I never understood the stress and mental breakdowns that my friends (who were attending colleges that ran by the semester system) were experiencing– that is, until an entire month later. Except our situation is way worse.
Hello all, my name is Azalea Lilliana Walker, one of the U/U ZotBlog writers for the 2019-2020 school year! This will be my second blog that I will be working on, aside from my ePortfolio for my Writing 37 class. I personally love reflective writing– it’s one of my favorite hobbies. It helps me to relieve stress and just share my stories with other people, and being a ZotBlog editor can even help me put my Writing 37 skills to work.
I attended Dr. Maya Angelou Community High School in South Los Angeles, a.k.a “South Central”. You know, the area south of Downtown LA, past the Fashion District, with its abundance in corner stores and liquor shops, elote carts with the chicharron bags hanging from the top of them, and graffiti tagging the sidewalks and murals here and there. Yes, it’s a low-income area, yes, me and my friends (both male and female) do feel unsafe walking around the neighborhood sometimes, and yes, it’s very dirty and it sometimes stinks– the sanitation department does all they can to keep it clean, but people just keep shamelessly throwing trash in the street.
Regarding my experience at UCI, welcome week here was really fun. I loved the Toy Story 4 screening, because I know that my boyfriend and his family got a chance to go and see it during the summer when it came out, but I didn’t get the chance to see it until now– and I’m very glad I did. Aldrich Park After Dark, however, was crazy… I remember leaving early (around 7:30 P.M.) because I got bored, then about an hour and a half afterwards, I’m receiving texts from our house’s GroupMe chat about all the crazy stuff going on– people getting hurt, people fainting, etc.
Fast forward to now, and I’m almost at the end of week 2, with a midterm coming up next week. I’m way behind on textbook readings and understand nothing about half of the content that is being covered in Biology 93. I’m also struggling with some emotional baggage and learning to let go of the past. So far, I have been joining clubs to make friends, and I’m on the Level V Origins dance team, but I’m wondering whether or not I am in too much extracurricular activities. However, one thing that I am grateful for is the fact that I have people at the Black Scholars House in Arroyo Vista that I can reach out to when I need it most. Having a strong support network is crucial for my mental wellness. Personally, I know it’s scary to make new friends at UCI, but there are people out there that care.