Undecided/Undeclared Anteaters Blog

Zot Blog #7

December 6, 2009

Finals

Week 10 finished off pretty easy, it was really just all review.  A lot of things went on this week in the hall.  For one we had our “Ugly Sweater Party” where we watched Christmas movies, ate breakfast food, and built gingerbread houses.  The party was a pretty big success and a lot of people came out to enjoy the festivities.  Two days before the sweater party we also decorated our common room with a Christmas tree, lights, and a cut-out christmas tree that we all drew on.  Another thing that’s been going on in our halls is something intense.  I figure that theft happens on every college campus so it’s not just selective to my hall or just UCI but since living here things started missing and we finally discovered who has been doing it.  I mean it was definitely some CSI: Miami drama going on in our hall and i’m very glad that we’ve finally discovered the mystery and everything in our hall will pretty much go back to normal.  But something to keep in my before you head out to college is always to lock your doors it is a real deterrent if the thief can’t go in!

Other than the raging scandal that has been happening my hall, finals week is here.  It’s pretty hard to believe that my first quarter is pretty much over already here at UCI.  The quarter definitely flew by and I feel like I’m starting to get into my groove here at UCI.  I’m planning on trying to join a club I like next quarter and the biggest plan I have for the future is to become a Resident Adviser.  I went to the informational meeting this week and I’m certain that becoming an RA is something I would genuinely enjoy doing.  I love working with people and I love facilitating others to have a good time so I’ll let you guys know how that goes!  As a person this quarter I’ve learned to become a calmer person.  Living with people that you see everyday really pushes your limits at times and you really do become a family in the sense that you fight like one too.  I love my Lluvia family but we will always have our little fights.  I think the greatest thing I’ve learned this quarter is to be patient with others and become a more “toned-down” person.

Okay, I really need to get back to studying.  I have a back to back final tomorrow (Urban Studies at 4-6PM and Psychology 7PM).  Wish me luck!

Zot Blog #6

November 29, 2009

Thanksgiving break is the biggest “SIKE!” ever.

Week 9 was kind of a joke as far as classes went since everyone pretty much disappears after Monday and the professors have “extra-credit” lectures.  I’m not complaining though- it was definitely a nice break after midterms.  By Wednesday afternoon the entire campus was pretty quiet and my Urban Studies class of 125 only had somewhere around 30 people.  I went home shortly after that class  and it felt really good to be home since I had not gone home for two and a half weeks.

The great thing about coming home less often is the benefits you get when you get home, so when I got home I got home-cooked food thrown at me the second I came back and my laundry taken care of.  I love coming home every two or three weeks, it’s not too little or too much .

Thanksgiving day was an intense day of sports.  I played basketball from nine in he morning to about one in the afternoon and football from one to four.  I then crashed on the couch for two hours and woke up realizing I should get to cooking my famous green bean casserole and garlic mashed potatoes and of course it’s really fun to cook under pressure.  Other than Thanksgiving, there really wasn’t much to the weekend.  I slept in on Black Friday realizing I’m broke and what’s the point in lining up to save ten bucks or buy discounted old-modeled TVs?  It was really nice of course to catch up with some friends from high school and at the same time receive hundreds (well not really hundreds…) of texts from my Lluvia family saying: “Happy Thanksgiving!!!!”

The last thing I want to say is for the high school seniors and those applying to UC Irvine (yes, I remember this time of the year).  From the get-go of applications I applied to UCLA, UCSD, UCSB, and UCI and even though I didn’t get into any school other than UCI (via appeal- which was declined, waitlisted, then accepted) I can’t imagine myself being anywhere but here.  I think Irvine has the perfect balance of social life and studying and that’s what I love most about being here .  So good luck to all you applicants! Now the anxiety begins for those acceptance letters….

Enjoy the fun part of senior year for most of you! Consider hanging with Peter next year .
PLEASE PLEASE ASK ME IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT UCI!

Zot Blog #5

November 22, 2009

A week of work then chillaxing.

Week 8 went by fast.  Wednesday was my big Urban Studies (PP&D 4) midterm and Thursday was my Ecology (Bio 55) midterm.  Boy, I am glad they are over.  Other than studying and taking midterms the week was actually pretty bearable since my main motivation was to get to the weekend and begin the next week.  I can’t wait until Thanksgiving! Maybe a little bit of football, turkey, gravy, shopping, hanging out, and seeing my hometown friends. I’m super excited!

This week was UCI’s Center for Service in Action Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week.  I attended the SHOUT (Students for Homeless Outreach United Together) sleepout on Thursday.  We packed a lot of things for homeless people into bags, and we were supposed to sleep out there the whole night but I decided it wouldn’t be the best idea to catch a cold before next week.  There is also a canned goods fundraiser going on.  There are boxes placed throughout main locations on campus to donate cans and it’s nice to see people giving to the less fortunate.

This Sunday was my suitemate’s birthday and we had a little birthday party with cake and etc. on Saturday night.  I think one of the cool things about living on campus at UCI is when there is a birthday everyone knows about it and everyone really celebrates it so it was really nice to have people come from the hall and other halls to celebrate my friend’s birthday.  Other than that the weekend was quiet as usual and not really eventful at all.

