First Day at UCLA
Today was my first full day on-campus at UCLA. Living in the 8th floor of my dorm building, going about my day as a typical student. There are several hundreds of people regularly packed within this 10-story, each story identical to all others and each room being identical in furnishings to the others. I feel anonymous because to a large degree, my individual identity has been displaced by my group identity. To the strangers around me, my identity can be reduced down to a finite set of characteristics of my life. Where I live. What my major is. What classes I take. What my sleep schedule is. What my meal plan is. What clubs I'm in. I am constantly reminded that I am but one of an uncountably large horde of people buzzing about their lives, each life carrying an infinitely intricate set of thoughts, emotions, and attitudes; and yet each life remaining in large part oblivious to the intricacies of the many others like it: the tragedies, the celebrations, the monotonies of even the pe...