First-Year Dorms: Mesa Towers
I vividly remember getting an email from UCI Housing in late August, about a month before I moved into college, and I was eager to open the message and absorb the information. The email contained information regarding who my roommates would be, whether I was in Mesa Court or Middle Earth, my room number and mailing address. At the time, all of those details seemed insignificant. Little did I know the large impact that living in Mesa Court would have on my UCI experience.
For my first year at UCI, I lived in Mesa Towers, Caballo. There were three housing towers built in 2016, Playa, Caballo, and Mariposa. The towers hold one-third of Mesa Court residents and are suite style. The common spaces that include a TV, kitchen and recreation spaces are held on the even numbered floors. These dorms are BEAUTIFUL. I remember walking into the towers for the first time and genuinely thinking that they were like a hotel. The construction of the towers are designed for community building. It is a straight hallway with rooms on both sides, my room was towards the end of the hallway, so I inevitably walked past my hallmates multiple times a day. These encounters gave me the opportunity to build bonds with other first-years adjusting to college too. Whether I was passing someone in the hallway and said a quick, “hey!” or I decided to do homework in the hallway for hours, all of these interactions add up to building a feeling of home within the school. Since the hallway is a straight path, there are multiple places to sit and eat or hang out. Tables and lounge chairs are set up, ping pong tables and study rooms at the end of the hall with beautiful sunset views, are all in place to make your living situation feel comfortable.
My roommates and I at the Irvine Spectrum!
Caballo is built right on top of the Anteatery, the dining hall for Mesa Court residents. Y’all, the Anteatery is the best place on campus. It’s truly a place of community gathering for first-years. Whether you’re about to take a midterm and need some food to power your brain, you’re hungry after working out at the ARC, or you just want to meet new friends, the Anteatery is the place to go. I love that all Mesa Court residents go to the Anteatery as their primary dining hall because it gives you a chance to run into friends, meet new people and overall, become fully immersed in the residential community. If you have a meal plan, you can go to the other dining hall, Brandywine, but it’s farther so in the interest of time, most Mesa residents go to the Anteatery. On weekdays, the Anteatery would be open until midnight and had a special dining menu called, “late night.” Late night was from 8 p.m.-closing and some crowd favorites were chicken nuggets, taco Tuesday and ice cream pizookies! There is nothing better than finishing a long day of classes, coming back to my dorm and walking downstairs to eat at the Anteatery with my friends. Those moments of staying at the dining hall for hours, just sitting and laughing are so special and fun! The staff who works at the Anteatery are so kind and an integral part of the Mesa Court community. Many staff members get to know students over the year, ask how our day’s going or how classes are and overall bring positivity to our days. Fun themed dinners often occur, from Hawaiian nights to Valentine’s dinners. The dining staff is intentional about making our residential experience fun and truly cultivated a joyful dining environment.
Picking roommates can either be done randomly or you can request preferences of people on your housing form. There are Facebook pages for each class in which people post bio’s about themselves looking for roommates and older students post information about UCI to help incoming first-years. I found my three roommates through Facebook. We all requested to be roommates on our housing form and were placed together! My roommates were some of my first friends at UCI and it was wonderful to live and grow with girls who supported me throughout my first year of college. I love that our friendships have continued into life after our first year!
No matter where you live, UCI housing provides a great opportunity to build community and find your place within our school. I absolutely loved living in Caballo. I found my best friends there, had some of my biggest moments of personal growth and endless laughs. Living in the dorms was the first time that I felt like UCI was a place I can call home and impacted my college experience in all the best ways!
