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2020-2021 New Blogger Introduction – Rebecca

If you’re one of the millions of students in America right now you’re probably feeling the fatigues of remote schooling as the COVID-19 pandemic sweeps the globe and education across the nation shifts online.

My name is Rebecca Nguyen. I’m a first-generation, Undeclared freshman at UCI, with an interest in Business Administration. And like many, learning from home (in Northridge) for my first year of college isn’t the ideal college experience I had in mind. Though I was thrilled to attend an amazing university, I felt anxious and nervous for the first week.

Many things can go wrong during, for instance, a Zoom meeting. Like when I accidentally left my mic on and the three hundred students in the lecture could hear the TikTok playing on my phone (I’m still cringing). Or when you lose internet connection during a quiz! But remote learning has undoubtedly made schooling more flexible. I’m able to attend lectures and join club meetings, and I even participated in a UCI Cognitive Memory study experiment all in the comfort of my home. Remote learning has also been a dream come true for introverts like myself!

By the second week, I started to find a steady rhythm to my daily routine. Everyone tries to preoccupy themselves during the uneventful months in their own way. For me, it’s planning the opening of my sticker shop, a small business that I have been wanting to start for years. It is difficult juggling between practicing my passions and doing school work, but thanks to online school I’m able to manage both efficiently. I found that self-discipline is the key to success in a remote environment because “procrastination is the assassination of motivation.”

But even with all the mishaps, I feel privileged and so grateful that I’m able to attend college. I’m optimistic that the next four years will be the best years of my life. I can’t wait to meet new people, learn life-long lessons, and most importantly, eat at all of Irvine’s iconic restaurants and consume more boba than my 4’11” self can possibly contain.

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2020-2021 New Blogger Introduction – Mia

Hi, my fellow Anteaters! My name is Mia Dimalanta and I’m currently dorming at UCI! I plan to double major in Biomedical Engineering and a language! An interesting fact about me is one of the nicknames I had in school was “Starfish” because my finger grew back after it was cut off by a seesaw. I know, crazy right?

The first two weeks have been a rollercoaster of emotions especially because I am dorming. The moment I realized I was in my room with boxes surrounding me did I realize that I was completely alone…and very homesick. Since quarantine started, I was never alone; my family was always with me and because of that, I became more and more of a family person. I didn’t know if I was ready to be on my own and in a year where everything is virtual, it makes it harder to make friends. It took a while, but I overcame these feelings eventually by realizing that my suitemates felt the same. If anyone else feels this way, I understand how you feel and I know it’s hard, but remember that you are not really alone; someone else is feeling the exact same thing.

Doing classes virtually is definitely not how I imagined my first year of college turning out, but it’s important to look on the bright side in times like these! Taking classes remotely allows more flexibility in our schedules and permits us to be more independent in our decisions. I know there are times when you become unmotivated to work and that’s okay! It’s totally fine and justified. A tip that I learned is the 20/20/20 rule: Every twenty minutes or so, take twenty seconds to stare at something at least twenty feet away. It also helps me to alleviate some of my stress when I mediate or when I journal so please give it a try if you ever feel discouraged!

On a funny note, one of my suitemates got locked out of her room twice already and it’s only the second week! Both times I walked her to the mailroom and back because it was late at night and I didn’t want her to walk alone, but we were just laughing the entire time. Isn’t that the funniest thing?

Thanks for reading my post and I hope you have a great day!

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2020-2021 New Blogger Introduction – Charlotte

I’m trying to find a creative way to introduce myself but unfortunately falling short and discovering for myself why people only introduce themselves using this format every time: Hi my name is ____ [insert interesting fact and other things]

“If you can’t beat them join them.” – Senator James E. Watson

Hi! My name is Charlotte Tu and I’m currently working from home in Pomona, California just a 30 minute drive away from UCI. At the moment, I have no idea what major I desire, although momentarily I’m eyeing the environmental field. Something cool about me? Challenge me to a Guitar Hero duel and I will prevail as *The* Guitar Hero. I’m a self-taught painter! I really enjoy painting scenery and fruits, and I have an art account (shameless plug, I know) @charlo.to.art on instagram. I play the flute, piano, ukulele, and I’m pretty shoddy at the guitar. When I play my flute my dog Chuba likes to howl with me; in pain or enjoyment I will never know.

Attending my freshman year of college from home isn’t as morose as you would expect it to be, mostly because I don’t even know half of what I’m missing. Rushing for clubs? Moving in? Independence? Dorming? Taking advantage of campus scenery? I know nothing of any of those things — for goodness sake I still haven’t even been on campus. What I know of campus scenery is a mind collage of google images and online campus tours.

Week one was lots of fun. It felt good attending class at 11 pm and doing assignments on my own time. The best part was probably logging all my classes into google calendar and putting all the events in for the quarter. I don’t know what it is about planning and seeing everything for the quarter laid out before my eyes. Maybe color-coding my calendars excites the ~artist~ in me.

It’s pretty hard as a freshman attending college online to make friends so I made sure to join a few clubs. I’ve been attending Sunday socials to test out the club waters and I’ve met a few people I quite like. Granted I spent 2 hours playing games with them, followed them on instagram, and have not spoken to them since; BUT I have hopes the relationships will develop as I keep attending socials.

That’s all for this week 😀

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2020-2021 New Blogger Introduction – Vivian

Hey there! My name is Vivian Liu and I’m from Sacramento–it’s also probably where I’ll be for the rest of this year as well. Although I wish things were different and I could say I’m on campus this year, I am extremely grateful for the extra time I am getting spending with my family. This “borrowed time” that I’ve gotten staying in my hometown has given me priceless moments of weekend hikes and quality time with the people I’m closest to. Anyways, I hope to be a business administration major by next year, although I am pretty nervous since it is a competitive major, but I think it helps that I’m doing alright in my classes so far! Remote learning is different from what I expected for my first year of college but I’ve actually come to appreciate it. Of course, nothing beats the traditional in person experience but the flexibility that comes with “Zoom University” is actually really great. In high school I was sleep-deprived 24/7 because I had to get up so early every single day to adhere to the rigid schedules, but now I get to make my own schedule and get up at a time that’s suitable for me! Never in a million years did I think this would ever happen! Rarely do I find myself falling asleep during class because I actually got enough sleep! It also helps that the classes I take are engaging as well! One thing I’ve noticed about remote learning is the lack of connection with other students. I can be a major introvert at times and only recently realized the isolation I’m experiencing by not being on-campus. I know that there have been plenty of opportunities with the many clubs and events at UCI but they just don’t feel the same as if they were in person. I hope I’m not the only one feeling that way. I’m trying to challenge myself to find ways to get connected with other students with the resources I have and make the best of the cards I’ve been dealt. It’s not going to be easy but I’ll definitely try!