My Life at the U of A!!!

Hey!!!!

My name is Ellie and I'm currently a freshman at the University of Arizona. I have lived in Tucson for ten years now. I love Tucson! I dont really know where to begin but it's so amazing to be able communicate with you guys.

I live off campus about ten minutes away. I'm living with my parents for the first year of college and saving up to move out into either an apartment or a house with a bunch of my friends. The hardest part about college, at least for me, is getting there. I usually drive over about a half an hour before my class starts. I have a parking pass so I get to park in a parking garage. The first weeks of college weren't as easy. I didn't have my parking pass yet and had to be put on a waiting list for one, so I would have to wake up extra early to go find parking in the neighborhood and walk a pretty good distance to get to class. I can definitely say with sincerity that I appreciate my parking pass.

My school schedule for the first semester was really easy. I had four classes for a total of 13 credits. I'm taking math, english, philosophy, and psychology. I'm currently undecided but I'm leaning towards majoring in physiology. Each semester we have to register for classes online through webreg (its a link that logs you in to all the classes). Everyone has a pre registration date and time where they can go online to register for classes. It's really good to do this because you have a better chance of getting the classes you want. When registration comes around the whole school has access to signing up for classes. This is why its so important to pre register. Instead of being in a pool of 40,000 people choosing classes you're in a pool of just 1,000 on your pre registration date. For the second semester I'm going to take a biology, math, english, and two other classes, INDV and TRAD. The INDV and TRAD classes are required to take to graduate but you can choose which ones you want to take. For example, I took phsycology for my INDV and philosophy for my TRAD in the first semester.

Once you get all of your scheduling and transportation out of the way you are basically left with college life and its definitely the best!!! For me, college is something I looked forward to my whole life, so to finally be in it is extremely exciting! The classes are full of material and the teachers are rich in knowledge. But college life doesnt just consist of the classes you go to, its more so what you do in your spare time. From getting food, to shopping on campus, to football games, and even just walking around on campus, everything is completly social. There are so many new faces around you. There are people from all over the world that come together. Walking around campus is like walking around in a different town. The Univeristy of Arizona is definitely a huge community. It's like a town inside of Tucson.

I'm extremely anxious to see where college takes me. So far, so good. The U of A is amazing and something im absolutley proud of being a part of.

ps!

this is a great link to lots of pictures of the U of A

http://photos.arizona.edu/

My Dorm Room Story By: Lauren Mais

My name is Lauren Mais, and I am a Freshman at the University of Arizona this year. Me and my best freind decided to be roomates together because we thought it would be fun. We have been best freinds for a long time and we lived together for about a month when we went to Europe so I thought it would not be to hard. Well on move in day, I moved in first. I really wanted the room to be neat and organized and just pretty. Laura, my roomate, on the other hand is very messy and sort of a hippy. She wanted to make everything very hippie like and retro. Needless to say, I was not very happy about that. Over the next week or so, it was a little difficult for us to find a happy medium of what our dorm should look like. We had things color cordinated but it was always cluttered. In the end, we ended up putting up some posters of Bob Marley, and a Love Peace poster and kind of organized the floor space. We get along for the most part except on day we had a big blow out fight. her boyfreind lives in Phoenix, and he was always coming up for the weekends. I thought that she was taking advantage of the fact that I let him come up so much and so that escalated. In the end, we ended up working it out and all is good with us. I also now understand more where she was coming from because my boyfreind lives in Phoenix as well. So, we usually alternate having one of our boyfreinds coming up for the weekend, and the other roomate goes back to Phoenix for the weekend. It works out great and I love rooming with my best freind.

Lauren Mais
Section 99

Welcome to the University of Arizona!

