It’s that time of the quarter again for Bruins… Finals! While this infamous word is a component of every college campus, there are definite ways to make this tense time run a little more smoothly! I am all about being prepared and now coming into my 6th round of finals at UCLA, I think I have a solid list of tips.

1. Know yourself! Everyone has there own advice to give you about finals, but ultimately being honest with your own study habits is the best place to start. If you are someone who loves the intensity of completing a paper moments before its due, or someone who literally cannot sleep at night unless they start there work weeks in advance, tailor your studying to what works for you!
2. Sleep. I don’t care who you are, everyone needs sleep! Unless you are working on a paper due the next morning, studies have shown that staying up super late before a test is not beneficial. Instead, try to pick a definite time you want to get to sleep by and stick to it.
3. Keep your routine. If you are someone who loves the gym, or cannot function without skyping with your best friend once a week, then keep doing it! Finals are so much less painful if you continue to fit in the things that are really important to you.
4. Make a schedule. This is a great tip for people who want to defeat procrastination. Instead of looking at finals as a hurricane sized stress monster, break it down. Focus on tangible goals for each day and make a study plan to get you through the week.
5. Keep a perspective. I know we all care a lot about our grades and academic performance but do not let finals define you. As Bruins (and people in general), we are so much more than a grade.

Good luck Bruins and summer is on the way!

I’ve had a lot of cool experiences at UCLA, but last Wednesday was one of the coolest…. I got to go to the Chancellor’s house!

Granted, this event was not just for me (there were over 200 other people in attendance), but I felt so privileged to be able to eat food on the Chancellor’s dime alongside numerous other student leaders and administrators.  It was a really cool experience that I will never forget (also, major brag points!).

Most students at UCLA have never met the Chancellor (honestly, most of us never think we will), but there is a running joke where most people instead of references “Chancellor Block” will simply call him Gene.  I don’t know where this started, but by the way most students talk about the Chancellor, you’d expect he knew the entire student population by name.  Even leading up to the event, I told my friends that I was going to party with Gene.  Things like that are not at all uncommon.  Maybe it just adds to the idea that we are all a Bruin Family.

The event itself was a Student Honor’s Reception, so most students at the Chancellor’s were leaders on campus.  I was surprised at how many people I knew!  I am continually surprised by how small UCLA can be.  However, I think my favorite part of the whole event was getting to listen to the Street Hearts perform!  The Street Hearts won at Spring Sing for best band and Bruin choice.  They provided the music for the event and it really made my day!

As week 9 comes to an end there is one thing on almost every Bruin’s mind… Summer! After one of the best quarters of the years, Bruins cannot wait to finalize summer plans and figure out where their next three months will take place. A great part of UCLA is the various options available to students who want to not only enjoy their summers, but also continue their educational course work.
A very popular summer option is studying abroad. There are a huge amount of study abroad programs available to students. One of the popular choices is the UCLA Travel Study program. These programs are connected to various departments and majors. For example, I am studying abroad in Paris through the history department. I get to travel with fellow Bruins in the history major and be taught by one of the most renowned professors in the department. The advantage of this program is the direct transfer of unit credit. Many other students take advantage of other programs that are taken through universities in other countries. One of my friends is going to Sussex England to study engineering.
For students who want to stay in Los Angeles and spend the summer in that phenomenal Southern California weather, they can take summer classes at UCLA. There are classes offered in all different majors, languages, and GE’s. This offers students the chance to get ahead in their coursework and take advantage of living in Los Angeles. Summer classes are unique in that they are shorter in duration. Instead of a ten-week quarter students take a 6 or 8-week course.
Yet another option for UCLA students are online summer classes. This allows students to travel, go back home, or even stay in LA but take their classes online instead of in a classroom. I took one last summer and loved it! I was able to be at home in my p.j.’s while watching lecture videos at my own pace! Summer break takes on a whole new meaning for UCLA students and there are endless opportunities.

As a UCLA student, many of us drink tons of coffee (especially during the ever-so-rapidly approaching finals week)! Since coming here, I think I’ve really learned how to distinguish a really good cup of coffee from a bad one. So naturally, my life was changed when I made my first trip to Urth Caffe. Urth Caffe is America’s first only organic coffee company with locations in West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica and Downtown- all pretty close to UCLA campus so tons of students love to go! You cannot go wrong with basically any coffee or tea you order  here because it will all be delicious. The food they serve is also very healthy and they have a lot of vegan options which seems to be a trend in Los Angeles. Since I first tried this place a couple weeks ago, a cannot keep myself away from the super close Beverly Hills location- I even forced one of my floormates to come here with me this weekend!

Jazz Reggae Festival held at UCLA is a great way to spend the Memorial Day weekend. The two-day event highlights all-day performance of various artists, wide variety of delicious ethnic foods, and just a chill crowd of people to share the experience with.

This student-run event began in 1986 as a relatively small concert that provided opportunity for student musicians to perform in front of an audience. But as the event grew in size and more musicians were invited from elsewhere to perform, it is now considered one of LA’s essential annual event that offers not only jazz/reggae music, but also live interactive art (live graffiti, Henna Tattoo, etc), and gallery, featuring famous works of LA artists.

Food is provided by over 70 vendors of all sorts of cultural foods surrounding the crowd. Some of the cultures featured are Ethiopian, Jamaican, Chinese, Caribbean, Greek, Mediterranean, Japanese, Hawaiian, Thai, and many more. All sorts of fair food cravings can also be found: funnel cakes, shaved ice, lemonade, burgers, fries, smoothies, cotton candy, and even deep-fried apple pie!

