An Introduction of the Nerdiest Sort

Hey everyone!

I'm the UCSD: Living on Campus' newest blogger- Chelsey! I'm really excited to be able to work on this and give you guys the information you need to survive.... duh duh duhn... Living on campus.

To give you the general, run-of-the-mill about me, I'm a third year student living on campus in iHouse, but a Muir College (MUIRON PRIDE!) student. I am a psychology major and Lit/Writing minor (but considering making it into a double major). I am secretary for the iHouse events planning comittee, iHOP. I volunteer on campus at the International Center's Resale Shop every Friday morning from 10-1PM PST (and I highly advise coming to visit me or the shop because it's awesome there and you can get A LOT of things for cheap, cheap, cheap! And I'm all about the cheap, cheap, cheap.). I also am a KSDT radio DJ and I host the radio show Something Like That, But Not That on Monday nights from 8-9PM PST.

So, I would say I'm fairly involved with campus and will be able to give you the scoop on what's going on and let you in on the secrets of things you might have missed while living on campus.

I have to say, I'm not writing this at a particularly pleasant moment as I'm in a sleep-deprived, running on who-know-what state. I was out until 430AM last night seeing the new Harry Potter movie. It was AMAZING! The movie is... SPECTACULAR! I left campus

around 230PM to get to Edwards theatre in Mira Mesa and was there waiting in line the whole day through. I dress up at a Gryffindor Quidditch player (Yes, I had the t-shirt, the robes, the scarf, and was sorted by the Sorting Hat into Gryffindor while waiting in line. Oh yeah, I had my wand too! Something tells me 1. I would be able to pull the sword of Godric Gryffindor when I needed it and 2. I'm a nerd.) While waiting in line, one of my newest friends that I've just met this year, Jessica, drew a Dark Mark on my arm while waiting in line. IT'S THE BEST THING EVER.

One of the best things about the night though was being with my friends. My group was 17 people huge and EPIC. Some of these kids were the people I first met when I moved to UCSD, girls from my Tenaya suite whom I lived with last year in the Muir Apartments, and am neighbors in iHouse with this year. Some of these people I'd met only recently through iHouse or throughother friends. Some of these people I've met specifically through midnight showings of other movies. Some of these people are from Japan and Australia. Some of these people I met that day! But everyone was cool.

And I think that's one of the best things about living on-campus. You get to meet and live with so many amazing and different people and keep those relationships going. I know when you live off-campus, relationships tend to get a lot harder (I haven't even been able to say my first year roommates this year so far because they totally live off-campus now). Foster these relationships while you can because these people can be the foundation of your UCSD experience. I know for sure they've made mine. I know it's awkward to say this, but SKIP CLASS AND HAVE SOME FUN EVERY ONCE IN AWHILE. These moments, seemingly little now, are what you'll remember in the future. And I swear they're worth it.

Off Campus Grocery Shopping!

Meal of the week: a ten second review of dining hall food

Stir fry. $5.95. A customized dish: pick your meat, your veggies, rice or noodles and you're good to go! Sometimes they offer water chestnuts and bamboo as veggie options too, which is a huge huge plus.

When/where: Lunch, 11/18 (today!), Canyon Vista (CV)
Delicious? Always! I don't get my stir fry anywhere else because no other place serves it like CV does. The portions are huge and the price very decent. I tend to get the rice over the noodles--sometimes the noodles (pictured above) tastes a little too much like cheap ramen packages.

 Last Saturday I headed out to Vons and Trader Joe's to stock up on groceries. I have yet to go to the weekly Farmer's Market (shame on me!), but I know for a fact fruit at the dining halls is super expensive. The easiest way to get some healthy snacks for cheaper prices is to shop off campus by taking the Superloop!

  The Superloop runs counterclockwise (the 201 bus) and clockwise (202) and arrives at each stop every 10-15 minutes, depending on the hours. Besides taking students to grocery stores and restaurants, the bus also stops by the UTC mall full of small stores and a food court. To optimize my route, I take the 201 (counterclockwise) to do grocery shopping and take the 202 back (clockwise) so I don't have to wait for the bus to make its full loop. :) Yay for saving time!
Here's a map of the Superloop route.

The first thing I learned as a student who's never gone shopping without a car is mind what you buy--carrying a large amount of heavy groceries back on the bus is no fun. I once had bought fruit for three other people at their request, and that trip back to the dorms was one of the worst. Some solutions to buying bulky or heavy products? Taking the Campus loop could shorten your trip back to the dorms. I've seen a girl carry a sustainable grocery bag with wheels, too, which is an awesome idea:

I'm good for the environment, grocery shopping, and I fold into a handbag!

Sustainable grocery bags!

 I went to a lot of suite/building events this week too. There was movie night with my RA--free pizza and Sherlock Holmes! My suite also submitted a design for the Building T-Shirt Design competition, which in actuality is more of a "suite design that one very artistic suitemate drew". Needless to say, we're going to win!



 As a suite, too, we share a love for home decor and the combination of our efforts resulted in the following: christmas lights, sparkly baubles, cutout painted snowflakes...it's a little too early for Christmas, so we also added silk autumn leaves right after I took these pictures. A few suitemates and I definitely went a little overboard with the snowflakes!

Snowlakes colored with markers!

Probably the most decorated suite in Marshall--our RA was proud.

-Rosanne

Getting Around UCSD

Hey everyone,
It's tuesday again and here's some more things I think future students or anyone that wants to get around UCSD should know. One of the most important transportation tools out there that I use is my skateboard.  It might not seem too speedy to push your way uphill, but the fact that you can cut through campus on all the walking paths where the campus loop bus system has to go in a big loop- hence the name- makes a skateboard or scooter priceless on campus.  Sure bikes are great, but the problems with a bicycle are that you have to leave it outside and risk its being stolen, which outweigh the benefits of mobility.  Plus, a skateboard or scooter you can tuck under your feet in lecture and take up very little room.

