Opening up my acceptance letter, I saw welcoming words like “warm regards,” and “congratulations,” but a small voice squeaked inside me, asking “”˜Would the Bruin family really be that welcoming?'”
Let’s start with a broader area of concern: Los Angeles. From the aggressive SoCal drivers to skyscrapers, it’s a small bite of city life more than I can chew. In the agricultural town where I went to high school, people retreated from the streets after 10 p.m. Wood and barrel wineries are our proudest attractions. I have never heard of a movie theater that only shows one movie, like the ones in Westwood, until this summer’s freshmen orientation.
In fact, I got so worried about getting lost in Westwood that I considered memorizing street names before school started. But on second thought, I might invest in a handheld Global Positioning System device.
Even if I mastered meandering around the city, there is still UCLA. There are impersonal classes, weeder classes, 200-people classes, and classes where you can’t see the whiteboard. This is just everything that can go wrong with one word ““ classes! I haven’t even started with phrases like “extracurriculars activities.”
Luckily I started preparing for my classes a month before school. I started by purchasing my Chemistry 14A book and attempting to read it. Not only did this add stress after I grudgingly crawled through the first 100 pages of the “Fundamentals Chapter,” but now I have to carry it on the plane.
Sometimes I envy my UC Davis-bound friends. One of them told me she has a familiar face in every class. Or take the Cal Poly herd, where there are over 30 entering freshmen from my high school.
How relieving would it be to know you have someone to sit with at mealtimes or someone’s number to call when you are squatting in your dorm Friday night? But then I ask myself why I came to UCLA in the first place. Why did its diverse student body, competitive academics, and refreshing freedom kindle my interest so much that I was willing to give up an academically and socially safe school?
It is because I need these things more than the protection of old friends and the comfort of my hometown.
I will memorize every street name in exchange for the benefits of my new life. There’s a Chinese saying that you can’t eat two delicacies at the same time ““ you must give up one to enjoy the other.
This is exactly what most freshmen face. I am giving up the familiar, the comfortable, and the safe for the sake of personal and academic growth.
Despite whatever anxieties lie ahead, I have faith in UCLA that maybe, just maybe, I will find a warm home in this bear den.
Shi is a first-year microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics student.