This year the festival featured artists Common, Santigold, Jhene Aiko and others.

Discounted tickets and free tickets are available to all UCLA students with valid Bruin Card! So if you missed it this year, make plans to go check it out next year!

Last Sunday morning I woke up around 9 AM after a long two days of activity (Spring Sing on Friday night and UniCamp Campathon all day Saturday really wears you out!) so I was planning on waking up nice and slow, enjoying a cup of tea, and maybe lounging around for a couple of hours before working on an essay I had due on Monday night. I started my morning with the usual checking-of-the-iPhone and saw that I just received a snapchat from one of my best friends that lives a few doors down from me in my apartment complex that read “WAKE UP EVERYONE! Let’s go hiking!” Unable to turn down an opportunity to hang out with some of my best friends and roommates, I ran over there and we woke everyone in our two apartments up by jumping on them while they were still in bed (the most efficient method, of course). Once the hiking group was established, we ate a super quick breakfast and headed to the Solstice Canyon trail in the Santa Monica mountains in Malibu.

After a fairly short 25 minute drive, we started our adventure. First we explored the ruins of an old mansion from the 1800′s which was super cool. Then, we followed up a little stream and climbed up multiple waterfalls. It was really beautiful and the cool ocean breeze from Malibu being so near was amazing. After coming back down, we decided to be adventurous and take the “loop trail” back to our parking space. This trail went for three miles and went uphill for a long time, until we finally reached the top of a mountain and saw the extraordinary view of the ocean. The long hike up was worth it- especially because I got to race my roommates on the way down!

While the classes I have taken on campus at UCLA have been incredibly valuable, one of the best experiences I have had is my internship class at a local elementary school. My goal is ultimately to become a teacher and having the chance to intern at an elementary for class credit has been absolutely amazing. Getting hands on experience in the classroom is one of the best ways to really get a feel for the teaching profession. The school is super close by and a bus ride only takes a short fifteen minutes. This has seriously been a life changing experience and inspired me to apply for Teach for America!

As a college student, organizing your schedule to fit internships can be challenging but UCLA has many opportunities that allow you to receive units for the internship. These off campus opportunities often involve a community experience mixed with relevant coursework. For example, on top of my hours spent at the elementary school I meet with a coordinator for reflection. I also complete readings and written responses. The academic mixed with hands-on experience is an awesome way to approach career interests.

My focus has been on internships involving teaching, but there are many other opportunities for other interests. For example, my roommate who is a science major gets unit credit for the research she does. Another program focuses on civic engagement and sets students up with internships with nonprofits or government work. Los Angeles is a prime location for finding internship opportunities because so many different industries are located in the area. There are chances to get involved in medicine, business, teaching, and many others as well. College is all about finding out your true passions and internships are an awesome way to help students figure this out.

By the time that you read this, I will be back in Los Angeles. It is the night before I make a sort-of-a-surprise trip down to L.A. to see my friends and see my campus who I haven’t seen for a very long time. And it’s more or less overwhelming. I spent much of my first semester dreaming about seeing UCLA again. I would take walks through south campus in my head during archaeology class. I would imagine tasting the first, hot bite of a Cafe 1919 pizette when I was hungry. If I was feeling especially fragile, I would look up UCLA’s campus on Google Maps and sit on street view, gazing at Royce Hall while my eyes got fuzzier and fuzzier.

But I haven’t felt like that in a long, long while. Sure, there was a time that going back was all I wished for. Food was better back home, memories were better, the earth was prettier. But second semester wasn’t like that. Walking around Lyon felt like walking in a giant house, everything was comfy like being indoors. I missed UCLA, sure, and my friends of course, but I was thriving without them. My mind had replaced the bricks of north campus with the intricate rooftops of France. My heart found the Red Bridge on the Soane and allowed it to take the botanical garden’s place, if only for those few months.

And so now it is the night before I get on a plane that will drop me in LAX in the hottest weather I will have experienced in over nine months. And I will hop onto the blue Flyaway bus and make my way to Westwood, which I’m sure will seem as strange to me as France did when I first arrived. I mean, of course I expect to be overcome by happiness the moment on walk on campus and see the neuroscience building towering proudly above me. And I know that I will swoon at my first stop by the south campus student center. I’ll be taking every one of my favorite walks, and I will, I know, be absolutely adoring it. But if the “reverse culture shock” that I encounter when I get down there is anything like what I experienced coming home to the Bay Area, I also have to be prepared for the inevitable alienation that will happen when I am about to face.

They always talked about coming back and being blown away by how the familiarity seems so foreign, but before you experience it firsthand, there is no way of knowing exactly what it feels like. I wait in a confusing and surreal anticipation for my reunion with the place that I have missed and loved and not been to for the past nine months. I hope everything turns out OK, even though I know it will. And it will, especially after my mind is able to grab hold of those lovely north campus bricks. It won’t be until I’m there that I know I am back.

Today after a meeting for an organization I’m in was over, we had an ice blocking social!  What is ice blocking, you ask? Ice blocking is literally exactly what it sounds like- taking a big block of ice, sitting on it, and sliding down hills! One tradition here at UCLA that a lot of student groups like to do is to go ice blocking down the hill by Janss Steps. Janss Steps are the historic stairs named after the Janss brothers Edwin and Harold who sold the land that UCLA campus was built on to its founders at a bargain price. During the day especially in Spring quarter, students love to nap or tan on the hill by Janss Steps and at night we also found a way to put it to use by going ice blocking. It is super fun and one thing on my UCLA bucket list that I can now check off!