I was reading a few of my past contributions to Davis Life Magazine (for inspiration) when I was struck by the very apparent fact that my tone had changed.  As we’ve approached winter quarter, my articles have gone from warm and cheery to dramatic and embittered.  Here’s proof of the less-than-charming shift:

Textbooks & Coffee, September 7, 2010
“Moving to Davis for school and stepping into a local coffee shop where undergrads, grad students, and professors alike convene to converse and study for hours is an experience so extraordinary and valuable to the little town and myself.  I miss it.”

Buzzin’, September 20, 2010
“…it’s that time of the year again.  It’s just before the wind picks up and the leaves decide to turn.  It’s the time of year when the school takes a deep inhale, in preparation for the stream of students and professors that will soon glide through its hallways.”

Where the Studious Ones Are, October 28, 2010
“Rows upon rows of conjoined desks scribbled over and carved into with expletives, glaring lights, an uncomfortable hush with the occasional cough, and of course, the obligatory students, poring over their textbooks with a look on their faces that make them appear as though they’d been to hell and back.”

Why So Gloomy, UCD?, December 9, 2010
“The Davis sky has a sadistic tendency to finally open up its clouds and send down gloomy rain on our already-overcast souls.  That’s a tad dramatic but think about it: wet socks and shoes that make slappy noises when we walk, trying to write legibly on soggy paper, having no choice but to join the masses of the weary students indoors…you get the deal.”

Realizing my rather morose shift in writing style, I wondered what the cause was.  So, I asked a few people at the UC Davis Bookstore (where I work) if they thought winter quarter was any different from the others, and why.

Kristin Yang is highly aware of a general change in academic attitude in winter quarter.  She says, ““It’s so cold here in the winter and it makes us not want to do too much.  Everything gets kind of gross.”  So, she prepares for it by signing up for more fall quarter units and less units during the winter.

Kiyan Parsa says, “In my winter quarters, I start to do really badly in my classes…mostly because if I wake up and the sun’s not out I’m already in a bad mood.  I tend to be sleepy and groggy all day, which affects my schoolwork quite a bit.  I don’t like winter quarter too much.”

On the other hand, Stacey Gabriel says that winter quarter is when her academics begin to pick up.  For her, fall quarter is when she’s still adjusting from “vacation mode” to school mode.  Because winter quarter is a direct offshoot of her New Year’s resolutions, she tends to do much better.

For most of us, the chill of the winter season makes going to school an even less desirable task in lives. Sleepy eyes peek out from scarves and hats, professors up their participation points to encourage attendance, students sign up for classes later in the day, and resolutions get tossed to the wayside.  Regardless, my faith in Davis charm is still very much intact and it’ll be my next article’s mission to discover where or what that might be.

Monday is the first day of a brand new quarter in a brand new year.  Basically, Monday is our chance to begin resolving the mistakes we made last quarter in 2010.  It’s likely that there are students who are, right this very second, taking a few quick breaths and readying themselves to face the year that they swear will be “different” in one way or another.  Probably because they skipped too many lectures and drank too much beer last quarter and have decided that they won’t err in the same way ever, ever again…right?  Right.

Anyway, I asked a few of my UC Davis friends if they would share their new year’s resolutions with Davis Life Magazine.  Here are some of the changes they have promised to make.

Natalie Sadler, second year grad student in the development program:
“My new year’s resolution is to have a normal sleeping schedule.  Midnight to 7AM!  My other new year’s resolution is to not fall behind on my laundry.”

Alex Innocent, fourth year economics major:
“I vow to post a picture a day on Flickr; to work out three times a week; to drink red wine three times a week; and to log more than 4000 miles traveling (by road or air) in 2011.”

Joseph Yu, fourth year biological sciences major:
“I resolve to study hard…then study harder.”

Elise Le, second year psychology major:
“My new year’s resolution is to be less bitter. Thus, I will cut back on drinking coffee as well.”

So there you have it, 2011.  We’re ready for you.  Winter quarter 2011 at UC Davis, be prepared for bright faces and perfect attendance because this time, we swear we swear we swear–we’ll be good.

