Last Thursday, I attended UCLA’s first general interest meeting. During convocation day, I thought UCLA was a club about kids trying to apply to UCLA. On the first day of school, my friend Nicole Pung introduced me to the whole USG Marketing Team in which I joined. Inside the marketing team, a few of the members introduced me to UCLA. They told me it stood for “United Chinese Language Association.” I am a person who loves to make friend, eat food, and respect my culture; so I thought to myself ‘this club seems right for me’. My friends from UCLA told me I can hang out at their club room ever since before the first GIM happened. Everyday after class or in-between classes, I would go to the third floor of the Newman Vertical Campus and chill with the rest of the club members. It has been a really enjoyable experience. On the first GIM, there was a surprising around 50-60 kids that showed up. The room was so packed and I had to sit on the floor closer to the front. The club leaders and board members all introduced themselves and their role in the club. While looking at this, I compared this experience to my past experiences in high school. From the clubs I go to in high school, it wasn’t really organized. Everything seemed really out of place; basically a huge mess. The club leaders were able to keep all 50-60 of us interested in the club. They have an agenda and a series of ice breakers and games that some of the club participated in. As you can see in the picture above, I played a game called ‘Questions’ which is basically two teams battling against each other about a topic. In order to win, you have to keep asking relevant questions. If you hesitate or don’t know what to ask, you are out. After the series of games, there were huge boxes and plates of food that they bought from a nearby Chinese restaurant. All 50-60 of us lined up and got food. There was beef, chicken, lo mein, chow fun, and white rice. Like the brown FRO guy that filled in for Aitsana said the week before, all the ‘free food’ are technically not ‘free’. It comes from our $250 student activities fee. In my mind I have to take advantage of all the ‘free’ things that come available to me. UCLA isn’t just a club, it feels like a family. There is a Chinese Learning Program coming up this Tuesday at 12:30-2:30. Unfortunately I won’t be able to attend because of FRO, but there are things I still look forward to in this club.
Other Clubs I joined: USG, ESA, Lexicon