<p>Berkeley! The last stop on my three school tour during my Spring Break. Going into the trip, Berkeley was my #1 choice, so it felt natural to save the best for last. What I found, however, surprised me in both good and bad ways, yet excited me in others. </p>
<p>Alright guys, so overall, Berkeley was nothing like I expected it to be. I expected Berkeley to be off somewhere in the middle of a desert or a meadow or something with nothing surrounding it but trees and plants. I expected a cloud of week smoke to be blanketing the entire campus, and I expected every single person there to look something like this <a href=“http://www.briancreese.co.uk/B%20hippy.JPG[/url]”>http://www.briancreese.co.uk/B%20hippy.JPG</a>. Yes, I even expected the girls to look something like that haha. I also expected the entire area to somehow make me think more radically as soon as I drew near it. While reading these remarks, please keep in mind that I live in Southern California, where we are taught since childhood that Northern Californians are, for the most part, weird hickish farmer people, and that Berkeley kids are the most liberal people one can find anywhere in the world. </p>
<p>Alright, so now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, how did Berkeley match up to my expectations? The reality of Berkeley was so different from what I have always expected that I initially disliked Berkeley quite a bit. I had been to UC Davis on Wednesday, so just a day before my Berkeley trip. Davis was actually much closer to my childhood vision of Berkeley. I saw a few hippy kids at Davis, smelled some weed, and felt like I was in another world, set apart from everything else, surrounded by pine trees and friendly looking bikers. When I entered Berkeley, I felt like I was back in Los Angeles. Telegraph ave has all the Venice Beach and Hollywood characters (street venders, performers, etc), and there were quite a few homeless individuals bordering the school. The surrounding area is very urban, and seemed to blur the boundary between Berkeley and the city. The kids at Berkeley were - surprise! - normal looking. They seemed intelligent, yet, to my dismay, were not passing communist pamphlets around, or debating about abortion at the top of their lungs. I also saw only 2 obviously gay dudes - which is just about the same amount I’d expect to see back in LA in a given amount of time. So no, Berkeley did not add up to my expectations. Is that real reason not to like a school? Of course not!! In fact, I was glad a few of the stereotypes didn’t pan out the way I had imagined. Once I realized this, and started giving Berkeley a chance, I actually did begin to love it. </p>
<p>To give Berkeley a chance, it seems necessary to think of it for what it really is - a prestigious university that has turned out men of genius in nearly all fields. I believe that I had let Berkeley’s “liberal” reputation distract me from the school’s original purpose. By allowing myself to be distracted in this way, I distorted Berkeley into a caricature of old stereotypes. I now understand that the “liberal” reputation that Berkeley has gained is only a symptom, a side effect, of a mindset that really only strives to address as many earth-impacting and human-advancing issues as possible, be they medical, political, and so forth. In other words, they are not liberal just for the sake of BEING LIBERAL. The students that go here are not the kind that want to sit around in a stupor and tell everyone to have public sex just because it “feels good.” No, they genuinely care about issues, it seems. Address enough issues, or study enough subjects, and one is bound to step on toes. Berkeley has apparently had enough time (and determination) to care about things a little more than other schools have, so they stepped on more toes. As Berkeley has always addressed issues head on, their approaches will be interpreted as extremely radical from time to time, leading little mothers to tell their children that the devil lives in Berkeley (like my mom did :D). Not a thing to worry about, it turns out!</p>
<p>Come on, AJ, get to the point! What was Berkeley like!?? Did you like it or not??? As I said, I did actually end up liking Berkeley very much. Though I may have been startled by Berkeley’s surroundings, in actuality they will have much less of an impact on my decision than I had originally thought. Berkeley has its own type of beauty, one that actually does seem to promote an intellectual atmosphere. [User</a> Media - ■■■■■■■ - Free Image Hosting, Photo Sharing & Video Hosting](<a href=“http://■■■■■■■.com/m/9rukd3/3]User”>http://■■■■■■■.com/m/9rukd3/3) I’ll link to some pictures I took while I was there as I go on. [User</a> Media - ■■■■■■■ - Free Image Hosting, Photo Sharing & Video Hosting](<a href=“http://■■■■■■■.com/m/9ruki8/3]User”>http://■■■■■■■.com/m/9ruki8/3) The campanile was actually more beautiful than I thought, and