Grad students don't just study all the time. There's actually a lot of cool stuff going on around campus such as lectures, social events, and a really nice gym.
And off campus, the Orange County area is a cool place to explore with beaches, mountains, malls, all different types of restaurants, and more.
Informatics Friday Seminars
Almost every Friday afternoon a different lecturer gives a talk in Donald Bren Hall on an Informatics-related topic.
Recent topics have included privacy, human-computer interaction, the significance of code, software debugging, and computer-supported cooperative work. Occasionally in place of the normal Informatics Friday lecture, UCI's Institute for Software Research (ISR) will invite a distinguished speaker to talk about his or her research.
Recent ISR Distinguished Speaker events have included talks such as "Saving the World through Ubiquitous Computing", "Information Visualization for Knowledge Discovery", and "Society as Software." If you're interested in learning more about past, current, or future Informatics seminars, you can view the calendar of events.
Informatics Social Events
Every other Wednesday, the Informatics Graduate Student Association (IGSA) hosts a coffee hour. This is a great way to take a break from studying for some coffee, tea, and cookies and great conversation with your fellow Informatics students and faculty. One Informatics professor has noted that the IGSA Coffee Hour has been a great success:
"There were undergrads, masters, phd students, and faculty from informatics as well as students from other departments on campus. I heard people having conversations about their research, finishing their dissertations, applying to grad school, applying for jobs, and a few personal conversations too. I even heard people talking about new collaborative projects they plan to launch based on their discussions." -Gillian Hayes, Assistant Professor in Informatics
In addition to the IGSA Coffee Hour, every Friday after the Informatics seminar is an Informatics Social Hour. This is another great opportunity to eat some snacks and discuss the recent lecture with fellow students, faculty, and if we're lucky, even the lecturer him (or her) self.
UCI Anteater Recreation Center (ARC)
If you enjoy working out, running, rock climbing, martial arts, dancing, or even cooking, then you definitely want to check out UCI's Anteater Recreation Center. The ARC offers everything from cooking classes to pilates classes to IM sports to beginner surfing and sailing classes. UCI students get to use all the ARC facilities for free and the classes range from about $30-$70 per quarter. That's definitely a better deal than you'll find anywhere else in Southern California. If you want to learn more about the ARC and what it has to offer, visit the website.
Fun Things to Do in Orange County
If you're thinking "that all sounds great, but I really need to get off campus sometimes!" then don't worry, because there are plenty of fun things to do in Orange County.
- Beaches
Some of the best beaches are in Orange County. These include Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Corona Del Mar, Laguna Beach, and Balboa Island (where the famous show Arrested Development takes place!). The best part is that these beaches are warm, sunny, and beautiful all year round! To find out more about the nearby beaches, check out O.C.'s Favorite Beaches.
- Shopping
If you need to stock up on sandals or you just want a little retail therapy, there is no shortage of shopping centers in Orange County. The Irvine Spectrum Center, The District, and Newport Beach's Fashion Island are all outdoor shopping centers with clothing stores, movie theaters, and restaurants. The Irvine Spectrum Center even has an outdoor skating rink in January! South Coast Plaza is a huge indoor mall only 10 minutes from campus with almost every store you could imagine.
And if malls aren't really your thing, you can also check out the Anti-Mall (aka The Lab) in Costa Mesa.
- Restaurants
Right across from the UCI campus is the University Center which has many different types of restaurants including Japanese food, pizza, Veggie Grill, Mexican food, In-N-Out Burger, and various tea shops. In Orange County you can find almost any kind of food you like - sushi, Brazilian steak, pho, mexican, and much more.
- LA and San Diego
Finally, if you want to get out of Orange County, Los Angeles and San Diego are both just an hour away. In Los Angeles you can visit Hollywood and check out Amoeba Records and the Chinese Mann Theater. In San Diego you will find more beautiful beaches, the premiere zoo in North America, and a great nightlife.
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