Sun God and Surfing!

The 25th annual Sun God festival happened last Friday. This is by far UCSD’s largest single social event (basically, cause=inebriation and effect=rowdiness). Drinking was commonplace from the morning, as some students went into class intoxicated, attempting to perform to their academic fullest. Throughout the day, there were various activities set up around campus to warm everyone up for the concert that was to come later on in the evening. Some of these included sumo wrestling (with the puffy suits), massive inflatable slides and obstacle courses, gladiator style battles and waterslides.

Hip hop dance teams performed and the UCSD pep band were in action, entertaining the already much internally entertained crowds. All under the watchful eyes of our Sun God (our most famous statue on campus). Fountains around campus were foamed out, and someone even kayaked down one of them.

Police patrolled around campus as expected, and one of them were attacked on our very own I-Walk! The day provided me with many surprises, including the handcuffing of two of my very own friends, sent to detox cells! The day of mingling crowds culminated with the nighttime concert of 17,000 people. Third Eye Blind rocked the stage earlier on in the evening, and later on in the night rapper T.I urged everyone to get crunk during his performance.

The next morning, I got up early to learn how to surf! Slipping into wetsuits to aid in warmth and buoyancy, I learnt the basic theory behind this sport, and then jumped into the harbour holding our large beginner foam boards. Saturday morning was just to get a feel for the board and basic techniques, before going into the beach on Sunday. The waves at Mission Beach were perfect for our learning surfer selves, as we shuffled our feet to avoid stingray bites and observed beautiful dolphins jumping into the incoming waves. Learning to stand was definitely not as easy as it looked, as many failed attempts got me bruised, battered and saline-filled. However, by the end of the morning, standing on the board for even only a few seconds as the wave carried me towards the shore was rewarding.

On Monday, Al Gore came onto campus to give his famous seminar on global warming. Luckily for us, tickets were free since we were UCSD undergrads. Before his presentation outside the entrance, there were people offering up to $50 to see him! Despite the controversy that is always associated with former politicians advocating issues about the environment, I found him influential in making many good points. A bit of history - Al Gore gained a passion about global warming issues after being mentored by Dr Roger Revelle at Harvard (one of the founders of UCSD, famous for being one of the first scientists to study global warming). This connection with UCSD seemed to ramp up his charisma, and so too the audience.