student life

Dear Clark Kerr …

December 9, 2021
Cordelia Varona

Returning to the dorms was something that I’d never thought I’d do. Although I had loved my freshman year experience, I was excited to experience new housing adventures, like living in my sorority house or in my own apartment. While I did end up doing these things, once COVID hit and I returned back to my hometown, I had to rethink my housing situation for senior year.

I ended up applying to be a Resident Assistant (RA), as I fondly recalled how the RAs in my freshman year building had helped me, a shy and scared first-year, navigate the university. I knew that I...

Savoring the Moment Through Selfies

March 29, 2022
Alyssa Hurtado

Some of my friends tell me I have a great eye for aesthetics – a compliment I take with honor. Since I was a little kid, I’ve loved taking amateur photos, whether with a point-and-shoot, my iPod touch, or my phone, and making seemingly mundane things more exciting. I feel as though photos can make pretty things uglier and ugly things prettier. This may seem like a hot take, but hear me out. When you take a picture of the sky, specifically the moon and stars, it never comes out as beautiful as your eyes behold it in real life. Conversely, you can take a picture of something like trash...

The Best Coffee Shops in Berkeley

March 31, 2022
Emily Conway

Coffee is central to the lives of students, working professionals, and hipsters alike. Whether you’re looking to fuel up for a day of work or relax and catch up with a friend, a cup of coffee is great company no matter what your agenda looks like. Berkeley, being a city full of college students and young self-starters, is the perfect place to explore with a great caffeinated beverage. I’m going to break down my favorite coffee shops on and around campus, and encourage you to use this as a mini coffee guide for the Berkeley area!

1. Caffe Strada...

Nothing Really Matters

April 14, 2022
Alyssa Hurtado

If other Berkeley students are anything like me, they went through high school taking the maximum amount of AP and Honors credits, doing sports and extracurriculars in and out of school, staying up late to finish every assignment, and living in fear of letting themselves–or the people around them–down by getting *gasp* a B! When I was admitted to Berkeley, I had a gut feeling that this was where I would end up, whether I liked it or not. I was worried that I would be overwhelmed by the amount of people and that I would never be able to succeed here academically. After reminding...

Deciding the School That’s Right for You

April 19, 2022
Emily Conway

Congratulations, high school seniors! You’ve survived 4 years of hard work, a grueling college application season, and the agonizing waiting period before decisions are released in March. Whether you applied to Berkeley or elsewhere, pause and give yourself a pat on the back – taking the first step toward higher education is a huge accomplishment and you deserve to be proud of yourself.
Most people I knew had a decision to make at the end of their college admissions process. Some were lucky enough to have a clear choice. However many schools you’re choosing between, here are a few tips...

Dear Junior Year

April 26, 2022
Bridget Bernet

Dear junior year,

What a wild ride, am I right? I’ve been looking forward to writing this blog post all year, but now that I’m here I have no idea where to start. Lets work backwards. I had my first ever in-person Cal Day on April 23rd, 2022, and dare I say it, life felt like normal after two whole years in the pandemic. Wow. I won an award in the Rally Committee for being a dedicated older member. I applied for chair of the Rally Committee and did not get it (I’m telling myself that one is a blessing in disguise). I took over this blog and have been running it for quite some time...

Summer in Berkeley – a Comprehensive Guide

June 3, 2022
Emily Conway

Berkeley is a blast during the school year – the hustle and bustle of classes, club meetings, sports games and projects keeps students busy from August to May. However, a decent handful of students opt to stay in Berkeley for the summer months, whether they’re working or taking classes. Although campus isn’t as busy as usual, I’ve come to appreciate the quieter summer months in my college town. Here are a few of my favorite summer activities to do in Berkeley!


1. Take an art class through the Berkeley Art Studio
I took my first pottery class through the Berkeley Art...

Reflecting Upon my Junior Year at Cal

June 6, 2022
Josephine Lee

Along with the passing of May came and went the last month of my junior year at Cal, and the realization that I had only a year before graduation left me nostalgic with so many mixed emotions, and even more self-growth to reflect upon. As someone who spent my first two years of college figuring out who I was and struggling to differentiate that from the ideal college self that I thought I would be, there was a lot that I had to come to accept, the most challenging being that I had to pursue my own career goals to gain my own happiness, even if it diverged from the pre-med student my...

Dear Freshman Me: An Open-Letter to My Freshman Self

June 8, 2022
Ethan Collier

Dear my freshman self,

Well, this is going to be a wild ride! Your first year at Cal is full of things you didn’t expect. I know we came in with this idea about college and what it was going to be like. Let me tell you, as your now second-year self, nothing you thought about college is true… well not entirely. Here are the four things you should know coming into your first year here:

1. Going random with your roommates was a good idea. (I know right!)

You are the only one coming from your high school...

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...