Tag: 22-23: Teresa

Hello, ZotBlog readers.  It’s a bit bittersweet, but here I am – for the final time – to reflect on the last first-year quarter of my life (as far as I know)  (the future is full of possibility).  I’ve enjoyed writing and reflecting and I hope my experience is of some value to someone, even if it’s just 

I think, all in all, it’s been a bit of a cocoon year for me; as a commuter, entering college wasn’t the huge, fresh restart that it is for people who move across state borders into a new school with different weather and different people and a whole different culture surrounding it.  For me, it was more of a subtle change, brought about in more purposeful class meetings and assignments (you had to be there every day in high school; in college, a lot of my classes have only met twice a week, with the teacher covering several topics in one lecture) and a heightened sense of independence.

The reason why I said this was a “cocoon year” is because due to the way that college is structured, I’ve had the opportunity to step back more, to think (and to sometimes avoid thinking) in ways that the flurry of high school did not allow.  I’ve spent a lot more time thinking about what I want to do, not only in the realm of major/career plans, but also with regards to hobbies and interests, thinking about who I want to be (and how I want to express that) in addition to what matters to me.  So, it’s been a year of self-development!  The goals I set at the beginning of the school year have morphed and changed as I’ve gotten used to the flow of college life, but that’s okay because I have a little more certainty about who I am and how I’m going.

I think that that is the one piece of advice I’d impart on you all: move forward, try new things, have new experiences (this is college, after all!  The first taste of independence…) but also take the time to think about those new experiences – especially those that might leave you feeling weird (in both a good or bad way) – and learn more about yourself from them.  The quarter system can move even faster than you might think it can, and it’s easy for things to creep up on you or come back to haunt you during its less frantic periods, so try to set aside time to be with yourself and think despite it all.

With regards to being Undeclared, I think my advice would be to have as much fun as you can when it comes to choosing courses; personally, I came into college with a lot of credits due to AP exams, so I had already satisfied quite a few of my GE requirements.  So, rather than worrying about taking the easiest GE’s with the nicest professors, I had a bit more leniency to take random classes that I thought would be fun and ended up learning about things that I wouldn’t have thought twice about otherwise.  I think based on who I am, if I had come into college with a major, I probably would have focused on progressing towards graduation as quickly as I could, but that was sometimes not possible due to restrictions and limits on course enrollment, so I ended up taking courses that I wasn’t anticipating and learned more about myself and the world around me in the process.

Closing off this post, I ask that you all keep me in your thoughts because as of right now, I’m still Undeclared.  I’ll be taking the final for the last change of major requirement – the class that will decide whether or not I’ll be able to declare Computer Science sorta by the end of my first year at UCI – on Tuesday.  I’ve been studying hard and coding diligently, but I need all the well wishes and good energy I can get.  

It’s been super great writing for you all this year; I’ve enjoyed my experience very much.  Writing for ZotBlog has been like a savepoint in a video game for me, as being a ZotBlogger forced me to set aside time to sit down and take inventory of where I am and where I intend to go (this is something I may have avoided doing otherwise, so I’m grateful).  It’s a shame that our time is coming to an end, but I’m glad we’ve spent it well and I hope you all will look forward to the adventures of the next set of ZotBloggers!

Hi all!  We’re around a month away from the halfway point of 2023, as the school year ends and summer begins and students are caught in the limbo between one year and the next.  I know that by this point, UCI’s class of 2027 have committed to becoming anteaters and are enjoying the limbo between high school and college.  And to that I say congratulations!  I’d imagine that during this time, you’d probably want to know a bit more about the place where you’re going to spend the next few years of your life.  UCI is a relatively big school, with the number of students in the quintuple digits, so I wanted to zoom in and give you a glimpse of Undergraduate/Undeclared.

For this reason, I spoke with David Spight, who has served as the Director of the Undergraduate/Undeclared Office here at UCI for the past three and a half years.  This isn’t David’s first rodeo – he’s worked with undeclared students at two other universities in two different states (University of Texas, Austin and Colorado State University).  So, know that not only are you in good hands at U/U, you’re also not alone, as though every undeclared experience is unique, there’s a universality that transcends schools and even states.

