Every time I walk on campus, on my way to classes, to the gym or back to i-House, I dream up what else I can publish on my blog. In the past few days, I've been putting together a list of typical things of American college life in general and of Berkeley in particular. That's what I am going to talk about today.
Everyone, I mean EVERYONE, rushes around campus everyday. If they are not exchange students, there are a bunch of things that they for sure do (or do not do).
- In the morning, they carry a backpack and/or a cup of coffee on their hands.
- At lunchtime (I mean, American lunch time, from 11 am to 12:30 pm), they eat while walking. Salads, sandwiches, burritos... Whatever. They carry a big beverage cup in one hand, the food in the other, and they rush in every direction possible.
- Late in the afternoon, all around campus, there are groups of people playing ultimate frisbee or dancing hip-hop. I go to the gym everyday after finishing my homework and I'm almost sure that I've seen people doing both those sports every single day. Most of the times, the guys dancing hip-hop are asians, but they know very well how to shake their butts!
- Also, everybody wears Cal clothes. Cal or whatever college they go to. It's nice to realize how they are proud of what they are. But it's not so nice to see that they don't really care about fashion.
- No one dresses up for the daily life. It's very, very common for people to go to classes in sportive clothes. That's why European girls are so successful on Uncle Sam's land. Haha.
- Everyone eats sweets all the time. Going out for a desert, either a frozen yogurt, a donut, or an ice cream cookie sandwich is an excuse to hang out with other people. Going out for a desert here is like going out for a coffee in Portugal.
- No one smokes. Not only is it actually forbidden to smoke closer than 20 feet to any building, but there are even a few streets where no one is allowed to smoke. Cheers to the USA on that!
- Everyone goes to every single class. All my international friends find that very weird. In Portugal and, as they say, in most countries around the world, college students are lazy and don't attend most theoretical classes. Here, no one misses a lecture. The academic rhythm is seriously different from everywhere else.
Talking about Berkeley in particular now, this is a very peculiar place. People who live here are mostly college students, hippies and homeless people. I truly believe that a great amount of the homeless people here are street people because they chose to be. It's a way of living. Walking at night next to the People Park, for instance, one can see couples sleeping side by side on the walk way. Berkeley has always been related to the hippies movement in the 1960's. Maybe that's why they all come here. They are not scary at all, they don't bother anyone, they just live... In fact, I'm perfectly used to them.
I'm pretty sure that tomorrow, on my way to classes, while thinking about life and about what to write next on my blog, I'll remember many interesting things I forgot to mention now. No worries, I will have many more opportunities to keep you up-to-date.
P.S. Squirrels are Berkeley's pigeons. Hahaha.
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