My name is Natalie Goodreau, and I am a freshman at the University of Arizona. I am eighteen years old, and am from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Currently, my major is physiology, and I am debating whether or not I want to declare Spanish as my minor. Now that you know a little bit about my background, I want to share with you my first, best, and toughest experiences thus far as I learn more and more everyday about life here at the U of A.
My parents drove me over to school at the beginning of August, and I remember that all of us cried at some point during the drive. I am the youngest sibling in my family, so my parents were quite upset when I decided to go away for college. As soon as we got to Tucson, though, my schedule was already jam packed because I was rushing for a sorority. I do not know if you all have sororities and fraternities there, but at the University of Arizona, Greek life is life. It is one of the most active extra-curricular activities pursued and practiced by students here. Every sorority and fraternity is different in the respect that they each hold different community services (called philanthropies), represent different concepts, and uphold various morals. The sorority I am in is Sigma Kappa (in Greek it is ΣK). I absolutely love it. To be honest, though, I was weary at the beginning of rush because I am the first person in my family to go Greek. The entire process for girls is very tiring (boys’ rush is much more laid back). But, all of the girls are required to meet at the University at seven in the morning. From there, we visit each house (or chapter) for thirty minutes each. During those thirty minutes, we talk with the members of each respective house in hopes of deciding which sorority will “fit.” My best friend and I rushed together, but ended up going different ways. She is in Alpha Phi, and she loves it – just like I love mine. It was definitely worth it because I met so many people and made so many new friends.
Aside from Greek life, I do have to study very often. As a physiology major, I always feel overwhelmed with biology and math homework. I am in many freshmen courses, but my science and math classes are not general classes, and are harder for me. Right now, we are studying human genetics in my biology class, and applications of logarithms in my math class. Both are interesting, but very time consuming to understand well. It usually takes me a few hours to complete all of my homework every night; but, I can get distracted easily because I live with three other girls in a dorm.
I live in Sky View Apartments, which are apartment-style dorms provided by the University. We have a kitchen, living room, two bedrooms, and two bathrooms. But, there are four of us, and each room is not that big. So, being clean is always a priority for all of us.
I think that moving away from home and not having my own bed was one of the hardest changes for me to adjust to when I came to college. I walked in my dorm with my parents, looked at a tiny bed, and thought half of it was missing! Back home, I was fortunate enough to have four rooms to myself – an office, a television room, a room for my guests, and my actual bedroom. My sister and I had two rooms each, but once she left for college, I got all of them. So, going from being basically an only child to sharing what is the size of one of my rooms back home with three other girls was quite the adjustment. It has forced me to be courteous with my sleeping hours and tidiness, though. It has been one of the most beneficial experiences for me thus far because it has allowed me to grow in ways I never knew I could. I have formed such close bonds with each of my roommates that I know we will always stay in contact even when college is over.
Well, I hope I have given you a sense of what life is life at the University of Arizona. If you have the chance, please write back. I’m curious to know what you do for fun at your school, what courses you are taking, and if many of you move away for college.

Best regards!
Natalie Goodreau

PS - I am including a picture of my sorority at our New Member Presents Dinner! :)

My College Life - Katie Mackenbrock

Hey! My name is Katie Mackenbrock, and I am from Chicago, Illinois. I am 18 and a freshman at the University of Arizona. I chose to attend school so far from home because my dad went here when he was my age, and my older sister is currently a senior here. I love it here. The weather is so different here than in Chicago. If I were in Chicago right now, I would be freezing!! Here in Tucson, the weather is so nice. It is about 75 out right now, and during the days it is high 80s & low 90s. It is always sunny with blue skies. The scenery is beautiful here. From campus, you can look anywhere and see the beautiful mountains in the skyline. I live in the only dorm here that has three roommates to a room. I live all the way up on the 7th floor. The rooms are a lot bigger than I thought they would be. One of my roommates is from New Jersey and the other one is all the way from South Korea. My roommate from New Jersey and I have become really good friends. Our other roommate is kind of mean to us, so there is always awkward tension in our room, which isn't too fun, but I am always so busy with school that it doesn't matter too much. I am taking 5 classes here- english, spanish, and three gen-ed classes. The gen-ed classes are basic general education classes that you have to take to complete your credits. Those are the big lecture classes. I am not too fond of those, because I come from a very small high school. For the most part, though, I love my classes. I am a political science/pre-law major. I want to attend law school after I graduate and eventually work for the CIA. The only downside about living here is the food. Yes, there's lots of food to choose from, but very little of it is healthy. You can only eat so much grilled cheese and chicken fingers. :) When the parents come for family weekend, they take you out to nice dinners so you can eat all the food you've been missing. As much as I miss my parents being this far from home, I love living here. It helps that I get to see my sister almost every day, and because my parents have both of their daughters out here, they come to visit more than most.
I couldn't have chosen a better college for myself. I love it here.

