I wake up at the usual 6:50am. Why? Don’t ask me. My body’s just been doing it for the past two weeks. I get on my laptop and spend the next 40 minutes reading through someone’s resume and cover letter. I said I would help them today at noon, even though there were no official drops ins today.
I go to Bplate at 8:30am and lo and behold, it’s pretty sparse. I even took a picture! I may post it or I may not, I’m unsure yet. Everyday since admin announced finals would be online, the dining halls in the morning have been getting emptier and emptier. In fact, I can see the entrance to Bplate from my window and I would frequently look to see how many people are going in. On the usual days, I see a trickle of people whenever I look but for the past week, it’s been virtually nobody. Today at 7am, it looked like a ghost town. Spooky~~
For some reason, the omelette line was once again long. It felt like half the people in Bplate were in the omelette line this week (I’m exaggerating. I know.) Luckily, I saw Justin sitting in his regular spot so I joined him with my waffle, two plates of scrambled eggs, and cup of coffee. We discussed how crazy everything’s been and about the online math finals. The memes man. It’s also been raining so like triple threat right now: finals + coronavirus + rain != functional students.
After breakfast, I walked down to campus and recorded my path from Bplate to the Career Center. It took about 14 minutes. Ya, I’m a pretty slow walker. I made sure to provide some commentary as I was walking down. I made sure to show the dreary gray sky and how empty all facets of campus were. Bruinwalk was empty at 9am, no Andre, the occasional people walking past me. It really reminded me like something out of an apocalypse. Only Serena was working on the front desk when I walked into the second floor of the Career Center. In room 200 were the Career educators, discussing how to go about our Spring events.
The next nine hours of my life were spent in the Career Center. And now I shall tell the events that happened. Most of it is boring so I’ll do a really simple bullet timeline:
- 9-10: Drop Off Lionel’s Letter at Engr VI. It was a bit difficult because there were virtually no TAs in the lab. I saw Angelina Poole and she tried to swipe me into Lionel’s lab but her card didn’t work so she told me to go down to floor 2 and give the Graduate Student Office the letter. I did so and the workers said he would get it but I don’t know man..it’s okay if he doesn’t – it’s the thought that counts!
- 10-11: I actually studied for math. Or more like review. I rewrote my notes for 6.1 Inner Products.
- 11-12: Last online Zoom lecture of the quarter – Rooney’s Math 115A! To be honest, I didn’t really understand what was happening in lecture today. We won’t over self-adjoints and ya..jargon. In one ear and out the other. But Rooney did an excellent job going over the proofs and concepts and I’m so sad that we couldn’t clap for him. Kent did four clap emojis but I don’t think he saw them 🙁
- 12-1:15: I helped Eghose with her resume and cover letter. Halfway through, I started asking her about product management events she’s done to try and help her brainstorm. It felt like I was a recruiter or interviewer and it felt pretty fun. I’m excited to do it next quarter when we’re recruiting for the next batch of Career Peers!
- 1:15-2: I think I basically talked to Victoria on the third floor. She saw that I got a new phone and I showed her some of the cool pictures I’ve taken this week like the wide angle sunset from yesterday with the Hercules Clouds. Halfway through, the elevator dinged on our floor and a family of five came out. It turns out they were visiting from the UAE because their son was going to be applying to colleges soon. Or maybe he already applied? Not too sure but they said they were originally from Croatia and their accents were pretty cool sounding. It’s too bad they came at a bad time, with the coronavirus and rain and everything but they said they would go around and explore campus. Victoria gave them a map and circled some must sees like Powell, Royce, and Jan Steps. Her experience as an NSA really came in handy!
- 2-3: I think I tried doing some more work but around 2:30 I got hungry so I went to Greenhouse and got the good old mac ‘n cheese, fish, chicken (fried and tiki masala) and then some penna pasta, basmati rice, and vegetables (zucchini, onions, bell peppers). I was debating going to the hospital but Ben said the food wasn’t that good today and I agreed with him from how it sounded on the menu. On the way back, the drizzle became a bit harder.
- 3-4: I finished my meal exactly at 3:00 and then Jada, Roya (who actually showed up!), Isabella, Ben, Colton, and I walked to Room 200 to begin the graduation party! There were pita chips, purple chips, hummus, salsa, guac, and bread of some kind (probably banana). Both floors of the Career Center closed for this event. Someone even made a joke that even the Coronavirus couldn’t do that! But in all seriousness, today was for Victoria and Colton and Ale put on Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstances while Corrina gave her farewell to each of them. Afterwards, other people like Stella, Ale, Kathy, Hassan, Chris, Brian(?), and Candice did so as well. The main thing I heard: You’re still young so live life! Don’t be afraid to try new things and if you can, align career with passion. The whole moment was heartfelt and it was a small reprieve in the utter craziness that’s been happening. It shows me that we can enjoy the good in the bad – the yang in the yin. Inside Room 200, it was festive bright, with laughter galore but just looking outdoors, you would see dark gray skies, the pitter patter of rain, and the occasional people walking by with umbrellas.