The downside to any of these tools for getting around is if it rains, the wheels spin up mud and water and you will probably get your pants-legs wet.  So if it rains, I recommend taking the UCSD campus loop- the L line.  It might be inefficient, but if you're sick, tired, rained on, or just lazy, its great for moving across campus without exerting yourself.  If you search for UCSD shuttle tracker in google, the first result gives you the nearest arrival time of a shuttle anywhere on campus.  So you don't have to wait around in the rain... you can check when the next bus arrives and head out a minute or two before to get picked up.

Mostly, it doesn't rain, and the walkways and paths of UCSD are great for skateboarding- as I already said.  Here's my personal favorite route on a skateboard.  If you take the bus to Revelle, the college up at the highest point of UCSD, at about eight or nine at night, you can cruise past Clics, the Revelle library, across the Revelle square, down the road toward Main Gym, take a right to cut through the Old Student Center, push up a small hill that goes past Porter's Pub, then roll to your left as you crest the hill and skate down across the Sun God Lawn turnaround towards library walk, mostly without seeing anyone or having the crowds of the afternoon get in your way.  From there, I cut across Library walk and carve down the Price Center hill with the Triton man on my left and the pine meridian on my right until I fly past the construction on the left and all the way back to Sixth College Apartments.  As a side note, the pavement across from the Triton man on either side of the meridian is great for all you flatland skaters out there.

My Route is outlined in a black pen mark.
Have a great week UCSD.

The UCSD life...during midterms!

Meal of the week: a ten second review of dining hall food

Chicken Udon $5.25. Tender chicken with udon noodles, bean sprouts, green onions and seaweed.
When/where: Lunch, 11/10, OVT
Delicious? Yes, there's nothing like hot soup on a chilly day. The chicken was flavorful, the soup just a tad too salty. Worth the price? Not quite--I'm a small eater, and yet this bowl just filled me up. I bet my male friends went foraging for extra morsels after this lunch.

I'm in the middle of my studies for Midterms: Round 2. One of my biggest issues the week before Midterms: Round 1 was finding a nice place to study without distractions. If my suite wants to party it up or my roommates want to watch Glee with a bunch of friends (like last night!), I have to find other places to curl up with my chem text. The most obvious study place is Giesel:

...unfortunately, as a first year living in the Marshall residence halls, the walk to Giesel can be rather far. My friends introduced me to the lounge at the top of my dorm building, and I definitely like how it's just four short flights of stairs or an elevator ride away.

Cozy, quiet, and empty. My RA lives just outside, too, and he stops by now and then just to check up on us every now and then. Get to know your RA and don't be afraid to ask them for anything! Mines is full of all sorts of valuable and interesting information :)

My favorite reading chair in the library...

Another great study area close to Marshall is the IR/PS library in ERC. It's a small, two story building that's a little out of the ways, and no one can give clear directions to it ("walk down a sketchy path," "somewhere near RIMAC," "kind of near I-house..."). As I had to ask so many people for directions to this one cozy library, I'll try to describe the path best I can. From the intersection of Pangea and Scholar's Drive North, walk through the Great Hall and up the stairs. Crossing the small street, there's a narrow walkway that takes you to the entrance of the IR/PS library. Alternatively, you can walk up Ridge Walk until you see it on your left!

It's back to studying (at the lounge :P) for me. Hope everyone does well on their midterms!

You only see these kinds of sunsets in movies--or at UCSD.

-Rosanne

What's Up UCSD?

Hey everyone at UCSD,

Or if you're not at UCSD but want to be... or if you ended up here by mistake, hello to you too. I've definitely been in your place before- cruising the web, looking for a history of Swedish Fish, then I zone out for a second and by the time I figure out where I am, I'm taking a survey of top twenty things I don't do in my spare time. Who cares what I don't do in my spare time?

So back to me... I'm a freshman in the sixth college Pepper Canyon Apartments and my blog posts will be about my life at UCSD and bits of advice about where to eat, what to do in your spare time, what not to do in your spare time, and other pearls of wisdom. Basically little things that I wish someone had told me before I did something that I shouldn't have and which I wouldn't have if that someone had told me before I did that something.

For example, I really wish someone had told me that you need a piece of towel, or cloth, etc, to get into the weight room at Rimac before I had run all the way there to realize that I needed a towel to get in. Listen to me because this is golden. You need a TOWEL to get into the weight room. But if you get there and your supposed friend who is there with you and who has a towel but forgot to tell you that you need a towel to get into the weight room doesn't tell you that little gem about needing a towel, you can still buy one downstairs at the equipment checkout desk right next to the stairs. I think they're two or three dollars, but still that's two or three dollars that you shouldn't have to spend. And to all you internet users who ended up here by mistake, who are still reading because of my magnificent prose, and who have no idea what Rimac is, it's the big gym at UCSD.

One more bit of great advice: don't spend your money on tissues. I was stressing so much on the ride down because I didn't bring any kleenex and now that I'm here I notice that I don't use any tissues. Use toilet paper. It works just as well and it's restocked every week by your cleaning crew if you live in a UCSD housing unit. And free things are good things. Usually. Plus, at least where I'm living, they stock the good stuff; double or triple quilted paper that's super soft on your nose.

I hope someone puts this advice to good use. Whether you go to UCSD, hope to go here, are the parents of someone who wants to go here, are my parents checking up on me, or are just lost and stuck here because I'm such a boss, remember, towel to get into weight room and all purpose t.p.