The Diary of a Resident Advisor: Zandi De Jesus

Wow. It's been a really long time since i've written in here. It's Friday of week zero.. my THIRD year of college. Time really flies. I can't believe I'm a junior. I wanna stay here forever!!!

So this year will be totally different from my first two years at school... I'm an RA (Resident Advisor). I am responsible for half of Africa Hall in ERC. That's 56 freshman total. Geez. Right now I'm just worrying about memorizing all their names. It's been pretty chill so far. I think my residents like me. We'll see how long that lasts. HA.

I've been in San Diego for almost a month already. I got here on August 30th and moved into my RA room... which I must say is friggin awesome. I have so much space here compared to my last two rooms that I don't know what to do with it. The only thing is that all the other res hall RAs have two closets, and I only have one. We think it's because my building was the last one built and they were in a hurry to finish it for the students, so they just said.. eh, what the heck, this RA won't notice! Well guess what people... I NOTICED! But it's all good. Thanks to friends and IKEA, I have improvised and used my space wisely.

Before all the students got here, I had three weeks of RA training. The first week we all stayed in one res hall together so we could bond and get to know each other better. Some of the RAs got their own room, and some were assigned roommates. At first, I was pretty bummed that I didn't get my own room, but when I met my roommate and got a chance to talk to her, I was so thankful. Her name is Libby. She's the RA in Asante in I-House. I'm pretty sure that God placed her as my roommate for a reason. We talked a whole lot about so many things, including God. I really liked her. This was actually my first time in college to ever have a roommate. Too bad it only lasted a week. Anyway, I got to know a few of the RAs pretty well as we shared the same struggles and frustrations during training. It turned out that my OL (orientation leader) from freshman year was an RA too... Edgar is pretty awesome. I love hanging around him because he makes me laugh so freakin much. I also bonded pretty well with the baby of our staff, Mel. She's small like me.. but power-packed... like me too. She's only a second year and is turning 19 in a few weeks... but she's definitely a confident woman who knows what she wants. I like that. I also met another RA named Richard. I think I bonded with him the most... wait, no. I know I did. For some reason, we clicked. I think it was our mutual obsession with Napoleon Dynamite. If any of you who are reading this haven't watched that movie... call me up and I'd be glad to go with you and see it again. Hilarious. Anyway... He's this Korean cowboy (by cowboy I mean, he loves his cowboy hat, and worked on a ranch and all that good stuff. very cool.) dude from Pasadena. But he's not the typical Korean dude... the kind I knew from grade school. He's definitely different... and I think that's why I like him. He's really into music-- to be more specific, the guitar, John Mayer, and country. Country? Yeah... country. At first I was like... um, could we please change the station? But it kinda grew on me and I'm starting to like it. My favorite country songs right now are Gretchen Wilson's "Redneck Woman" and Tim McGraw's "Live Like You Were Dying." Go listen to them. Me likey. Rich is a Poli Sci major and he knows a lot about politics and the election this year. At least, to me he does. Especially since I have no idea what I'm talking about when it comes to the election and politics. Anyway, I think the best part about him is that he makes me laugh all the freakin time. During training, we were always crackin jokes and being obnoxious. We always joke that our supervisors are going to fire us cuz we're so flippin rowdy. I'm definitely glad I met him.

We went on a retreat to Pacific Palisades during our second week of training. That was fun. We stayed at this retreat house called Aldersgate Retreat House. Supposedly it's haunted. Being the extreme scaredy cat that I am, I sat out of all the scary story sessions and the Sardines (backwards hide and seek in the dark). We got to go to 3rd street. That was fun since I haven't been there in so long. We also went to the Museum of Tolerance. The last time I went there, I think I was in middle school. I love field trips. Anyway, that was really interesting. At the end of our retreat we went to this meditation center called Lake Shrine. The place was nice and peaceful. I got a little meditation done, but Rich and I, being the obnoxious kids that we are, were messing around with my digital camera and interviewing people. Crazy kids.

When we got back, our last week was mostly sessions and preparing for the residents to come. I was so nervous and scared. I think I was most nervous for the building meeting. I had to do that one alone. We'll talk more about that later though. Anyway. So I'm the RA for Africa Hall and we had to choose themes for our buildings. What theme could be more appropriate than The Lion King? I know right?! It's perfect. I made door tags for each door with clipart from the movie and I found a font that looked "African." I also made a newsletter that I must say looks pretty darn good. Each floor has their own character to name their suite: Mufasa, Sarabi, Simba, Nala, Zazu, Rafiki, Timon, and Pumba. They actually use them to identify which part of the building they're in! That's exciting to me. But then again, I get excited about everything.

