Shopping errands.

Today I went to a shopping center on Villa La Jolla Dr. on an errand for some groceries. I also went out for some lunch with a few friends.

While waiting at the shuttle stop, I noticed some kind of fair was going on. It turns out that some people were having a "Renaissance Fair" nearby. I checked it out. I must admit that this kind of thing isn't my style, but nonetheless it was quite interesting. These people meet every so often on campus to re-enact medieval battles, sell hand-crafted goods, and enjoy reliving the medieval culture and time period. Somewhat strange people, but friendly. Here, they were training in sword-fighting. Even their kids get into it!

Here is a landmark every UCSD student recognizes and loves. It is Chipotle, a Mexican food restaurant that makes the best burritos ever and is very affordable and delicious! If you're ever around UCSD, it is a MUST to visit Chipotle!

An inside view of Chipotle. Fast, friendly service. This place is usually packed for lunch.

Trader Joes's. Here they sell organic, international, and high-quality foods, ingredients, and products. It is personally one of my favorite stores. Some items are a bit pricey, but the products are always fine and of a high caliber.

An interior shot of Trader Joe's, next to the check-out section.

In my never-ending quest to find some good sake, I finally found some at Trader Joe's! However, their selection was VERY limited, only possessing 3 brands. Whether they are good quality or not, I am not sure.

Their wine selection was exceptional though.

Right here we have Franziskaner, a very fine, high-quality wheat beer that I highly recommend you try! It is one of my absolute favorites. Add a slice of orange to it for extra enjoyment.

Off in the distance, dark clouds loom ominously over the white chapel bathed in the splendid glow of a dying sun. Shuttle services transport those pious few from campus to mass service everyday.

I mainly went to go buy some fresh vegetables and soymilk for the week, as well as to have some lunch with a few friends. This could've been done on-campus, but it is nice to get off campus every once in a while, just for a change of scenery. The Renaissance fair people were pretty interesting to meet and talk to, some insist on sticking to the language of the time period, using archaic language, expressions, and styles. They were however very friendly and welcoming, some even went as far as to try and recruit my friends and I into their group! We politely refused and went along our way. I am really looking forward to purchasing some sake from Trader Joe's once I am of age, until then, I could only wait and keep looking for better sources. Trader Joe's is an especially resource because you can find products from other countries that are very hard to find anywhere else. Also, if you adhere to a special diet, say, if you were Vegan, you can find a multitude of Vegan products that may not be available elsewhere. Chipotle is always a good place to go to eat if you're every in the mood for Mexican food, I highly recommend you try their steak burrito!

-Patrick

Everyday Kinds of Things.

Hey everyone, just thought I would show you some of the things I come to everyday, kind of the lowest common-denominator type things all college students share. Just think of it as my "Campus Tour" post, but on a much more intimate, less-broad scale.

Meteor Hall. This is the residence hall I currently live in, located in Revelle College. It is part of a group of identical buildings called "The Fleets", and it sits pretty much on the edge of campus. These buildings are used mainly to house Revelle freshmen, but they also house "overflow" students from other colleges. I personally am not supposed to live here, being a sophmore Eleanor Roosevelt College student, but I really don't mind. Being the oldest college on campus, most of Revelle's buildings are built entirely out of concrete and cement. The insulation in the building comprises mainly of asbestos, so it's VERY apparent that these buildings are pretty old. There are 4 floors, each floor has 2 suites, one male and one female, and each suite has 5-6 rooms. I live on the 3rd floor, which gives me an awesome view of...the adjacent Discovery Hall...

This is an interior shot of Center 101 Hall, located next to Price Center in the heart of the campus. Most of the other lecture halls around campus fit this similar "stadium" seating, and house around 200 students. Keep in mind, that this photo was taken 20 minutes before my Programming class started, so it was fairly empty, but quickly filled to it's capacity as lecture drew near.

Please, mind the mess, here is my suite. This area is the connecting corridor to the 5 rooms. Not much to look at, as it's rather small, it more of just a place to relax when you're tired of being cooped-up in your room. There is a balcony, free cable, and free WiFi to enjoy in each suite. Revelle has one of the worse suite areas around, and does not even compare to the large, warm, and inviting suites of say, ERC. Notice the stolen Tabasco sauce on the small table, courtesy of my room mate!

My room, complete with my room mate Danny. Isn't he cute? The rooms in Revelle aren't actually half bad, they're nice-sized squares of about 40 x 40 ft. My room is a double, meaning it has two occupants. Some people have a room all to themselves (a single) while some other unlucky students live in a triple, with two other room mates.

My workstation! Haruhi keeps me focused while I work on my Calculus homework.

I must say, some of the finer points about college is the diet. Much of it is healthier than what I have back at home, here I'm having a nice, balanced dinner of calamari, some seasoned potatoes, peas, a nice leafy-green sald with some cucumber and beets, with a water to drink. All of this, however, disappears once your "dining dollars" (money used to purchase food, it's part of your dining and housing plan) runs out. After that, students must live off of instant ramen, hot pockets, coffee, liquor, and cigarettes.

