The Birth of the UCI Transfer Blog

It is the Winter 2009 quarter at my new educational institution. I've doven into a ongoing pool of intellects with ready access to surges of resources and information.
I'm taking a class at University of California, Irvine (further blogs will call this UCI) with Professor Tom Boellstorff called the "Anthropology of Cyberspace and Culture." Part of the curriculum asks that students participate in his Anthropology Cyberblog.
Stephen "Stevie" Rea is the TA for our class discussions and it was this part of the class that motivated me to create this blog for students who are particularly interested in becoming part of the UCI educational institute.

Why UCI? I have grown up in Southern California most of my life and did not want to leave the sunny weather, diverse food places, and access to many hangout places locally. And, UCI is merely a drive to and fro from home.
UCI is like stepping into Disneyland for individuals who seek knowledge. True knowledge where points, scores, and grades do not matter.
Transfer students, here is a bust: they don't take roll! And, they could give a flying donut if you were there for the first week of class or not. Isn't it great? An open-institute of knowledge, and it is up to the individual (YOU) to learn all about it.

Orginally, I came from a semester schedule where there are trimesters of: Fall, Spring, and Summer. Each trimester is roughy a duration of 16-17 weeks...about 5 months.
For quarter systems, the instructional period consists of: Fall, Winter, Spring, and Summer. Each quarter is about 9-10 weeks long...about 3 months.
There are mixed feelings about this trade off from a sixteen week schedule to a ten week schedule.

Personally, I find it more adventurous.

In the trimester curriculum, I found myself waiting until the last possible minute to get my work done. I was more susceptible to procrastinating since faculty members had such a laid-back persona. Why, for the first week of the trimester, teachers just expect you to find your book (especially if you're considering to major in the Social Sciences, Arts, School of Business, and the Humanities). Typically, sciences that involve the Physical, Health, or Computer Information Technology gives the students a kick in the okole (rearend in Hawaiian) to not fall behind!

Now, as a first study to the quarter system, I can proclaim that I have never read so many books in a matter of two weeks (and counting)! I never been so thoughtful, so explorative, and so mesmerized that such an institute exist.

One aspect that shocked me was student participation. I would expect more from a group of individuals who sought after such an institute. Many of my theories have been of the case that I am taking Gen. Ed courses and these students just want an "A" in the course and don't particularly care much for the material.
But hello?
I think 2Gs are worth the effort to pay attention and voice out an opinion regardless of how painfully absurd/kookie/wacko it may be.
Hey? What? I think people care too much about what they say. That is great....when we were in elementary school!
It is unfair to claim this since I've only participated on one quarter of UCI, I will expand/rebute my opinion about this later on my future posts to prove/disprove my claim.

So what will this blog post typically be about?
Well, my rants and raves about the UCI school system as a student.
And by student I define that as actually reading the textbook material, making an effort to participate in class and bug the hell out of the teachers' lectures, attempt to socialize in various clubs, interact randomly with students on campus, compare school systems, record observances, give the audience a neat picture reel of the campus, and manny many more.
I want this blog post to typical serve as a reference guide to students like me-- who transfer from a college to set foot at a University.

Cheeerio.