The campus is in a hush.  There is no one around.  Are we sleeping?

Pfft, we wish!

Main Reading Room, Shields Library

It’s finals week, folks, and sleep is the last thing on ours minds.  It’s more likely that all of us are holed up in some corner of some library, study lounge, or coffee shop.  For those of you who haven’t experienced a finals week in some time, allow me to refresh your memory…

Finals Week at University of California, Davis

I.   There are some perks to finals week.  Perks, as in, the University is aware that we will be especially ornery this week so they try to appease our crankiness with:

• Offering us half-priced coffee at the Coffee House.
• Opening the UC Davis Bookstore at 7:15AM rather than the usual 8:30 for those of us who forget to buy Scantrons and blue books (test taking materials) before their 8:00AM finals.
• Keeping the MU (Memorial Union) and Shields Library open all day and night.
• Stacking energy drinks aplenty wherever drinks are sold.
• …I can’t think of anymore.

II.   The Davis sky has a sadistic tendency to finally open up its clouds and send down gloomy rain on our already-overcast souls.  That’s a tad dramatic but think about it: wet socks and shoes that make slappy noises when we walk, trying to write legibly on soggy paper, having no choice but to join the masses of the weary students indoors…you get the deal.
III.   Our week is perpetuated with a lot of blank staring and tears.  Whether the tears are merely the biological response to yawns (the biological response to lack of sleep, might I add), or tears prompted by the sheer, overwhelming idea of relearning and regurgitating three months’ worth of classes—nobody likes tears
IV.   Once finals are over, we go home.  We leave behind our UCD friends and our UCD apartment with the same finals week-induced low spirit and bad attitude we spent the last seven days of fall quarter immersed in.

Common Grounds, Davis

I know my derision is pretty evident at this point, but I’d like to make the point that there is a strange sort of camaraderie that only the week of finals seems to bring out in the students and staff of UC Davis.  Everyone shares and cares in their tiredness.  Everyone gets to worry as a collective unit.

While “worrying in a collective unit” might not sound all that appealing, I’m sure some of you out there would share my opinion.  We’re an interesting bunch when it comes to this dreaded week, not only because we all look tired as hell, but also because, for one week out of the quarter, every single one of us share a little common ground.

Jealous yet?

Oh twenty-four*, how we loathe you.

Midterms season is upon us, and we’ve unhappily pulled our stakes up from the sun-warmed grass and collectively moved indoors… to the twenty-four.

Entrance

The twenty-four is an honest room.  I say “honest” because it’s a room that has no misgivings about letting us know exactly what we’re signing up for when we step through the steel double doors.  Rows upon rows of conjoined desks scribbled over and carved into with expletives, glaring lights, an uncomfortable hush with the occasional cough, and of course, the obligatory students, poring over their textbooks with a look on their faces that make them appear as though they’d been to hell and back.  I am not exaggerating.

No, the twenty-four offers no fluff.

"Sleep is the enemy of success" - anonymous student

With that being said, you might wonder why we go there in the first place.  Even I, whilst unhappily studying for my midterm there, questioned what had induced me to go.  There are coffee shops aplenty in Davis, as well as our own desks in our own homes.  I asked a few of my resident twenty-fourers and they all offered the same answer:

“It’s uncomfortable there.  We hate it.  So we study harder to get out quicker.”

So we go there, not only because it’s open twenty-four hours a day, but mainly because magic happens there!  And by magic, I mean motivation, an elusive something that every college student is always searching for.  Ultimately, it’s a motivation that arises because of discomfort and a desire to go away, rather than a passion for whichever subject we’re studying, but it works nonetheless.

If you ever doubt us college kids and wonder if all we do is travel from class to parties, come visit us at the twenty-four.  Your faith in painful studiousness will be renewed, I promise.

And look, I found my name!

* ”twenty-four” refers to the UC Davis 24 Hour Study Room

Segundo Dining Commons

It’s been two weeks since fall quarter began.  For most of us, these first couple of weeks take on a familiarly hectic pattern: painfully buying overpriced textbooks, maneuvering through bicycle traffic, re-entering and re-meeting professors…for us it’s just another start of another quarter in college.

