We are loving UC Berkeley!
The weather here in Berkeley is about 14-24 degrees during Summer and it’s really cooling and nice. Most of our classes are a 15-20 minutes walk away from I-House, the place we stay, but we don’t mind walking because the weather is too good! Also, walking to class is a very good exercise here in Berkeley because there are so many hills. I-House is at the top of the hill so we are guaranteed a good work out. Oh and there’s also a big hill behind I-House. Some of us went to the Fire Trail for trekking (how convenient) a few days back and had lots of fun – seeing rabbits, super tall tress, flowers, even people’s houses (very nice), and best of all, no sweat!
Speaking of I-House, we are very impressed and amazed by their food. We have about 10 paid meals a week and guess what, they are buffet style! They have a wide selection of food, drinks and dessert, and you don’t have to worry about missing rice because they serve rice with dishes everyday. They have coffee machines, Kombucha taps (fermented tea, very new to us and some of us are hooked!), froyo dispenser, juice, soup, cookies, ice cream, at least 2 different types of meat a meal…….
I’m taking a subject called Old and New Europe, and my lesson is at the College of Letters and Science. I have to say that my classroom (actually it’s a lecture but it’s in a classroom) is quite traditional and it looks like something you see on the TV – the typical classroom in America – but maybe a few times crammer. The professor is really passionate about the subject and my classmates participate a lot in class. At the end of class, they pack up and leave really quickly (just like on TV again), very different from Singapore. Although I was sometimes lost during the lesson, it was a cool experience being in the same class with so many international students and seeing how different they are in class.
Looking forward to the next few weeks here in UC Berkeley!
