A new setting would transform my life when I went to UC San Diego for college. I majored in Communications and was told numerous times during Orientation that the major was useless and I would not be able to find a job. I probably should have listened. They also told me you end up being friends with your orientation group for all of college. Seeing as I don’t remember who any of these people are, I find that to be quite a fictitious statement.
The majority of my freshman experience happened to be through bonding with my suitemates. I roomed with Howard, a friend from high school, and we were able to make friends with everybody in our suite, some nicer than others. A good combination of nerds and jocks. We ate at Canyon Vista, a disgusting restaurant on campus where I ate hamburgers, chicken nuggets, hot dogs, and other foods on the grill mostly every day, contributing to a 15 pound weight increase. I also spent my “dining dollars” at Earl’s Place, a convenience store located near the dorms with lots of delicious late night snacks.
We quickly befriended our neighbors and spent the entire year basically hanging out with them in different settings on and off campus – including UTC mall, the beach, and fun restaurants.
We made some movies along the way, including a Christmas video, and a video for our Resident Advisor at the time Stacey Hunsucker.
Things were peaceful for the most part. However, when many of them engaged in underage drinking activities I felt uncomfortable in the process, and would find alternative activities to do with other people. Looking back, that might have been the wrong decision, but I was very much of a buzzkill at the time.
College was mostly paid for through grants, but I still had to pay roughly $1000 each quarter out of pocket. I felt bad making my parents pay for it, since they were already poor, so I ended up getting a temporary job on campus at the Career Services Center, where I shredded a bunch of paper.
I ended up spending the entire summer staying on campus working at Conference Services. Though it was a good money making experience to help pay for tuition, I was terribly lonely in the process. With many of my friends gone for the summer, I felt an intense amount of loneliness that would transcend into my sophomore year.
And yet, the brightest moment of that summer was my discovery of Phil’s BBQ, first visited in July 2009. My life would forever change with the taste of those mouth watering ribs.
