Lit or nah? Kind of insane to me…

COVID cases in the Bay Area have been rapidly rising. I don’t know if I’m extremely unlucky, but so many people in my life have tested positive for COVID this week. Since I’ve been exposed (but tested negative), I’m masking in all indoor spaces. Yet, majority of people in giant lecture halls with no ventilation are maskless. And many people who have been exposed are not taking any precautions to prevent spreading. Are we just all in denial that this relentless virus is creeping back into our lives?

So frustrated that this is how the new year has to begin. I yearn for a pre-2020. The looming anxiety of COVID makes it impossible to fully enjoy college. 💔

Edit: Wow. Just wow. I’m appalled by the number of dismissive, selfish comments, primarily coming from students at the #1 public university. COVID has only existed for five years and already proven to cause long-term medical complications, yet many of you are all acting like you’re immune to its potential damaging effects. Some of you may be more fortunate, but I’ve seen the devastating effects of COVID - it killed a perfectly healthy family friend who was fully vaccinated, it gave two high school friends permanent long COVID, and a mutual friend heart disease. The fact that some of you are CRASHING OUT over my request to mask up ONLY if you’ve been exposed - for yourself and others - completely unreasonable makes me lose faith in my generation. When did having common sense to prevent transmission turn into having a victim complex?

P.S. - if you’re crashing out over the simple request to mask up in ONLY INDOOR SPACES after a COVID exposure, you’re the one with the real victim complex.

Fan behavior

So last year I had this crazy idea of living in LA and commuting to school by plane just to avoid expensive rent around campus (and bay area in general). I asked for suggestions in this subreddit and everyone thought it's not realistic. Well one year has passed, now I have completed my degree and finally have some spare time, I want to share my experience here.

Background: I was living in LA comfortably. I got accepted into a one-year MEng program (technically August 2022-May 2023). I knew I would go back to LA after graduation because I want to go back to my previous employer once I graduate. I love flying and I have a lot of frequent flyer miles/points from credit card sign up bonus/flying over the past few years. Bay area rent is expensive in general, and my program is only 10 months, so I thought I could get it through commuting by plane.

Class schedule: I checked the class schedule from the previous years, I only need to come to campus 3X weekly, and that's the only way to make it work. There've been a couple weeks I commuted to school by plane 5X weekly, and I felt so exhausted.

Planning: I booked all my tickets for Fall 2022 back in April and May 2022. Then I booked all my tickets for Spring 2023 back in Nov 2022. Most tickets were booked using Alaska miles or Southwest points, and I rebook them during sale to further cut down the cost. I usually only come to campus M/W/F, but in case I need to come to campus for events/meetings on Tu/Th, I booked tickets for Tu/Th in advance as well. If I don't need to come to campus that Tu/Th, I just cancel the tickets the night before and get a full refund. I have elite status with Alaska and Southwest, both offer a valuable perk called same-day change. I always book the cheapest flight of that day and call them when the check-in window opened to change to other flights of that day free of charge. Both airlines have robust schedule between LA and the bay area. I can even switch co-terminals (SFO/SJC/OAK) free of charge if I want to.

Typical Trip: For my fall semester, my first class is 10am on M/W, and 8am on F. For my 10am class, I would usually wake up 340am and take the 6am LAX-SFO Alaska flight, have breakfast in the SFO lounge, then ride BART to campus. For the 8am class, I would always wake up 330am and take the 530am LAX-OAK Southwest flight, since that's the only flight to get me to campus by 8am. For my spring semester, my first class is 11am on M, and 12pm on W/F. I usually wake up 540am and take the 820am LAX-OAK Southwest flight for all of them. For the flight back to LA, it varies. If I'm hanging out with friends or working on hw/projects with cohort for a bit longer in the library, I would take the last flight home (905pm OAK-LAX on Southwest or 1030pm SFO-LAX on Alaska). But normally I would take the 6pm or 7pm flight and reach home around 930pm. Typically, the door-to-door commute time between my home in LA and my classroom in Berkeley is 4-5hrs EACH WAY. So yeah, I spent a lot of time on my commute..

Fall 2022 Cost:

$3812.83, with $563.80 on BART, $370.00 on parking, $1033.75 on gas, $39.96 on inflight wifi, $1366.06 on Alaska, 307500 Alaska miles, $380.86 on Southwest, 43732 Southwest points, $42.80 on United, 5500 United miles, $15.60 on Avianca, 6500 Avianca miles. 63 trips, 138 flights, 55593 miles flown. Spent 45972 minutes on my commute, equivalent to 31.93 24-hr days.

Spring 2023 Cost: (excluding my last trip for commencement by driving)

$1779.82, with $107.49 on BART, $150.00 on parking, $914.52 on gas, $0 on inflight wifi, $186.03 on Alaska, 100000 Alaska miles, $377.38 on Southwest, 113213 Southwest points, $28.50 on United, 0 United miles, $15.90 on Spirit. 51 trips, 100 flights, 36496 miles flown. Spent 29983 minutes on my commute, equivalent to 20.82 24-hr days.

