“A car will get you nowhere at UCLA. I learned this after I sat in traffic for half an hour on Westwood Blvd. and watched students pass me on their bikes. If traffic permitted I eventually wanted to get on the campus to observe what a typical college day was like. Being a high school senior, I wanted to know if I had been sufficiently prepared for the campus life.
The night before I went to UCLA I read though the class schedule and picked a freshman anthropology class to sit in on. My only problem now was getting to that class on time. My car gradually drifted to the entrance of the school, however, once I got there the parking attendant told me that every one of the eight front parking lots were full. After I complained about the lack of space, I was kindly advised to park off of Sunset, which according to the campus map, was much closer to my class anyway. I glanced at my watch. It was 9:50 a.m. My anthropology class began at 10 a.m. Sunset was a cool five-minute drive away and a ten-minute walk to the campus. My first day of college and I was going to be late. Damn.
I parked my car and headed towards the road that led down to the campus only to realize that I did not have the vaguest idea where I was. I turned around and saw a magnificent view of the UCLA dorms above me.
The sight of them rekindled my desire to stay in an apartment when I went to college. I spent the night in one of those UCLA dorms before and I vowed never to sleep in another dorm again. The actual dorm itself wasn’t so bad but my friend’s roommate was awful. She had some type of problem where the bathrooms down the hall were too far for her to walk in the morning. To remedy this, she would stay in the room and urinate in a big plastic cup. Something was growing out of it because it had been sitting on the dresser for two weeks. There were piles of clothes and chicken bones strewn across the floor and a foul aroma in their room. That experience killed any thought of me living in a dorm.
Further down the road I saw a student so I began speed-walking towards her. When we were side-by-side I explained to her that it was my first day of school, I didn’t really know were I was going and could she please point me in the direction of my class. The girl looked at me, went into her backpack, pulled out a map, handed it to me then walked away. I was now alone.
By the time I reached the campus it was eight minutes past ten. My hopes of finding my anthropology class were gone. Instead I decided to stroll around the campus and find a bookstore. Perhaps then I could purchase another class schedule and sit in on a later class that I could find. I was about to turn into the bookstore when I glanced over to my left and saw the Fowler Museum. That’s where my anthropology class was! It loomed over my head like a shrine and I thanked God as I walked inside.
Once inside I was faced with another mission. I had to find my class amidst the dim hallways and numerous staircases. I was again alone—everything was up to me. I assumed that classes would take place upstairs so I climbed the staircase only to end up on the roof. After I descended back down to the lobby I took the stairs to the basement where I found anthropology 101.
The door slammed behind me as I entered the room. As heads pivoted to glare at the cause of the disturbance, I stood still and gazed across the room filled with 300 students. I quickly found a seat behind a girl who was sleeping. The class was like a movie theatre with desks attached to the chairs. While the professor droned in the front, students walked in and out, some of them eating breakfast.
After anthropology I cruised around the campus. The majority of the students, whether with friends or by themselves, sitting outside or in a cafeteria, were all studying. Those students not studying were in the store buying cinnamon rice cakes and crates of Cup-O-Noodles. Outside, students had to masterfully dodge rows of credit card booths set up to seduce the broke individual as he or she walks out of the store. After this I strolled to my car to go home.
My visit to the campus was a great experience for me. I became absorbed by the atmosphere of independence that surrounded the campus. The environment was so calm and settled. For a while, I felt like I was a college student that belonged there. The diverse student body also cured my fears of being friendless. Will I ever go to UCLA? No… but I’m sure that I can take everything that I’ve learned at UCLA with me to any college campus I choose.”
