Falling in love with UCLA not hard to do

Monday, March 1, 1999

APPRECIATION: Clean campus, beautiful buildings ingredients for almost-perfect college experience

Every once in a long, long while I sit back and look at my life and think, "Damn - I got lucky and I didn't even know it." Today was one of those momentous occasions. Today I looked at my life and liked what I saw.

Today I reaffirmed a decision I made in my senior year of high school. Today I came to appreciate UCLA.

Having a history of wanting to do cool things that never came to fruition, I recently vowed to take the actions necessary to actually do what I desired. So I made a mental "To Do" list: read D.H. Lawrence, drive to Vegas, eat Cheez-Its, have a threesome, rent "Swingers," go to a comedy show, stalk an old friend over e-mail. Soon, "Go to Berkeley" made its way onto the list because I wanted to visit friends from high school who were studying there. I wanted to make the trip before I graduated, moved far away and fell out of the college culture.

And so it came to pass that two months and $108 later, I was in the air with Southern California behind me.

In high school, I always thought of Berkeley as the school for people who were just a little bit smarter than I was, the school that I didn't really have to worry about because I could never get in. It was the school of the '60s, of the Free Speech Movement, of social change and political rallies.

When fellow seniors got accepted to Berkeley, I couldn't help but think how lucky they were to be the best of the best (or just better than me). And now, while I still think they're smart, I think that I'm luckier. They might be bright and hard-working and driven and every other positive, studious adjective, but I go to UCLA.

Berkeley was a strange place. It had its goods - the burritos at Fabuloso, Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) access, hemp necklaces - and its bads - street punks, city grime, weird smells. But I didn't get the comfy UCLA feeling.

Granted, I hadn't been living, eating and breathing there for four years, but the whole aura was different.

Even the renowned campus didn't impress me. Maybe it was the gray weather that made me long for home, but the architecture seemed old and faded and the buildings a bit run-down. It had character, sure, but it didn't have splendor like UCLA. Its trees, bare from the Northern California winter, looked arthritis-stricken compared to the greenery with which we surround ourselves.

The Campanile offered an amazing view, but I could look at Royce for just as long, and - let's face it - 25 Campaniles can fit into Royce (horizontally, of course). Sure, the new Haas building (which houses the business school) was very modern, but it looked out of place.

And their student store was a Pic-N-Save compared to our glorious multi-level Ackerman.

Not that Berkeley doesn't have its charm, with its vintage clothes shops and used CD stores. It sure would be swell if Westwood would cater to its 20,000 student residents. For example, Illusion, our new "novelty shop" (read: we sell "water pipes"), which has been open for a little over a month, is already being threatened by the Westwood Homeowners Association.

At Berkeley, there is a smoke shop on every corner.

So, yes, the Berkeley area does have a distinct culture that Westwood lacks. The stores cater to students with their cheap eats and trend-setting gimmicks. When exploring the area, there's not a doubt in your mind that you're absorbing the life of a college town.

But it is crowded and dirty and you can't walk five feet without some 20-year-old kid (whose parents probably live in the suburbs) asking for pot money.

Westwood, even with its homeless inhabitants, looks and feels much cleaner. (When I originally wrote this, I also included that I felt much safer here, but with the recent rape attempts, I'm not so sure. I guess we still have a long way to go.)

But back to examining the positive. You don't have to be an electrical engineer to compute that we've got it good.

All you have to do is look around, folks! Open your eyes and take in what you very well might miss when you're gone. Bright red bricks everywhere, blooming flowers and healthy green grass - let's hear it for Facilities Management - and quads fit for movie sets. We even have a freaking sculpture garden! A sculpture garden! How many universities do you know of that offer the opportunity to sit your high horse (high arse?) on a piece of high art and examine it and touch it while eating sushi?

Even Bruin Walk, with its proselytizers and freaks, is something special because you get to look at Kerckhoff, our very own castle, from which the ruling class of the Undergraduate Students Association Council reigns. And no one can deny the smooth magnificence you feel between the greats of Royce and Powell on a twilight evening.

Even location-wise, we've got it all! We're nestled right between posh neighborhoods with everything nearby: movie theaters, Hollywood, Santa Monica. We can swim, surf, ski, bike, rollerblade or shop (my preference is clear).

But the true beauty of UCLA lives inside the buildings and the architecture. The thinking that goes on within these famous landmarks should make us just as proud as the landmarks themselves.

People from all over the world want to come to this university, our playground.

Foreign dignitaries make speeches, professors win awards, alumni become successful.

And students learn how to learn.

What a great place. What an accomplishment to be proud of. So relish in it. Live UCLA. Love UCLA. Don't complain about one boring professor without remembering those who have been passionate and inspiring.

Don't be so quick to criticize construction impediments without admitting that you, too, want a beautiful campus, or a new parking structure.

Don't gripe about being accosted on Bruin Walk without realizing that each flyer you get is someone's cause, someone's niche, one niche among the many that UCLA provides.

This school definitely has its share of problems: overcrowding, parking, bureaucracy ... we've heard it all before. But what university doesn't have problems?

Please, if you've heard of a University of Utopia, give me the number of its admissions office! Chances are, you haven't.

Anyway, UCLA has enough perks to keep me satisfied, and compared to the private schools out there, the price is right.

Maybe none of this is news to you. Maybe you've loved and cherished UCLA since you've been accepted, or since your older brother went here, or your Mom.

Maybe I should have seen the beauty of UCLA long ago. But what can I say - I'm a late bloomer. And there's nowhere else I would rather have bloomed.

Stephanie Pfeffer

Pfeffer is proud to be a Bruin for life.

E-mail her at spfeffer@ucla.edu.

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