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ZotIntroduction to my fellow Anteaters

What is up, everyone! My name is Nick and I am a new ZotBlogger! It is a pleasure for me to meet you guys!

Let me start off by introducing myself a little bit more than just a name. I am an international student from Ukraine, which is in Eastern Europe. Fun fact: Ukraine is the biggest country in Europe! I come from a big industrial city, not the capital, though, that is located in the Eastern part of the country and, therefore is close to Russia. The fun thing is that around 80% of the population there speak Russian as their first language, but schools, TV, radio and everything else is in Ukrainian which makes me a native speaker of both Russian and Ukrainian! I also speak English, as you may have already noticed and also know a little bit of German, so Gutten Tag meine lieben Freunde!

Ukraine`s biggest sport, as you may guess, is Soccer, so it should not be a surprise for you that I like playing it in my free time. What most definitely could surprise you, though, is that the main sport that I was doing is figure skating. I was doing it for 10 years before coming to study to the US and this is where I was able to achieve the most. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to do either figure skating or soccer professionally as my main focus were studies and academic success, but I don’t regret it now as I have become an Anteater because of my academic success!

Now, that I`ve been an Anteater for 3 weeks already a can say that this is the best thing that has happened to me so far. Everything is new for me not only in terms of academics but also the culture and atmosphere. I am happy that I am involved in U/U ZotBlog. I think this is a great opportunity to see what are you capable if and to also use skills that you acquire in Writing classes. I am really looking forward to this quarter as I would like to declare my major, which I would really want to be the Business Information Management one, and continue to pursue my degree!

Thank you all for reading this piece! This is my first experience in that kind of job so I really appreciate the attention and the opportunity to try myself in this field! I wish you all a happy and successful quarter and lets ZOT this year together!

 

Posted on 1 Comment on Introductions!

Introductions!

Hey everyone, I am Tommy Ieong! I am one of the writers for ZotBlog this year. I came from further up north, around the Sacramento region, so staying at UCI would be the first time I would have stayed in Southern California for an extended period of time. My hobbies include playing video games and watching anime and even sometimes going for long walks at dark. My favorite video game to play in my spare time is  Guild Wars 2. If anyone is interested in playing it (its free) message me and I can help you get started. If you already play this game, shoot me a message too! My all-time favorite anime is Hayate the Combat Butler and would highly suggest watching it if you are interested in anime. Right now I am a Undecided/ Undeclared trying to get into Computer Game Science.

The first few weeks here were fun. It was the first time I got to see my roommates in person and they turned out to be really cool people. We all decided to bring one thing to help out the room so I decided bring a fan to keep it cool. My roommates brought a mini fridge and a vacuum so now we have chilled snacks whenever we want. Most of my roommates had early morning classes so we went to sleep quite early. However, my earliest class starts at one in the afternoon. That’s why I usually have the room to myself in the morning which feels great.

The classes here at UCI are challenging but not impossible to pass. I expected this to be true and it was. All I had to do was turn in assignments on time and do the work when it needs to be done. It can get challenging at times, especially when your roommates invite you to hangout events when something is about to be due, but you can always say no. Most of the time they will understand the struggle.

Getting to class from Mesa Court has been tough for me. Most of my physical lectures have been at either the social sciences hall or at the engineering hall, which could take a good ten to fifteen minute walk. It would not be such a big problem if there wasn’t any slopes to climb up, but there are. The slopes make walking difficult and thus makes me feel like biking would be the solution to my problems here. Overall my college experience for the first two weeks was great. I’ve met new people and experienced many things that are unique to this environment.