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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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Face Masks, Dining Halls, and Naps

College is comes with all kinds of stress: the stress of midterms, stress of relationships, stress of running to make it to the dining hall before it closes. Stress surrounds you and there’s little you can do to control it because it’s just a part of college, but you can control how you react to the stress. Now halfway through my first year of college, I’ve definitely experienced my fair share of stress and here are some ways I practice self care and deal with the stress!

  • Face masks: Okay this sounds super stereotypically girly, but it is so relaxing to be able to sit back and enjoy treating your skin after a long day. It really leaves me refreshed and ready to get back to work. It’s a quick 10-15 minutes that could make all the difference. I love doing this with my roommates because it gives us all a chance to quickly catch up and look silly together. I recommend sheet masks if you’re scared to try face masks because it’s literally a thin sheet that has serums soaked in it. It’s easy to apply and easy to take off, plus they’re pretty affordable. I bought a pack of 24 on Amazon for $12 and it’s been more than six months but I barely finished half of them. Give this a try!
  • Spontaneous Dining Hall runs: Personally, studying drains my energy, so after a couple hours of studying, I’ll grab some hallmates and we’ll go to Pippins together really quick just to get our legs moving and take a little break. A soft serve cone can temporarily relieve some stress! As a freshman, you already pay for the dining hall! So take advantage of it as much as you can.
  • Nap: Naps are essential to college. Everyone naps. Whether it’s a 10 minute power nap or an indulgent 2 hour nap, naps help you recharge and can make you way more productive! When you’re running on little sleep, sure you can be studying for hours, but it’ll be hard to retain anything. Listen to your body! If it’s saying you need a nap, take one. But remember to set an alarm because you still need to get work done!

These are some of my tried and tested ways of taking care of myself and relieving stress. In all honesty, academics are important and you should study really hard for all your exams, but in the long run, it’s way more important to take care of yourself mentally, emotionally, and physically. Make sure to take care of yourself!

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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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The Importance of Self-Care

Winter quarter for me so far has been not what I expected to say the least. Originally, I wanted to take 12 units so that I would have time to fully focus on ICS 31, but that ended up not being the case, as I ended up getting somewhat lax with my study habits. The first midterm was definitely a reminder that the quarter system does not allow you to fully relax until its over. That being said, taking care of yourself is as important as studying because if you’re relaxed and calm while studying, I can say with moderate certainty that you will have a harder time recalling the information.

For me, self-care starts with my roommate since I usually like to go to the Anteater Recreational Center (ARC) with a friend so its more entertaining. The most recent trend that my roommate and I have been getting into is badminton. It’s also beneficial to the two of us that the ARC has drop-in badminton everyday at whatever time the ARC’s website says. Badminton, for the readers who don’t know, is a racket sport where the objective is to make the birdie (or shuttlecock) hit the opponent’s side of the court. Now, there are nuances to hitting the birdie in that each side may only hit the birdie once and how much power you put into returning the birdie to the other side of the court. For example, if your opponent is returning a shot from the left side of court, you can hit the birdie to the right side of the court so that they have to try and cover the whole court in order to return the birdie yet again. Another tactic is when your opponent hits the ball high and close to the net, here you could just jump up and spike the birdie onto your opponent’s side at a steep angle. Although I haven’t played badminton in years, its still fun to play with a friend and on top of that builds cardio due to all the running. As a little side note, badminton is actually the world’s fastest recorded object in sports as a professional player from Malaysia set a new world record by smashing (another type of shot) the birdie to around 493 km/h or 306 mph.

Beyond just running around a court chasing a birdie, I tend to take really long showers while in the dorm. It may seem strange but when I’m in a hot shower for a long period of time, I tend to naturally feel at ease and that helps me reset myself for whatever task I had before hopping into the shower. The downside to that would be that UCI and my floor-mates have to accommodate my long shower times. I tend to joke with my friends that I’m the reason why California is consistently in a drought. That being said, being in a shower allows me some time to unwind and just do and think about nothing. For me, having that time of just emptiness helps me refocus after I get back to work and that’s how I’ve been caring for myself while in the constant rush that comes with the quarter system.

Zot On!

Josh

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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