Rose Pageant, Meme Chalking, and Fam Wars: Extracurricular Involvement at UCI

Overall, my freshman year extracurricular involvement at UCI has been pretty fun. Yesterday, before I went to practice, the Meme Club was chalking memes behind the Social Sciences Lecture Hall (towards the stairs that lead to Aldrich Park). If you want to see the pictures, however, you will have to be part of the Facebook group, since the group is private (you can view their Facebook page here). I recall only going to two meetings because I was so busy, but I may consider attending more often. We have meetings every Monday from 5 pm to 6 pm in Social Sciences Tower, in room 122. They also host many crazy events, such as standing around in Aldrich Park screaming like Goku for over an hour, using an Ouija board to summon “Wildebeest Man” while listening to an entire My Chemical Romance album, or riding the S line forty times.

I also remember spending an entire Saturday preparing for Vietnamese Student Association’s Rose Pageant, because my dance team Level V Origins was performing. Being in LVO has really taught me about commitment, patience, and perseverance, because I spent so many nights out in the cold, practicing in front of Steinhaus Hall (or just sitting there while other people were blocking and cleaning their pieces). However, Rose Pageant itself was a day to remember. Everyone was singing old songs at the top of their lungs and then Cheney was playing some sort of mafia game where we all got cards that had different roles and then we faked sleep while the wolves tried to kill all the townspeople, or whatever happened in the game. We ate really good that night, because the banquet food was bomb. I pretty much joined LVO because it was a beginner-friendly dance team, but some of those pieces are very fast-paced and complicated. I have no experience in dancing hip hop… at all. However, being in that fall quarter piece has made so many memories. Jumping off that stage really hurt my feet, and I remember skipping across the pavement to the back of the parking lot out the side door because the sprinklers were on that night and I didn’t want them to wet my feet.

I’m also in the Antleader Mentorship Program, and our Fam Wars is coming up tonight… I am so nervous! However, AMP itself is super fun and has introduced me to so many cool people! In fact, the purpose of it is to be social and connect students to ASUCI in general. Personally, I have connected with more upperclassmen than I have other freshmen through it, but Chill Times for me are my personal favorite. We just sit around in Aldrich Park and discuss what’s going on in our lives, just like we do in Anime Community Club during our Wednesday UTC meetings (at 6:30 pm by the fountain if anyone is interested). However, I also find myself skipping meetings in order to catch up on homework or get some rest, so it is important to get a good balance of both.