A Tale of Two Cities

"I never knew just what it was about this old coffee shop I love so much
All of the while I never knew
I think that possibly
Maybe I'm falling for you
Yes there's a chance that I've fallen quite hard over you "

-Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop, Landon Pigg

It is a strange thing to be in love with a city; after all, a city is an inanimate object...cold, hard, incapable or reciprocating one's feelings. However, between 2005 and 2009 I found myself head-over-heels for the city of Wilmington, NC. It was the perfect match for me in every way: not too big, not too small, near the beach, not too hot, not too cold, great food, historically significant, beautiful buildings, and most importantly, filled with some of the best people I know. Unfortunately, as with many great relationships we had to part ways as I began the next chapter of my life in Raleigh, NC. I never thought that I would feel the same way about any place on Earth...at least that is until I moved to Berkeley, CA this summer.

Having only been here for a week, I may be rushing things, but I am beginning to feel the same way about the city of Berkeley as I did for Wilmington. Perhaps lacking the perfect climate of Wilmington, Berkeley has all of the other aspects that drew me to Wilmington. Over the past couple of days I have been able to explore part of "Telegraph," which is an area containing a lot of privately owned shops, restaurants, and old movie theaters. Today, I visited Emeryville, which is very short ride from Berkeley that has a great outdoor shopping mall containing more trendy stores. Of course, Berkeley has its downsides...like sitting atop a fault line for instance haha. The people here are amazing as well. After hearing everyone's opinions of Berkeley, and seeing it portrayed in the media, I have decided that they have a very scewed view of this place. Of course, there are some more interesting aspects, but overall the people, policies, and problems don't seem to be extremely different from other places I have been. Perhaps the people of Berkeley have a greater awareness of issues of social justice and sustainability, but its not overwhelming or off putting.

Along with the city, I have found that I really like working with Residence Life. Perhaps I have been spoiled with this internship, but I have great supervisors and an amazing staff of RA's. I have gotten the chance to hang out with them on a more one on one basis at various programs they've put on over the past week, and they are just great people. Today, we played a spontaneous game of Ultimate Frisbee. I had never played, so I embarrassed myself quite a bit, but they were all very supportive so with some practice I may actually be able to throw the Frisbee straight by the end of the summer haha! A couple of my friends may be visiting me over the summer (Dustin and Jess woot!!!), and I'm excited for them to meet everyone!

Anyhow, I'm excited to see in what other ways Berkeley will enchant me over the next 11 weeks.

Cheers!

Just Another Day in Paradise

"One must work and dare if one really wants to live"

-Vincent van Gogh

Today was another amazing day in Berkeley, California. I woke up earlier than usual to take a jog, and it really felt nice! I think this exercise thing was a good idea haha. Mandy and I met with John and Kristin for a while to discuss Unit 2's summer programming model. It was nothing overwhelming, but it was good information. They mentioned using several community building models, none of which I was familiar with...perhaps I should read up on them?

Instead of eating lunch at Crossroads (pictured below), which has become something of a tradition, we grabbed lunch to-go so we could sit in on a webinar on Hate Crime Prevention and Response. It lasted for about an hour and half, and the speaker really didn't mention any new or useful information. He mainly reviewed the concept of privilege, oppression, and the definitions of bias/hate speech/hate crimes. As for how to respond/prevent such things, he did not seem to add anything new to the mix. He mainly spoke of getting buy from the upper-administration for various programs, assessments, and initiatives; however, in practice the top down method is easier said than done.

Later in the day we met with Dr. Steve Sutton, who is the Executive Director of our department (Office of Student Development). We spent about an hour talking about the usual things one talks about at these kinds of meetings, i.e. Where are you from? What is your assistantship? Why did you choose a career in higher ed? Although the meeting was somewhat repetitive with similar meetings I have had, the item that benefited me the most was his connection with someone at Berkeley's Interfaith Initiative. Hopefully this person will be able to help me in my preparation for my thesis. Especially in regards to the direction I want to take it since the group I was hoping to study decided to decline my invitation. He also seemed to be eager to talk about selecting/surviving a doctoral program. I'm thinking of setting up a meeting with him to discuss this topic since I want to go right into a doctoral program after I complete my master's. Lastly, Steve mentioned that my ACUHO-I cohort (consisting of three people, including me) should right up our experiences and see if we can have it published. This would be amazing, as it would potentially give me my third publication while in grad school...which would be HUHmazing. Anyhow, its late and I'm tired. Cheers!

Let The Games Begin!

“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.” -Lao Tzu

Today is day three at UC-Berkeley, and I love it! Kristin and John (my direct supervisors) are great, and so are Mandy and Angela (the other two interns). My students are absolutely amazing, and my PA’s are the best. PA’s are Program Assistants (Head Resident Advisors). Suzanne (PA) will be my assistant (Her picture is below) and Jay (PA) will be Mandy’s. We’ve toured the campus and it is gorgeous, and some of our residents have already moved in. Right now most of our residents are international students completing exchange or study abroad programs.

