Thoughts on Cal - OHP & Cal Day

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Berkeley
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<p>Hey guys - I've read a lot of takes about just about everything relating to Berkeley, and I'd just like to offer my own.</p>

<p>I went up to Berkeley on Thursday night (I arrived at ~11 PM), and my first views of Sathar Tower brought home all the pictures I've seen - I was finally here!</p>

<p>Friday morning I arrived bright and early to my first stop:
Joy's. Wow. What a bargain! 20 bucks for a decent sweatshirt, and 8 bucks for a Cal hat :)</p>

<p>From there, I walked around the Cal campus (passing through Telegraph at around 10:30 is certainly an eye-opening experience!), somehow always ending up in front of Sproul!</p>

<p>I went to lunch in the Asian ghetto with one of my friends from high school who graduated last year - she was completely happy with choosing Berkeley, and none-too-subtly urged me to do the same. She explained Berkeley Standard Time (~10 minutes after class "starts" is the acceptably time), and then left to go to her Sociology class (in Stanley hall - engineering grounds, no less!)
BTW: I totally recommend the Sushi place in Asian ghetto! Their bento was pretty amazing!</p>

<p>I then went back to our hotel room just to change/pick up my OHP stuff - then drove back to Unit 3 to meet for OHP at 4:25. I signed in, checked in my luggage, got the free t-shirt (woot!), and got a folder with the agenda and meal tickets (for Crossroads - which isn't all that it's hyped up to be...)</p>

<p>They sent me outside to "socialize" - which was chill. I met a bunch of awesome people (Brian, Travis, Alex, Waylon, Taylor, Melissa - if you're reading this say hey) I have no idea who on CC was there, so tell me!</p>

<p>We went to dinner at around 5:30 - after an "icebreaker" - human knot or whatever. Crossroads was allright, nothing spectacular. The hidden ice cream was pretty good though :)</p>

<p>Then we walked back to where we met in Unit 3...we socialized for a while more, then they matched us with our hosts. My host was pretty cool, we talked about Cal for a while, then he showed me around Unit 3: Spens-Black as well as around his Triple. Both of his roommates were also Hosts, so there were 3 OHP people - thank goodness one kid went to a different room...6 people sleeping in a room would have been bad.</p>

<p>We played around in the lounge till 8:15ish, at which point we went to VLSB for a meeting with the "Dean of Students" - JP, who was totally chill. After that, we had the formal "introduction" to OHP - just 5 hours after it started! Just official stuff, like "no partying, nothing dangerous, dont go to Peoples park, etc.</p>

<p>Then, we had a mandatory hike to the Big C. A few words about that: everyone says that it's something you have to do once - what they fail to mention is that the hike totally sucks. Grueling, torturous, evil, take your pick! You CAN only do it once (unless you're just strange)
Good view of SF and Berk though, not gonna lie.</p>

<p>Most of us went back to Unit 1, but some of us escaped to Putnam hall - suffice it to say that we had a fun time till 1 in the morning. But of course, what happens in Putnam, stays in Putnam! - not to be clich</p>

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<p>
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the supposed lack of correlation between academic smartness and hotness is total BS. I didnt have to apply any sort of Berkeley goggles.

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<p>Agreed!</p>

<p>
[quote]
Units are the best.

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</p>

<p>I stayed in Bowles. I didn't like the units as much. ;)</p>

<p>
[quote]
Go Bears!!

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<p>Amen! :)</p>

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<p>I met you! Putnam rules!</p>

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<p>i totally agree with you about the correlation between smartness & hotness, i was pleasantly surprised with some eye candy... :)</p>

<p>im so glad to be going to cal next fall semester</p>

<p>go bears!</p>

5

<p>kyledavid! Did you see the "rights of spring" run at Bowles? Haha I videotaped some of it for my brother, and I must say it was quite funny.</p>

<p>My favorite quote of the weekend:</p>

<p>"OHHH MY GAWD THEY'RE NAKED!!!" -Freshman Girl, Stern Hall, 4th floor leaning out the window (apparently she missed the boxers)</p>

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<p>haha, no, I didn't see it, but I was invited to it--the first time I talked to my host, he told me he and others had to go running through the campus in their underwear, and said I could join them. =p</p>

