hey i'm really happy to be talking to you today i know we're gonna have like a great conversation
and asking some questions to different Aggies and i'm really really excited so basically the first
question is really quick what imagery comes to mind when you think of UC Davis well when it comes
to UC Davis the first imagery that comes to mind is this greenery all around us there's a lot of
green a lot of shades nice sun people could always enjoy this on outside even during winter quarter
so that's something that i truly love about UC Davis what about you you know i same way
the nature comes to mind all the animals and on campus you know squirrels i saw some ducks
over there by the arboretum and the cows i love visiting the cows you know i get to go pet them
and feed them and all that different stuff um but you know that that kind of nature and that kind of
down-to-earth feels of Davis and the community here and the college here it really really stands
out definitely definitely that was something that is one of my truly unique experiences over here
Davis especially being a freshman living next to the cows right away yeah yeah so what is your what
is your favorite unique or weird experience here at UC Davis weird experience here at UC Davis i
don't know you know it would have to be when i was exploring campus more and i found a place
called the Domes at UCDavis um for anyone who doesn't know you know the Domes is basically this
uh communal living uh places of all these cement concrete domes you know i've made some friends
in the Domes and it's a really great community and they really you know they have like weekly
dinners uh not in COVID age but you know it really um it really just stands out and i think that's
like my most memorable like thing that stood out about Davis wow that's awesome that's great
what about you i've i think what of my most unique experience here at this university is
getting to know a lot of people from different cultures um all of my friend group
we are of more than eight different nationalities really around each other yes and being an
international student coming in from the Dubai United Arab Emirates it's just a unique experience
getting to know all these different cultures um that you wouldn't have expected to go and see
if you're not in a such a diverse community yeah and so i'm truly happy to be among that diverse
community getting to know about new cultures new people and getting to know how to think how their
backgrounds and learning a lot more about more than just um the people that i've been living with
for the past 12 years so that was something truly truly inspirational definitely definitely yeah
yeah yeah and i would love to know more about how and when do you show your school spirit
how do i show my school spirit you know it would have to be uh through athletics you
know i have a couple friends who uh play on the softball team i was there earlier today
you know when they were doing a game um but uh you know showing that school spirit and
watching them on zoom and stuff uh really supporting them through athletics and other
you know organizations on campus like ASUCD and stuff like that you know that's really how i
show what about you i'm an electrical engineering major and so we do we go in a lot of competitions
where we proudly uh express how great UC Davis is how great UC Davis engineering is and what
we've been up to so for instance um last year i was among the students who went to
the Cubesat Developer Conference in Cal Poly and so we showcased how strong UC Davis is there
by showcasing some of the research that we've been doing wow and so working more on stuff
that we can showcase uh what we've up to and how great we are is something that i truly believe in
and that's my best way of showing how much i love this school that's awesome my school's great yeah
i love it i love it all right so next question what was your on campus living experience like
so i lived on campus for first year i lived through the dorms i was living in Tercero actually
i was right across from the cows yeah i used to see them every morning whenever i opened my blinds
it was such a truly unique experience i got to know most of my friends because of the
dorms everyone on my floor used to be very open very friendly at the beginning of the quarter
we used to have like our doors open of our dorm rooms open for that people to come by and say hi
so it was really really i felt like family especially coming in from across the world
uh i didn't know anyone over here but i truly was able to find my community right away definitely
yeah what about you yeah so you know as a transfer student there was a lot of different options i
could live off campus or on campus and but there was this new residence hall called the Green at
West Village actually it was brand new it just got built like everything like that so i decided to go
there and uh you know it was for transfer students a lot of people living there are transfer students
which i thought was very appealing um and i just loved it you know uh for one the accessibility
was great uh all the doors are automatic doors so you swipe your car and the door opens up
right away and that's one thing that you know i i honestly uh take for granted you know um
yeah and uh all the buildings have elevators too so it's like if i have a friend up on the third
floor i can go uh see him and hang out and stuff so that's not a lot of uh things that
happened like in West Village there's not a lot of elevators so you know having that was really cool
and uh you know i even renewed my lease for next year i love it so much right um so yeah having
that experience and meeting new people with the Green has just been a wonderful experience