Move-in weekend was pretty smooth. There were tons of parents with their cameras... taking pictures of their babies' dorm rooms.. I even saw a mom cry as she kissed her daughter goodbye. How sweet :'( Surprisingly, all the events during Welcome Week had awesome attendance. Freshmen came out to meet people and to get free food... which is always worth letting your "too cool for school" act go. The biggest surprise to me was the attendance at our Glow in the Dark Capture the Flag event. About 400 residents showed up! We gave half of them blue glow in the dark necklaces and the other half orange. They went crazy... After about 10-15 min of that, we decided to switch things up and play the biggest game of Dodgeball ever. It was hilarious. OH MY GAS. Let me tell you. I was dying of laughter... mostly because of Edgar though. He was screaming at the kids... "YOU'RE OUT!" and reffing the game. I love that man. So entertaining.

The All Campus Dance was interesting as well. Mind you... I've never gone to any of these events during the past two years that i've been here at UCSD. I felt like a freshman... but cooler though cuz I knew hella people and cuz I was wearing my oh so cool RA name tag that the reslife staff so graciously gave us. Speaking of gracious gifts... before I go on with the dance details, let me tell you that I freakin love my supervisors! At our last dinner together during training, we all got free whiteboards, school supplies, and $20 to Pier 1 Imports! Geez... You probably guessed that I was pretty darn excited about that. I was going crazy and danced all around the tables and the waiters and waitresses. Good thing we were eating outside too, cuz they would've probably asked me to leave had we been inside!

Ok. So back to the All Campus Dance. That thing was freakin packed! They held it on Library Walk just outside of Price Center. My friends were djing and emceeing... so talented are my prens... I tell you. Anyway, hardly anyone recognized me because of my haircut. I got double takes from everyone I waved to. I saw Samie, Ellen, and a bunch of KP folks. It was fun for about an hour, but after Rich and I had an awful time trying to find each other using our ever so useful cell phones (not really, they were useless since there's barely any signal in Price Center and the music was way too loud to have a conversation anyway)... we decided to leave.

Also... during this past month, I've been to the beach more times that I've been the past two years I've been here in San Diego. I've tried surfing too... It's pretty fun, but definitely something I have to work on. Hopefully by the end of this year, I'll be decent enough for you to call me a real San Diego surfer girl. HA. yeah right.

The UnOlympics were fun too. It's a competition between all six colleges at UCSD for the Golden Shoe. Basically it's a day of field games, cheers, and dances. Last year ERC won. This year, although we danced and screamed our hearts out, we got 3rd place. Das ok. Next time na lang.

I got to see my EmBeeZiuM family this week... Mark, Bien, and Miguel. It's crazy how much one summer can do. I really missed them this summer and I know we've all grown a whole bunch in different ways. They're all really involved in InterVarsity Christian Fellowship now that Banyuhay has merged with them. Last year our schedules were almost the same. This year, I'll be doing totally different activities. I'm gonna miss doing almost everything with them. Maybe we'll still do our weekly dinners together just for the heck of it. I'm getting so sad just thinking about it all... boo.

So classes started yesterday and I've kept my schedule pretty chill since I knew that this quarter would be busy. I have 3 psych classes and one philosophy class. We'll see how 4 classes go for me... I might drop one. I'm really interested to see how this year goes. I'll be involved in different things, hanging around with different people and growing in so many different ways. Last night I was so homesick and lonely that I pulled out all my pictures from high school and stuff. Ellen, my best friend from middle school, visited me... I'm glad she did. It's good to have her here. She reminds me of home. I talked to Jessica Johnson from high school for a while too. I miss her. She's so busy at USC already! Oh I emailed my Senior Class Advisor, Debbie too yesterday. That's how much I miss people from back home.

Mel came to my rescue last night when I was lonely. We watched How to Lose A Guy in Ten Days together. Good movie. We were big bums on the couch eating cookies and cream ice cream--- mmmm... so good. Rich bought a whole gallon of it cuz we eat it so much. Anyway, I was so into the movie that I called my mom an hour late last night--- SORRY MOM! I hope she's not mad at me anymore. I missed my family a whole bunch last night. I listened to Nini's "The Nearness of You" rendition. It made me feel better. Thanks Ni.

Anyway, I think that's all for now. I'm adding pictures to this blog to show you all the full experience of my RA year.

"You think you know... but... you porgat." --Jaymar Cabebe, "The Diary of A Pilipino" from Touchblue.net.