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.

LOOKING FOR A FUN, EASY WAY TO GET SOME WRITING EXPERIENCE?

Housing • Dining • Hospitality is looking for a creative type to blog about his/her life as a resident Triton. Talk to present and future students about your life on campus— What do you do for fun? Where do you live, and what do you like to eat? Work with the HDH Marketing Team, and spill your everyday thoughts with us!

It's great experience, it's a fun environment, and you’ll beef up your writing skills.

Have Qs or need more info? Contact Dave at ddecaro@ucsd.edu.

Another year, another chapter in the book of your life!

What a rollercoaster of a year it's been!

There were many firsts we can look back on from the 09-10 academic year....
Including the creation of the EcoNaut position, the jump-off of Farm2U Farmer's Markets, the addition of the Village Transfer Housing community, and the rejuvenation of the Neighborhood Community Garden behind the Che Cafe.

I am so grateful I was able to go along for the ride with you all.

Keep that productive and adventurous energy flowing through the summer months!

keep in touch:
hilary_wilhelm88@yahoo.com

<3 Hilary

ZERO Waste MOVE OUT! Let's do this!

Housing*Dining*Hospitality would like to remind you.....

Please watch the attached 'Room Raiders' video clip made by the
Housing*Dining*Hospitality EcoNauts.
It is a demonstration on how to have a Zero-waste move-out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wfxqg0r375g

Most of your move-out items are reusable or recyclable!

*Reusable items (clothes, books, furniture, household appliances, and anything with a cord/working/non-working electronics) go into the white Disabled American Veteran (DAV) donation bins located in all six colleges and the Village.

All electronic waste (ink cartridges, batteries) can go in as well.

*All Recyclables (paper, bluebooks, newspaper, cardboard, paperboard, aluminum, glass, plastics, steel) go into the recycle bins.

*All non-perishable food (dry food like cereal, canned food, anything that doesn’t have to go in the refrigerator) can be donated in the Hand Up Food Pantry Bins located in Warren SAC & Res Life offices at each college and the Village.

*All dishes from dining restaurants should be returned to Toby’s Spots.

**Once an item is placed in a donation, recycle, or trash bin, it cannot be taken out. Please do not take any items out of the bins! Failure to comply will lead to disciplinary action.

-->Please go to the hdh.ucsd.edu/majorplanet website to find answers to your move-out questions.

-->Also, refer to the EcoNaut’s educational ROOM RAIDERS video, demonstrating how to move out in a Zero Waste fashion!

Email any questions to majorplanet@ucsd.edu.

Let's make move outs zero waste!

Thank you! Have a great week!

Sincerely,
The EcoNauts


and...*Hilary : )

This is it.

So it has finally come the weekend before finals, if you have stress its about implode yes? Well remember to re-read Hilary's post on health! Its important!!! Other than that remember to balance book time alongside sleep time. So lets talk study, where should you go?

Everyone uses Clicks or the library, but there are more options! PC has group study rooms, computers and movable tables (great to push together). The dining halls especially Plaza, CV, OVT and Cafe V are the same, not to mention convenient food and coffee.

So other things to look out for this week are the awesome study breaks and events that your reslife is hosting for final relief. There are sure to be yummy food, and free testing supplies (both necessary for Finals week). Not to mention you can schedule a free massage up at PC (if you look through the Guardian there are other things PC is doing for finals).

Now to top everything off all the on campus people have to deal with move outs...

Dealing with moveouts is tricky, most people have already made arrangements with parents, and the airlines on to when and how, but what else should you think and plan about.

Remember to have things to pack your stuff into, boxes bags ect. Mail off anything thats going to meet you there. I am personally aiming to pack, sort and clean my stuff over a series of days to keep the rush and time limit off my back. Don't forget all furniture has to be back in the room where it was originally. If you are planning on leaving Saturday remember you will be competing with people for graduation (so try to get out early or plan to wait till after). If you do leave saturday remember you need the special parking pass and that it is 20 min loading limit (so be prepared).

Remember don't get overwhelmed there are people here to help you, and take time for yourself! Good Luck!

Angela =]