Life at the U of A

Hey, what’s up guys? My name is Wesley Kwiecien and I am originally from Palos Verdes Estates, California. Palos Verdes is in the county of Los Angeles, but it is nothing like the city. I live right on the beach, and I could not ask for a better environment to grow up in. Ever since I first visited the University of Arizona I knew that I would eventually apply here, but who knew that I would be attending it! I love the U of A because of the amazing people you meet down here and especially the beautiful desert setting. As far as the courses that I am taking, they are extremely hard, and I had to make major adjustments in my study habits that I acquired in high school. As of now, I am a Physiology/Pre-med student and I thought I would eventually want to become a doctor some day. But lately I have been having some doubts, the science courses are really challenging here and I really do not want to take all the science courses. There is a possibility that I might change my major to business or go into law. Residential life is amazing here because you met many people from different parts of the country and even the world. I am in a dorm hall with a roommate that is from Sparks, Nevada. At first I really did not like him because he seamed like he wanted to use all my things with out asking, and it also seamed like we were two totally different people. As the year went on, we learned to live with each other and we have become very good friends. Our dorm itself is not the most luxurious or cleanest place to live, but the people in my hall make up for everything. We have grown to be great friends and we all hang out together all the time. We all leave our doors open so that our hall friends can come and visit whenever they would like to. In all, I am having a great time here at the U of A, making new friends and learning lots of new things.

my college!! =]

Hello!!
My name is laura, i was born in Colombia, i am 18 years old ,I am a FRESHMAN at the University of Arizona. it is my first time here in Tucson Arizona, it is a really beautiful town (the picture is from Tucson), Mexico is right next to us, so we have a lot of Mexicans here, one of my best friends is mexicans, they are beautiful people.
I am so happy to share my experience with you, i can tell you that i live of campus, i live in my apartment and is about ten minutes away from the university, it is a good experience living off campus because you have more privacy, but any ways living on campus is a wonderful experience too, you get to know a lot of people, here in this university we have people from alll aver the world, i know people from China,Korea, Idia,Mexico,Macedonia, and more, here and i believe that in any college you get to know people from different places and you get to learn different cultures , tradition, religions and types of food.
another thing about college is that we have to study a lot and some times we do not get enough sleep, living a college life make you realize that you are growing up and that you are not with you parents anymore, it make you think about how important life really is!
let me tell you about the education part here, we do have a really interesting programs here, we have dance, science, business, politic and more interesting programs that it might like you!!!

we also have a really fun football games, every time that we have one EVERYBODY in the university goes to them, it is a really fun time that we spend together, it is a really fun experience here in the university, and when we lose the games we do not care we steal celebrate!! =]
well i am really curious about how is your live over there!
and what do you do for fun!!!
well hope you like the pictures, one is Tucson and the other one is the football field
ok bye bye
laura <3

living off-campus(Bolivar)

My hometown is in Mexico, about four hours driving from Tucson, AZ. Before I came to study here, I had been many times in Arizona, but never for educational purposes. I always used to come here for shopping and it is very different when I am here and I live near to University.
When I was planning to come and study here, I wanted to live on campus, at the dorms, but they were full, so I had to look for some other options. I looked for a place to live with a friend that I met at an orientation program in August, so I had the advantage to choose at least one person that I was going to live with. We found a place near to University, so I am not as close as if I were living on the dorms, but it is good, I use my bicycle to go to my classes and it takes me about ten minutes.
I live in an apartment with other three guys; an Australian guy that I looked for apartments with, a guy from Hong Kong, and a guy from the north of Arizona. Each person has its own bedroom and we have two bathrooms, so we have one bathroom for each two people. Each person has its own door to get outside, so the rooms have two doors. That means that if you want to come home late or go outside, you do not bother anyone. Everybody have its own food on the fridge, but sometimes one people cooks all the people that we live here, and we have some fun, watching television, having dinner or just talking.
We live in a complex, there are four complexes here, so there are some parties on the weekend and you get to know a lot of people that live here, we go over to other apartments and we have some fun.
Living off-campus is different than on-campus, but I think I made the right choice, I have more privacy, my own room, I just share bathroom with one other people. But I do not live as close as the dorms from campus. But I like it; I think I will stay off-campus. Please ask questions if you have some.

Bolivar Peralta