| Yesterday, I went to church with my roomate and met some of her college friends. I've never felt older, being surrounded by first through third years who were all chatting about the stress of finals. I gave them a ride home to their respective dorms after the service was over and struck up a conversation with one of the first years who was sitting shotgun. After clearing up some of the usual misconceptions I get around here (No, I'm not a college student anymore. No, I didn't go to UVA. No, I didn't grow up in Virginia. No, I wasn't born in China), we were finally able to get onto some real conversation. It turns out he was from Washington state. Excited that I was in the presence of another West-coaster, I told him that I went to college up in Northern California and that my parents were still in San Jose. He asked me where I went for school; I said Berkeley. He said, "Oh, I almost applied there, but my dad said that he would disown me if I attended such a crazy liberal school... that's why I'm at UVA". The first words out of my mouth were "I'm sorry!". I realized that my outburst was probably offensive on a few different levels later on, but I think it's hilarious and kind of sad that the first impression I get from people when they find out I went to Cal is this immediate sense of distaste, mixed with awe. It's interesting. I have a feeling the word "Berkeley" has a much larger impact outside of California. It's associated with all the liberal fanatics, the dirtiness, the "crazies". There's a reason why it's nicknamed "Bezerkley" and I see it in the faces of all the Virginians that I've introduced myself to. I felt sorry for the freshman because I can't imagine not applying to Cal and not going if I was accepted. Berkeley's dirty, it has wildly liberal professors, affluence, deprivation, homelessness, professors that look homeless, people yelling nonsensical things on street corners, people yelling things that make sense in the same fashion, diversity and a litany of other things that make Cal, Cal. And I wouldn't have it any other way. My love for Berkeley has only grown exponentially since coming to Charlottesville and UVA. UVA's nice - it's austere, it's clean, it's symmetrical and very... sterile. Very Jeffersonian. But that's all I can really say about the campus. There's no vibrancy, no hint of something more. I can't imagine how UVA could change someone the way Berkeley can and does. I think that's the best part about Berkeley - aside from the academics, the football, the rankings, whatever. Berkeley as a whole is completely kickass. So even though sometimes I feel a little awkward when people make crazy eyes at me and say things like, "Oh, my nephew isn't quite right in his head... he lives in Berkeley now, so I think that's the best place for him" (someone actually said that to me) when they hear about my alma mater, I also feel a sense of pride. Pride not for my undergraduate degree necessarily, but for the craziness, the people, the ideas and the opportunity to have been influenced by something that not many people get to (or maybe even want to) experience. |