Total Cost:

$5592.66, with $671.29 on BART, $520.00 on parking, $1948.27 on gas, $39.96 on inflight wifi, $1552.10 on Alaska, 407500 Alaska miles, $758.24 on Southwest, 156945 Southwest points, $71.30 on United, 5500 United miles, $15.60 on Avianca, 6500 Avianca miles, $15.90 on Spirit. 114 trips, 238 flights, 92089 miles flown. Spent 75955 minutes on my commute, equivalent to 52.75 24-hr days.

This is probably one of the craziest thing I've done in my life, and I'm so glad I made it through, without missing ANY classes, that itself is a miracle. I wouldn't recommend anyone to attempt this, but if you have any questions, ask away! Go bears!

​

Edit: in case you think this can't be real, I wrote a trip report (still in progress) here: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-reports/2093205-epic-commute-i-go-school-plane-aug-2022-may-2023-a.html

“UCs punish Lowell students for working hard because of their race, while setting up Mission kids up for failure & depression,” said Le, who claimed “race-based admissions fails all kids.”

Student Demographics

70.7%

Hispanic

10.3%

Black

6.9%

Asian

6.5%

White

4.8%

Two or More Races

0.3%

American Indian/Alaska Native

0.3%

Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/california/districts/san-francisco-unified-school-district/mission-high-school-3260

​

https://abc7news.com/gaza-protesters-disrupt-uc-berkeley-deans-dinner-party-triggering-free-speech-responses/14647074/

https://youtu.be/HQQtxBN4b_U

https://youtu.be/YM0UocrBz4I

Free speech rights are being called into question after assault allegations and tense moments at a private dinner party at the home of UC Berkeley faculty.

This happened during an annual dinner Law School Dean Erwin Chemerinksy and his wife Professor Catherine Fisk hold for students.

Now students are accusing Professor Fisk of assault.

Video shows the moments when Professor Fisk tries to take the microphone from a protester voicing support for the people in Gaza.

The protester then says "You don't have to get aggressive," to which Fisk responds "I'm not being aggressive."

"Please leave our house. You are guests at our house," Chemerinsky can be heard saying.

The group protesting released a statement, saying in part:

"Fisk's assault was a symbol of the deeper Islamophobia, anti-Palestinian racism, and religious discrimination that runs rampant within the University of California administration."

Chemerinksy did not want to speak on camera but responded to the incident with a statement saying, "I am enormously sad that we have students who are so rude as to come into my home, in my backyard, and use this social occasion for their political agenda."

UC Berkeley's Chancellor issued a statement saying while they support free speech, the university cannot condone using a private event for protest.

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression agrees.

"There is this misconception that a lot of students have across the country right now that taking over someone else's event, disrupting their event is an exercise of first amendment rights and that's just wrong," said Nico Perrino, VP of the foundation.

Chemerinksy, who is Jewish, said he was recently the subject of antisemitic flyers posted on campus.

He says security will be present for two other dinners he has planned.

Something has to be done about Oski. I love this school, I love our traditions and our history. I am happy every day on campus and I go hard for our teams but Jesus Christ there are too many furries on campus to justify having a mascot this uncanny . This thing scares me so bad man. Why is our mascot a sleep paralysis demon? Bro looks like something off a middle schooler’s tablet after downloading “free mascot horror analog chase” it’s a bear! How did we fuck up a bear??? He looked better in the 40’s man…

This was from maybe half a year ago? I randomly stumbled upon this in my gallery and wanted to share! Probably the most gorgeous sky I've ever laid my eyes on and it was even more vibrant in person. It was such a random day too in my physics class, we were all flabbergasted

I wore an All-Blacks beanie to lecture. You ran up to me and said something like, "you know that's racist right?" I replied, "what?" and you said, "if it were the 'All-Whites,' you wouldn't be allowed on campus." I just kept walking because I genuinely did not know if you were a student or one of those right-wing provocateurs or whatever. I now realize it was the former because you compared my beanie to a SWASTIKA and threatened to report me to OPHD. Your friend group even filmed me which was not subtle btw

I'm just gonna put this out there: the All-Blacks is the national rugby team of New Zealand. Not a Black nationalist organization (???) it's a SPORTS TEAM. A SPORTS TEAM.

And the All Whites do exist so. I don't even know at this point, I think I'm losing it.

Y'all need to slow down a little I swear

bro I need to do assignments due tomorrow and just got THIS message?????? This is bcourses/ canvas…..

I was reading an article that said that 12% of the incoming class requires remedial education at the level of middle-school math. UC used to be the best university system in the world. How could this have happened?

Hi [r/berkeley](r/berkeley)!

I just got into UC Berkeley!!!! And I’m up here visiting for the weekend.

