Hola y bienvenido! My name is Connie Ho and I will be one of the two travel columnists for the New U this quarter. I am currently a fourth-year English major studying abroad in Madrid, Spain for the year. I hope to depict my travels, adventures and new experiences in Spain and to inspire other anteaters to study abroad or visit new regions in the world.

You show up to the first day of class ready to tackle the new school year. As your professor begins to lecture, you suddenly realize that you are still in summer mode. You find that you can’t focus enough to take quality notes and can barely understand what is going on. However, if you have a voice recorder and around $9.95 to spend on each hour of class, you may not have to stay in the dark.

“You will not sleep for four weeks. If you love fashion design, it will be the best four weeks of your life,” read an ominous yet exciting email from my Fashion Design Concepts teacher a few days before classes began. This summer, I took two classes in Fashion Design at the Parsons New School of Design.

An increasingly common situation has been hitting our country, which has caused confusion and controversy. This occurrence, known as abbreviations or “abbreves,” has taken a firm hold on our captive, young pop culture generation. I bore witness to this strange, new phenomenon while watching a commercial for a show on MTV in which a young and possibly inebriated man attempted to explain a vernacular based on abbreviated words. He slurred through his elucidation of the meaning of “dece” and “obvi” as merely shortened expressions of “decent” and “obvious.”

Fitness gurus frequently praise the physical and mental benefits of doing yoga and Pilates. But nothing compares to actually doing these alternative workouts yourself. The sweat, the heat and the intensity are more than with any typical workout I’ve ever tried.

Dear Facebook friends: please don’t take this the wrong way, but I feel like there’s something that you should know. I’m glad that you resemble Meredith Grey out of all of the “Grey’s Anatomy” characters, and it’s nice to know that one of the five items you would wield during a zombie attack is a lightsaber, but I’m not interested in taking that quiz or “choosing my own five.” I don’t want to join your Mafia War, nor do I care that you are “movin’ on up in FarmVille!” I hope my lack of cooperation doesn’t affect our online or in-person relationship.

POLO: Men’s water polo easily dispatches weaker opponents, but conference teams ahead will pose a challenge.

SOCCER: Young team doing better than last season, getting solid contributions from freshmen.

WOMEN’S VBALL: Pestolesi, Piggott, and Robertson lead the charge as UCi is ranked nationally early on.

When I came to UC Irvine in the fall of 2006, I was not expecting much school spirit for athletic programs. I was not attending a school like UCLA or USC where it is customary to paint your face and tailgate before football games. However, I acquired a certain love for UCI athletics during my freshman year when I would walk to the men’s basketball games at the Bren Events Center from my dorm in Mesa Court. I usually attended the games just to relax and talk to some friends. Every game would go down to the final minute, so there was always a reason to stay and watch.

SOCCER: Nationally ranked and motivated from last year’s Tournament run, UCI starts off well.