Ok, so this isn't part of the ordinary college-life, but I thought it was spectacular to see. Some poor soul actually managed to flip his car into this trench alongside one of the parking structures on campus. I managed to get a close shot from the top of said parking structure. Reports claim that drugs were involved and that the driver was under the influence at the time of the accident, however, these are largely unconfirmed. Time of accident: around 2 am. This serves as a reminder that, if you're going to party hard, please stay off the road.

So there you have it, a slice of my normal, everyday routine.

Random happenings around campus.

A few short movies for you guys. Please excuse the briefness of each clip, I recorded them with my iPhone.


I passed by a group of traditional drummers on my way to meet up with some friends. I thought it was pretty cool, so I decided to stay to watch their performance. Those drums really pack a percussive punch! Very different from your regular rock drumming.



Here is a clip of an event during the 2009 "UnOlympics" hosted every year at my school. In this display of school spirit, freshman from each of the 6 colleges come together to compete for the "Golden Shoe", a much sought-after trophy awarded to the college that wins. This year, Marshall won...how they did it, I have no idea. In this event, selected pairs from each college run half the race 3-legged style, then one person puts on a blindfold and wheel-barrows the other person to the end. Once at the end, the pair then takes turns stepping through the tires and finish it off with a sprint back to the starting line, holding hands no less. It's all great fun!



This happened the first day of classes, in my MMW class (basically a world-history class). We heard the protestors outside yelling, so the professor asked a student to close the doors. Before the student could lock it, the protestors barged on in and made their circuit! It was quite a wild sight, and it went on for quite a while. Despite the disruption, my professor managed to stay cool the entire time. You can see him in the clip, he's the guy in the blue dress shirt. Oh! And the girl next to me was kind of cute ;)



I'm really sorry about the shakiness of this video, but you try to film, dance, and balance a cigarette between your fingers at the same time during a noisy, crowded concert =P This night was simply awesome, the energy was in the air, music loud, people dancing. It was magic. Mostly those who performed were local DJs, and they spun tracks mostly from the hip-hop, dance, house, and mash-up genres.


So in conclusion, those were a few of the more unique things that went on the past few days. I really enjoy it when spontaneous things come up, it keeps life from being too ordinary and it's extremely fun! It's the beauty of university life, and I love every minute of it.

(mini) University of California San Diego campus tour.

Here's a brief tour of key locations around my campus, the University of California San Diego. Keep in mind that this is only a small glimpse of the place, and that many of these locations are 10-20 minutes apart by foot. UCSD comprises of 6 colleges: Revelle, Muir, Marshall, Warren, ERC, and Sixth. This place is huge!

The front entrance to Geisel library. The building is a tribute to the American author Theodore Seuss Geisel, popularly known as "Dr. Seuss".

As you can see, it is one of the more peculiar and easily-recognizable structures on campus.

Rows upon rows of knowledge. Shhh! People are studying here!

Top (8th) floor. Smallest floor on the building, but it offers a spectacular view of the distant buildings of San Diego and La Jolla.

Price Center. This is located in the absolute heart of the campus. This is where you can come to eat (Burger King, Panda Express, Subway, Rubio's, Round Table's, Shogun, etc), shop at the Triton Store, grab a cup of coffee, mail things from the post office, buy textbooks, catch a movie at the cinema, or just chill and relax with friends.

Cafe Ventanas (means "cafe windows" in Spanish) Is located in ERC, or Eleanor Roosevelt college. I personally think this is the best place to eat on campus, out of all the dining halls. The structure itself is extremely beautiful

ERC's green. Very clean. Very simple. Very pure. Hands down the most beautiful spot on campus. I lived here my first year, and will for my third.

SunGod! Sort of a mascot for the entire school. Every year in Spring there is a huge festival held for a day in his honor. During this day EVERYONE drinks, parties, and partakes in various activities offered that day. There are also many musical concerts held.

The Warren teddy bear!

This place is a well-kept secret on campus and my personal favorite spot to visit. It is known as the grafitti tunnel/staircase. This is the only place on campus where it is entirely ok to tag and spray-paint. I love how there are just so many pieces from all kinds of different people, each with their own story to tell and each with their own "feel". It is a place of free artistic expression, uncensored and unbarred

.

Some day, I will make my own contribution to this place.

So there you have it, a little peek into the campus of UCSD. I would've taken a few more pictures, and there plenty more points of interest around here, but walking around the campus all-day was a bit tiring. Maybe another campus tour will be posted up soon?

-Patrick

First Post!

So my first post on my brand new blog! Exciting! I was never really interested in blogging to be honest, but ever since I saw wrecking95's blog, I thought it was pretty neat and had a much more broad range of uses than I originally thought! So I finally decided to start one of my own! It's kind of a snapshot into the university life here in the US. I guess it's mainly aimed towards those that are interested in the culture and lifestyle of a typical college student, so it could possibly be used for educational and informative purposes. Much how people read wrecking's blog to gain a bit of an understanding to the Japanese way of life, I hope that foreigners interested in the American lifestyle read this to gain that bit of understanding as well. But please, read this blog with a light, kick-back attitude and enjoy!

-Patrick