Welcome to Cal

Your new home away from home

By Amaris White
From the September 2005 Print Edition

College doesn’t come a moment too soon — after all those years of pressure from every direction imaginable, we all go into freshman year with an anxious excitement. We’re not sure what we’re expecting — the people we’ll meet, the classes we’ll take, or the events that will occur — but we know that it will be amazing and wonderful because, well, it’s college.

Having just finished my best year of college, albeit my only one as of yet, I am here to give you a little introduction so you know what to expect.

You will first be introduced to your roommates and floormates — you’ll grow to love or hate them, and they will become a permanent part of everyday life; you’ll realize, however, that this level of comfort could be excessive when you hear the voice in the next bathroom stall asking, “You want to play a game?” Don’t agree. Trust me.

You’ll learn new things from them, like the day you look over to your roommate who’s sitting on her bed and ask, “Hey roomie, what’s that you’re rolling?” Only then will you understand why people gave you that look when you said you would have a roommate from Humboldt County.

The daily walk to the Dining Commons will also lead to new adventures. Wherever you have been blessed to eat, you will discover that all the food tastes surprisingly similar. But not to worry — Berkeley’s Dining Commons have been awarded for being extremely environmentally friendly! And if that doesn’t help settle your stomach, your taste buds and body won’t mind; survivalist adaptation comes remarkably quickly.

However, these are all things you’d experience to some extent wherever you decided to go — to make up for that, at Berkeley, we have a special treat:

Liberals!

It would be impossible to attend Berkeley without first visualizing the campus’ political scene — most of what you picture has probably been affected by the school’s reputation from the ’60s and ’70s. Although in many ways things have changed, some things will always stay the same.

We still have the man screaming into a microphone from atop a police car. No, it wasn’t Mario Savio — this time it was Howard Dean, and no, we weren’t surprised to hear him talking about his hatred for President Bush at a rally that wasn’t even supposed to be political. The fact that the student government paid for it didn’t surprise us either.

We still have occasional strikes and eager students interrupting political science classes. These “helpful” students also urge professors to join them — evidently, they don’t seem to understand “Get the hell out of my classroom!”

And if this isn’t enough, not to worry — we have plenty more characters!

You’ll meet Happy Happy Happy — he stands on a bucket at Bancroft and Telegraph yelling precisely that (“Happy happy happy”) all day long with signs that begin with “God says Bush is 666 …” I’m not sure if anyone has ever bothered to read past that point.

You’ll meet good ol’ Stoney, who stands every week in front of Dwinelle Hall spurting pointless anti-conservative phrases to catch the attention of passers-by. I believe he has a rubber chicken … your guess is as good as mine.

You’ll meet the people who stand at the LaRouche table who honestly believe that our president is as bad as Hitler. You can only wonder, but after you realize the disrespect they hold for any ideal other than their own, you won’t be surprised to see them escorted out of events by the UC Police.

You’ll hear Old Chinese Man play his … string … near Sproul Plaza. You’ll join everyone else in wondering if that’s what his instrument actually should sound like or if he just has no idea what he’s doing.

Through everything you see, this place will soon hold some of your fondest memories, and your loyalty and pride will be prevalent, especially during football season. I made the mistake of not getting my free freshman football tickets because I find the game boring and pointless — how I regretted doing that when I borrowed a pass to get into one game. Regardless of what you think of the sport, the atmosphere is one of the best! You will feel a pride like no other for your school, and you will stand among your friends and peers yelling and cheering, “Roll on you bears …”

Did I forget something? Oh, right … school. Yes, ultimately that is why we are all here. This is one of the finest universities in the world, and we should use that to our advantage. The most common regret I have heard from upperclassmen is that they wish they had spent more time on school. Still, freshmen shouldn’t drop everything and only study; all of what I mentioned is very important to your first year. Remember to study hard, but to also have a wonderful time, and embrace everything you do. At least then, even if you do feel in years to come that your grades suffered more than you’d have liked, you’ll have made some of the best memories of your life.

Welcome to Cal.

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