about social activities to get involved in as sometimes you may need a break from the books and the research. However, you can always check with your department or school for academic and professional based involvement opportunities.
For the general audience, Associated Graduate Students (AGS) is one of best group of students to join! AGS is known to host many events through the school year… typically one every week or two! If this is something you enjoyed and you’re the very social type, then you should consider joining the Social Committee at AGS! They’re always open for new members to join and help plan and host events for other graduate students. Even if planning social events isn’t your thing, there are other committees (International, Internal, External, etc.) that you can join to help AGS and the students at UCI.
Other than AGS, there are many clubs to join! For sports clubs, if you’re into Wushu or Tae Kwon Do, you should join the teams here at UCI so that you can practice with other students and compete. You can look at http://www.campusrec.uci.edu/club/ for a list of sports club that are at Irvine. During welcome week, there is an event known at Anteater Involvement Fair which is held on Monday, September 21st from 11am till 3pm at Aldrich Park (http://www.campusorgs.uci.edu/events/aif.php). Most, if not all, clubs will host a booth to recruit new members. I recommend taking an hour or two off from your day to check it out!
The last way to find an organization to join is to read through Grad Weekly, a weekly e-mail sent out to graduate students. Information provided includes fellowships and events for graduate students to attend. If you also live on campus, for example Verano Place, you’ll also get a weekly e-mail (What’s Up Verano!) that includes events held in the housing area. With this, I hope you join an organization on campus and start getting involved!