I’ve lived in University Housing all 4 years but I still remember a lot of the fun times I had my Freshman year in IRC Parkside.
I chose my freshman housing purely based on the different types of amenities available. I was looking for housing that had: air conditioning and a more private bathroom vs. a community bathroom. For me, that meant Parkside. My favorite part of living at IRC was:
- The diversity: I got to meet not only a lot of international students from Greece, the Netherlands, China etc. but also a lot of student athletes from living on the same floor as the swim team
- Proximity to Parkside: personally, Parkside dining hall is my favorite on campus dining hall and it was right downstairs! It was nice having unlimited swipes freshman year and being able to go grab food just a step away within seconds
Some of my fondest memories from freshman year housing though were:
- The study rooms: it was great having a quiet place to study at all times outside my bedroom but just close enough (i.e. I wasn’t tempted to take a nap from my bed but didn’t have to walk to far away from home)
- RA activities: the RA’s host a bunch of fun activities that let you explore LA, meet a bunch of other students and get free food! Some of my favorite memories were getting tacos down the street, ice skating in LA Live and getting free In-n-Out. My friend whose an RA at Parkside just held an event for her residents to plant succulents as a nice dorm decoration!
There are so many other cool memories I have looking back on living at Parkside, and to this day I’m still best friends with a lot of the different people (i.e. different hometowns, majors etc.) I met there.
