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Don’t Panic (Too Much)

Something that’s great about being part of the #UndeclaredLyfe is I’m not tied down to specific major requirements yet. Instead, I can explore a variety of subjects and discover what makes me excited to learn and what career path I want to follow. But having that extra wiggle room doesn’t mean I should get lazy.  

Midterms are flying in fast. And honestly, schooling from home doesn’t motivate me to study. But here’s a Zot Hack I learned that helped me earn A’s on my first two midterms so far: 

Get out of bed! I know. It’s awfully devastating to hear. But because we associate our bed with sleep, it can be hard to focus on homework. Instead, I try to move to a quiet, well-lit desk or table. And if I can’t find one at home, cafes and libraries make great alternatives. If you’re on campus, UCI has some really cool study rooms that you can reserve too! Even though I’m at home, sometimes I like to change out of my pajamas and into real clothes. It’s all about creating that physical working environment so your brain can get into the right mentality to work! 

An interesting thing my professor told me is some universities are considering collaborative test-taking. Crazy right? But it makes sense because in the real world, we need to collaborate on projects and tasks at our workplaces. Will collaborative tests help students develop necessary collaboration skills? Or will they inaccurately evaluate individual skills and knowledge? 

Bonus Tip: Okay hear me out. Avocado, condensed milk, ice. BOOM. That’s the sound of your mind blowing when you try this classic Vietnamese/Filipino dessert. It’s currently my favorite study snack and I promise it tastes better than it looks. The recipe is simple: dice or mash one avocado in a cup or bowl, add about three tablespoons of condensed milk, and toss in some crushed ice. If you have a blender, even better! Now you’ve got a delicious potassium-charged smoothie. 

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Dig, Plant, Harvest, Repeat

When I’m not studiously digging through my textbooks, I’m plowing away at the garden in my backyard. Since the stay-at-home orders were put in effect earlier this spring, gardening has been a productive hobby that allows my family and I to get some fresh air instead of being cooped up in the house. Patting in soil, watering the plants, it’s all so relaxing and satisfying to me. Gardening is cheaper than therapy, and you get tomatoes!

My mom’s recent gardening obsession is planting succulents. Succulents are easy to care for, and they can be easily repropagated. In my backyard, there’s a whole shelf to display a few of my mom’s favorite succulent plants that sit in their unique little pots. She gets so excited when she brings home new succulents to add to her vast collection. I used to tell her that she has way too many, but honestly, they’re really growing on me too. 

I can say my parents and I are fruit tree fanatics. Our backyard grows everything from passionfruit, lemons, and guava, to lychee, grapefruit, custard apple, and longan! It’s most satisfying to care for a plant and finally see it producing fruit. The strawberries are definitely my favorite. Although they are small, they grow relatively fast in late spring, and they taste great too!

Most of the time, caring for plants can be challenging. Papaya trees are tall and thin, and ours was knocked down by the strong winds a few days ago. Also, we need to pay extra attention to the plants during some of SoCal’s heat waves. And there’s a lot to learn about how to properly care for specific plants. For example, our grape vines need to be planted in loose sand-like soil so the water can drain well. And occasionally, the squirrels like to visit and “harvest” the fruits for us. How kind of them. 😀

(Quick question: If tomatoes are fruits… does that make ketchup a smoothie? Hmm.)

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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.