Life at UCLA

from a freshman computer science major

[wordsaboutucla]

days too short

Time flies. How am I supposed to study for midterms when a day goes by in the blink of an eye?

[wordsaboutucla]

On good days, dreams propel me forward.

On bad days, they are a barrier to my success.

I have four midterms Monday through Wednesday next week, and a huge CS project due Thursday. I love all my classes even though I’m not doing too well in them at the moment, but the pressure to perform is really getting to me. I want to learn for the love of learning, not for a grade. But I have lofty dreams which require those A’s.

On bad days, I feel my entire future is at stake. I’m so afraid of letting myself down, of not achieving what I think I can.

I do know that a couple B’s does not a bad student make. At least, that’s what I’m trying to tell myself.

[wordsaboutucla]

five weeks in

It’s officially Week 5, which means I’ve been at UCLA for a month now. This is a rundown of what has gone through my life since then:

- I got a B- on my first college midterm, Math 61 (Discrete Structures), and then promptly dropped the class that very day. So far, I have no regrets about that decision. I assume Math 61 requires prior knowledge of proofs since my professor didn’t go over how to do them in lecture. Since I have no experience writing proofs, I was a bit clueless.

- I got an A on my second midterm, Math 32a, the very same one I almost had a breakdown over because I thought I screwed up majorly. Math 32a is now my favorite class, and I love Professor May’s lectures.

- I went to Santa Monica twice. The first time was Week 1 with a friend, and the second Week 4 with my parents, who came for parents’ weekend. It’s nice to walk by the beach and listen to buskers, but I’d imagine I’ll be over it by some point.

- I joined clubs... and then dropped most of them. I think I went to the first couple of meetings of Bruin Space, ACM, FPS, and more, and then never showed up again. I am, however, still in two clubs...

- I got into two computer science-related clubs! That was really exciting for me because I want to learn new technologies and work on computer science projects. On the other hand, I think I got rejected from 5 others.

- I found my favorite dining hall (bplate), my favorite comfort food hall (feast), and my favorite take-out place (rende, and the study if it wasn’t so far).

- I’ve met some really awesome people that have made my transition to college seamless, yet I am still searching for some close friends/a friend group.

- I’ve had some classes that I really enjoyed (Math 32a comes to mind), and classes that had me bored out of my mind (CS 31).

- I’ve started skipping CS 31 as a result of my boredom, and accidentally missed the one CS 1 lecture I really wanted to go to because I accidentally slept in.

- I got into a rhythm with going to BFit, and now I can’t stop going (which is good).

- My meal schedule is more whack than my sleep schedule, which I’m guessing is far different than most people here.

- I signed up for practically every Bruin Film Society movie, but have yet to go to a single one. One of my roommates saw Quentin Tarantino in Westwood and Jonah Hill at the Mid 90s screening, and I am so jealous.

So far, my first quarter at UCLA has been a difficult but fun one! I can’t wait to learn more and make more memories here in LA :)