Home: An Off-Campus Hello

I just want to say... it feels good to be home. I think college is something that makes a lot of kids realize how important their families are. After the fracturing times middle school and high school can bring to the parent-child relationship, there's a lot that being away from home and being on your own can do to repair and revitalize it.

After an extremely difficult quarter, I am very happy to be home.

That's not to say I don't miss UCSD life as well.

There is something about being on your own that can be very freeing. My mom, after a lot of work on her part, is a lot less restrictive nowadays and accepting of me growing up and becoming an adult. I've been very blessed by her grace in the situation.

However, there's just something special about being awake at 2:30 in the morning and leaving your apartment to take a walk around a campus full of outdoor art pieces and interesting architecture, having your friends over late and loud, determining exactly what your schedule is for the day and deciding it's ok not to wake up until 2 in the afternoon. There's something cool about being able to do whatever you want whenever you want.

When you go home, I think for most kids, that freedom is definitely cut back. And it can be hard. My first winter break home, I felt caged in and when I wanted to take that early morning walk, I knew my mom would get upset if I just randomly left the house in the middle of the night on my own. Also, the streets are just not as safe as campus. It was hard and I resented my mom a lot. It felt like I was back in high school and not that I had taken care of myself perfectly well for a whole quarter. It definitely caused some fights and frustration. We talked and it's a lot better now. She's been really understanding and gives me enough freedom when I'm home that I have been able to go out and hang out with friends at 230 in the morning and not gotten flack for it the next day.

That feeling though was something I never expected. No one's ever talked about it, at least to me, and it's not something I've ever read in those "How To Survive College" books. (I don't think I read any of those though.) It was something I never even thought of. I just wanted to put it out there in hopes that someone can learn from it.

Going from home to college is a big change, but going from college to home can also be a big one.

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.

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.