Hey.
My name is Paige. I am a freshman at the University of Arizona. Here most freshman come into college at the age of 18 and than on average stay in school for about 4 years. Then they graduate and go and make money doing something that they want to because they have the education to do so. This is my goal. I would like to graduate in less than 4 years, and get into the psychology field. I would like to be a psychologist. Sometimes I can get a little discouraged because college life isn’t easy. When kids out here ( in the United States) go to college it means they, most times, leave most things that they’re familiar with and go to a completely different world. I’ll explain myself.
Well, I can explain my situation. I didn’t leave very far. My home is only about 2 hours from here and I usually go home every other weekend, but I still get very homesick because I live in a dorm and now have to do most things that I relied on family to do for me a few months ago. The dorms are very small rooms that I stay in with a girl that I know very little about, and just met at the very beginning of the school year. The dorms are similar to a small hotel room, but two people are supposed to live in them for the 9 months that school is in session. In my dorms, I actually have a bathroom that includes a toilet and sink that me and my roommate get to have to ourselves; this is not the case in most dorms. In most dorms, two people still share a small space, but they do not have their own bathrooms. Instead they have to use community showers and bathrooms. So if they want to use the bathroom, take a shower, or even brush they’re teeth the must go to a community bathroom, kinda like a public restroom. Everything is very expensive. The tuition to attend school here is thousands of dollars a year. Everything cost so much money. Books can cost hundreds of dollars, and students have to buy new books for each of there classes every semester. So that’s EIGHT TIMES before they graduate! Most things are done over the internet. English papers are both hand written and turned in on a website. Some students have quizzes to take online, and some students have very important tests over the internet. So, if I didn’t have a computer I would have to use the campus computers for EVERYTHING. College students here generally eat fast food more because they are away from home and there is no one to cook for them here but themselves. So, if you don’t know how to do simply things that you should by the time your eighteen, you will learn them here. For instance, I didn’t know how to do my laundry before school started, because my mom always did it for me. This is a bad thing. So, I had to just learn how to on my own. Even though, it seems like we are just thrown here and don’t really know what we’re doing it is also fun too.
Whenever I don’t have homework, or I just would like to be with friends, there is plenty to do. Here at the University we have plenty of clubs that are easy to join and extracurricular activities to do. Some people are on the many teams that we have on campus like football, girl’s and boy’s basketball, and softball just to name a few. These students get to play other college university teams all over the United States. And the students that aren’t on the teams go to these games and support their classmates and friends. Games are fun to go to! However, I haven’t found the time yet to be involved in any extra activities just because I have so much homework all of the time, but for people like me there are other things to do. There are other things down here called clubs, but they don’t have the same definition as those clubs in the previous sentence. This other kind of “club” it where young people go to have fun, dance, meet new people, and stay our late. Also, I can also go to the recreation center where there is a swimming pool, gym, and other fun stuff to do to get exercise. I can still go to the movies or rent a movie and watch it with a friend. Sometimes there are carnivals and fairs that come out here, that have rides and good food. In college here we also have sororities and fraternities. These are a group of college students that usually do tons of community service and help to relate students with other students like them. The sororities are what the girl groups are called, and fraternities are the names of the boy groups. They represent brotherhood and sisterhood and sometimes it’s hard to get into these groups because they usually have initiation processes that consist of silly things that a pledge, or person trying to become an actual member of the group, must do to get in. Sometimes the group members make the pledges do things that are illegal or dangerous and this can be the bad part of each group. But once a student becomes a member of the group that they choose, it is a lifetime commitment. Even after they graduate, he or she will be able to meet people around the world in the same group and make life long friends. And of course, if anyone still feels that there is still nothing to do out here, students can go anywhere else that they’d like. Mexico is very close to us, so some students like to go visit Mexico, mostly so they can drink illegally and cheaper, but this is fun I guess. Also, California, which has plenty of fun parks like Six Flags, and Disneyland are about a six hours drive away. Some students also find it fun to visit places like this. Then, because our parents aren’t here, like they were before we got to college, we tend to make bad decisions, and have too much fun. But I’m sure you all make similar mistakes. And most of us learn from these mistakes and can then do better in college and learn how to have fun and also work hard in school. But, I’m still learning how to have fun and work hard. I stay home a lot, and try to limit my “partying.”
So how do you like college and what do you like to do for fun?


