Author: Jack Fedor

Hello everyone! It is Jack here and I hope everyone is having a good spring break. One of the things that I would like to discuss in this post is Rowing, a new activity which I began doing during my time at UC Irvine. In this post I will go through through the activity, what I think about it and how to get started with it.

When I came to UC Irvine, I originally wanted to compete in a sport. As I was looking for something to compete in, I found club sports. During the first week of the school year there are many opportunities to understand more about the club sports at UC Irvine. The Anteater Involvement Fair and Late Night at the ARC are great opportunities to learn more about club sports and at some of these events there may even be an activity which helps to shower you how the sport is. Most of the club sport teams are competitive and some even accept members who have never played the sport.

I had never rowed before I came to UC Irvine and by the end of Week 0, I was already in my first boat. Throughout the school year I have been able to wake up early most mornings and complete a workout or a row which has prepared me to race. Rowing is one of the interesting club sports as it was formerly an intercollegiate sport, but it now competes as a club team but races some intercollegiate teams. Most of the rowing that we do takes place in Newport Harbor, but there are opportunities to race in other places.

Rowing is a nice activity to get exercise in as some of the team’s members initially joined for that reason, but it is also nice to be able to practice in open water and face some really talented athletes in some of the races. While practices may take place at an early hour in the morning, they are also at a time when the sunrise can be seen.

As for how to be a rower, you could always join your college’s club team or a local club team. UC Irvine rowing usually recruits rowers from September through January and usually at a college club Rowing team they will teach an incoming rower how to row. If you would like to get a feel for the movements of Rowing before going out on the water, one could always practice on a rowing machine, something which is available at the Anteater Recreation Center and many other gyms. Once one would like to try the water, they could row on their own (skulling) or row with one, three or seven others (sweeping). Rowing in the bodies of water around UC Irvine requires a lot of care for the boats, since much of the water is salt water, but the views are excellent. One tip about Rowing would be to do it early in the morning or late at night as it is easier as waters are much calmer at those times of day.

That is it for me for this post and I hope everyone has a great remainder of spring break! Zot Zot Zot!

Hello everyone, it is Jack once again and I am here to share some photos of some of the moments I found most interesting at UC Irvine In the first few weeks of the quarter! Most of these are athletics related, but that is an area I do not think I have been able to share about yet, so I am going to share it now.

This is a photo of the exterior of the Bren Events Center when the UC Irvine Women’s Basketball team played Long Beach State for kids day. This was an important game as it had the largest attendance of any UC Irvine Women’s Basketball game ever. I took these photos here a while ago, but tomorrow the women’s basketball team plays Gonzaga in the first round of March Madness, hopefully they will be able to get their first March Madness win ever.

This is a photo of the 2024 UC Irvine Men’s Tennis home opener against BYU, the Anteaters won and it was the first tennis match that I had watched at UC Irvine.

This was the next day during the next men’s tennis match against San Diego State. The Anteaters were able to win and on some days in late winter and early spring, due to the proximity of the tennis stadium and the baseball field, you can hear the baseball game from the tennis stadium. This was one of those days.

This is a photo of the post-game of a UC Irvine Men’s Basketball game against CSUN. The Anteaters were able to win and they actually went undefeated at home this season. There are a variety of activities at men’s and women’s basketball games, so I encourage all students to at least attend one.

This is a photo of the Men’s Volleyball match against UCLA, which the Anteaters lost 3-2. It has to have been my favorite match that I attended in the Bren Events Center as the crowd was really getting into it and the Anteaters almost came back from a 2-0 deficit. Men’s Volleyball matches are definitely the second most popular type of game to attend after basketball and at times they have similar attendance numbers, if you ever have a chance try to attend a Men’s Volleyball match you should go as they are very lively and the team is usually ranked top 10 in the nation.

For a break from athletics, this is an example of a program hosted by a resident advisor in one of the on-campus residence communities. My residence hall is very active when it comes to programs and at times students who do not even live in my hall attend. On this night we were playing bingo and other board and card games.

I hope this gives students and others a good idea about some of the activities at UC Irvine and I hope to share some more information about life at UCI in my next posts. Next time I will be sharing about one of the activities I never thought of participating in before I came to UC Irvine! Until next time, I hope everyone has a good end to finals week and Zot Zot Zot!

Hello everyone, it is Jack here again and I hope that everyone had a great winter break! As winter break comes to an end and the winter quarter begins and as many Anteaters take their first steps back on campus for 2024, I would like to write about my fall quarter and how it has impacted my beliefs for the winter quarter.

My first quarter, as it was for a lot of people, was a time of learning for me. Not only learning about subjects in the classroom, but about how the school works, all of the activities and events that are available for students and about Irvine and Orange County in general. It was a new experience my first few weeks as I had never really been to the school or area before I attended orientation and since my orientation was only a day, I still did not know much about the campus. Now that I have been here for a quarter I know a lot more about how the school operates and what exists on campus, but I still believe I have a lot more to learn about it. The point of this being that I felt rushed the first few weeks as I moved in, then there were some large events the first few days and then school started immediately after. One of the things that I considered to change this quarter was the preparations that I made. One of these preparations was the amount of time that I spent at school before the quarter started. In the fall I arrived the day before everything started to begin and now in the winter I have been here for around a half of a week before instruction is to begin. This has allowed me to sort out whatever I had left on campus from the fall, to get proper preparation for the winter and to be able to feel adjusted to what life is like on campus before everything begins for the quarter.

