Track and Field
In the Silence
"Blonde" Album Listening
Night Hike
We capped off our eventful first week at COSMOS with a fun Friday night hike around the beautiful UCSC campus. The weather was perfect, in the high 60s, and the skies were clear as we explored the campus under the moonlight. The hike was a popular choice amongst students, so we split into groups of about 30 students each. During the hike, we saw lots of wildlife, learned a bit about the UCSC campus history and caught a beautiful sunset!
We started down the path we normally take to get to the Discovery Lectures and crossed many bridges along the way. Along the trail, we spotted many deers grazing in the shrubs. We then walked through the residential buildings in Porter College and got to talk to college students who were preparing for their exams. We spotted a painting of koi fish on the wall just before we came to the koi fish pond. Students were thrilled to see the koi fish pond and grouped around to take many pictures with the fish. The pond also had a small stone statue of a koi fish, a mini waterfall, and a variety of plants. The fish kept coming to the top of the water to get some air and students were thrilled to see their tiny mouths open up. Many students started choosing favorites out of the fish based on their color and motions. The RA’s told us a story that took place at the koi pond a long time ago: There was a frat who took a koi fish from the pond and fed it to his other friends in the fraternity. The campus officials found out and banned the frat. We were shocked and disgusted to hear this — how could someone eat a fish from the pond that was such a beautiful attraction for all the students? Afterwards, we went to see a huge artwork of a red squiggle, the mascot of Porter College. We walked through some more colleges and through the woods until we reached the music center, where we got a clear view of the beautiful sunset. The serene hues of the light wowed all of us. On the way, we saw some bunnies, and more deer. Many people took pictures and soaked in the sights. After stopping for about 20 minutes, we continued our walk back to the campus. It was starting to get dark as we walked through the woods, but we were guided by the moonlight. As we got back to the part of the campus we were familiar with, we were greeted by a banana slug, UCSC’s mascot! The hike was about 3.5 miles and 7,000 steps, and it was full of numerous conversations between COSMOS students and faculty. It was a great way for us to meet new people and relax after our busy week! We learned a lot about the different activities happening in the other clusters and got to experience lots of UCSC’s scenery. Overall, it was a great time, with many beautiful sights, and interesting wildlife. By: Sneha Narayan |