One of the first things I wanted to ask David was what he majored in – I always enjoy asking this question as I feel it’s such an easy way to learn a lot about a person, what they value, and the experiences that have shaped them, and maybe it’s because I’ve spent a year as Undeclared myself, but I like testing those experiences and values against my own reasons for declaring the major I intend to declare.  David said that  he initially majored in History “as the result of having some great teachers in high school and a love of the stories” and intended on becoming a history teacher himself.  

As you might be able to tell, David did not end up becoming a history teacher, instead figuring out that he would rather work with college students as opposed to high school students and eventually finding his way into working with undeclared undergraduate students.  This ties into one thing that David wished he knew when he was in college, which is, “That major doesn’t matter. There’s so much focus on what we’re all going to major in while we are in college and in the end, we find out later, after changing careers more than once, that major didn’t really matter beyond needing to declare something in order to graduate.”

I think this is very important to remember although it’s a bit of a daunting idea, considering that major is something relatively easy to cling onto in college, considering that it’s what dictates the classes you take while and creates this bubble of being immersed in a path to a career related to said major.  However, one thing I’ve taken away from speaking to David is that it’s okay, even good, to be uncertain, as long as you don’t let that deter you and continue moving forward and continuously setting yourself back on a path that is right for you.  I’m someone who is prone to freezing (or trying to escape) in the face of anxiety, so I found that to be a very valuable message.

One thing I wanted to highlight is the motivation behind David’s work: he says, “I am motivated in my work by the chance to help a student find their path to becoming who they want to be; I have a great job in that I get to come to work each day to try to make the student experience better.”  I think it’s quite reassuring to know that there’s someone rooting for you on the journey to finding yourself.  For any soon-to-be U/U students reading this, know that you always have support behind you and people who have seen experiences similar (but never identical– your uncertainty is unique to you and your values, as daunting as that thought might seem) to yours.  The people at U/U are here to support you and cheer you on!

And, finally, a piece of advice from David: “Participate. The reason to engage in and out of class, is that life offers up so much more to you when you try and put yourself out there. Participate in life and it rewards you in ways that can’t fully be explained. Don’t limit yourself because it seems to much work to participate. Don’t avoid engaging in life simply because you are nervous, anxious, or fearful of what might happen if it doesn’t go as you hope or plan. Be kind. Be generous. Be empathetic. [Carrie Newcomer once said,] ‘What we give in love and kindness is all we’ll ever leave behind’”

I couldn’t have said it better myself.  Shoutout to David for taking the time to talk to me and provide thoughtful answers!  I really appreciated it 🙂

Hello, new Undeclared student and welcome to UCI! I hope this letter finds you well and not too burnt out in your final year of high school. My name is Teresa and I’m a first-year U/U student as well as a commuter.

My first real taste of UCI was during the summer when I had to attend freshman orientation or SPOP (Student Parent Orientation Program– no one calls it that, though).  I actually didn’t realize that the program was overnight until the week that it happened, so I had to quickly rearrange my packing list (notably adding shower shoes) a few nights before.  I’m someone who is quite shy and would rather not stand out and SPOP gave me my first chance to practice adapting that to the independence of college: one of the first things I learned is that at UCI, your time is pretty much completely your own (with the exception of mandatory things, in which case you probably owe it to others to be somewhere). With that being said, my introverted self has found this meme to unironically be a pretty good piece of advice.

There’s a lot going on at UCI all the time: you’ll get upwards of ten emails a week inviting you to various campus events and I’d highly recommend going to any ones that seem even a little interesting to you, especially if a) they’re free, and/or b) you have friends who are willing to go with you (my friend and I went to a tote bag decorating event the other day and let’s just say I am now richer by one more cute tote bag and two more free notebooks).  As a commuter, events like these have gave me a chance to be part of the greater UCI community, outside of my own little bubble of activities and classes.  However, since coming to college, I’ve spent a lot more time thinking about what I want to do every day, rather than just following the daily bell schedule and being where I need to be like I did during high school.  So, try new things, but still make the most of your time: succinctly, if it sucks, hit da bricks!

Moving along, I hope you enjoy your time as Undeclared; whether you’re coming in with a major in mind or eager to find a direction to take your life in, this is a chance to explore new interests!  Sometimes, you won’t be able to register for the exact classes you want due to them filling up before restrictions drop, but this just provides you with the opportunity to try something new; UCI has a lot of different classes and gives you many chances to learn that thing that you kinda maybe sorta found interesting when you were younger but never got to fully dive into.  I’ve been taking a lot of Linguistics courses – something I definitely didn’t learn about high school – and I’ve found it so interesting that I now intend to double-major in it.