frankly makes Stanford’s look wimpy (hah!). It was pretty cool that you could see it from anywhere on campus almost. The architecture at Berkeley made me think of Greece, and apparently some of the buildings were actually inspired by the Greeks. [User</a> Media - ■■■■■■■ - Free Image Hosting, Photo Sharing & Video Hosting](<a href=“http://■■■■■■■.com/m/9ruird/3]User”>http://■■■■■■■.com/m/9ruird/3) The architecture was definitely more ‘inspired’ than Davis’s, and definitely better than Stanford’s, which just reminded me of a California mission. The “energy” that I always heard people talk about when referring to Berkeley was certainly there as well. [User</a> Media - ■■■■■■■ - Free Image Hosting, Photo Sharing & Video Hosting](<a href=“http://■■■■■■■.com/m/9ruk4l/3]User”>http://■■■■■■■.com/m/9ruk4l/3) There were students everywhere, at almost all times. (and I stayed a good 6 hours total, so no, I wasn’t there JUST for lunch time, or some other particularly busy time). [User</a> Media - ■■■■■■■ - Free Image Hosting, Photo Sharing & Video Hosting](<a href=“http://■■■■■■■.com/m/9ruk1v/3]User”>http://■■■■■■■.com/m/9ruk1v/3) The students did seem very friendly, and overall there was a very noticeable lack of hippies :D. [User</a> Media - ■■■■■■■ - Free Image Hosting, Photo Sharing & Video Hosting](<a href=“http://■■■■■■■.com/m/9rukc4/3]User”>http://■■■■■■■.com/m/9rukc4/3) On Sproul Plaza, there was a lot of action, including some sign holders, but in general they were non-invasive and easy to ignore. Most of them were holding signs to promote some student body leader candidate, but there were some others. [User</a> Media - ■■■■■■■ - Free Image Hosting, Photo Sharing & Video Hosting](<a href=“http://■■■■■■■.com/m/9ruk4w/3]User”>http://■■■■■■■.com/m/9ruk4w/3) In comparison, Davis’s campus seemed a little bit lethargic. I mean, Davis did have a lot of students biking around everywhere, but they did not seem to be going anywhere, if you know what I mean. Berkeley students all seem to be active for some higher purpose or another. [User</a> Media - ■■■■■■■ - Free Image Hosting, Photo Sharing & Video Hosting](<a href=“http://■■■■■■■.com/m/9rukh2/3]User”>http://■■■■■■■.com/m/9rukh2/3) I also walked through the dorm area, and one funny thing I noticed was how all the students seem to enjoy writing on their windows haha. Some windows are even talking to each other. I went into Units 1 and 2, both of which were pretty nice (unit 2 was better though). Quarters were a little bit tight, but quite livable. Honestly, I won’t be spending too much time in my dorm, so I’m not factoring living conditions into my decision either way. All the school’s dorms look alike to me (though…stanford’s were a little bit nicer). Oh, there was one dorm in particular that sort of fascinated me: [User</a> Media - ■■■■■■■ - Free Image Hosting, Photo Sharing & Video Hosting](<a href=“http://■■■■■■■.com/m/9rukau/3]User”>http://■■■■■■■.com/m/9rukau/3). Bowles, I believe it is. That’s one awesome, mysterious looking place, right there! I sort of stumbled across it while looking for the stadium. The stadium, by the way, was also amazing. [User</a> Media - ■■■■■■■ - Free Image Hosting, Photo Sharing & Video Hosting](<a href=“http://■■■■■■■.com/m/9rukad/3]User”>http://■■■■■■■.com/m/9rukad/3) There is some construction going on, which is good - the stadium looks a little run down on the outside (the walls are kind of chipped and dirty looking) but amazing on the inside. It certainly looks like an exciting place to be during football season :D. </p>
<p>Alright, so to wrap things up for this ridiculously oversized post :), I actually do love Berkeley, but not for the reasons I thought I would. It is not the isolated Mecca of liberalism I thought it would be, but instead is an involved, integrated part of a city. I’m definitely glad I visited - now I know why they always say to visit schools before making the final decision. I know that Davis still appeals to me, but in a different way. Davis is the Summer Camp in Yosemite kind of college in my mind. It seems to be the place to go to relax while learning, at least for my major (it is the “serious” place to go for vets). Berkeley seems to be more for those who want to go out and change the world or something. It is for the people who want to be connected to all the most important issues, and then even more for the people who want to hear from the professors who have the most intelligent, developed opinions regarding said issues. Sure it is right in the middle of a city, but what better place for an institution like that?</p>
<p>Now I just have to decide what I want out of my school :)</p>
haha. No but seriously, you’re right, they have produced smarties of all genders (did your anthro teacher give you the “there are more than two genders” speech?) :D</p>![http://www.briancreese.co.uk/B%20hippy.JPG[/url]](http://www.briancreese.co.uk/B%20hippy.JPG%5B/url%5D){kind=link}
