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Brand New Quarter

Hey y’all!

It’s a new quarter, which means just ten more weeks till the end of my first year in college! I honestly cannot believe it, and I’m buzzing for this new quarter, fresh out of spring break. Before I get into this upcoming quarter, let me tell you a bit about my spring break. I went to the Taylor Swift concert! She happened to be performing in Dallas during my spring break, and I was able to get a hold of tickets back during the pre-sale. I may have lost half a day fighting for tickets, but post-concert? It was worth it. Other than the concert, I was able to enjoy the rest of my spring break in the best way—spending time with friends, family, and my dog.

As this is my third quarter, I am nearing the end of my time as a U/U student. However, I still need to finish strong. I’ve decided to try to get into the Business Administration major, something I figured out through the flexibility of the U/U major. And as I have my mind set on this goal, this last quarter is all about applying myself in the UCI business community (aside from maintaining my grades). One of my friends, who is a Business Administration major, has introduced me to this club called MAISS (Management and Information Student Society), and I want to get myself more involved in this club. They meet every Wednesday and have various events that pertain to the tech side of the business world. Last quarter, I was able to attend a couple of MAISS events, such as a UI/UX speaker panel featuring the head of UX design and research at a company called SAP. I got busy and didn’t attend as many events as I wanted to, so this quarter it’s my goal to attend as much as I can.

Other than that, my last goal is to have fun. This will be my last quarter in the dorms (shout out Middle Earth Towers), so I want to make the most of my time here. I will be living in an apartment next year, and I have a lot of commuter friends, so this may be the last time I see them every day. Because of this, I’ll be in the common room even more than I usually am, just to have that extra bit of interaction with all the amazing people on my floor.

This quarter is going to be amazing—I can just feel it.

Zot Zot Zot,

Ian

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Looking to the Future

I can’t believe that my first year in college is almost over! If I had to sum it all up in a phrase, I think “so far so good” would be a good description. This last finals week hit me pretty hard, but I think (and hope) that I pulled through. I would like to say that it has been a great first year, but there is still the entirety of last quarter waiting, and I don’t want to falter now. 

This next quarter, I will be 18 units, the most I’ve taken since arriving in Irvine. Additionally, I have 8ams on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, which I still haven’t figured out how I’m going to manage. During Winter quarter, my earliest class started at 1pm, so the switch will be a little bit of a lifestyle shock. I shouldn’t be complaining too much, though, since the class responsible for my 8ams is my ICS31 class, which was really hard to get as an undeclared major.

Some more news: I’ve decided on the major I’m going to pursue! I think I want to try for the Business Administration route, and next quarter I’m taking my first management class. One thing about the Business Administration major though—people who switch in need a very high gpa. Some of my friends have told me switching into BA is much harder than other majors, but I still want to do it. If anything, it just gives me more motivation to succeed in my classes, since there’ll be more of an incentive to maintain a high GPA. 

Because of my major choice, my number one goal for the immediate future is to keep my GPA as high as possible. That means every homework assignment, every lecture, and yes, every 8am ICS lab. As long as my GPA stays high, I have a shot at going down the business route that I want to pursue. So as of now, I’m going into next quarter with academics being my first priority—I am a student, after all.

That’s all for me this time! As always, thanks for reading and I hope everyone has a great spring break!

Zot Zot Zot,

Ian

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Spring Break , Spring Quarter, and New Students

 

Spring break this year was mellow, but enjoyable nonetheless. I was in a situation similar to Nancy, where both of my siblings were still in school, and as a matter of fact, a lot of my friends were as well. Most were either still in school or had just finished break, so I was only able to hang with a few. Either way, it’s always nice to decompress after finals, and just being at home is therapeutic enough. There’s something very comforting about sleeping in your old bed and going through your old routines. I find that when I’m home for break I spend a lot of time reflecting, and something that I’ve been thinking about a lot is how these breaks are some of the last times I’ll be able to spend at home with my family. I mean, I still have a decent amount of time. I’m only eighteen after all. But as I get older and start taking on more responsibilities, I’ll have less opportunities to visit home, and before I know it I’ll be living completely on my own. The though of that actually makes me really sad. Honestly, part of me wishes I could be really young again, just so I could go back and appreciate my home and family more than I did. It’s mostly sad for me because I feel like I took everything back home for granted before I came to college, and I just regret that so much. Now I really want to try and cherish all the time I have left. Although breaks do get boring after some time, I try my best to savor every moment of boredom. I would much rather be bored at home chilling with my dog than in my dorm stressing over finals. And I know once the tests start rolling up, I’ll be wishing I was at home bored out of my mind.

On another note, to any recently admitted UCI students, congratulations! That’s an awesome accomplishment and UCI really is a great school. If you decide to come, I know for sure that you’ll love it. There are so many opportunities to learn and connect with all kinds of different people. In terms of advice, I know you all know how important it is to study hard and study early, so I don’t really want to give academic advice right now. My advice to you as a student preparing to leave home would be to really enjoy the rest of your time in  high school and with your family. You will never get that time back, so make the most of it. Make sure that your parents, or whoever supports you, know that you’re thankful for everything they’ve done for you. As lame and cheesy as that sounds, I think it’s so important and it’s something that I feel we don’t think about enough until we’re out of the house.  I know I certainly didn’t and I really wish I did.

