Tomorrow is the first day of orientation and I am still recovering from a Vegas trip organized by Anderson students with about 50 or so students in attendance. I hope that tomorrow I am not the guy in the picture above.
In the past two weeks I have travelled 8500 miles from India, moved all my stuff into boxes, shipped my 10 year old car across 4 states, fought with my movers on multiple occasions, rejoiced after touring my new apartment, hiked the Sandstone peak on a pre-orientation trip with students, attended happy your events with my classmates, experienced anxiety over my summer deliverables and worked through 40 pages of assigned readings not including 3 "optional" books. All this and school isn't even in session.
Last Friday was also international orientation, a full day of cultural onboarding solely for international students. The event gave us an overview of all the resources available on campus to us. For instance, the UCLA recreation facilities provides a gamut of facilities such as the graduate only Kinross gym, the Wooden center of recreation, and a new 14,000 square feet fitness center set to open this fall. The Dashew center for international students makes sure that students feel at home by hosting events that include LA bus tours, speed dating for internationals, food festivals and more. There are plenty of spots to eat on campus but most Anderson students usually limit themselves to the Il Tram cafe, centrally located in the Anderson courtyard and that serves an exceptional Chicken special sandwich. In summary, UCLA is pretty much a small town onto itself.
The event ended with roundtables which were intended to mix-up the students and give everyone a chance to network with each other. We also had student panelists address the gathering and share their insights on recruiting and how to land that elusive full time job offer at companies such as BcG, Mattel, Microsoft and more. Our work is cut out for us and the key to success is to continue following the advice of our Parker Career center advisors who continue to work closely with us making sure we progress along the career search process.
No one told us it was going to be easy and going into orientation I can feel the pace quickening. We are expected to stay on top of things regardless of how the week progresses. We are already juggling multiple priorities and need to flex our time management skills constantly. The only way to keep up with all the activity is to prioritize your work. Anderson has so much going on at any given time that you could miss it if you blink.
