New city, new people, new school. It has been a great first week in Berkeley. I can truly say that I got the fresh new start that I always wanted, but it takes quite a bit of time to adjust to a new setting. This past week at Berkeley has been one of the best. I have met so many people in the field of student affairs. In only one week it has been such a great experience.
Getting the new start that I have wanted has been great but I do get those flashbacks of freshman year, when I kept to myself and didn't really know anyone. That's the case here at UC Berkeley. It's such a huge school with five times the number of students at UoP. The difference in culture here at UC Berkeley compared to UoP has been weird for me to adjust to-- not only the campus culture, but the culture of the Bay Area in general.
A week has passed since I arrived at Berkeley. I admit I was very nervous and somewhat terrified to start a new experience here. This week, though, has been a great transition week. The people that I have met have been very supportive in allowing me and my coworkers to adjust and explore. The internship experience that I have gotten so far is surpassing the expectations that I had when I first accepted the position.
On Tuesday, my first day on the job, I woke up bright and early to get a head start on the day. I was nervous but excited to meet the people I would be working with for the next six weeks here. I got breakfast and then went and started to meet people right away. I meet over 20 people just on the first day. As the day progressed, we filled out paperwork at HR then went off to lunch (and I will say, KoJa, a Japanese and Korean food place at Berkeley, was great). Then after lunch we had a tour of the campus. This was my favorite part, as I got to see and hear about the history of the campus and everything that has occurred, from the past up to the recent events.
The next day, I got to pick a few of the projects that I wanted to tackle for the next six weeks. I was still taking some time to adjust to living in the Bay Area. I got to explore downtown Berkeley in the morning and then went to work and started my projects. That day I got to sit in on a few meetings to hear more about how different UC Berkeley is from my college experience so far. Once I got home that afternoon, my coworker and I went to dinner and came back to our apartments before getting to bed early.
Days three and four seem to blend together for some reason. I'm finally getting the hang of things and understanding how the office I am working in operates. I have made quick and significant progress on some of the small projects that I have chosen and have been assigned to complete. Who knew that working seven hour days would be quite exhausting?
My week has been both great and exhausting but it has certainly started off on the right foot. Week one is done and I'm excited to start week two!
