UCLA weekend - Friday

On Friday we woke up early and were met by our grad student reps in the lobby of the hotel. My roommate and I must have been a little late, because when we got off the elevator everyone was standing there, some in suits, looking to see who was coming. Apparently we were two of the four that hadn't come downstairs yet. It was a little intimidating having 20 people, all dressed up, staring at you as step off the elevator.

We then went to the Medical School, which we were told has a building footprint only second to the Pentagon. It soon became obvious of this as we weaved through hallways to finally make it to the BMP Office. There we had some breakfast, met the administrators and began our tours.

The first stop was the NEW Ronald Regan UCLA Medical Center. It is an amazing place. Designed by architect I. M. Pei, the light that enters the main entrance can make it's way to every room (so they said). We got to see a few of the imaging rooms. Next we got a brief campus tour where we got to see the Bruin, which is their mascot, the gym (very important) and other parts of campus. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera on Friday, so not pictures of campus. Sorry :(.

Next we had our interviews. My first one was tough. The guy grilled me pretty hard, but I think I came out OK in the end. The second interview was really laid back. The guy was a Penn State Alum who was originally from Lancaster, so I think that helped my chances a bit. On that note, the Head of the Department was a professor at Penn State Altoona for a while so that is good for me too :).

Then we had a nice lunch in the J.D. Morgan Athletic Hall of Fame, which is huge by the way. UCLA is WAY into sports, duh, and they are proud of it. I mean they have there own sports museum on campus, dedicated to there years of success in almost every sport.

Our day continued with lab tours. We hear talks and saw the research labs from the four different degree options. After all of this, everyone was getting pretty tired. We had about a half hour to take a break and change clothes before going out to dinner. We ate at the Westwood Brewing Company, which doesn't brew beer anymore, but has really good food.

Adam, one of our grad reps, offered to take people out on the town after the dinner. Most people were pretty tired, but a few of us figured that we don't get many opportunities to go out to bars in LA so..... Off we went. Six of us went to a local place that was pretty happening since the Lakers were playing and were on EVERY TV in the bar. Everyone was pretty upbeat, especially when the Lakers won. A couple people from our little group split, and then we went to another bar in Santa Monica called South. It was a pretty cool place. Lots of people, loud music, cool lounge areas, and pool tables. We shot some pool, had a couple drinks and then we back to the hotel. Saturday was another full schedule for us so getting some sleep was on all of our minds, especially those of us from the East coast. :)