By: Lauren Liang ‘23

It’s that time of the semester again (or is it always that time of the semester?): exam season is upon us. While it might be tempting to just wing it, you can better prepare yourself with these studying tips.

By: Kristen Adams ‘25

Hopped off the plane at LAX with a dream and my cardigan! After living on the East Coast for 19 years of my life, here’s what I’ve learned from attending college in Los Angeles, almost 3,000 miles away from home.

By: Ngai Yeung ‘23

Like many people, I’ve never been to an observatory before, nor did I have any plans to do so. But when I saw the Thematic Option honors program’s latest field trip to Mount Wilson Observatory in the San Gabriel Mountains, I suddenly had a new bucket list item to cross off.

By: Chia Okwaraibekwe ‘26 (USC Student Life Guest Blogger)

Every time I found myself at a hospital or clinic, I desperately searched for people who looked like me. As I grew older and started to become more knowledgeable about the hidden truths in life, I began to realize that being both Black and a woman would make navigating the medical field more difficult than I anticipated.

By: Lanie Brice ‘24

When I moved to LA, I didn’t know a single person who lived here. I felt isolated and like I was missing out on huge parts of my new city since I would only visit places I could walk to from the USC area. For a long time, I thought I had to wait to make friends to explore LA, and that mindset only made the loneliness I was experiencing when I first moved worse. Eventually, I decided I couldn’t wait around for other people to start having fun and enjoying my new home; through that process, I discovered that I really love exploring on my own! I know so many people are hesitant to venture out by themselves, so I thought I’d share what I’ve learned along the way that might make it feel a bit less daunting. If you want to actually see what it’s like, I also vlogged my trips to Los Feliz and Echo Park and the week I went to Studio City, Hollywood, and the Grove!

By: Kelsey Cheng ‘25

It’s the gameday of the year––the USC vs UCLA football game. After a year-long hiatus due to COVID-19, Trojans are welcoming back decades-long traditions during Rivalry Week. The days leading up to the big game against our crosstown rival are filled with history and spirit. If you didn’t get a chance to see it for yourself, learn more here about how Trojans prepared to face the other LA school last Saturday!

By: Dara Udobong ‘23

Media depictions of college tell us that we’ll be having sleepovers every other day, party-hopping on Thursday nights, and having the best time of our twenties surrounded by our new built-in best friends. For some of you, this might already be your life. For others, none of this might feel familiar at all. If this is you, you’re not alone: a lot of USC students have shared their stories (of their successes and failures) at making meaningful friendships during this very peculiar semester.

By: Lanie Brice ‘24

We all know by now that prioritizing your mental and physical health is a must, but it’s definitely easier said than done as students. At this point in the semester, we’re probably all more than a little tired and in need of a break, so I’ve compiled a list of five tips to help you make the most out of your days off.

By: Sydney Fiorentino ‘24

With school, exams, extracurriculars, and social life, there is always so much going on. One minute you have to do a homework assignment, and another you have to run to a club meeting. But do you ever have a moment where you do absolutely nothing? The moment where you don’t think about all the things you have to do and simply just live in the moment?

By: Dara Udobong ‘23

Its already been more than 2 months since our return to campus, but honestly, it still feels surreal to be back. With a year and a half away from the great Tommy Trojan himself, 2 graduating classes fresh out of high school, and a new-found appreciation for life itself, everyone seems to be diving headfirst into getting the college experience.

By: Dara Udobong ‘23

It might just be October, but I already feel like we’ve been at this for ages. Can we attribute this mid-term fatigue to their namesake exams? Or is it more of a heavier transition from online school to being in-person again? Either ways, old or new, senior or freshman, this semester has been a huge learning curve for all of us, so here are a couple of ways we think you could make this break live up to its name:

By: Dara Udobong ‘23

I started my USC journey back in Fall 2019. I had almost no idea what to expect: I’d only been to LA once before, barely knew if I was even ready to do this whole school thing again (after the most restful gap-year experience ever), and knew almost no one that was starting at USC in my grade. People from my high school rarely (if ever) came all the way out to the West Coast simply because it’s too far away from home, so I already felt like a fish out of water from the jump.