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What to Know

Hello,

There should be a few things that you should know when you first started college. I found these things out the hard way and now I am here to impart the knowledge too you. Lets start with lifestyle decisions. If you or a roommate are able to get a mini fridge, do so. Being able to chill your foods and beverages is great, especially if you plan to either stay for the holidays or only have 100 meal swipes. The campus eateries close for the holidays so you cannot use their services during those times. Being able to store food also means that if you are hungry at some odd time in the morning, you have access to a decent snack. Just having a fridge means you are able to have chilled water, and those who like their water to taste like nothing, chilled water works the best.

Another thing that is important to note is the mail room services. If you live in Mesa Court, there are rooms next to the mail room that allow students to study in peace, if your roommates are loud and disruptive. They are always open and all you need is your ID card to enter the building. There are outlets to charge your laptop as well, allowing you to work for a really long time. For the mail room it self, know that you should never send anything there a week before or after a break or event. The mail room gets an absurd amount of packages during these times and takes a long time for packages to process. People want usually buy things from Amazon to gift to other people during these times and so there would be a large influx of mail. If possible, try to mail your packages to Amazon lockers that are located around campus. There is one directly next to the Mesa Court mail room and one further down near the Mesa Court community center. If those are both full, there is a locker at University Town Center, which is ran by Amazon itself, although there are business hours linked to them.

Lastly, regarding extra purchases you might need throughout the year. At University Town Center, there is a Target which seems great since they usually carry items that are necessary for daily use and that is true regarding soaps and towels. For any electronics or accessories, the best place to get them is Amazon. They are cheaper there, but it takes time for them to arrive. You might think paying extra is worth the convenience but the markups at Target are way to high to justify the purchase. If you are buying snacks, Target works fine, but if you are looking for some real food, Albertsons is worth the value for the longer walk it takes to get there.

Sincerely,

Tommy

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To The One Who Is Still Clueless 10 Weeks Later

Dear Adrianne from 10 weeks ago,

Save yourself $20 by not buying those swim goggles. You never do end up going to the gym regularly as you planned to during the summer.

Remember to check your spare tire. In nine weeks when you are on your way to pick up your sister, your right rear tire blows up out of nowhere on the freeway. You’ll be fine. When you’re pulling of to the shoulder, a freeway service patrol notices your trail of smoke, and you get your tire changed for free.  However the next day, on your way to Walmart, you find a screw has punctured the spare that you were using…

I know you took numerous AP classes during high school. Good job for passing every single one. But don’t get too overconfident. Trust me, you are going to be happy that you stuck with only 12 units in your first quarter. It is a rough transition from the semester to the quarter system. And on the steep learning curve, you don’t just slip; you slide. Even though you have more free time to do homework, you still manage to avoid it until the last minute. Also, for the sake of your sleep schedule, please get the senioritis out of your system during the summer.

Eventually, after a few pitfalls, you manage to get your bearings. You even feel confident enough in your study skills to sign up for 16 units next quarter.

There’s going to be more than quite a few pitfalls. You do not get all A’s on your exams for the first time. You find it hard to make friends when you are not able to stick around on campus for long and are so terribly, painfully shy. You are going to get rejected by that boy that you talk to all the time in your Monday discussion that you think is cute for some reason.

Every experience as a first year is a novel one that brings you to a faint extent out of your comfort zone. Just hang in there. Stand tall. Keep your head held high. Scores of Cs on midterms are not the end of the world. Next time, focus on comprehension, not memorization of the material. Do not wait until the day before to start cramming. And it also helps if you manage to get at least 7 hours of sleep. There is no use of putting all this information in your brain if you fall asleep during exams when you are measured on how much you can pull all of it out. You are still socially awkward even to this day. Yet, there are hundreds of other students in your classes that are just as new to this campus as you. It never hurts to say hello or sit down next to someone you have never seen before. Don’t be discouraged when you spend an entire lecture chatting with someone and can not manage to find them again. Just repeat the same process of striking up a conversation with someone new. In due course, you will find friends that stick. And on a final side note, though you get rejected, you are going to be proud of yourself for even summoning the courage to confess your feelings in the first place.  Rejection is surprisingly not that devastating, and you move on fairly quickly.

Good luck with your remaining two quarters! Without a doubt,  I am certain you will make them better than your first one.

With love,

Adrianne

P.S. Also, the boy that you constantly stare at in your Friday discussion eventually catches on that you are not only looking at the clock.

 

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Short Letter to Thyself From the Future

Normally I would start my intro by saying “What’s Up!” or “How are you doing?!”, but I am way too tired to say anything. So if you are reading this, let me tell you about the content before you start reading this letter. This letter is written at the end of my first fall quarter, and to be read by me before the fall quarter. So, as a future college student speaking, I have composed a list of things it would be best if you knew before coming to college:

Academics:
In any course, ALWAYS go ask the professor to review your mistakes on your midterms. Please do this if you don’t want your grades to suffer for your mistake. The professors are really nice and kind, and they will help you. It does seem intimidating, but don’t worry. Just be yourself and ask questions.

Whenever taking notes, I (from the future) saw that you do better in classes when you handwrite your notes. So in every class applicable, take written notes, and pay attention in class too, even if the lecture is posted online.

