<p>I'm in Irvine right now. I arrived here with my family after
approximately 6 hours of driving from the bay area. </p>
<p>A few poignant observations leap to the forefront of my
mind as I type this. First off, the city is immaculate;
it's almost too perfect in terms of presentability. Irvine
truly is a bubble: within the city everything is picturesque,
but drive into neighboring Santa Ana and the roads instantly
take a massive turn for the worse, homeless people become
abundant, and even the quality of the buildings take a noticeable
trip downwards.</p>
<p>Another, thing: UC Irvine is extremely modern. I say this after
having visited UC Davis just one day before. Irvine was built in
the 1960s, while Davis was build in the early 1900s, and the
chronological difference is very readily apparent. On campus housing
is all very modern, and even the oldest dorms beat out the newest dorms
at Davis by a considerable amount. Also, not terribly important, but
instead of squirrels, there are rabbits, everywhere.</p>
<p>Let's see, what else? The airport is literally just a few
minutes away from campus, and my cousin tells me that one way
flights via Southwest are around 30 dollars if booked in advance.
There are three major shopping malls, Fashion Island, The Spectrum, and South Coast Plaza,
all of which are 5-10 minutes away from the campus by car. All of them are
quite impressive, but since today is Easter Sunday, most of them were closed (
Actually, the entire town feels dead today because so many people are gone).</p>
<p>I would say it's not too student friendly as it feels like a massive financial district, if that makes any sense. There are quite a few Fortune 500 companies who have buildings here, and they really have an impact on the atmosphere. </p>
<p>But in terms of restaurants, supply stores, and super markets, there are many, and all of which are within reach of a student even without a car (In University Center).</p>
<p>Irvine is very much in a bubble, which is cool as long as you understand it's one of only a few cities of its kind.</p>
<p>Also, sorry for the typos and such in the original post. I had it all typed up on notepad and it didn't paste over nicely. Oh, and I'm from 650.</p>
<p>cbf88, get ready for the weekday. The parking lot in Mesa Court is already full. You'll be seeing students swarming the streets =]. Have fun during your stay here. I have a few friends coming on Tuesday also. I'll be giving them special tours around the school haha. Anyone maybe want to join o_O?</p>
<p>Hey! I'm from 408 as well, I'm packing my stuff as we speak and heading down there as soon as possible. I registered for the Tuesday tour. I'm really excited! :)</p>
<p>ooo you guys from 650 too? im almost for sure going to irvine next year and i went during spring break and its definitly a nice place. the campus buildings are all very modern and the calm yet non rural atmosphere is perfect for me. actually kinda reminds me of san mateo, the city im from in the bay, except only a short drive away are the perfect socal beaches and giant cities like la and sd that sf definitly doesnt compare to.</p>
<p>hello fellow bay area person. i chose uci to get away from everything i knew, so i could grow up and become independent. think carefully before you choose which school you want to go to.</p>
<p>I got back earlier today from the student overnight program and will be able to ask some general questions if you guys are curious. The main thing i'd like to add is that the social life is definitely not dead. The greek system keeps students active and offers events with no discrimination to particular students. The ARC is an amazing gym, the campus is very clean and the dorms are no different, and it is awesome to go running at night on campus.</p>
<p>Fycus it would be cool if you could expand on your experience at uci. how were the dorms? which one did you like better, MC or ME? any other thoughts?</p>
<p>i went there yesterday and took the tours and walked around. the campus is NICE. very clean, just like others have described it. I only took one housing tour for middle earth. on the outside they look nicer than mesa court, but look kind of bunched together. the inside is nice, and the dorms aren't too small. bigger than cal poly's for sure. i didn't see the inside of mesa court dorms, but they do seem bigger from the outside. mesa court is also very peaceful but is kind of far from everything else. since im in the brens ICS, i guess ill go to ME. oh, and i didn't see any bunnies but my dad said he spotted a few.</p>
<p>Just went there today. It does live up to the hype of a nice and clean campus. I am psyched to go there. I was only on the Mesa Court tour. The dorms were pretty homey and large.</p>
<p>i hav just visited both UCI and UC Davis ....
I have to say both schools have some positive points
Irvine is much more advanced...much better city to live in....really good if someone is going in eng. especially comp science.......</p>
<p>davis has a lot, and mean a lot more diversity than Irvine. People are more lively and spirited, easy to make friends with. I dont know if it was just that day I visited Irvine, but for some reason I didnt feel that vibe at Irvine ( In terms of people being social) </p>
<p>not to be racist or anything but Irvine is full of Asians.....well asians are koo..I have lots of friends that are asian.....( im asian to0 but south asian)
but at Irvine, people just seemed to be lost in their own thing and no one seemed friendly</p>