Sincerely, Paige

Hannah Murray

Hello! My name is Hannah, I am 18 years old and I am originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the United States but decided to go out on my own for college and attend the University of Arizona. It is pretty common to hear of kids moving away from their homes so that they can experience life on their own and help them grow up. So far it has been pretty hard being away from my family and my friends, who are practically like my second family, I miss them a lot.
College life is kinda different from high school life, in a sense that we don’t have to take certain classes “just because” and we can choose what classes we want to take based on our interests in life. Every student has a different schedule mine is: two classes a day except for Friday I only have one, and they are spaced out pretty evenly. I also have job at the food court in the student union (which is like a main building that kids go to meet with certain advisors, go to the bank, get food, the bookstore, etc) The University is very helpful to all of its students. I have always have people to talk to that can help me decide what I want to do with my life and in school. Currently I am a first year freshman that is Undecided, I might be thinking of a Political Science major or a History major with a minor in Photography. I really want to study abroad in Italy, part of my family is from Italy so I always wanted to go “back to my roots.”
Dorm life is pretty much what I expected. There are dozens of different dorms on campus I live in the Cochise Dorm. That looks somewhat like a library at first glance with talk pillars, it actually is the oldest dorm on campus from when it was originally built, and I think that it is really cool. I live with one other person, although I know many people that live with two other people. Our room is pretty spacious compared to others, it has a tall ceiling, big closets, bunk beds (I have top bunk) and two desks (one for me and one for my roommate). My roommate and I get along very well with my roommate so far, but I do know many people that have complete horror stories about their roommate situations. The whole point is to compromise, like don’t have friends over when your other roommate is trying to study, or like don’t stay up all night in the room doing stuff to go somewhere else to do that stuff so your roommate can sleep; things like that are always brought up because when you live with someone else you need to learn how to handle that stuff, it builds your people skills.
A day to day life usually consists of me trying to get my homework done whenever I can, dealing with situations like getting loans to pay for my school because I am one of those students whose parents do not pay for their kids school because we just can’t afford it, and working, and I want to always get my work done so that I don’t stress about having a huge workload after work or on the weekends. I like to go in to Phoenix on the weekends so that I can spend time with my brother and his family before he gets deployed again (he is in the army). On the weekends when I do not go into Phoenix with him I stay here at school and go to parties with my friends. The usual form on transportation around here is by foot, I walk everywhere because most of it is in walking distance and when it isn’t you either walk really far or hitch a ride with someone or a cab. You can usually find a party somewhere every night but the BIG ones are on Thursday nights and on the weekends, mostly held at people’s houses/apartments or in campus fraternities or sororities (they are like “houses” that boys and girls and boys join that I guess could be described as a club that does community service and hold outrageous parties and stuff, I don’t live in a sorority because I had no interest in it at all-so I am sure someone who is actually in one can describe it better than myself Haha).
I like college life a lot, it makes me feel so independent and helps me get ready for the “real world,” what is your school like?

Hello, my name is Taesun Yu.

I am a college studying Economics and Japanese language in The University of Arizona.

I came to the United States as of January 1st, 2007.

I m the eldest son of my parents. My hometown is Seoul, South Korea. My country is located between Japan and China. (The Far Eastern Asia)

Please take a look at the photo in the right side. This plant-a kind of cactus- is called "Saguaro" and offer a shelter for birds living in Arizona. If you look carefully, you can find holes in this tree. Those holes are houses of birds.

There are a large number of snakes in this Southern Arizona area. According to Dante's The Divine Comedy, theives transform into serpents after their lives. I am trying to find which snake is originally from my country.

The left picture shows Korean traditional dresses. Before we meet Europeans and Americans, there is no need to worry about the body shapes. Beautiful clothes cover our beerbellies. Unfortunately, we are wearing the same clothes as those of American.

What do you eat in Kosovo? The United States have a various kinds of foods I love, which helps me not to miss my country. No kidding! But, I love Korean cuisine,too. My main meal is usually a rice-look at the top photo-with some side dishes.

Take care and have a great weekend!!

Your new friend,

Taesun Yu

Welcome to our blog!

In this blog, we hope to give you an idea of what life is like for a student at the University of Arizona.