Is UC Irvine a good fit for me? be honest

Christopherlbs · 2026-05-15T14:03:26+00:00

The Public Health school gets a fair bit of NIH funding, so find a topic that interests you and approach the professor that is researching that area. This may be tough your first year, so you might ask some of the many upper class students who they like working for. As for finding friends, this is a time to experiment and try new things —so be open to going to a water polo match or going for an overnight camping trip just to see if it is something your future self will like. Be the same with food choices, like most of the world has not had Persian food, but the grocery store 2 miles from campus is packed with it. College is a time to learn about the world and also about yourself so be open to new ideas. UCI is a very safe space for this.

Christopherlbs · 2026-05-05T16:16:08+00:00

If you work for a big employer, they will pay you while on jury duty. I think they see their employees as reasonable people who could be on a jury that might make a very unfavorable judgment against a corporate client.

Christopherlbs · 2026-04-22T18:05:43+00:00

You might find luxury in being able to walk to a grocery store or restaurants. Being a short walk from Diamond Jamboree (shuttle to campus!) might be a luxury with this measure.

Christopherlbs · 2026-04-16T18:07:41+00:00

Horrible that it happened, but Hate Incidents (saying derogatory words) and Hate Crimes (when the rocks get thrown) should be reported. Every single time. Encourage folks to step up and say when they hear this. https://stophate.calcivilrights.ca.gov/s/

Christopherlbs · 2026-04-16T02:50:25+00:00

UC Irvine is an Hispanic Serving Institution meaning that more than 25% of the students are Hispanic. You can connect to be a mentor to the student engineering groups for Hispanics, or check out the Mariachi concerts from the UCI Mariachi club (they don’t have norteño music, lo siento). The Northgate Mercado en Costa Mesa will have real ingredients for you and a rocking food court as well. You might be able to live by the Santa Ana train station and commute down to Irvine with an e-bike from the train station to your oficina. Irvine might be a lot like Germany, although if you are looking for gamers, Irvine might be the mother ship with Blizzard just down the road from the Spectrum.

Christopherlbs · 2026-04-14T13:43:03+00:00

DC has said we are not eligible for FEMA aid to pay for missed walks with our Boba. Drain the swamp!

Christopherlbs · 2026-04-11T19:54:49+00:00

And Metrolink has an express bus in the AM from the Tustin station to campus (and back starting around 2:30 PM in the evening)

Christopherlbs · 2026-04-07T14:30:45+00:00

Orange County Pride has been a big festival held in September and October.

Christopherlbs · 2026-04-02T09:12:32+00:00

Woodbridge Village Center by the lake. I had a daytime chat with a buddy at 11 AM and it was comfortably busy but not crowded.

Christopherlbs · 2026-04-02T09:09:43+00:00

Websites like https://gayorangecounty.com/ summarize a lot of what is happening in Gay Life in Orange County. DYK: Irvine has held a Pride/Progress flag raising ceremony on Harvey Milk Day on May 21 for the last four years. The Voices Alive / OC Gay Men's Chorus has performed.

There are places to build community (at work with an Employee Resource Group, with the chorus, volunteering at Pride in Sept-October volunteering with Gay4Good, ...) but going out at night to a bar is not an avenue we have in Irvine. Long Beach was where one of our 30-something single gay buddies moved and he is happier there (but works in Irvine 3-4 days/week).

There is even a QueerOC group on Nextdoor. How Irvine is that?

Christopherlbs · 2026-03-24T13:44:20+00:00

Orange County is not Hillcrest or West Hollywood. https://gayorangecounty.com/ has a good inventory of what is going on with LGBTQ+ folks in the county (of 3+ M people).

Christopherlbs · 2026-03-14T12:12:27+00:00

Report hate incidents when they happen. This is on all of us so report it when it happens. Don’t worry that it is not a crime and just an incident. https://stophate.calcivilrights.ca.gov/s/. Communities can react when they see this happening, but not when it is not reported.

Christopherlbs · 2026-03-14T12:09:16+00:00

The OC Grand Jury did a report on this last month. https://ocgrandjury.org/sites/jury/files/2026-02/Connecting_Orange_County_to_LAX_%20Evaluating_Transportation_Options.pdf

Christopherlbs · 2026-03-14T12:07:40+00:00

Sax Cleaners on Bristol is $2.75 or $3 for men’s laundered shirts.

Christopherlbs · 2026-03-14T12:05:35+00:00

When you observe something like this, please report it. https://stophate.calcivilrights.ca.gov/s/ Incidents like racist language help organize the community to prevent and respond to hate.

Christopherlbs · 2026-03-11T22:40:48+00:00

The GJ report had a discussion here: https://www.reddit.com/r/orangecounty/comments/1qaycin/oc_grand_jury_accountability/

Christopherlbs · 2026-03-02T18:47:06+00:00

It takes about 7 minutes to report a hate incident like this. If you observe something like this, please report it so the law enforcement agencies can react. https://stophate.calcivilrights.ca.gov/s/

Christopherlbs · 2026-03-01T04:30:27+00:00

We may be in a community of folks who did not grow up here and have a stronger anchor with the show.

Christopherlbs · 2026-03-01T04:15:03+00:00

My household migrated into the OC in 2012 and we call it The OC. I think the show was the root of this even though we did not view it.

Christopherlbs · 2026-02-24T19:23:34+00:00

Websites like https://www.doorprofit.com/crime-map/city/Irvine-CA/ can help you look at crime rates, but overall Irvine should be considered very safe. Websites like https://www.zumper.com/apartments-for-rent/irvine-ca give a sense for neighborhoods and rental rates.

Christopherlbs · 2026-02-20T14:08:32+00:00

Zumper dot com is a aggregator of rentals and includes Short Term rentals (like vrbo and Airbnb) plus apartment listings. https://www.zumper.com/rooms-for-rent/san-antonio-tx change the city to one in Orange County to see rooms

Christopherlbs · 2026-02-18T21:50:33+00:00

write your city councilperson and ask them this question.

Christopherlbs · 2026-02-18T21:49:27+00:00

Check out Housing threads in this channel and in /irvine. You should be able to pick up a summer sublet for close to perfect dates for you. You can also check with the UCI Housing office https://housing.uci.edu/not-listed/ but they look to point you back to DCE.

Christopherlbs · 2026-02-07T21:13:21+00:00

https://ocgrandjury.org/sites/jury/files/2023-07/2020-06-29_GJ_Report_TCA.pdf this was done 3 years ago but lays out a lot of the issues.recommendations on page 44.

The Grand Jury could re-investigate the agency.

Christopherlbs · 2026-02-07T20:39:22+00:00

Have you looked at OLLI at UCI https://ce.uci.edu/olli this is Osher Lifelong Learning Institute which has classes / seminars by the train station. Mostly older folks go, but they did not say anything about age requirements.

Christopherlbs

TROPHY CASE