An Ode to Cal

There is something very strange about how time works in college. I simultaneously feel as if I have been in Berkeley for just two short minutes and as if I have been here for my entire life. I can’t imagine a life without Berkeley, and yet with Cal Day now behind us, I can truly reflect on the experiences I’ve had here during these past seven months.

When I came to Cal Day a little less than a year ago, I was skeptical. I had always planned to go to college on the East Coast, and wasn’t all that interested in staying in California. Why would I stay close to home when New York City beckoned? And then Cal happened. I walked onto the busy, packed campus, and a sea of new people, places, and ideas greeted me. It sounds silly, but the people at the booths waving flyers in my face about this magazine or that club made me feel like there was a community here. The crowds were comforting, the noise was welcoming, and the air was invigorating.

That day, I decided to attend Berkeley. It wasn’t because I received a flyer that changed my life, or a free pen that blew my mind away, or even a sticker that knocked me off my feet. There was something about Cal, a “je ne sais quoi” that brought me down right off my high horse and onto the cement of Sproul Plaza for the next four years of my life. I had been visiting campuses across the country, waiting for that feeling of “just knowing” that everybody had been telling me I’d eventually have – and I finally had it here.

What was it about Berkeley that made me so intrigued, excited, and inspired? I think that after seeing Cal Day again this past weekend, I finally understood it. There is an inexplicable energy about the campus and the people that fill it. A sense of true community is perpetually present, and not just in the way that cheesy college brochures advertise it. These students and professors don’t just fill the campus with their presence, but also with their ideas, dynamisms, and passions.

I’ve also realized that the reason that Berkeley is seen as liberal across the country – aside from the overwhelmingly politically liberal population and history – is more than just political stances. Cal has a deeply ingrained sense of open-mindedness. If I were to make the university a new crest, the motto I would assign it would be, “Berkeley: where you can truly let your freak flag fly.” Judgmental people, while I’m sure they exist, are extremely rare on this campus. Most students don’t care about your race, sexuality, religion, gender, style, or socioeconomic status; this is the most accepting and inclusive community that I have ever experienced.

Cal students don’t judge each other on their appearance or societal category. They recognize the value of all people, and treat them as, well, people! They are interested in your ideas and your personal identity, not an arbitrary measure of social value like the number of piercings you have or the color of your hair. No matter what city, country, or planet you come from, your fellow classmates will be indiscriminately open to you. Whatever strange trend you follow or countercultural ideas you espouse, there is a place for you at Berkeley. There’s a reason that the Free Speech movement happened here – everyone here has something unique to contribute, and we are all willing to listen.

While these are of course generalizations and exceptions must exist, I have yet to encounter them. I have found Berkeley to be a place where you can say and do whatever you want, and be whoever you want, as long as you’re not hurting anybody. Ideas flow freely, and students are unencumbered. We’re laid-back and tolerant, and that’s what makes us who we are as a community. Not to bring the cheese to an even higher and potentially intolerable level, but there really is no place like Berkeley. Where else would a world-renowned professor hold class with a megaphone in the middle of a picket line on a hot Thursday afternoon?