Where is Worldbuilding Possible?

This place is my home. As much as this building gets musty at hotter temperatures and the fact that I have to climb five flights of stairs when the elevator is out of order, I have made many precious memories at my dorm. I definitely don’t regret opting out of the Honors housing to room with two of my friends from high school. For the majority of my friend group, who I have never met prior to Week 0, they live right across and one room down. For some apparent reason, it is not common to become close friends with your hallmates, but I’m glad we have broken that barrier between us. We can conveniently hang out outside at the hallway tables or pop into each other’s room to bother them for a bit. We would go into the study room at the end of the hallway on weekends for a seemingly unending time; studying, doing homework, snacking, ranting, gossiping, or even playing cards would fill up the hours of the day. My friend group would coordinate times to head down to The Anteatery just to rate the lunch/dinner menu of the day and finish our meals with a scoop of ice cream, which can never go wrong.

The Ring Road’s memorable circular structure makes UCI unique and distinct from the other UC campuses. When I toured UCI in the spring of 2022, my tour guide did not fail to point out the prominent circle on the map pamphlet. From that point, I bragged to my friends and family that my campus was situated in a circle (by vigorously shoving that pamphlet in their faces); its unparalleled campus design has in fact become a key space at UCI for reflecting and world building with others. Whenever I leave class or start my trek from Mesa Court, I would frequently bump into my friends or people I recognize in class. We would happily greet each other and share small conversations before continuing the walks to our destinations. Sometimes, I would make spontaneous plans with people I bump into or partake in the different events ASUCI puts out. I still have the silly photo booth strip my friends and I took at Zot-O-Ween on the wall behind my computer setup.

I find solace on specifically the second and fifth floor of the Science Library. The modern interior creates a comfortable and relaxing ambiance for me to concentrate and focus on school work. On the second floor, the plethora of collaborative spaces and varying seating options allow friends to sit together, have a study session, or simply have a chat before leaving for class. The second floor is a perfect study environment for people who prefer white noise. There are individual study rooms for more privacy and even with 4 walls confining me, I don’t feel suffocated being in a study room; instead, it drives my motivation to do work with the lack of distractions. It was interesting that there are treadmills with desks for students who need to move around to study. On the fifth floor, there is a lounge for Campuswide Honors Collegium students; I have made countless honors friends from staying there because we’re all taking similar classes and would often have the same professors.