8.27.08 - First Day At Berkeley

So I've had several people ask me about my day and I figured a note would just be easier.

My day has been AWESOME.

I got here very early since my first class is at 8. It was Bio lecture, and there are 600 people in that class. I've never seen a classroom so large; it was auditorium style. The professors have to wear microphones and there's a huge projection screen above the chalkboards so the people in the back can see. There were 8 full-sized chalkboards as well, and a big Periodic Table with a spotlight on it.

Anyway, the professors seemed pretty friendly. I don't know if I'll even bother trying to get to know them just because of the sheer number of students. Probably teach myself most of the stuff, maybe find a study partner. I'm not worried about it yet.

After Bio I wondered through campus to get my student ID (which gets me free transportation around the city of Berkeley! Woot!) and I got to go through one of the main open plazas where there are all these booths for college groups set up. Alas, I did not see a booth for the College Republicans but I already joined them online anyway. Haha! Maybe I'll make some friends through that--at least, that's my hope. There were some psychotic religious you-are-all-going-to-hell screamer guys at one end, but everyone was just ignoring them, which is nice. The whole place was bustling, it's pretty exciting.

Then I had a Nuclear Chemistry class and that was much smaller, maybe 20-25 people. I started chatting with the girl waiting to go in next to me, and she just transferred here from a community college too. We exchanged emails in case one of us misses a class, so that was cool. That professor was also very friendly, although slightly monotonous. We already have homework. Ah well.

After that I walked over by the giant clock/bell tower to have lunch. There's a pretty garden surrounding the base of it with more trees and stone benches, and I ate lunch there. At noon the bells chimed but it wasn't just random noise; they were actual melodies, it was very pretty. A girl came up to me and said she recognized me from City, although I didn't know her. It was still nice.

This is where I had lunch:

I went to my chem lab but they aren't having it yet because we haven't had a lecture in that class. As I was walking out I ran into Andrew. :) We started talking a lot about the whole day, and as we were doing that, we ran into Zach. Haha. So we chatted about our summers and what-not, it was good to see them. Zach left and Andrew and I kept talking, and then we ran into Josh! The point is I was very pleasantly surprised to see how many of my City friends I'm already seeing here. So that put me in a great mood.

Andrew had a class, I went to the bookstore to pick up the rest of my stuff, and by now it's getting pretty warm. They were giving away free popsicles, which was perfect. While I was waiting in line to buy my books (which, btw, went very quickly 'cause they have an incredibly efficient system), I ran into a buddy of mine that transferred here a year before me: Nic! Turns out he's majoring in Chemical Biology as well. So we'll probably hang out.

I'm just very pleased with how this is already shaping up socially. Bwahaha.

Now I'm sitting in a library that looks more like an art museum and using the free wireless on my beloved laptop to kill time while I wait for Andrew to finish class. Then we'll probably hang and get sushi (*drools*) before I go back to the city. I definitely have to find an apartment out here. The commute sucks and besides, I want to get more absorbed in the atmosphere.

Anyway, I'm sure my enthusiasm will be a little curbed once the homework starts rolling in, but for now I am psyched. So glad I got in here! :D