Im going to be honest. Asians kind of freak me out. And I just so happen to be… Asian. I grew up in a town where the schools were 97 percent white. I was literally one of 8 asians at my high school. So coming to uci is going to be a culture shock for me. All ive grown up around is more “white” activities. Ive never really been into anything like boba, and to be honest, kpop freaks me out. Im truely not a racist person, and am great friends with some of the asians at my school, however im just not used to the stereotypical asian activities. So my question. Is it as asian as they say? I dont want to be surrounded by cliques of asian. Where is the diversity? Any particular clubs that are more diverse than others?
…You sure you’re ready for college??
There are about 10,000 undergrad Asians, 40% of the student body. You won’t be getting away from “cliques of asian”, as you describe it.
You could volunteer at the Cross-Cultural Center: https://www.ccc.uci.edu/index.php
You could join a Cultural Club: http://www.campusorgs.uci.edu/
You could hang out with the 8 American Indians and 22 Pacific Islanders. They’d ease your worries.
To be completely honest… Not really ready haha. Just scared of fitting in. It was a bit of a culture shock when I went to spop 6. It also doesnt help that I am half black, and that seems to be even more of a minority. Ive just heard a few mixed things about it from friends. A cultural club sounds interesting though! Im trying to have a more varied college experience.
Coming from a student at uci who came from a similar situation as you, I understand your concerns. It definitely is a culture shock (I came from the midwest). Sure, you will definitely have those really cliquey groups, but a lot are pretty cool as well. It was weird, when I came here at first, it felt like I fit in least among my own race (chinese). But it gets better once you branch out more. First impressions at UCI can sometimes be bad (people carrying stuffed anime characters etc etc) but thankfully not everyone is like that. That type of asian cliques exist, but you do not have to interact with them.
Thanks all for the input! I just have that worry of not fitting in too well. I appreciate the comments, good or bad! And moneymanziel im glad someone else went through the same thoughts im having lol. Because truely Im not trying to be hateful, I just want to be among people with similar interests!
Hey, the good news is that culture shock is a real, biological phenomena and it involves a major stress to your entire neuronal network (which was affected by your culture growing up).
Luckily the CNS is plastic and you can adjust to your new surroundings. I applaud you for getting out of your comfort zone and traveling to see a new part of the country as well. Unfourtunatly, California Isn’t the best place to be a student, and many Californian’s are derpy and unwilling to think critically about certain things – and cliqey groups are one of those things.
For some reason our culture doesn’t promote mature behavior in adolescence like elsewhere in the country. Don’t ask me why, my parents were from the mid-west.
So you still gonna stick with the small group of white kids at UCI or assimilate into the invasion forces.