AS a freshman, how would you describe your recent transition to Cal?

When I was a high school student, the idea of going to college seemed like an exciting but distant period in the future. Four years later, the reality of college life finally sinks in and all of that excitement dissipates into a plethora of fears. “What if I’m not good enough for Cal?” Questions of this sort began manifesting in my thoughts and only fueled my fears. As I meekly entered Sproul Plaza on my first day at Cal, I vividly remember being overwhelmed by a flurry of flyers and enthusiastic clubs trying to recruit members. This experience alone is an allegory to my experience at Cal so far: overwhelmingly intimidating, yet compelling at the same time. Despite my initial fear, experiencing the ambitiously driven community at Cal compels me to transform that fear into resolve.

~Natasha Steven

What is one value you live by?

I have always admired those people who seem to have it all, smart, kind, charismatic, successful, confident, you name it, but now I don’t think that’s necessarily the case - it’s not that they have it all, it’s that they understand their intrinsic self worth and feel so comfortable in their own skin that they need not compare themselves to others or beat themselves up when things don’t turn out the way they expect. They view each challenge with an optimistic mindset and each failure as an opportunity to grow. In a way, those who exhibit humility are confident but modest, and aren’t afraid to fail, and I think those qualities are some things that I strive to live by everyday.

~Ryan Jusuf

Tell Us about your hobby of calligraphy that you recently picked up.

I want people to know that I am not afraid to express myself. The thing is that it is easy to express yourself when you are happy but when you are feeling not so happy, when you are feeling sad or troubled, for me, that’s when I mostly write. I am a math major and so like, math majors, you don’t really expect them to type numbers up on a computer. So you always see them like writing numbers down and doing equations and stuff, but now I am using writing in another way. I always write in black, blue and green. Black is a very stable color - people always write in black. Blue because Cal and green because it’s my favorite color and because I don’t have any other color pens, but I’m not planning to get any other color pens. I see myself as more of a mellow, introverted person and blue and green, they’re calmer colors.

~Aprillia Judokusumo

How do you navigate through your life here at Cal?

Here you see people with different passions, which inspires me to try out as many things as I can. Here, you have a lot of choices - you can pursue entrepreneurship, join sports teams, the list goes on. So my first semester, I decided to take a shot at applying to student organizations. Sadly, that didn’t work out for me. But hey, when life closes one door, it opens another one for you. Right now, I am studying Business at Haas, while also discovering my passion in IEOR and am pursuing a minor in it. Who knew? I always tell myself to be grateful for everything I have, and for everything that I don’t have.

~Melissa Tania

I see you a lot in Wurster... how did you end up in architecture?

I was originally a Chemical Engineering major. I did fairly well in my classes and all, but I wasn’t enjoying what I was doing. One day, I was moving into my house when I saw an Architecture student bringing his model around. That moment changed everything. I suddenly remembered the days when I joined drawing competitions, and my artistic side was rekindled. So I thought, “Rather than doing something I am good at, why not try something that I also have a passion for?”

~Parama Pradana Suteja

I think one of the most eye opening things about my transition from Indonesia to the US was a new understanding of where my own happiness lies. Family played a huge role in my life and suddenly being removed from them, coming here has definitely pushed myself to find new avenues to seek happiness. I focused a lot on making friends and building a community last year but right now I’ve been more focused on taking some time for myself. I’m so glad with all the decisions I’ve made this semester.

I’m taking only three classes. I’m taking the Backpacking Decal. And I’ve gone on multiple spontaneous trips around the Bay Area. This sounds really cheesy but I guess just going on these trips really make me realize how small I really am in the face of the surrounding nature. It’s so easy to get caught up in the Berkeley bubble and even more so to forget to appreciate the fact that we live in such a beautiful part of the world with so many places to discover. So yeah, I guess you could say the overlying theme for me this semester has been exploration, both around me and also for myself.

~Iqbal Nurjadin, c.o. 2022