But let’s take some time to talk about the freshmen one last (probably not) time. Oftentimes I jokingly refer to them as alien beings, feeling their ways around a world so foreign to them.  Most of them enjoying independence for the first time in their lives.  It’s a strange time; a moment of true adjustment.  And, of course, with the adjustment come a torrent of firsts.  So today I thought I’d ask a few freshmen on campus what they’ve experienced here in Davis that they’ve never experienced any place else.  Here are a few of their answers:

UC Davis Softball Team

“My first time getting a credit card.”

“My first time away from home and my parents.”

“My first time jumping out of a window.  It seemed logical at the time.”

“My first time in a bicycle crash.”

“PARTIES.”

Thomas Marchet

I don’t know about you, but these responses washed a torrent of memories from my freshman year over me.  I studied in San Francisco that year and lived on the twelfth floor of a dorm building called “The Towers”.  I’ll never forget looking out the window and down towards the street where my mom stood next to the minivan, waving up at me with both of her arms, tears streaming down her cheeks.  I also remember feeling more disoriented and excited than ever in my life.

Do you remember your “freshman firsts”?  Take a trip down memory lane with me and recall that disorientation, that fresh excitement.  Do it for nostalgia’s sake—I’m sure you remember.

I’m sitting in the grass at the UC Davis quad and the air is veritably buzzing around me.  Toldja it’s different in this town.

What’s the buzz about this time, you ask?

…freshmen!  There are oodles and oodles of them moving in this weekend!  Their excitement, despite how cool and restrained it tries so hard to be, is absolutely and cutely undeniable.  The freshmen (and their parents) create that buzz with the click-click-clicks of their brand-new bicycle gears and their “I’m so excited/nervous/scared/homesick” conversations held in hushed tones.  I love freshmen.

And as for the rest of us, with that special little hum comes the knowledge that it’s that time of the year again.  It’s just before the wind picks up and the leaves decide to turn.  It’s the time of year when the school takes a deep inhale, in preparation for the stream of students and professors that will soon glide through its hallways.

I’m stoked, obviously.

Welcome to fall quarter 2010 in Davis, people.  Let’s make it a marvelous one.

Photo by Sarah Jung

I’ll keep my introduction to DLM short and sweet: I am in love with Davis (especially the University) and its slew of charms.  This blog’s lifespan will be dedicated to converting those of you who don’t share my feelings.  Just sayin’.

So, without further ado, here is conversion attempt #1…

It’s summertime and I’m sitting in a coffee shop near my parents’ home up north, where I’ll be spending my time until fall quarter begins.  Being an English major, I’ve got my usual collection of novels, notebooks, and a laptop accompanying my cappuccino–but something’s different.  You see, in Davis a spread like mine is typical and familiar; I like to think of it as a different and more detailed form of UC Davis student identification.  Sort of like, the more unkempt the hair is, in addition to the aforementioned table clutter, the further along that person is in writing their master’s thesis.

But in this coffee shop, where to my left I see The Cheesecake Factory and a tall corporate law office to my right, my pile of books and I aren’t nearly as acceptable.  The barista nearest me is eyeing my nearly empty cup and me; I feel like he’s passively willing me to either buy another drink or split.  I’ll buy another drink.

Photo by Sarah Jung

I’m not sure how well Mishka’s Café, Common Grounds, and other cafes in Davis like the lingering students with their single and cheap coffee orders, but I can’t help but love it.  I’m a broke student looking for a place to study, what else can I say?

No, I take it back.  There’s so much more I can say about that.  I had become so used to Starbucks’ rush-and-go treatment to coffee, where drive through windows are more common than ceramic mugs.  Moving to Davis for school and stepping into a local coffee shop where undergrads, grad students, and professors alike convene to converse and study for hours is an experience so extraordinary and valuable to the little town and myself.  I miss it.  Until fall quarter, I’ll make believe that this coffee shop doesn’t mind me sitting here with my long-gone cappuccino.