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FYEP Grey Havens Philanthropy Project

My hall Grey Havens is part of what is known as the First Year Excellence Program, or FYEP for short. Every year, all of the FYEP halls organize a philanthropy, community service project. It serves as both a way to give back to the community, as well as a way for first years to build up their resume. I was personally a little skeptical at first. I thought to myself, “Man I already have so much work, is this worth it?” I figured it would be at least worth checking out, so I decided to go to the first meeting with my room mates. After the first meeting though I was totally on board.

The project is organized and overseen by our wonderful UU counselor Andrea, but the residents are the ones who actually plan everything out and make the project their own. Attendance isn’t mandatory, but we’ve really been trying to get more people to come out. Even if residents choose not to be a part of the planning committee, they can still help with the event itself. As of now, we have around fourteen people who show up regularly, and we’re making good progress! Our goal right now is to hold a community event at the Brookdale Senior Living Facility over by UTC, and we’re still in the process of communicating and getting something officially organized with them. We’re thinking of holding a kind of roaring 20’s themed dance/game night with the residents, and we’ve been trying to think of different ideas for activities.

Right now I’m in charge of putting together a music playlist for the event, and I’m also working with other people to come up with fundraiser ideas. Other people are in charge of communicating with Brookdale, trying to recruit people, and managing the project’s Facebook page. Although it can be a lot of work depending on what you volunteer to do, I see it as one of those things where the more you put into it, the more you get out. So far it’s been really exciting coming up with ideas and seeing our group making progress. I’m really looking forward to executing the actual event and seeing all of our efforts come to fruition. If you’re an incoming freshman reading this and choose the first year excellence program as your desired theme, definitely make an effort to come out to the events. I know it doesn’t seem like it’d be fun to add work on top of all the other responsibilities you already have, but I can say for sure that it’s been totally worth it.

 

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Learning How To Relax

In high school I had a chemistry teacher whose motto was: “Don’t sweat the small stuff, and everything is small stuff. Except for your health and your family.” I was kind of taken aback by this. What do you mean everything is small stuff? I’ve got four finals to study for, ACT prep, community service, how am I supposed to not sweat? When I asked him what he meant exactly, he told me to keep a broad perspective on life. It’s not like I shouldn’t try to do well in school and my extra curriculars, but I shouldn’t let those things consume my life and bog me down with stress. There’s so much more to life than we sometimes realize when we’re burdened by huge responsibilities like tests and projects. Admittedly, I still feel like my teacher’s motto is an oversimplification, but it has nevertheless stuck with me since. Going into college, I knew that things would only get more difficult, and as things got more difficult it would become even more important to manage my self care. Of course stress is an inevitability, but I’ve managed to keep it at a minimum by consciously allocating time to de-stress.

One of my old hobbies that I’ve always loved is video games. Ever since even before elementary school there was something about video games that captivated me. It’s a unique medium of entertainment where you’re required to actively engage in it, unlike with television or movies. Of course since coming to UCI I’ve had far less time to spend playing games, but every once in a while I’ll allow myself time to indulge. It serves as a really good way for me to keep in touch with my friends back home as well. Even though we’re hundreds of miles apart, it gives us an extremely easy way to interact and socialize with each other. Here at school as well, I’ve found that there are many people who are interested in games, whether casually or more competitively. I mean at the student center there’s an entire room dedicated to video games. That’s pretty incredible if you ask me.

Of course, playing video games isn’t the most physically exhausting activity, so I also make an effort to get some exercise which I think for a lot of people (although not all) helps to relieve stress. Sometimes I’ll just leave early for class and go the long way around. UCI has in my opinion a legitimately beautiful campus. Oftentimes I find that after a particularly rough day, a walk through Aldritch Park can be rather cathartic. Even if I do have three midterms and an essay and two hundred math sets due tomorrow, at least I can enjoy the nice socal weather and the scenery. Just kidding I don’t know if there’s anything you could do to comfort yourself in the face of that. But it’s definitely important to give yourself some personal time to do what makes you happy.

