Well, it seems that I’ve come to the end of my four years at UCLA, and I must say, it’s been a blast. It’s hard to believe that I’m graduating this week! It seemed like just yesterday that I was first getting lost in Boelter. In case you haven’t already, read all my previous posts here or catch up with more recent happenings at my personal blog here. And as always, Go Bruins!
Now that the school year is winding down, inquiring minds want to know – what should one look to do during what is sure to be another sunny Los Angeles summer?
1) Hollywood Bowl
Just ten miles from campus is one of the coolest venues in California: the Hollywood Bowl. I have had the pleasure of experiencing several concerts there, featuring artists like Joshua Bell and John Williams (ever seen lightsabers at the symphony before?). The Los Angeles Philharmonic calls this historic site home during the summer (so did Spring Sing back in the day!), but the outdoor location also features soundtrack play-alongs (Pixar!), jazz luminaries (arranged by Herbie Hancock), and lots and lots of fireworks. So pack a picnic basket full of your favorite munchies and enjoy life like the locals at the Bowl!
2) Beach
This probably goes without saying, right? I mean, entire careers have been built around California’s golden shores. My personal take is that if you’re actually hoping to play in the waves, make the drive up to Malibu – the water’s a bit cleaner. Anywhere north of Pepperdine works. Places closer to UCLA like Santa Monica and Venice are great for walking around in, but trust me, the water there is more icky than you would want to know. And of course, if you have the time, some of the more southern OC and SD beaches are actually quite nice.
3) Dodger Game
Watching the sun set over the waves is a Californian privilege, but watching the same spectacle framed by the cantilevers of Chavez Ravine is pure Los Angeles. Luckily for you, the Dodgers (color-barrier-busting Jackie Robinson being the obvious UCLA connection) are doing very well this year, headlined by breakout star Matt Kemp and Koufax-ian pitcher Clayton Kershaw. Cheap seats abound (I’ve watched games against mediocre opponents for like $5), but paying a bit more for a better view is always worth it, in my opinion. And if you’re a glutton for punishment (or just a glutton), there is an All-You-Can-Eat Pavilion behind center field where for something like $25, you can get a seat along with all the Dodger Dogs, nachos, peanuts, popcorn, and soft drinks you can stomach. Yikes, good luck with that!
Hollywood sign—Photo Credit: Gareth Simpson (http://www.flickr.com/photos/xurble/1352224655/
For whatever reason, college students really, really like their TV shows. People I know that never followed any shows in high school have ended up running through entire seasons of ‘How I Met Your Mother’ or ‘The Wire’ in weeks, if not days. I personally “caught up” with the whole Friends craze (just a decade late) one summer here, and just recently finished watching the season finales of shows like ’30 Rock’ (Alec Baldwin as Jack Donaghy!),’ The Office’ (probably on its last legs), and ‘Community’ (too ‘meta‘ for its own good).
Quite awesomely, and as you might expect, UCLA been the location of many Hollywood shoots over the years. As reported by Prime, The Daily Bruin’s quarterly magazine, NBC’s ‘Parks and Recreation’ (the best show on TV today, imo) used our Freud Playhouse for a debate scene in their penultimate episode this season. Also making appearances were ABC’s ‘Modern Family’ (heartwarming laughs), as well as shows like ’90210′ and ‘Greek’. ESPN’s ‘College GameDay’ (Lee Corso in the flesh!) made a weekend stop last year as well. And of course, plenty of movies have made their stops in Westwood, from 2010′s ‘Social Network’ to 1983′s ‘Breathless’.
Also per Prime, UCLA does not endorse any projects, which means you won’t see any Bruin graduates onscreen anytime soon. They are also careful to work around student schedules, meaning that any shoots that occur on campus will not disrupt the educating. How considerate!
With college costs rising every year, students need all the help they can get to save money. I recently started using NerdWallet’s* tools, and it has helped save me a few hundred dollars a year (and lots of time). I thought I’d share some of the things I learned to help save you money.
1) Checking accounts with no fees
Free checking is difficult to find these days. Banks often charge a monthly fee that can easily end up costing over $100 a year, especially since most of us don’t meet qualifications to waive the fee (direct depositing, maintaining absurdly high balances minimums). Moreover, frequent withdrawals from an ATM not associated with your bank will cost you a few dollars each time. Before you know it, you’ve paid the bank $130 each year, just for holding your hard-earned cash.
Luckily, there still seem to be some checking accounts left that won’t charge you for everything you do. Based on my answers to their questionnaire, NerdWallet’s checking tool recommended Citibank’s* Student Account, which doesn’t charge any monthly fees or out-of-network ATMs fees. Now you can go eat at Westwood’s cash only places (Diddy Riese!) and not have to worry about paying unnecessary fees.