wow that's awesome i'm truly i'm truly happy about that i've seen the green being build up
right across from the Green yeah that's awesome that's great yeah i love it and
they're expanding even more which you know good or bad i don't know i kind of like it how it is but
you know i really love it i can't wait to be there next year that's awesome that's great
so what is a word of advice or encouragement that you would give to your freshman self
if given the chance yeah well you know it's kind of ironic it's like i am a freshman in some sense
but i'm also a transfer student so i'm a freshman in a sense it's my first year on campus but i'm a
junior level standing so you know advice i would give i don't know reflecting on it definitely if
i'm speaking to someone else get involved early in in organizations uh campus communities uh you know
i my first quarter here i got involved in ASUCD i ran for um senate and i was very um lucky and
uh honored to be elected um by the students here so i've been representing uh different ideals and
different communities that i feel have been underrepresented like the transfer student
community disabled students on campus you know we're doing a couple other things with some
committees bringing those back so there's a lot of things to be involved in on campus and i'm lucky i
found ASUCD and kind of like that was my calling uh on campus so i'm really happy i got involved
early there and that would like you know get involved earlier that's the advice i would give
myself because as a transfer student you only have two or three years so you really got to make the
most of your time so yeah that's the advice i give myself what about you um i would say more about
just reach out to your professors get to know them those professors are going to be along
with you for the rest of your career so it's very important to get to know them personally
attend the office hours get to know them and of course get also a lot of engagement and
involvement with communities on campus clubs on campus and different campus departments like ASUCD
when i was a freshman i was involved in some clubs but i would say that you should have expanded your
eyesight more look at more a lot of different cool things there's more than i think more than about
800 clubs on campus so there's a lot of different possibilities yeah there's a lot to look for
yeah definitely um and my next question you know what's your favorite UC Davis tradition or event
i'd say my favorite UC Davis tradition by far would have to be the Picnic Day really yeah
would have to be Picnic Day um although last year was all it was virtual so it wasn't the
Picnic Day that we're usually used to but once Picnic Day come back to in person hopefully soon
we will be able to get to enjoy the day where like everyone comes around Davis um
to celebrate the day there's a lot of different celebrations happening on campus and off campus
and i love watching um all the things that usually happens around the Quad um they usually close some
of the some of the roads yeah just for those celebrations so that's something that i truly
look for um every year and spring quarter yeah definitely um you know for me uh there's a lot
of things and since this is my first quarter or first year you know on campus there really hasn't
been like any in-person stuff with COVID obviously but you know i'm really excited for to go to more
things one thing i'm really excited for is to run on the field of the first football game right
i want to do that and you know they have pow-wows here uh in the spring in the MU on the quad right
so i want to be uh going to that kind of stuff and you know all those different events like
Picnic Day and uh Whole Earth Festival right um are things that i'm totally looking forward for
in the future um like it's all looking forward to because we haven't experienced it yet right
um but yeah those are all things that i'm looking forward to wow that's awesome
um good luck for that yeah i know right i want it bad i want it i want it here now but you know we
gotta be patient and uh stick it out a couple more uh months hopefully and it'll be back hopefully
hopefully hopefully that's the plan for fall yeah so what are your plans after you graduate
plans after i graduate i hope it's okay to say i don't know i don't think a lot of college students
know um you know i'm a political science major so i want to work kind of in that field i'm really
fell in love with the capitol in Sacramento uh you know i love touring there and i've met a couple
other assemblymen there um so you know it's really i don't know the vibe just feels different and
i still have yet to go to D.C. i know that UC Davis does a UC D.C. program um so i'd love to go
there sometime but you know uh getting involved in politics and serving people you know public
service that's kind of what i'm aiming for what about you that's awesome i'm thinking leaning more
towards masters either or part-time or full-time along with working at one of our tech companies
because i am electrical engineering major i'm mainly emphasizing on electronics or digital
systems so i believe that through graduation i'll probably even either continue taking master's
degree as a full-time student or go a part-time work i love that thank you thank you all right so
what was the transition like from high school or community college to UC Davis
so as an international student i had a huge leap when it comes to transition
i started off in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates that's where i graduated and then
i moved into Davis and so Davis was a completely different country community culture and then at
