[MSJ] - Day 15: Living the College Life (Maybe?)

Since what I do on weekdays is pretty similar from one day to the next, I thought I would switch it up today and instead of fumbling through an explanation of an econ concept we covered in class, I would talk about some interesting aspects of day to day life here. It'll hopefully better capture what I do outside of my classes and describe what I would guess college life is like (but it won't probably be 100% accurate since I haven't actually been to college).

Adam in front of the dining hall

I guess the biggest thing that strikes me right off the bat is the incredible degree of independence we have here. The only times that we need to be placed are during class, and at curfew check in. This is in stark contrast to El Cerrito High, where we can't leave campus during lunch at all. The independence also feels greater because everything is so close. At home, while technically I could go to a friend's or do things whenever, since everything is significantly further it requires planning or a ride from my parents. Here the independence feels more real since the places we go are all on campus and are really close to the dorms.

In particular, some places that are nice to visit include the food trucks next to the main quad, the gym, the boba tea place, and Insomnia Cookies.

There is a street next to the quad that is always full of food trucks around lunch time. There are all sorts, and they change from one day to the next. I have only eaten there twice, and both times I was a little underwhelmed, but my friends picked much better meals than me both times. I'm a big fan of food trucks so I like walking past there, but they're quite expensive so I almost always just walk past on my way to the dining hall. The quad is also very nice just to chill or eat lunch on the grass, and I have done so several times.

The gym is just a few minutes walk away from the dorms, and I try to go about every other day to stay in shape. I don't go to a gym at home because I usually do Judo four times a week and that keeps me fit, but the gym here is very nice. It's huge and I can get in for free as part of the program.

This one's from Google because I didn't think to take a picture during my workout.

Both Insomnia Cookies and the Boba place are in the same building as the dorms, just on the bottom floor. The only way to get to them is from the outside though, because you can't access the first floor of the building from the University-owned portion. The cookies and tea are both excellent but slightly costly (there's a pattern here).

I guess the general gist of this post is that I do more than just go to class on weekdays, but I haven't really talked about it yet, so I hope this gives some better context to future posts.