student life

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...

Dear Freshman Year

May 5, 2020

Dear freshman year,

With the end of my freshman year approaching, I've been looking back on what made it so great, regardless of how it was unfortunately cut short.

A lot of those great memories have to be credited the UC Rally Committee. Rally Comm gave me my friends, my future housemates, my job, and a great deal of happiness. Looking back on how scared I was to join makes me laugh, I can't imagine my freshman experience without the UCRC. I've come so far and I'm excited to give back to the committee that gave me everything I wanted and more as the new Director of Security...

The 20 Unit Spring: A Cautionary Tale

February 22, 2021
Bridget Bernet

I took 20 units this semester. That’s 5 classes total. The minimum amount of units I have to take in L&S is 13. Most students take 16 units. That’s 4 classes.

Before I get into my experiences, I should explain what units mean exactly. The number of units a class is assigned is based off of hours of work needed to put into each class outside of the predetermined lecture and section time. The reason students usually stick to around 16 is because more than that tends to start to be overwhelming and very time consuming, as I now know first hand.

Disclaimer: 20 units is 100%...

How to Stay Focused During Quarantine

February 28, 2021
Vincent Ooi

Taking classes during quarantine is already hard enough…you also want me to stay focused?! This request is absurd for some folks. Today, I’ll show you a few ways in which you can not only stay concentrated in your work or studies for long periods of time, but you can also voluntarily shift your focus at anytime you want.If you want to see how, then read further! I will show you the steps in which you can do this as simple as possible.

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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...

Why Office Hours Are Important!

March 10, 2021
Allie Dunham

As the end of my third year of college comes rushing towards me, I have given some reflection on my time at Cal. The memories I’ve made with my friends, random adventures I’ve been on, and the brilliant people I’ve met along the way. One of my favorite things about university that isn’t talked about enough might surprise you: office hours.

If you don’t already know, office hours are a time for you to meet with your professors or graduate student instructors (GSIs) outside of class time. Sound intimidating? That’s the secret– it isn’t! I’m not here to give you the...

Connecting Through Food

March 8, 2021
Carson McNealy

This week marks one year since classes at UC Berkeley went online, and since then, it has been difficult to connect with students outside of my apartment. Over the last year, I have learned to appreciate spending time with my housemates, especially cooking dinner with them. Even though things have been online, all of our schedules are still very busy with classes, work, and various student organizations. However, we still make time for what we call “family dinners” at least four days a week, where we all help cook a meal and sit down together at the table to eat.

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Being Home Again

March 15, 2021
Lisa Zhou

Moving from LA to Berkeley is quite a big distance even though both places are within the same state. California can practically be its own country if it wanted to, but this is beyond my point. Being able to miss someone is not defined by a long distance. All it takes is a moment alone.

This was something I had realized when I moved to Berkeley to go to college. Now you might be wondering that this blog is going to turn into a movie trope story about being grateful for being with your loved ones. I have to admit, it is part of the story, but not all of it. This...

No need to lament over learning a new language!

March 15, 2021
Andres Larios

Bem-vindo, Bienvenue, Bienvenidos, Welcome. These words in their respective languages all signal to the listener that the space that they are in is hospitable, that the speaker is greeting the listener in a positive manner. This is a common introduction I have heard during my time at Cal learning different languages. I knew I wanted to study another language that would not only be useful for me when I travel, but also in my career field.

So first, I decided that I would strengthen my Spanish knowledge and would learn Portuguese since there are already many...