the same time different kind of academic level yeah which was a lot of it happening
all at once i believe that the orientation was very uh was very friendly i was able to get me
up to speed with what is expected from me as a university student other campus resources and
a lot of different things that i could utilize in order to make my experience here at UC Davis
definitely a unique one and also a fun one because going to college is a unique
experience everyone comes in from different backgrounds and it's important for us to ensure
the success of like getting your degree and enjoying it doing something in the future while
at the same time also enjoying your time at your university um yeah that that leave was extremely
big but i'm so proud that i was able to make it yeah and uh i'm just looking forward for everyone
when i see freshmen i'm always really happy to see how how they're adapting different ways of
adapting to the new place but i could tell that it is definitely one of my favorite experience in my
life so far definitely yeah and for me you know uh you know going around the non-traditional college
route coming from a community college right um you know i've had so many supportive people in my life
who have helped me get to this point uh you know uh i went to Folsom Lake College which is not too
far away it's probably only about an hour away from here um so i knew the campus of UC Davis
it was close to home but it was still far away enough where it's like you know i was away from my
parents a little bit but if it was an emergency i could call them right um but you know uh it's it's
been a journey you know and i didn't really know i got a little worried with you know my disability
and moving away from college right away at 18. i didn't really know how to adjust like to managing
caregivers and other stuff like that so having that two years at community college kind of learn
and figure things out and then move to the Green at UC Davis right uh so it just helped me be more
independent and kind of kind of just follow my route you know so yeah that's that's basically
what it is wow that's awesome yeah that's great that's great to hear that yeah i believe that
everyone coming into college they have such different routes and it's truly nice to see
other people talking about it and getting to share that kind of unique experience with others i see
it truly fascinating yeah and i love sharing other stories with like other college kids you know like
i know you've told me like different backgrounds that's all about what college is about you know
i've met a wide range of people and you know listening and that communication is key because
you hear other people's experiences and what they're going through and really like you know
what would you do in their shoes you know exactly um so so having that knowledge and meeting new
people like it really expands like your horizons like in your mind like what you think about right
like i met a ton of people and i didn't think or see the way the world they do you know and and
that kind of opened my mind uh you know until i came here so i was really grateful for that
yeah and talks like these actually helped me a lot in choosing my university because
since i was uh international i wasn't able to visit the campuses of myself so i was doing a
lot of research online and these are the things that i come across of students just talking about
campuses videos of the campus getting to know how people are like there how the community is
like how the areas is like that helps me a lot in choosing the university because it will be hard
for me to get to see it myself on campus yeah yeah yeah i mean you got to know the vibes too
like if if Davis is a cool town it definitely is i can tell you that yeah um you know i loved going
downtown and uh some of my favorite things to do are going to Armadillo Records like i love getting
records there and stuff like that and everything's so close too you know it's it's not really a city
but it is a city because everything is like within walking distance it's kind of it's kind of weird
how it is like it's so naturey but it's a city at the same time exactly but yeah you know i love all
those things and learning from other students and stuff like that yeah and also for those who
are interested to feel that kind of big city vibe there's always Sacramento which is 20 minutes away
or San Francisco which is like about an hour away yeah exactly and you know the country is the same
way too Napa is only like 45 minutes away from here exactly i'm a big foodie so like i love going
to Napa just eat lunch or dinner or something like that yeah that's really great you know my
mom taught me that um so i definitely get it from her but yeah you know i love food so having that
like distance Davis is a good like halfway point to everything um so that's why i love being here
yeah yeah it's literally the center off like going a lot of places and that's what i love
the most honestly one of the key things in Davis yeah definitely and while you're still here just a
calm kind of scenery and just mainly a student-led life because there are students everywhere oh yeah
we see students everywhere and that kind of brings the community back together definitely definitely
all right well i'm pretty sure those are all my questions yes uh those are all mine too
yeah exhausted them all so it was really great talking to you today and you know i look forward
to connecting in the future and you know living life as an Aggie that's how it is
definitely definitely and you can always ask Aggie for any help or support we're all here for you um
and we're glad to have you on campus for the first year always always all right thank you