- 3:05: Before the official party began, Colton showed us screen shots of the USAC president Robert Watson saying campus will most likely go online for the entirety of Spring Quarter and that residents are encouraged to move out. However, we had to be realistic and know that this could just be a rumor at the moment. Stay tuned for more though!
- 4-6: Laurent’s final review started at 4pm and I got on at 3:58pm and was the only one there. Oh no…I hope I’m not the only one or else that might be a bit awkward. Luckily someone else came on at around 4pm and by 4:15 we had a good 11 people or so. Laurent went through adjoints, diagonalization, null space and range, and change of base. It was a nice wrap up of the concepts post midterm 1. I was pretty frustrated at the beginning because I did not understand today’s math lecture too well so when he was doing self-adjoints and normalized stuff I felt really lost. Luckily, I recorded his review so I’ll try to hash that out on Saturday.
- 6-6:30: I packed up and left the Career Center. It’s so weird that it’s still light outside. Even though the sky was filled was clouds, it wasn’t like pitch dark. Weird. As I’m walking back, I call my mom to let her know about the rumor that I may be moving back and just for her to be aware of the situation. But I told her it was just that, a rumor, at least until students were notified officially.
- 6:30: Lo and behold, I get the official email like ten minutes after I ended my call with my mom. I was just about to grab dinner with Tori when I get the email notification and I forward it to her and tell her I’ll call her after dinner. As I’m on the way to Sproul Hall, I pass by Arul and he asks me what’s going on with finals and I told him they’re mostly online and honor code based. I also let him know that we’re encouraged to move out if he can and he looked very surprised but I prefaced that they just sent the email out like a minute ago. I hope the grad students will be okay. I also saw Arul today by the Textbook store as I was buying my lunch. I see that guy a bit too much around campus.
- 6:30-7:30: Tori and I try to have somewhat of an enjoyable meal at Feast but the food was just alright and we were trying to process everything. From finals to moving out to not seeing seniors again or friends again for a while, it was just a lot to handle. Mmm that’s basically all for this chunk of time. We shared memes we saw and stuff like that and we also didn’t like how not busy it seemed. It wasn’t empty but I’d say 70% capacity, which is definitely not normal. Oh, I just remembered but near the beginning of dinner, Chloe sent me a Facebook post that showed Eli Gafni quarreling with a TA who brought up that he thought calling the Coronavirus the Wuhan virus was inappropriate, as he has relatives in Wuhan and given the current situation, many people have been unfairly targeting Asians. Oh man was that a long email chain and even THE Davis A. Smallberg butted in to support the TA. I wonder what Korf was thinking. Maybe it was something like “Man, I have to deal with this amongst all the other insanity happening.” Haha, I can only imagine. Chloe also told me that CS 35L is hitting the fan because of Project 9 (which is new so idk what it is), and also because Eggert is making the final mandatory since that is the only fair way to assess students based on how much cheating occurs. This is not the best week of UCLA’s history.
- 7:30-8: I call my mom after dinner and the new plan is for them to come up on Sunday and bring back a bulk of my stuff and then I’ll come back down with Tori on Wednesday. We’ll also try to bring some of Tori’s stuff down on Sunday so there’s room in their car for me to go home in. Again, just so much to process.
- 8-9:30: I think during this time, I was on the reddit and meme pages and talking to Danish and Kent about everything. We’re all gonna move out and we’re like wow. College and life can really just change in a minute.
- 9:30-10: I filled out my survey reviews for Sarrafzadeh, Rooney, and Laurent. I really wanted to let Rooney and Laurent know that it’s been a fantastic quarter and that we really appreciate all they’re doing with transition to online and providing communication for students. They’ve been really great.
- 10-10:30: I was supposed to start writing on this blog but I ended up looking up courses because I’m 99.9% sure my LA class is going to get cut and I need to find a third class so I can graduate on time with three a quarter, which I really want. I didn’t find anything though..except for maybe a Holocaust and Music GE.
- 10:30-11:15: Now I started writing the blog!
- 11:15-11:45: Danish, Kent, and I go to Rende (probably for the last time in a long time) and I get the green waffle dessert. It’s bucket list time and I only have so many meals left on the hill…the last ones until next academic year. As such, every meal has to count – no more settling for meh food.
