One thing I've thoroughly missed over the last six years was the UCLA campus. I can wax poetic about the merits of UCLA and its surrounding neighborhood, but it's something that one needs to experience first-hand to fully appreciate. I miss just about every nook & cranny of the campus, from the beautiful Royce Hall and Powell Library to dorms Dykstra and De Neve. Heck, I think I even miss the slightly-spooky YRL Library (complete with the trademark "library smell" and scurrying spiders, though to be fair, it's being renovated) and the unforgiving climb back to the dorms on Bruin Walk and the treacherous, never-ending flight of Janss Steps.
As it were, I found myself back on campus last week to pick up my Anderson Bruin Card (see end of post here). It being summer, the campus was fairly devoid of optimistic (read: rowdy & naive) undergrads so I decided to kill some time. First stop was Ackerman Student Union, the mecca of all undergrad student activity.
Yes, there's a Panda Express there, and the line is usually much, much longer.
Click on to keep reading!
Here's another shot of the other side of the main food area:
And another, slightly depressing shot (as there was no one around):
If you find yourself on campus and you want more food options than the new place that replaced Cafe Roma at Anderson, then Ackerman Union (third floor) is definitely a great place to nosh.
Now going down one floor to the main union area: we have a post office, a hair salon, a student credit union, and a bunch of other stores & services that are slipping my mind. Very useful, especially if you're going to live in graduate housing near campus.
On the ground floor there's the main Associated Students store, with a sizable bookstore, computer/tech store, grocery store, and your requisite Bear Wear store.
One thing that was very puzzling to me is the sheer amount of stuffed animals that I found at Ackerman.
Moving on, here are a few campus shots (the day was dreary and the population sparse, so bear with me):
The aforementioned Janss Steps.
The building that is right next to Powell Library. I haven't had a class there so I don't know the name (upon quick research, it's just called the "Humanities" building).
Powell (College) Library. Beautiful library, but beware of undergrads running amok.
Heading way into North Campus now...
That's LuValle Commons (where we need to buy our Anderson materials) a few steps away. This is WAY North Campus.
Here it is. You see on the left-side of picture where the students are coming up? That's the LuValle Commons snack + general + bookstore. Yep, all of that's underground. It's like a mini-version of Ackerman Student Union. The upper floor is a food stop with several small eateries.
Inside the store you can find UCLA Anderson & UCLA Law gear!
Here's the route I took:
Yes, I did have a lot of time to kill. Funny/sad story: Right before I hit Powell LIbrary, there was filiming going on in that area (filmings happen all the time on campus). The crewmembers were momentarily stopping students from passing through, but when they saw me in my business attire (was still working at the time) they said, "Oh, you look like a professor, go on ahead. Sorry for the inconvenience."
I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