I CAN’T WAIT FOR THANKSGIVING !

Green Bean Casserole.  My duty for thanksgiving dinner! haha

The holidays and especially Thanksgiving really makes me appreciate how fortunate I am to be at UCI and to have friends and family by my side.  Remember to thank the people who really affect your life positively and give thanks for their relationship to your life

The one decent photo of my family.  Love you guys! Thank you

Zot Blog #4

November 15, 2009

Midterms Episode 3: The Midterm strikes back

Owch. Even when you think you’re prepared or did decent the midterm might just decided to give you a bad score.  I definitely have to go check out the test during office hours next week.  Besides being a little shaken up by the last midterm I still have two more this week – one on Wednesday and one on Thursday.  Oh the joy…

Week 7 was pretty lackadaisical since I had Wednesday off but it didn’t really matter since I only have one class Wednesday and no class Friday, so basically I only had class three days and a nice relaxing weekend.  I wish I got my psychology grade earlier, it really lights a fire of motivation under you hopefully I’ll actually spend my time a bit more wisely from now on.  Week 7 also was housing application week.  Even though I’m still shooting to become an Resident Adviser I still decided to stay up all night with my suite-mates to apply in the morning.  It was pretty intense- the yelling throughout the hall could be heard from floor to floor.  After getting an error for an hour I went back to bed until a friend woke me to try someone’s computer to apply so I finally finished the application around 1030 with Vista DelCampo as my priority.

Friday was the tailgate for UCI Men’s Basketball vs. La Verne.  The first 2,000 people were given t-shirts that say “Eater Nation.”  They’re actually pretty nice shirts and who can complain about a free shirt and basketball game?  The weekend was pretty much filled with playing basketball for a lot of hours, eating, hanging out, and watching movies.  As far as the freshmen fifteen go I think I’ve found a pretty good way to eat at commons and stay pretty healthy.  Avoid most of the carbohydrates like bread, look for the lean chicken or vegetables, avoid the pizza and dairy products, eat a salad a day, avoid soda, and eat lots of fruits to fill you up.  Hopefully I’ll keep my resolve

My first picture with Peter the Anteater throwing up the Zots with Lluvians and our RA Shaun (top right).

Feel free to drop some love!

P.S. Did anyone see the Colts/Patriots game?! Talk about 2 minute drills…

Zot Blog #3

November 8, 2009

Midterms Episode 2: Revenge of the F-158 Form

So week five went by really, really fast.  Now week six begins and so do midterms again sadly.  I have my psychology midterm tomorrow and I think I have the rest next week.  I’m slightly worried but I feel pretty prepared for psychology since I went home, got some peace and quiet, and studied pretty hard when I wasn’t playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare or eating all the food I missed since moving to Irvine.

Oh Carne Asada Fries.  I’ve missed you so.  Kinda makes you hungry just looking at it huh?

Every time I got home I gain like fifty pounds from being fed everything that my parents shove at me since they know I miss the home cooking and the mexican food.  The horrible thing about being loved and fed every other week on top of eating food from Commons, Pippens, and Brandywine is that you really do put on the pounds or at least I do.  I stepped on the scale today and I gained three pounds since I moved in.  Yikes.  Hopefully I’ll start scheduling out workouts at least every other day at the ARC.

Other than starting to gain my freshmen fifteen I’ve been preoccupied with reading.  Reading takes up plenty of time when all your classes demand it .  As far as having fun I’ve been just hanging out with people in my hall and occasionally going to a Thursday event or two.  I wanted to go clubbing on Thursday but I had to head back home since my brother was in the area which was kind of depressing, but since everyone in the hall didn’t make it on the bus that made me feel better since I wasn’t really missing much.  I went home this week and went to our Homecoming game and I caught up with a lot of friends as well someone I see as a role model- my superintendent.  She was U/U as well at Irvine but moved to Biology and became a teacher and the rest is history.  Hopefully at my counseling session I’ll be able to go over my ideas of maybe following the path that she chose as a career.

The homecoming queen! Congrats

My Dad and I at the top of Echo Mountain in Altadena(Pasadena area) a week or two ago.  You know you’re out of shape when your 50 + Dad hikes faster than you…

I hope you guys like the pictures and stuff, I feel like it makes the blog a bit more lively and fun.  Leave me comments! I’d love to see if people actually read my blog haha .

Zot Blog #2

November 1, 2009

Adapting to college studying and life

So unlike most people I had all of my midterms on week 4… which means I get to breathe the sigh of relief and then hold it again until the grades come out.  College tests and grading is not anything like high school.  Even though you think you did well there’s still the other people who thought the same way and match your curve and etc.  I’m not horribly disappointed, I got B’s on every midterm for the most part but it’s not the grade I want so I guess that only means I have to try harder

Learning to absorb what you read, hear, and take notes on is one of the most important things you learn in college.  I never really sat down and read a textbook with extreme vigor until I moved in here.  Even though I have little to no homework, I have readings which you can always opt out of doing.  You’re also given plenty more time to do the work but it’s all about time-management here at UCI or at any college.

