The Home Away From Home

Noel Lopez

            A new life started for me as I stepped on the campus of UIC. My first thoughts only consisted of fear and frustration. Fear because I had no idea how I was going to manage going to a university and fear also came from not knowing how things would work out. Then there was frustration because every time I tried to do something a new struggle would arise. All these things led me to think about all the negatives, and I forgot about all the positives. Putting my all my pride aside, I spent a few days asking people how I could situate myself. As I was doing so, I realized that the people were very friendly. I didn’t feel as bad as I thought I would asking for help. The library wasn’t as quiet as I thought it would be, but it wasn’t a problem. The place was very clean and up to date with respect to technology. Since time was in my favor I decided to explore. There was one thing that stood out immediately  to me and that was the diversity; there were people every country I could think of. I saw this as a great opportunity to learn about other cultures. There were many people I could talk to more students than professors. I started to feel more at home, and I felt like I was in a safe refuge away from my frustration. I couldn’t get too over confident, however, because it came to my attention most of the conversations that I overheard were about school. Those conversations showed me how disciplined these students were and reminded me to do well in school. The students come here to study, do research or homework, or to simply pass some quality time.

 After situating myself I left the library and sat at the Quad. There was a great amount of people on concrete benches. I realized something the moment I sat down; there once again was a great deal of diversity. As I was walking I noticed how clean the place was regardless of the amount of students there were. There were great differences between the Quad and the library. The Quad was more alive, active, and loud. There was one problem though there were only students. The fact that there were only students there made me think what if a fight or something happens here; where would I go to for help. Other than that everything was okay. The conversations at the Quad were more about passing time and having fun. I eavesdropped on someone talking and I heard someone say, “Who wants to play some basketball.”  And another person spoke about plans for the weekend.  The great thing about this place is that there are fairs held at the Quad, the best part about it is all the free food and drinks.  During these events it is a golden time for you to make new friends or learn about other cultures because, as I stated previously, it is a very diverse community. There are plenty of things to do here from playing catch to taking a long deserved nap, but there is still more! Because of the Quad, I was able to find out about great things UIC has to offer, such as all the different fraternities, clubs, and facilities, like the Recreation Center and Wellness Center which are also free of charge.

I’m sure that there is much more for me to learn about this area that I visited, regardless of the amount of time I spent there. Like every place in the world, it has its disadvantages, but it also has its upside. One just has to learn how to deal with the negatives and look at the positives, but in reality it’s what you want to make of it.