Wildly Unprepared in Vancouver

Siena in Stanley Park
By Siena Swift ‘22 The first independent trip I went on was spring break of my first year in college. It was the first time I had organized an entire trip, bought plane tickets and rented an AirBnB. I traveled from Ontario Airport (about a 15-minute drive from campus) to Seattle, where my friend picked me up. I stayed with her at her grandparents’ house in Gig Harbor, an hou...
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Reflections on a Virtual Semester

illustraton of person walking, looking for WiFi signal
By Bryce Kelly ‘23 Illustrations by Teodelina Martelli '23 As the semester draws to a close, and the upcoming months-long vacation ominously approaches, I have decided to reflect on my life as a Virtual Student Remote schooling is new for nearly all of us, and it is at this moment in time that course evaluations and surveys are being sent out to determine What It’s Like T...
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Spiblings for Life

Chris with golden retriever
By Chris Meng ‘23 Every college has its acronyms and funny lingo; Pomona is no exception. From OA and ID1 to AAMP and the QRC, Pomona needs its own dictionary! As a tour guide, we are specifically trained to explain those words that have become colloquial vocabulary to us as Pomona students. However, you still might catch a tour guide slip up as they excitedly talk about the...
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5 Things I Miss About College

"Urban Light" at LACMA
By Siena Swift ‘22 Since I filed for a leave of absence from Pomona College for the fall semester, I’ve been thinking a lot about how much I will miss my college community and Claremont itself during this time. I think most of us miss “normal” (i.e. pre-COVID) life: going out to restaurants, concerts, hugging people outside of your family, being able to be in a room without ...
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Zoom University: College of Pomona

Friends from French, featuring Oliver bunny
By Oluyemisi Bolonduro ‘23 Did you know I’ve never had my first day of classes on Pomona’s campus? Freshman year I started the semester walking to my class at CMC with my roommate, who was walking to Pitzer. This time around, we were chillin’ in our rooms at home, and I sent her a message that said, “annnddd this year it’s on zoom :,,,))”. I don’t know anybody who genuinely ...
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Two Years, Five Highlights

light show at concert
By Siena Swift ‘22 Since Pomona College announced we would be online only for the fall semester, I’ve been reflecting a lot about my time at college. I have a big decision ahead of me: should I take online classes or take a leave of absence from college and hope that I’ll be back on campus soon? Thinking about some of my favorite memories from my first two years at Pomona, a...
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The Chronicles of “MUDD2FRIED”

Sophia's sponsor group at beach
By Sophia Augustine ‘23 As I’m sure you all know from doing your extensive Pomona research (and from many of my peers’ blog posts) all the first-years at Pomona are placed into groups called “sponsor groups,” which consist of the people you live in a hallway with your first year. Two sophomores (or, in my special case, three because our sponsor group was super cool like that...
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Dating in Claremont: A Semi-Exhaustive List of First Date Ideas

Rat figures at the Farm
By Elias van Emmerick ‘21 Pomona is called the Paris of the West about as often as it is referred to as the Venice of the Even More West: rarely. In my opinion, unjustly so. Claremont has an abundance of romantic cafés, swoon-worthy views, and of course, lovely people. This cornucopia of charm is not always a blessing–it can be hard to decide on a place to take that special ...
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10 Moments that Highlighted My First Year at Pomona

Selena hiking to Hollywood sign
By Selena Lopez ‘22 I don’t know about you, but, to me, there has always been something about lists that draws me in. “Top ten places to visit,” “best books to read this break,” “47 things to do while at Pomona”— the list goes on. Do I complete these lists? No … not necessarily. I’m also not good at keeping up with the lists that I make. Daily to-do lists? Can’t follow them....
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How to Start a Club (It’s Really As Easy As the Tour Guides Make It Sound)

club meeting
By Danny DeBare ‘22 When touring Pomona as a prospective student, I distinctly remember the part about clubs. From “250 clubs to join throughout the 5Cs”, to “half a million dollars the Pomona student body doles out,” clubs ground many students’ experience at Pomona. And truly, if you want to create a new experience or bring together a group of students for the first time, f...
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