2) Rewards credit card
Having a good credit card can also help save you money. As a student, my biggest expenses are food and textbooks – every quarter I spend a few hundred dollars on the former and a few hundred on the latter. Little did I know, I could have been using a credit card and getting 5% back in rewards for all those purchases. For example, there are credit cards for students that will give you 5% rewards on books (including Amazon!), movies, music, and dining out. You can even use the rewards points to help pay off student loans. To sign up, you need either a steady source of income or a co-signer (a parent). Just be sure you pay off your balance in full every month, or the interest will end up costing you. (Oh, and if you’re interested in a card with low APR, there’s a tool for that too!)
Lastly, if you want to learn more about how to manage your finances, NerdWallet has an excellent primer here.
Good luck!
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*NerdWallet, Inc. and Citibank are not endorsed by, the University of California Los Angeles.
I know what a daunting thing it is to start looking for off-campus housing. As I mentioned in a previous post, the earlier you look for apartments, the easier it will be for you.
There are many, many factors to consider. How much can I afford? Who will I live with? How far away is this from class? How far away is this from a grocery store, now that I actually need to cook for myself?
My friend recently introduced me to a really neat tool called PadMapper that could really help in finding an apartment amidst all those questions.
After searching UCLA, Westwood in the address bar, I was transported to a map of Westwood with a variety of rental listings. I could filter listings by price, number of bedrooms, and even see a place’s proximity to grocery stores and nightlife. It was also really helpful to compare the apartment listing’s price to the median price of the neighborhood, just to make sure I wasn’t getting ripped off. I could share saved listings with my future apartment mates, and more importantly, could see how close I was going to be to my friends and to my classes on campus. The user-interface made it easy for me to navigate, and I found myself wishing that I had known about this tool when I was looking for apartments.
While I definitely recommend that new first-years or third-year-transfers live on campus to truly experience UCLA’s community, I also know that there are students out there who might be seeking an alternative. Moving to a foreign place can be daunting, so I would definitely encourage that newbies to the area utilize tools like PadMapper. Scouting out the terrain beforehand to make sure your new home is nicely located will be well worth it in the long run. I was lucky enough to have found a great apartment with the help of older friends; I’ve definitely heard horror stories of other students who have been trapped in leases with rent almost twice as much as mine. Ouch.
In short, when you decide that it is time to move off-campus, take a look at tools like PadMapper that make the whole process easier.
Happy hunting.
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*PadMapper is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, the University of California Los Angeles.
Century City----Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/borjamatic/4958850742/
Los Angeles has lots of cool art museums to visit, from the Hammer (literally five minutes from UCLA) to the Getty (also literally five minutes from UCLA) to the LACMA (please do more than just take pictures with the lamps) to the MOCA (the Geffen of the Geffen Contemporary location is the same Geffen of our medical school!).
But one underrated and often overlooked cultural treasure of our great city is the Annenberg Space for Photography, located just a short drive from campus in glittering Century City.
The modernistic space itself, while new, is rather small, but the curators really do make the best of it. There is typically one coordinated exhibit being shown at any given time, with pieces from both established greats and up-and-comers. The first time I went, the theme was the socially oriented “Water: Our Thirsty World“, and focused on the future of our earth’s fresh water – a very relevant topic indeed. More recently, they have been displaying photographs from their series titled “Digital Darkroom“, an exploration of photography in the digital age. The central gallery, modeled after a irising camera lens, usually shows a documentary or movie shot just for the show at hand, with artist interviews and the like.
The next exhibit looks especially promising: “Who Shot Rock & Roll” (starts June 23rd), so be sure to check it out!
Oh, and did I mention it’s free!? All the more reason to visit!
One of the most awesome things about UCLA is our rich basketball tradition. Alumni of the Four Letters include all-time greats like Kareem (then Lew Alcindor), Bill Walton, Gail Goodrich, Reggie Miller – the list could go on and on.
Our more recent NBA matriculates haven’t done that shabby either. Depending on how you count them, UCLA has between fourteen and fifteen players currently playing in the big leagues, with one more (Malcolm Lee) probably on the way.
Of the fifteen, one is an MVP candidate you should build a team around (Love), one is a bona fide superstar (Westbrook), five are between average and above-average starter material (Afflalo, Ariza, Barnes, Collison, Holiday), and the rest are quality backups and/or good complementary pieces (Davis – in the twilight of his career, Farmar, Gadzuric, Hollins, Honeycutt – this one still has room to grow, Mbah a Moute – this one too, Kapono – amazing player at UCLA, Watson).
All this goes to show that UCLA produces quality basketball players, and despite what may happen in some down years, we will continue to do so. UCLA (and, I suppose, Arizona) make the Pac-12, and everyone knows it. As we go, so goes the conference. As we go, so goes the West Coast.
And that’s how it should be. UCLA forever.
Around UCLA, we are blessed with many gourmet yet affordable dining options. I recently had the chance to try a few of them.