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Wading Through the Wicked Waters of Winter Quarter

Okay I don’t know if wicked is the right word, but this quarter has definitely been a step up from the last. I was previously only taking twelve units, and now I’m up to sixteen. I think I can handle it though, as I’ve grown pretty comfortable at UCI. I’ve got a nice routine going and decent study habits to back it up. Last quarter was definitely a transitional period, and although I was excited to try new things, I was also a little apprehensive. I wasn’t sure whether I’d be able to balance studies and extracurriculars, so I erred towards the side of caution and left more time than I probably needed to for schoolwork. I don’t really put myself at fault for this, as I think it was good to establish that I could handle the course load of college. It’s definitely time to start being a little more adventurous though. I personally feel like if you limit your college experience to just focusing purely on academics, you’re missing out on so many potential experiences and opportunities. (Not that I would really know that well as a second quarter freshman)

I definitely want to get more physically active. I have this totally rad gym sitting ten minutes away from me and I only went like four times last quarter. Absolutely inexcusable. I definitely wanna try to work out a way to fit that in my week. Aside from that I wanna get involved in at least one more social club. Right now, the club I mainly attend is fighting game club, but maybe I’ll check out a cultural club or something like that. I would say I’m gonna work to get my sleep schedule back on track, but I’ve gotta keep my goals realistic. I’m not that disciplined yet. I’ve been considering looking for  a job too. Considering how much books cost, it wouldn’t hurt at all to get a little extra money. I had no idea how much I’d end up spending eating out too. The food around here is so good, but so expensive at the same time. I’ve never had the issue of not being able to choose which Korean barbecue or boba place to go to (not that that’s a bad thing).  I might apply to one of the restaurants at the terrace. I think my experience as a cook at Amato Pizzeria would come in handy there.

I hope that whoever reads our blog is as excited for the upcoming weeks as we are, and I’m looking forward to another fun quarter!

Until next time,

Brandon

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Farewell to Finals, For Now

Dear Brandon ten weeks ago,

What’s up dude what’re you up to? I bet you’re playing video games huh. Stop playing video games and start studying boy you know better. Just kidding keep doing what you do and you’ll be fine, but please try and take better care of yourself during finals. We got through and did pretty well, (hopefully) but eating only a sandwich and coffee cake  because you can’t be bothered to stop studying really isn’t a good idea. You already eat so little already, any less and you’ll turn to dust. Grades are important but you know they don’t matter in comparison to your health, even though at times that idea may be hard to comprehend. Oh, and sleep more! Yay, no morning finals, that doesn’t mean you should sleep at 5 am every night. I wish I didn’t get into such a bad sleeping habits because the effects are tangible. You may be tempted to stay up all night studying. but don’t do it! It’s not worth it! Try not to let the stressful atmosphere of finals get to you either. I feel like there’s such a negative atmosphere that consumes UCI when finals come around, and I suppose that’s for a good reason, but for me personally seeing everyone else stressed makes me feel more stressed. It’s awesome seeing how the school tries to address it though. At middle earth at least they brought in puppies and offered free scantrons and other amenities. Kudos to the school for supporting the students like that. Well, I’m about to take off for San Jose. I’ve never written a letter to myself before so I’m not sure how I do this… I guess until the next time, have fun and study hard.

Sincerely,

Present time Brandon

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Thankful for the Rest

To be honest, I’ve never really been a fan of Thanksgiving. Turkey’s okay, but without gravy it can be pretty dry and bland. I also feel like the day is usually pretty boring in general, with a lot of sitting around and small talk. This year wasn’t really different in any way, but I found that I enjoyed the event much more than I had in previous years. After being away from family, and having to eat Pippins food for months now, (not that it’s terrible or anything) I was more than happy to eat turkey and mashed potatoes and listen to my grandparents talk about unknown topics in Korean.

Thanksgiving this year was like a rest point in a long road trip, and it was really nice to touch base with everyone back home. When I was back in nor cal, it was like I had never left. I felt however that everything was much better than I remember it being. I think it has to do with perspective, and as cliche as it is, I definitely appreciate the conveniences and comforts of home a lot more now. It was so nice being able to walk literally two feet out of my room into the shower, without having to wear flip flops or anything at all. It probably doesn’t seem like that big of a deal, but it’s the little things like this that I feel make home so comfortable in a special way. My room, my neighborhood, and the atmosphere all brought back a lot of nostalgia for me. The night before my flight back to Irvine, I was actually not looking forward to going back. Not because I dislike Irvine, quite the opposite. I was just sad to leave home again, maybe even more so than at move in.

I know it’s only been about three months that I’ve been away from home, but it still feels like a long time since I haven’t spent that much time away from home before. Even though I’ve adjusted to dorm life fully at this point, I still really enjoyed being home and kind of going back in time for a bit. Of course I still had finals in the back of my mind, but for the short break, I was thankful that I was able to forget about my worries and enjoy the familiarity of my family and home.