I guess what this post boils down to is that the best part of my first year in college has been being able to get to know myself; UCI is like the world’s biggest sandbox, letting you play around and experiment, building tiny castles and destroying them or reforming them once they no longer serve purpose to you.  Being aware of that fact has helped me enjoy college even more, and that’s why I want to impart that knowledge on you.

With that being said, I remember being in your place, just a year ago: I hope you’re all excited to get here in the fall, but I also hope you all make the most of all of your final days in high school (without failing your exams, notably).  Enjoy your super long summer! UCI will be waiting for you on the other side.

It is the second week of the quarter and I am already a little exhausted.  A lot of this is my own fault as my sleep schedule is not the best (this is a recurring theme in my blog posts) and I am getting less sleep than I need to function (since the quarter started, I’ve been averaging 6 ½ hours.  Yes, I’m aware many would call this rookie numbers, but I can’t live like this).  But compared to last quarter, I am taking more classes that are more academically intensive and in many ways, I am thriving.  I am the type of person who enjoys being busy because I tend to waste my free time when I have too much of it, but I am beginning to settle into the rhythm of the quarter and enjoying it all very much.

Time passes by so quickly at UCI that I feel like it’s been a million years since spring break when it’s only been around two weeks.  I had a relatively quiet spring break, spent mostly reading (Neil Gaiman’s Good Omens), playing video games, talking to friends, getting really into the K-pop group TXT, and getting excited for the new quarter!  It was nice to have that period to recharge and reflect and I feel like I was able to go into this quarter with two feet planted firmly on the ground.

In this last quarter of my freshman year, I think my only goal is to always enjoy and to always be thinking; starting next week, I’m going to start having projects/exams/”midterms” weekly, and the best I can do is try not to be swept up by the current.  Also, I think that having so many things happen means that I have all the more things to reflect on; I’ve found that the value systems I developed during high school have become subconscious habits and no longer occupy the forefront of my mind.  I’m trying to change that and to spend more time – both this year and the next – thinking about the person who I want to be, even if that person changes from week to week.

For now, it’s time to keep on keeping on.  To any students reading this, best of luck during this spring quarter – which one of my professors referred to as “not Week 2, but more like Week 14 of winter quarter”!  Wishing the best for all of us.

I’ve never really gotten the saying, “April showers bring May flowers” – as someone who grew up on the California coast, it really only ever showered around December or January in the heart of winter.  But this year, I get it more than ever, with hail near Valentine’s Day and rain continuing to visit after the passing of daylight savings time.

It feels nice in a way; a sort of cleansing, a rebirth, a reminder that there’s always still time to refresh and emerge anew.  It was certainly needed.

As Winter quarter closes and Spring quarter emerges, it’s time for me to take inventory of what I have now and what I want by the end of my first year at UCI; first of all, I’m very excited for spring, particularly the courses I will be taking during it.  I made a careful plan and put a lot more thought into what courses I wanted to take this quarter, only to scrap it all once restrictions dropped and I got into the classes I actually should be taking if I want to change my major.  I wasn’t expecting to get into these classes – it took me five minutes to fight past the WebReg lag – so I’m more excited than ever to actually take them.  I’ve heard some of them can be quite difficult, so my academic goal for this quarter is to remain engaged; after years of being a student, of studying studying itself and trying to figure out how to minimize the amount of effort I have to put in, I realized that the easiest way to learn is to simply try.  It’s not easy for me to sit and focus for long periods of time, but I find that I have the easiest time learning when I actually sit down and grapple with the material when I’m supposed to (read: during lectures).  So, I’m going to do my best to not get too distracted in any of my classes.

As I’m still in the process of winding down from Winter quarter, I only have one other tentative goal to speak into existence: I want to be bored more often.  I realized that I have a tendency to fill spaces that don’t need to be filled, either by putting on music or by opening a random social media app and scrolling.  Instead of keeping my mind engaged through low-effort activities like this, I’d rather let my mind hit absolute zero for a few minutes, as it’ll be easier for me to pick myself up and do something that makes me feel better than whatever I was doing before that.

Those are my goals as of now; for now, I’m going to focus on enjoying the upcoming week and doing a bit of spring cleaning – physically, digitally, and mentally – and letting myself return anew for the next quarter.  I’ll talk to you all soon!