I’ve been in training/orientation since Monday, which has basically involved paperwork, human resources stuff, and meeting all of the Housing Staff. Later in the week we will be discussing more detailed things such as supervising the summer staff, and the Berkeley conduct philosophy since we will be hearing conduct cases. So far I’ve been to three RA programs that have gone great and have had great attendance. Here are some pictures from some of the events:

Tonight we had our first staff meeting, which went fairly smoothly. We discussed program assignments, and completed an ice breaker led by me and Mandy. We chose to use “Where the wind blows” which is like a combination between musical chairs and 50 questions. The staff seemed to enjoy it, although they were extremely competitive haha. They also gave a presentation on their expectations of us over the summer. It basically involved feeding them and being friendly…I think I have that covered. Perhaps I’ll introduce them to sweet tea and fried squash?

The Berkeley culture isn’t entirely what I expected. Of course you have some very interesting parts of the city/campus, but for the most part things aren’t drastically different from any other camps of which I’ve been involved. The student demographics are very different though, which is really great because I’ll get A LOT of experience working in a very diverse environment. I’m still somewhat jetlagged, it’s only 11 o’clock but I still feel like its 2am…so I’m going to bed. More to come.

Cheers!

I finally made it!!

(This was actually my post from May 22, 2010; however, I am posting it now since I haven't had access to the internet in three days)

I’m writing this entry in multiple parts to give me something to do during my down time waiting for planes and such.

Part 1

So I made it to the airport! I’m surprisingly calm considering my past history of moving to new places haha. My friend Hope and her mom Olive were nice enough to drive me to Raleigh for my flight. Southwest has been really great so far. All of the employees have been really nice and helpful, and they didn’t weigh my bags (thank god!).
Speaking of bags, I thought I was able to get all of my stuff into only four bags until I realized that I forgot a few items, so I ended up with five bags. The weight limit for luggage, before it is considered oversized, is fifty pounds. Anything over fifty pounds incurs a fifty dollar charge. Two of my bags were pushing forty-nine pounds on a scale I had at home. Needless to say, I was holding my breath at the check in counter haha!
The airport is really crowded today, I am currently sitting on the floor since there doesn’t seem to be any seats available, but that’s ok because I found a nice space next to an electric outlet. We should be boarding in the next 10 minutes or so, so I guess I should wrap this up for now. Cheers!

Part 2

I finally arrived at Berkeley!!! The rest of the flight was really really long, and I spent most of it with some guy chatting loudly in front of me, and a screeching infant. I almost missed my connection at Nashville because the layover was wayyyyyy shorter than I thought, but on a brighter note I got to fulfill my dream of running through the airport like on Home Alone :-D At one point we flew over the Rocky Mountains, and it was absolutely beautiful. A picture is worth a thousand words, so here is one:

I met one of my supervisors (John) and the other intern (Mandy, who picked me up from the airport. They are SUPER friendly, and we had a great time getting to know one another on the drive from San Fran to Berkeley. My apartment/loft is absolutely amazing. Here are some pictures...I HAVE A KITCHEN!!!!!!!!!!!!

I’m not going to write anymore because I’m tired and need to go to bed. I can’t believe I just moved 3000 miles away…crazy.

Cheers!

72 Hours

"It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power."

-Alan Cohen, Author of Chicken Soup for the Soul

I now have less than three days before I embark on my California adventure. As exciting as it is, I am still nervous about moving 3000 miles away from home. Will I like my students...will they like me? Will I have a good relationship with my RA's? Will I enjoy living on the west coast?

Judging from other people's comments, it seems that the California culture is very different from that of North Carolina. I've completed an internship with this program (the Association of College and University Housing Officers-International) before in Virginia, but the cultural aspects were not as different from North Carolina as I had thought. The beginning of that internship started off very rocky, as my host site made little contact with me before my move, and once I arrived things seemed rather disorganized. When I first walked into the office to pick up my room key, it seemed that most of the staff didn't know that there was an intern. Ha! This theme continued throughout my time there, but despite this, I ended up having an amazing experience and got to meet a group of wonderful people.

(Co-workers during my first internship, minus T-Bone, Rachel, Britt, and James)

My current host-site seems the polar opposite. My supervisor seems amazing, as she has kept in regular contact with me and the other intern since we were offered our positions, and she even sent us a welcome package and a gift! She really seems excited to have us, which in turn has made me very excited about my internship and my move. At this point, I think I am mostly stressed out packing all of the stuff I want to take with me without spending a ridiculous amount of money. In particular, I want to make sure I have my TV because I can't miss Glee on Tuesday nights!!! I'm flying with Southwest Airlines, which allows for two free checked bags and two carry-on's. Using two giant suitcases, as well as several space saver bags, I feel fairly confident about the packing process. Wish me luck y'all!

Cheers!!!