In Westwood proper, Five Guys opened just a month or two ago. They are famous for their customizable burgers, and also offer hot dogs and fries. I personally like our neighborhood In-N-Out better, but to each his/her own. The lines are interminably long, though, so beware (though they do offer peanuts to snack 0n during the inevitable wait). Oh, and the seating is not great, so I would recommend ordering ahead (I heard you can do it online) and just picking up food to go.
If you’re 21+, Father’s Office is a fun place to visit. People rave about their signature burger, a
“patty of fine dry-aged beef topped with caramelized onions, Gruyère and Maytag cheeses, applewood-smoked bacon compote and arugula served on a soft roll” (Serious Eats by way of Wikipedia).
If you’re adventurous, they offer some cool stuff on their appetizer menu (I had bone marrow!), and their selection of alcohol is pretty comprehensive, from what I gathered. The one, perhaps major, drawback, is the price. Expect to spend upwards of $20 for an appetizer and a drink. Yikes.
One cheaper alternative a bit closer to home is Palomino. Happy hour starts at 3 PM and lasts until closing time, so go crazy (I recommend the Potato Gorgonzola).
Lastly, a few developments to keep an eye on:
-It seems a Umami-lite (no waiters) is coming to the village. Here’s to hoping U-Mini opens before I graduate!
-For a long time, my go-to places on Sawtelle have been Asahi Ramen and Hurry Curry, mainly because of the great price-to-fullness ratio, but with a bunch of cool-sounding places opening in the last months, it seems like a bit more exploring is in order.
That’s it for now! Until next time, happy eating.
-Princeton
In the next week or so there are going to be two awesome events taking place at UCLA.
The first is Yuki Akaishi‘s Senior Recital in the Jan Popper Theatre of Schoenberg Hall on Saturday, April 21st starting at 8 PM. I have had the distinct pleasure of witnessing Yuki’s maturation as a musician firsthand over her/our four years here. I even got to play with her in my fellowship’s worship band during my sophomore year! She’s now the leader of Road to Damascus A Capella, has her own band, and is performing at UCLA’s prestigious Spring Sing in May, which has featured the likes of Sara Bareilles and members of Danville and Maroon 5. This event is free (given her rise, probably not going to happen again soon), so come one, come all!
The second is The Veritas Forum at UCLA. From their website:
Veritas Forums are university events that engage students and faculty in discussions about life’s hardest questions and the relevance of Jesus Christ to all of life. We seek to inspire the shapers of tomorrow’s culture to connect their hardest questions with the person and story of Jesus Christ.
I thought that the whole experience was very positive. When I was approached by the Bowdoin student members of Veritas about participating, I was initially dubious. The last thing I wanted was to find myself as part of a heavy-handed proselytizing operation. On the other hand, I am completely in favor of increasing the level of dialogue between secular and religious perspectives on life’s most important questions, and both the Veritas website and the student organizers at Bowdoin heavily emphasized their genuine interest in dialogue, in generating light rather than heat. So I agreed to be a part of it, and I’m very glad that I did. The event was run with precision and professionalism, and, true to the advertising, from beginning to end the focus was exploration and the search for truth, rather than advocacy or preaching. Needless to say, the deepest philosophical and religious issues were not definitively settled at the forum. However, the event did demonstrate that one can have completely civil discourse where points of agreement are acknowledged and developed, while points of disagreement are still hit head on, but without rancor and with a genuine attempt to understand the other’s position. In these polarized times, that is an extremely worthwhile lesson.
One of UCLA’s many hidden gems in terms of extracurricular programming is its Bruin Leaders Project. From its website:
The Bruin Leaders Project is a seminar-based, leadership development program designed to provide effective leadership training with emphasis on personal growth and community involvement. Open to all UCLA students (undergraduates & graduates), BLP offers interactive seminars and activities focused on developing the qualities of being a successful leader and enacting positive social change. Students wishing to pursue the program in greater depth also have an opportunity to enroll in BLP’s seminar class for academic credit.
I have attended a handful of the seminars, ranging from the “Social Change Model of Leadership” to “Breaking Barriers: Asian American Tools for Success”, and have found them all instructive and more than worth my time. In particular, the session on “Public Speaking” was particularly useful to me – I find myself using the tips I gained from that talk on a regular basis. This quarter, I plan to attend seminars on communication styles, nutrition, and a capstone. The Spring 2012 schedule can be found here.
The program can demand as much or as little time and effort as you want it to. You might simply want to attend a seminar or two to check things out. Or, you can be like me and be slowly working towards a Certificate of Leadership. You can even join BLP for academic credit or go as far as to participate in the Student Facilitation Team. Whatever you do, make sure to check out BLP!
PS – This may be coming a few months late, but apparently we’re a very hipster school. Interesting!
UCLA Undergraduate Admissions
Hannah Bernosky
Jamie Campbell
Eleanor Fang
Charley Guptill
Steven Simons
Rebecca Winkle
Hayoung Youn