- 11:45-12:30: I head back up to grab an umbrella and I start my trek to take pictures of Royce, Powell, and Jan Steps. I feel like Royce right now in the dark, illuminated by beautiful lights, would be a great cover picture for this post. I really wanted to capture the beauty of this campus in its solidarity. When I headed out, it was sprinkling quite a bit but when I got to the top of Jan Steps, the drizzle had stopped. the water on the group really set up this nice reflection and I got some really pretty nice pictures that I’m proud of so yay! I went through a lot of angles and positions to get these pictures but it was also really fun and soothing. I think this night was a rare photo op moment with the rain and everything, but also how clear the sky was behind Royce. I also passed a few people on the way and I was surprised people were still on campus. At the quad of Royce and Powell, there were some people who were riding birds in big circles. I saw occasional couples walking past. What beautiful moments. So much normalcy in this chaotic period. As I was walking back, there was this friend group that was taking pictures in the grass by Jan Steps at around 12:30am. Haha, I love it! People trying to enjoy life right now because everyone knows we don’t have the mentality to study at all. I think finals are among the lowest priority for a lot of students here, but I’m just speculating that, don’t quote me. This group of also friends also slided down the grass on something. Like penguins sliding on their bellies, two of them went down the slippery slope of the grass and it was really fun to watch.
- 12:30-1:10: Instead of walking back up Charles E Young, I decided to go up Bruinwalk, but in a more roundabout way. I went past Kerchoff, Ackerman, and also went by CTO, Engr VI and the Career Center. It’s so enchanting to see campus at night, especially dewed by a light drizzle.
- 1:10-2:15: I think I came back and tried to keep typing this blog but I also got ready for bed and I fell asleep with my laptop on my stomach, which was the position I was typing in haha.
Reflections
Now for the fun stuff! I’m so happy I video recorded my walk onto campus today. Incidentally enough, I noticed it was Friday 13th at like 10:30pm. How did I miss it! But anyway, I think today was a very special, weird, but also pivotal day in the lives of students and in UCLA history. So in light of Friday 13th, here’s how I reflect upon the day.
The morning starts out with Gene Block tweeting he’s in quarantine. Uh-oh…Then we see from USAC screenshots that a lot of us are probably going to move out and that Spring Quarter basically got crushed. Then we receive the confirmation. Then lots of introspective reflection. I, as well as many of my peers think: Wow, this is my last week on the Hill, last week of dining hall food, last time I’ll see seniors, last time I’ll see the Career Peers. Too many lasts and all few too soon.
I’m personally a bit angry at admin because the student population at UCLA was holding out for Spring to be regular. We all knew in the back of our minds that this would probably happen, as the US is just in the beginning of the exponential curve, but we really didn’t want to believe it. Like we really, really didn’t. But it was inevitable..
However, us desperately gripping onto this sliver of hope caused the student population to, let’s say, not be fully prepared for the virtualization of Spring Quarter. UCSD announced early in the week (I think on Monday?) that all of Spring Quarter would be online. If UCLA did that, all of us would have been saying farewells and goodbyes while we still had week 10. But nope, they waited until Tuesday night to say that the rest of Winter was online, finals were remote, and the first two weeks of Spring would be online as well. Many of our friends started leaving, with Spurthi leaving on Wednesday I believe. And we just found out yesterday that we should go home if we can for Spring. Absolute disaster. Like come on. And it feels especially bad for seniors, who’s Spring festivities were cancelled. They were all looking forward to it so much and now who knows if we’ll even have a regular Graduation?
I feel guilty because I chose to prioritize studying at 4pm instead of talking to Colton, Ben, Roya, Jada, and Isabella one last time. WHO KNOWS IF I’LL SEE THEM AGAIN. I’m coming into the office on Monday and Tuesday to do studying but I don’t know if they’ll do the same 😞. I was even recording the review but I really wanted to be on so I could pay attention and ask questions if I needed to since I wasn’t comfortable with the most recent material. But screw all that, I should’ve talked with them one last time. Colton said he’ll be in the office, but maybe not on Monday so please powers that be, let our paths cross again once more (I’m kinda overreacting; I’m pretty sure I’ll see him on Tuesday). I also GroupMe’d Isabella to try to plan a last meal together! She said she’s also going back home for Spring. I feel like life has a weird way of working. We had three Career Peer Socials yesterday and while we all kinda knew it would the last time, there was always that feeling that we’ll see each other again, and we just had as much fun as we could.
It’s really hard to imagine that so much has changed since that Tuesday night email. I remember I was just about to enter the new LA orientation when literally everything got turned upside down. Monday was so normal and well today things went haywire.
As a last thought, it’s been interesting seeing emptier dining halls and an empty campus and this is probably what Spring will look like to. There is no more self service stations in dining halls and recently, I’ve had to swipe my own card in for access control and meals. At the dining halls, someone has to give us all of our food items – even for soup and utensils! Covel’s last meal was today at lunch and I haven’t gone this whole week I think so rip. I’m happy that one of my last meals there was the Roaring 20s Night which was fabulousss. As the last five days of the quarter, I’m going to squeeze as much out as I can. Most of my friends are going back home so it’s time to live in the present when people are still here.
I have to write some letters this weekend to the Career Center seniors. I’m have to write one for Colton and Victoria for sure, and I’m debating if I should write one for Roya and Val or if maybe I’ll perhaps see them in Spring if I visit?
Today will forever be engraved into the lives of all of us at UCLA – Friday, March 13th.