This quarter for me is an important one. At the end of it, I’m going to be applying to get into the business administration major, so it’s more important than ever that I study hard and get good grades. Business administration is one of the most competitive majors here at UCI, so I’m going to need to work hard to get in. It’s exciting though, and I’m looking forward to applying and hopefully getting in. I’m also looking forward to taking ICS 31, the intro computer science class. I’ve always been curious about computer science, and now I finally get to take it. Hopefully I find it’s as interesting as it sounds.

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That One Week of Spring Break

As the title suggests, we only have one week off here at UCI for Spring Break. That being said, I was able to go home and just relax for a while which is a nice change of pace from the usual hustle and bustle of campus. Since I only had a week to do things I just mainly hung out with my friends. That week was actually my birthday week so I celebrated leveling up in the game of Life along with two of my other friends surprisingly. Although their birthday was before mine we all celebrated in the same week so that was a good time. Compared to Winter Break, I’d definitely say that it was less rejuvenating and more of a short break. By that I mean that with the two weeks from Winter Break, I was able to fully unwind and relax but with only a week there was only so much relaxing you can do so what I’m getting at is that it definitely felt too short. This Spring Quarter however, I can look forward to starting to take classes that are related to the Education major I am thinking about attempting alongside my Computer Science major. This will be my first steps towards that goal so I’m hoping that the class will be interesting. Since this is arguably my last quarter as a Freshman here at UCI I believe that I should try and impart some knowledge to the incoming class of 2022.
1. Don’t worry about the stigma of being Undergraduate/Undeclared, it just means you are not sure of what you want to do yet. So take advantage of that and explore!

2. Avoid getting a Reduced Double room if you are in Mesa Court unless you are living with someone who you know well because there is zero extra space in my reduced double at the moment.

3. Participate in some kind of way. By that I mean while you are here at UCI, you are in charge of what kind of experience you are going to get. So be proactive and try new things. Maybe join ZotBlog for those sweet 1.3 course credits every quarter so that you can almost get out of taking another class

4. This one is going to be in regards to food. Yes you will get tired of the Anteatery’s or Pippin’s food after a while but that doesn’t mean you are stuck without options, instead think of combining different ingredients together to make something good. For example the Anteatery has both cheeseburgers and thousand island dressing and you know what you can make with those two? A budget In-n-Out burger that technically didn’t cost you anything! Throw in unlimited fries and you got a meal worthy of any fast food aficionado.

5. This one should go without saying but GO TO LECTURE and TALK TO YOUR CLASSMATES and PROFESSORS. Yes, it will be intimidating to talk to your professors about something and possibly look stupid but so what? After talking to the professor, you are probably going to end up with a better understanding of the subjects than if you didn’t so what is there to lose? Also talk to your classmates because you’re all on that college grind anyway might as well make it as enjoyable as possible. As for attending lectures you already paid for the professor to be there and teach you something so you risk wasting hard-earned money should you skip too often.

That’s all the tips I got for now, I’ll add more in later posts if anything comes to mind.

Zot On!
Josh

 

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Spring Quarter Swing

Spring break felt so well deserved after the stressful winter quarter. This year was the first time my siblings and I had different spring breaks so it was so weird and sad being at home by myself. I went back to visit my high school and I was overcome with some much nostalgia. When I visited, it was the international assembly so I got to see all the performances and be reminded of how lucky I am to grow up in such a diverse community. I really missed high school after that. My high school friends and I finally got to catch up now that most of us were home for spring break. Please cherish the time you have with your high school friends and high school experience because in college, you may not have them with you. One week was definitely enough because I get bored pretty quickly and couldn’t wait to get back to school and be with my friends all the time. Pro tip: please prepare for the quarter during your breaks! Read through your syllabi and block out your schedule. Know what to expect for each class and get notebooks for your classes because I regretted not doing this. I tried to buy college ruled composition books the morning of, and it was a disaster. I went to the UTC Target, the District Target, and Walmart and there were no college ruled notebooks, only wide ruled. It was a disaster, so please avoid this if you can!

Spring quarter is a new quarter and I’m really excited and nervous for my last quarter of freshman year. I’m really looking forward to Vietnamese Culture Night (VCN) because I’ll be performing with the Traditional Dance (Trance) group to showcase our culture and tell our story. It’s one of VSAUCI’s biggest events of the year so I am so excited to be a part of it. If you can, please come out on May 6th to support us! I really want to take advantage of my last quarter living on campus and continue having the time of my life.

On another note, all UCI acceptances are out. Congratulations to everyone who was accepted and welcome to the Anteater family, especially incoming Undecided Undeclared students! I’m so excited for all of you to join us in the fall and I can’t wait to meet all of you. As a UU student, you definitely have the luxury to explore. My friends in a specific major find it hard to switch out and are often stuck taking classes they dread for a quarter. Being UU, I was able to take Biology classes during fall quarter and completely switch to Business Economic classes during the Winter. Take classes that interest you and things will definitely work out. If you have any questions or need advice, please let me know. I’m more than happy to help! Find me on Facebook or email at nancyd2@uci.edu! Welcome to the family, I’ll see you in the fall!