Today I met with my new advisor, a really great urban design prof who already knows me from my oh-so-distant undergrad years (harhar). We chatted for a little while about course planning and she asked me if things "felt different now."

Boy, I couldn't even begin to tell her how different Berkeley feels now.

Everything looks the same on campus. A good number of my close Cal friends remain nearby. Sproul is still filled with students. The Campanile still marks the hours with its carillion. The football team is still nationally ranked (go bears!) I see the same professors walking down the halls of Wurster. The bums still plague the sidewalks of Telegraph.

But there are so many new people I've met, so many professors I still haven't taken classes with, so much I still have not seen or experienced on this campus, in this city, or in the Bay Area. I told her that, and she seem very pleased to see me happy and confident with my choice to come back here.

There's much more to it than those things though. I've moved from Northside to Southside, and the more I think about the difference between these two sides of campus, the more I realize how highly symbolic this switch is.

I will always cherish my undergrad years...my "Northside years". Hehe. Like Northside, they were relatively quiet and peaceful. They were safe...or at least gave the impression of being so. Northside was the perfect setting for what was a very reflective time in my life.

Now I'm on Southside, I've placed myself in the middle of the milieu. I've deliberately put myself in the position to take full advantage of all that Cal and Berkeley have to offer me. I'm no longer hiding away up on a hill looking down from above on all the things I knew I was missing out on.

It's a completely new experience for me, kind of like a rollercoaster. And so far, I'm loving the ride.