goodbye berkeley

The Soundtrack to my Time at Cal

April 6, 2023
Alyssa H.

The past four years have been a whirlwind – the one underlying thing that got me through good times and bad was music. Whether I was blasting Phoebe Bridgers in my headphones to get me through a dull day or heading across the bay to see my favorite artists perform live in concert, there were sweet, sometimes bitter, melodies keeping me going.

Freshman Year

Fall 2019

“Home” by Cavetown

During my first semester, I was still trying to make Berkeley feel like home. I would listen to this song often and I...

A Letter to the People I Don’t Know

March 2, 2023
Alyssa H.

A man in the red bomber jacket who sits by Sather Gate reading the news paper, a man who goes on little runs down College Ave every day at exactly 10 am, a woman who believes the sun is artificial, and a man who makes his own animal-inspired outfits and stands in the middle of Sproul. Just like The Breakfast Club, there are so many distinct beings that would not come together if it wasn’t for the welcoming and freeing nature of Berkeley, both as a campus and as a city.

Over my past three and a half years in Berkeley, a lot has changed, but...

Keep Dancing Like the Class of 2022: My Years At Berkeley As Described By Taylor Swift Albums

June 10, 2022
Kara Gebhardt

Before I was a Cal fan, I was a Taylor Swift fan. While our graduation speaker wasn’t Taylor Swift (I almost flew to NYU just to see the queen get an honorary degree), I still have found many valuable lessons in her songs that relate to my time at Berkeley. Most of the time I was jamming to her songs on the way to class, or getting hyped on a Friday night to her catchy tunes. I can see my four years through the eyes and ears of her song lyrics. Every high and low could be remedied somewhat by listening to Taylor’s discography.

Freshman year was a blur of new...

Squeezing the Most out of my Last Virtual Semester

March 6, 2021
Jazz Van Horn

As I near graduation, it’s hard to pick a favorite memory, school year, or class. But, I’m not quite looking back yet, I’m still looking at my last couple months to make sure I fit in everything I want to while I still can. I still have two full months and I want to enjoy it as much as I can, but it’s hard to know how to fit in as much of the Berkeley experience as possible, when there’s nothing in person. I have decided on 3 main things to focus on for the rest of the semester to make sure I enjoy the last little bit of my time at Berkeley.

Food...

One Bear’s Goodbye to Bear Talk

September 21, 2021
Evelyn Lawrence

Throughout my time at UC Berkeley, I was lucky enough to partake in a wide and wild array of activities. In a single day, I would fly from one end of campus to another, learning, dancing, giving tours, leading my residents, having meetings, and discovering new things. One of the most special activities I participated in, however, was one that I did more quietly. Beginning in the Fall of 2018, I wrote blog posts for this student blog, Bear Talk.

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Am I Satisfied with my Berkeley Degree? From a UC Berkeley Alumni

June 27, 2022
Vincent Ooi


The answer to this question is what every incoming student wants to know. Is a Berkeley Degree worth the investment? And that’s a valid question. As a UC Berkeley alumni, I want to provide my perspective on this. Hopefully, by the end of this blog, you will be able to gain additional insight to your education here at Berkeley. This will also be the last blog that I will write for Bear Talk. If you’d like to read my previous blogs, then please check out my profile here.

First, I want to start off by saying that everyone’s experiences will be different depending on the track and...