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<p>Im glad you enjoyed it! (To OP)</p>

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<p>System-AX, who are you? lol, sorry - problem with having 8 guys there with us...</p>

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<p>kyle: well next year, don't miss out! There's a nice display of horn-honking, jaw-dropping, and girl squealing :)</p>

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<p>I went to La Burrita with you. :)</p>

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<p>Hey this is Brian just wanted to say sup to all the people I met at OHP, it was some good times except when i got **** blocked.</p>

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<p>lol Brian, that WAS funny as hell! The weird kid that that jumped into your conversation with that chick...</p>

<p>btw, I'm slowly learning about Hyphy - and the more I'm learning, the more I'm perplexed by it...</p>

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<p>Blondie's Pizza sucks after you've tried Cheese Board or Zachary's. So that's good news, more things to look forward to!</p>

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<p>Heh, we went into Blondie's and then left for Lotus House (after having gone to Naan & Curry and then leaving). Now I wish I'd at least tried out Blondie's...</p>

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<p>i prefer fat slice over blondies.</p>

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<p>"Blondie's Pizza sucks after you've tried Cheese Board or Zachary's. So that's good news, more things to look forward to!"</p>

<p>100% true. once you try cheeseboard everything else suddenly tastes subpar.</p>

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<p>Indian, the hyphy movemnet is dead.</p>

<p>RIP</p>

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<p>^vc08, are you in Bowles too?</p>

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<p>
[quote]
i prefer fat slice over blondies.

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</p>

<p>Me too, generally. But there's a great deal of variability at both places. You'll have good days, where the pizza is outstanding, and bad days, where the pizza is very disappointing. That's what's nice about Zachary's, they are very consistent.</p>

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<p>Alright, here's my experience with OHP & Cal Day:</p>

<p>I arrived at the Oakland airport on Friday afternoon, and rode to Berkeley via BART and AirBART.
There was an escalator that took you from the subway station to downtown Berkeley.
That was a great moment for me.
When I got off the escalator, it felt like I was in another world.
A guy was playing his accordion right by the escalator, and that was interesting.</p>

<p>So we took a long walk up to Unit 3 so we could place our luggage down and get some food for dinner.
Afterwards, I ate at Crossroads.
The food was very delicious, with a nice variety.
As I was walking back to Unit 3, I saw a guy on his roof eating a meal, and that made me laugh. </p>

<p>I met my host, and he showed me around his floor and dorm room.
He was very cool, and knew a lot about Cal so I learned much from him.</p>

<p>Later, OHP guests met in this one lecture room, and the Dean of students, James Poullard, came and spoke to us.
He was very humorous, but at the same time he came up with many great points, such as "If you're coming to Cal just because it's the #1 public university, then you're coming here for the wrong reasons."
When Mr. Poullard called on and asked certain people in the audience at random why they applied to UC Berkeley, some just said "Because I just checked the box."
He then talked about how the opportunities at Cal are limitless, and that not taking advantage of the resources there will take away the point of attending.
Great guy.</p>

<p>The hike to the Big C was phenomenal.
I was excited the whole time during the OHP, and I never got tired during the hike.
It was at nighttime, and when I got to the top with the group, the view was utterly astounding.
You could see San Francisco Bay with the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance, Berkeley and the Campanile in plain view, and all those dazzling lights.
Unforgettable.</p>

<p>I returned back to the residence hall and met people on the same floor as my host.
They were in the lounge room, playing a board game and just relaxing.
It was very, very cool to see that, because they were very social and outgoing.</p>

<p>The next day was Cal Day, and I spent a lot of time walking around with my friends.
The campus was loaded with people, but it wasn't too bad.
We went to this one store that had 3 stories, like a block down from campus.
There was a sale going on on a lot of the clothes, and I bought a bunch of Cal T-shirts.
I like the surrounding area because there's all these nifty shops and restaurants that have quality stuff.
We had to leave for the airport at 2 PM, so we didn't get much time to explore everything at Cal Day.</p>

<p>I absolutely loved the trip and have decided to attend Cal this fall.</p>