Every day, please try to review your notes you went over in class when you go back home. You will be demotivated to do so as the major things that determine your grade is midterm and finals, but please do review note when applicable.

In terms of picking classes:
If you are in the major you want or love: well then don’t worry about anything else
If you are not in the major you want or love and are planning to change your current major: picking courses will be a little rough and frustrating, especially when you are the first year, which means a low priority (usually those with a higher credits get higher priorty, but not always the case. AP credits do count towards determining your standing.

Social Life:
Over the course of weeks, you will start living more in your room, only going outside for classes, food, and some extracurricular activities. Because of that, your interaction with people will slow down, so try to go outside and go and talk to people.

Throughout the ten weeks, you will make some really good friends, so make sure you keep in touch because maintaining a friendship will take more effort than you realize.

When you apply for things in the involvement fair, don’t just focus on professional/career development programs. It’s good but balance it with something you enjoy. A good example: join the cricket club, or the Zot Blog program. (Hint: DO APPLY! TRUST ME, YOU WILL BE GLAD TO DO IT!)

Personal Development:
I value in personal development a lot, and a college is a great place for personal development. However, there were challenges.
You will notice you will end up getting rejected a lot, and it hurts, but move on and learn where you went wrong. Don’t be afraid to ask people, where you went wrong

Love life:
Currently, the file doesn’t exist.

Overall: it will be a great year, and there are a lot of challenges, but there is two major advice I want you to keep in your head: have a good time management and don’t lose yourself and your ideas/goals. Because everything is fast-paced, you lose yourself into other things, so be careful. That and enjoy, because time flies FAST and you won’t get this opportunity again.

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Finally a break!

I was really looking forward to Thanksgiving break. Not only because it implies 4-day holiday, but also because my parents came to visit me for my birthday and we wanted to celebrate during the break. We planned to visit Joshua Tree National Park.

I like traveling and explore what is around Irvine and California in general. I have already been to many places but there still much more to see. I also enjoy nature and hikes. What appears to have it at one place is any national park. So far I have visited 6 national parks in Utah, Arizona and California. I have a goal to visit them all one day. Therefore Joshua Tree was a good choice as I have never been there and it is comparably close to Irvine (about 2-hour drive)

I am usually free after 1 pm on Wednesday but this time I was actually free half an hour earlier so my parents picked me up and we headed to the park right away so we are don’t get to drive in traffic. This didn’t work, and we were moving slower that a turtle on the 55th highway.

We arrived to the hotel near the park long after sunset and just went to sleep.

The next day was awesome. We spent it exploring the park, hiking and taking pictures of those funny Joshua Trees and beautiful rocks. For the sunset I climbed the Key Mountain and took some amazing shots. We were “followed” by the biggest moon I have seen I my life. This was astonishing and breathtaking.

The next day we went to see Palm Springs cable car. It takes you to the top of mount St. Jack to at the elevation of around 8.5k feet. Wow! Those views were just “Wow!” There is also a hike on the top of the mountain that features several notches with a view so beautiful, you can’t even stop looking.

Returning back to studies and daily routine was kind of sad but at the same time I realized that I missed studies! That might sound strange but this is how it is. I am looking forward to the end of the quarter and to the beginning of the new one!

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Ravioli Ravioli Whats in the Ant Eatery

If you live in Mesa Court, you most likely would have heard about the Ant Eatery. It is the designated eating spot in Mesa Court and it looks good being the first floor of the Mesa Court towers. Its got a modern feel to it, with big windows and outside patios. If you got a 7-day meal plan, chances are that most of your meals would be eaten there. It has a wide selection of food, ranging from burgers to pasta. It alternates from day to day, so most of the time there would be different food choices available, unless you are a burger person then by all means, eat burgers all day since that is never off the menu. It even comes with a ton of desert options as well, from ice cream to brownies if you have a sweets craving. It is a fine dining experience if you can afford it and everything is all you can eat, making that freshman 15 a reality within a few weeks.

Sometimes there are really good days at the Ant Eatery, where they have special promotions or food for the season. For Halloween, they offered a special pumpkin ice cream and pumpkin spice hot chocolate, which in my opinion was really good. Some of you folks might not enjoy pumpkin which is ok, as they offer spiced apple cider as well during those times. And just recently they had a night where they collaborated with the food trucks around campus to bring you food truck food such as Vietnamese sandwiches and mac and cheese balls. I highly recommend nugget night and wings Wednesday for their late night courses since their nuggets are great and the buffalo sauce is top tier.

Sometimes you might just get sick and tired of the same type of food at the Ant Eatery and need to diversify. However, other food places actually require cash and money is tight since you spent it on something you didn’t really need but was cool so you wanted it. Theres where creativity comes in. Tired of all the normal sauces on your burger and just can not perfect that one burger place’s taste? Try using the salad bar’s sauces on your burger. Oriental and honey mustard might just be the taste you are looking for in a burger. Tired of the same burger all the time? Try adding hash browns to it which is usually served during breakfast or brunch, A nice crunchy burger tastes good and fills you up too. Not too hungry and just want a light dinner? Try a crispy chicken patty with a side of plain rice. Works for me every time. Sometimes all the pieces are there, but just spread out. It is up to you to build the perfect meal in the Ant Eatery.