| September 8, 2006 Vol. 77, no.
4F
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| FIRST YEAR: CEE freshman Connie Wong in her dorm room . RACHEL SHAFER PHOTO |
“I really like living on my own”
CEE freshman talks about the first week of college life and beyond
There are 4,200-plus students in Berkeley’s 2006 freshman class. CEE freshman Connie Wong is one of them. She lives with a roommate in the Unit 1 dorm complex on south side and has settled into her half of their 13.9 by 13.2-foot room. Computer and printer are set up; microfridge is running; bed (on this afternoon at least) is made, and alarm clocks (all three) are plugged in. The roommates have a nice view of the Campanile from their seventh-floor window. Sometimes it’s loud with fraternity members whooping it up at night on nearby streets or construction crews providing an unwelcome early morning wake up. But so far, so good.
Recently Engineering News met up with Wong to ask about college life and her thoughts about the coming year. When we spoke, she had Welcome Week and one full day of classes under her belt. (At publication, it will be two weeks.) Here are excerpts from that conversation:
“I really like living on my own. When I was living with my parents, I felt limited and couldn’t grow very much. Here, I feel like I’m maturing as a person 24/7. At home, my world was a lot smaller. Here it’s different. Every day I’m learning to be around people I don’t know. I’ve met some cool people, but it’s daunting to make new friends you can really trust. The other night, I stayed up until 2 a.m. talking about God and philosophy with one of my floormates. That was really nice.”
“I chose Berkeley because I felt like I could be here. Everyone is scholarly here ’cause we’re all so into school. I chose Berkeley Engineering because it was the toughest.”
“It’s really nice to make up my own schedule. It’s nice to come home to my dorm room and have that freedom. I’m looking forward to making good habits on my own.”
“This semester I have an 8 a.m. class. I brought three alarm clocks. The time on each is set slightly differently so they ring at different times. That’s in case I turn one off. Which I always do.”
“I like to get to class early so I can sit near the front. To me, a class only seems as big as the number of people in front of me, and if I can see the professor well, the class seems smaller and I focus better. I had Math 1B the other day in Dwinelle and, though I walked fast, by the time I got there it had filled up, so I had to sit in the back. The people around me wouldn’t stop talking. That was annoying.”
“What I’m most afraid of is failing my classes. I was successful in high school, and here I’m not quite sure how to study yet. I’ll just try and study ahead.”
“This year I want to get good grades, make good friends, grow spiritually and get enough sleep.”
“Things are going well so far. And it helps to have a roommate who’s not loud or creepy!”
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