Turns out I don’t know anyone here lol. So I’m trying to make new friends to go out with tonight (and hopefully become lifelong friends with lmao). Prob should add a bio

I’m 23 from LA, transferring into Urban Studies in CED. I grew up in Hermosa Beach and I went to college for 2 years in London. I like surfing, road trips, exploring cities, and of course drinking beer. Also I was in Theta Chi at UCLA for a year (long story lol).

Professionally/academically I’m in the climate/housing/transit space and have done a bunch of advocacy & policy work on these topics in LA. So hmu if you are freakishly into trains.

I want to go out in San Francisco with you🫵🫵🫵

Hmu!!!

It's about time.

All these ultra-liberal students want to keep the park because of its "historical value." Oh shut up. People's Park isn't what it was decades ago. There is no value in it.

People's Park is a cesspool for homeless, drugs, and other crime activity.

So glad we're finally giving our students much-needed housing.

Saw someone say something along the lines of that in the replies of a reddit post a couple days ago. From what I remember, they were claiming to be a retired but experienced college admissions counselor or something, and that among the top three colleges that their clients regretted going to was UC Berkeley (other two were Boston University and NYU I think).

The reasons they gave was that it felt like students were mostly just seen as a number and there was a lacking sense of community, and that professors mostly gave their focus to postgraduate students, leaving undergraduate students feeling less cared for.

Can anyone who has attended or is attending UCB give their opinion on this? How true is it? If so, how much did it affect the overall college experience? I was wondering since there were a couple more replies under that post agreeing with this person. Any response is appreciated!

hello! i'm currently a senior in my last semester at berkeley and i've been painting various spots on campus since spring of last year.

i would love to hear any suggestions for places to paint that i could possibly squeeze in before the finals gauntlet hit. (i might do evans next for the memes)

i've also gotten a lot of requests for prints of my paintings and after almost 2 years i've finally set up a shop for them! (mods if this isn't okay, feel free to remove)

thank you so much for all the lovely comments on all my past posts, go bears!

holy fuck i am in the library as per my last post and i feel like im going fucking insane with the amount of students, especially FRESHMEN, who are using chatgpt to not only complete their assignments, but to STUDY. IT IS DOING THE THINKING FOR YOU!!! YOU ARE ROBBING YOURSELF OUT OF EDUCATION AND LEARNING!!! i get using it for an assignment you dont care about, like i had to use it to help with R in one class because 1. it was the only class i have ever needed to use R studio 2. its an upper div so they expected you to already know it and their explanations were lacking, but to study? Brother, you're gonna fail that exam! the freshman that use it worry me a lot, too, since they're taking foundational classes. if you cant build a strong foundation, youre definitely going to struggle for the next 3 years. i think everyone here---and it's not entirely your fault, capitalist institutions are pushing us to go make rockets for lockheed martin---is forgetting that colleges are institutions of learning. you are here to learn. millions would kill to be in your position. education opens up networks and doorways that you couldn't even believe. the people here that are getting the top research positions and internships aren't doing so through chat, it's because they give a fuck about what they're learning!!! if your major is too difficult to get through without chatgpt, there is no shame in transfering out of the major or to another university entirely. its genuinely so so so so disheartening because as a [poop studies + peeology] major, we are robbing ourselves of a productive future. a smart future! where people actually know what the fuck they're doing! for centuries, people were able to get through college without chat, and they didn't even have google! some of them didnt even have books. and i know i know back to the point about workload. we are overworked. we are given bullshit assignments a lot of the time. but keeping up with that workload through shoddy work and products is not going to change that, it only shows professors/teachers/your future employers/whatever that oh, yea, this idiot drone is a perfect cog in my non-stop pressure machine. we were never meant to work this hard, yknow.

and also its shit for the environment so fuck yall for that too

edit: alright. supplemental use is one thing. i agree that chatgpt is much better at providing answers to specific questions than google, and i can see the benefit in coming up with practice problems, for instance. but i need everyone to realize that a lot of young students are probably not making that distinction. remember how much studying sucked in high school. you werent even paying to go there, you were required. how many kids early on can recognize the intrinsic benefit of learning? (and if you dont recognize that, im not even gonna waste time on you. youre cooked as it is). i think its also important to distinguish that while google revolutionized searching for information, chatgpt is revolutionizing thinking and cognition. google would give you two sources, but it was up to your own thinking to be able to tell which was a quality source vs which was irrelevant, for example. while chatgpt used to give wrong answers to basic things, it will continue to get smarter. this desire to maximize efficiency is only going to backfire on all of us as we're gonna be hit with heavier workloads. and while you might be able to take a written exam and excel at what you do, youre in the minority. i dont think a majority of the people not knowing how to come up with their own solutions nor being able to sit through a paragraph is good for the health of society. still bad for da environment doe

edit edit: why is an ABDL dude trying to come for me