By Kurt Ibaraki

This is it. This is my last semester at USC. These past three years have gone by so fast. I remember how excited I was when I first got on campus. My parents helped settle me into my new dorm room and after a couple of hours of reorganizing my room, they left me to start my new life at USC. The first couple of weeks were not easy, but slowly, USC became my second home. USC has so much to offer and I wish that I had more time. However, there are still a couple of months left for me. As a result, I have compiled a small bucket list of things that I want to do before I leave.

First, I would love to study in every library here at USC. I have only been to Leavey, Doheny, and the VKC library in my three years here. More often than not, I have spent countless hours studying at Leavey, but with so many other libraries available, a change of pace would be nice.

Second, I want to enter every building. Being a Neuroscience major, I often find myself in SGM, THH, and ZHS. While there are so many buildings here, I have probably only been in half of them. I would love to see the insides of the buildings in which business and engineering majors spend the most time.

Third, I want to go to sporting events that are not football. I always get emails from USC Athletics, highlighting different sporting events, but I have never considered going to them. I think it is time to change that. All of the sporting events are free anyways, so I might as well stop by and watch a sport I have never seen live before.

Fourth, I want to try more food places. Just this summer, my roommate and I ate at a couple of Mexican restaurants around the neighborhood. Two in particular, La Barca and La Valentina, both located on Vermont, served amazing wet burritos. That’s when I realized how much I was missing out on the diversity that LA brings. Just a couple of miles away, we have Little Tokyo, Koreatown, and Chinatown. There are so many different options and it would be a shame not to try it all. In fact, I would love to eat at a really high-end restaurant with all my friends once before I leave as a celebration of our time here.

Finally, I want to visit more places in Los Angeles. There are so many things to see in LA. Hollywood alone has an attraction on every block. Places like the Broad, LACMA, the Last Bookstore, and the Farmer’s Market are all well within traveling distance. Even a visit to the Getty Museum would be amazing. I would also love to go to the Natural History Museum and the Science Center. Both are free for USC students, so stopping by once or twice before I leave would be a fun experience.

With USC being located in the heart of Los Angeles, there’s never a dull day here. While I may not have fully appreciated USC my first three years, I definitely will not let my last year go by without taking in all that I can. There is still so much left for me to do before I leave, and I cannot wait to start tackling this list. While I may not be able to finish it, just the experience itself will be enough for me.

Featured image from Wikimedia Commons

Kurt is now a USC alum. He majored in Neuroscience and minored in Health Care Studies. He was born in Los Angeles, but moved to Yorba Linda. Kurt loves to meet new people and learn about their unique stories. In his free time, Kurt loves to go to the gym, play basketball, dragonboat, and watch TV.