I am excited to continue on my undeclared journey this quarter as I take some courses which are in different subjects from the ones which I took in the fall. This also makes me excited to meet new people who are studying in these subjects as I was able to meet a lot of people in my residence hall as a result of them being in my courses last quarter. There are a lot of exciting activities which will be taking place near the end of the quarter, so I hope I will have the opportunity to share them.

These are just some of my thoughts coming into the winter quarter. I hope that all students have a good start to their winter quarter and everyone else has a good start to 2024! Zot Zot Zot!

Hello everyone it is Jack here and I am back for the last time this quarter to share a post which is a reflection for myself, but others may use it more as a guide of what to expect and to plan for when attending UC Irvine for the first time. Without any further introduction, on to the reflection.

Welcome to UC Irvine! You are about to begin a journey like no other at this point in your life. A point in life where school and personal life combine and are mixed together. A point where you may have done a lot in high school, but it seems like you are still spending more time that you did in high school on less. A point where you may want to consider every commitment you make as if to not overdo yourself or even make yourself less inspired that you were to be here. This journey will have some aspects which you have inspected, but some others that you can not plan for. No amount of advice or experience shared can fully prepare you for this journey as the only person who will know your path through this journey is yourself as no one else has been on and will likely be on the same journey that you are about to begin. This is because you are unique and the decision you make everyday will guide your journey into something personal and into something unlike no other.

Something that you must know prior to the start of this journey is that everyone is not an enemy or someone who expects perfection from you. There are many people who will look to help you and add some personal aspect to the journey you take. All that is expected back from you is the help and friendliness which was given to you to be spread to someone else. Possibly you will help to guide one of your peer’s journeys in a specific way. Maybe you should consider how many opportunities you will have to do what you want to do. What is up to you is if you use those opportunities and try to make something of them. There may be a lot to consider on your first day, week or even quarter at UC Irvine, but make sure you consider every major decision you make to a significant degree as some may take too much of your time away, or be of little interest or use, but at the same time it may be a chance to try something new, something which was not planned and possibly something which will interest you. All decisions will not have as clear of an outcome as they have had before.

Taking this reflection into my next quarter I will have to see if all that I wrote about opportunities stays true, but something which is true about UC Irvine is that you will have many opportunities to do different things, but you have to take them and act upon them.

Anyways, this is my last post this quarter and I hope everyone has a good winter break with their families and friends and that they are well prepared for finals. Next post will have some general tips about attending UC Irvine, but until then goodbye everyone and Zot! Zot! Zot!

Hello everyone, it is Jack here again and I will be discussing events at UC Irvine in this post. As there are so many events which are held within the school either in-person or online, in residence halls, in communities, in different schools or even in the middle of the school, there is bound to be an event for everyone. While so many different groups host events, I would like to showcase one in particular to give an idea of what events are like at UC Irvine. 

The one which I will be showcasing is the Holiday Study Kit event hosted by the Center for Student Leadership. There are a few reasons I have selected this event to showcase. One of the reasons is that I was informed that the event was taking place, the day it took place. This is just to give an idea that there are events which are happening all of the time and all throughout campus and there is most likely an event every day that there is instruction and you can find these events if you look hard enough. Another reason I selected this event is because this event is hosted by an organization which people may not typically think hosts events. Usual participatory event hosts are resident advisors, RHA and ASUCI, but there are many events which are hosted which give students a chance to spectate and these events are typically hosted by the arts department and the UC Irvine Athletics. Of course as I am showcasing here there are many other organizations which host events, but these are some groups to get your search for an event started.

I had to register for the Holiday Study Kit on Campus Groups prior to the event. Most events will require some pre-registration or have a check in process, so make sure you research that aspect prior to the event. If you can not find anything with more information regarding registration, then you are more than likely able to show up to the event and more steps will be given to you upon arrival.

Once I arrived at the event I was able to paint a stocking and fill the stocking with an assortment of goodies. Recently I have noticed that there are a lot of painting events as I have also recently attended an ASUCI tote bag painting event, but with so many organizations trying to host so many events, there is bound to be overlap between events.

I had fun at the event and I am sure that everyone could find an event which they would enjoy if they looked hard enough. There are hundreds of clubs and organizations on campus and if you find one that fits your interests, then you are bound to find some event that they are hosting which also fits your interest. This event however was specifically for freshman and transfer students, so if you are a current freshman or junior who is a transfer student, then make sure to look out for more events which are planned by the Center for Student Leadership.

That is all for me for now and I hope everyone continues with their strong preparations for finals! Zot! Zot! Zot!