Beyond studying for classes, there’s always something fun to do around here.  The basketball game I was talking about last blog was definitely a nail biter.  The game was well-played up until the last few seconds and we lost the game 24-23…I won’t go into details .  Hopefully there will be something along the lines of flag football soon since I brought my cleats!  Also this week we had a lot of Halloween festivities held by Mesa Court and Middle Earth.  I believe there was pumpkin carving which most people were too busy to do, haunt the halls which is basically a few halls decorating and making a haunted house of out a hall, and Halloween themed food at the dining halls which was actually really good.  Kudos to UCI Dining for giving us such a nice dinner .  It honestly can’t get any better than Pippin’s hot wings and bbq ribs self-serve.

A  few Lluvians enjoying Halloween festivities around Mesa Court.  Shout out to Jacky Chan in my jigsaw mask

Oh yeah, notice how much UCI apparel is being rocked in that picture since it was  25% off at the bookstore on last Wednesday .

Zot Blog #1

October 25, 2009

First Off….

Excuse the picture of me when it gets put up, I’m not really a morning person.  What time is morning in college? Well for me that’s like anything earlier than 11.  Oh the joys of college right? Haha.  I guess introductions are necessary, so here it goes.  My name is Anthony Chan, I grew up in Temple City, California which is in between Arcadia and Pasadena (does that help?).  Even though most people wouldn’t expect it, I’m someone who absolutely loves sports.  If you looked at a high school transcript you would see football and track, but what you wouldn’t see is me trying to get my shotput body to pole vault, high jump, long jump, and even sprinting (fat-man relays anyone?!?).   The great thing about UC Irvine is that there’s always athletic activities going on.  In Lluvia at Mesa Court where I live, there are always some athletic activities going on and sometimes against other halls.  Currently our hall is in the semi-finals of Mesa Court Tournament Basketball and the next game is on Monday!

Just a little picture showing you how much I love sports. Go Lluvia! Hall Funds!!

I’m really excited because if we win we get hall funds, which is some money towards your hall for your Resident Advisor to buy anything for your hall like a ping pong table or anything like that.  There’s also going to be flag football soon and in flag football even the center and linemen can catch and run the ball.  But beyond athleticism carrying on from my personality to my life here at UCI, I also have other interests too.

Within a few hours of meeting me you’ll realize that I am a food connoisseur, or rather food beast.  I yelp all my food experiences so look me up there!  I also like Chick Flicks as horrible as that sounds, but don’t worry I like all the other good stuff too, in fact I just finished watching Paranormal Activity tonight which was really way too hyped up.  My favorite movie would have to be A Walk to Remember from the Chick Flick category.  I already mentioned I live in Lluvia, which is a General Interest Hall, and I go home every other week to give my mom a hug and ask her to please do my laundry .  Ahh, the joys of living only an hour away.

So as I’m writing this blog up right now I’m relaxing on my couch at home and SNL just ended, Afroman just started up on my iTunes (Palmdaleee come back to mee), and week 4 just ended.  Week 4 was a pretty horrible week for me, I had a midterm Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  The big difference in college is that there’s nobody behind you with a shotgun telling you to do your homework, instead it’s all up to you whether or not you want to just sleep, party, be lazy, or whatever.  I can definitely say that I’ve been a bit lazy from the “senioritis” that carried over but I’ve gone to all my classes, taken notes, and done my fair share of hardcore cramming and reading.  I’m actually shooting for a 4.0 this quarter, which is a bit unlikely, but my RA promised some Lawry’s if I pulled it off.  I haven’t received all my midterm grades yet but I feel pretty good about how I did.

As far as involvement, everyone from high school thought I’d join a fraternity of some sort, and I did do some rushing but I really don’t think I have the time or money at the moment to do Greek.  The U/U Zot Blog is one of the first things extra that I’ve put on my list and hopefully by the year’s end I can possibly put down soon to be SPOP Staffer, which is an orientation leader, and RA for the next year, and whatever else comes up.

One of the great and not-so-great things about Irvine is how everyone seems to go home on the weekends.  I only go home every other weekend, and the weekends at Irvine may seem boring at the halls, but what I’ve come to realize is that you get a lot closer with your hall mates.  Not that I didn’t already know most of the people in my hall, but I didn’t really go out to eat with them or go to the ARC, which is our crazy high-tech gym at Irvine, and now we’re closer because we stayed in the dorms for that weekend.  If you end up living on campus as a freshman, try your best to become close with people in your hall and stray away from just staying in your little high school clique, it honestly makes a big difference when you try to meet people!

At the moment I think I’m going to go sleep early since I’m going to go wake up to go hiking with my dad and brother tomorrow morning.  That’s the great thing about coming home – you seem to appreciate your family and home a lot more, I’ve never hung out with my brother or dad as much until I started coming home every other week.

Most of the people from my hall, Lluvia! General Interest is the best