Ana Padurariu

I started biking around campus about half a year ago when my ankles couldn't handle walking everywhere anymore. I used to bike a lot back home but I didn't realize how much harder it is to do so in an area with so many hills. It's weird to say this but I feel kinda cool pealing around on a bike when many others use electrical scooters now. I think they're much more reliable in terms of safety and I enjoy being old-fashioned. I am guilty of using a car when needing to get my weekly groceries as carrying 50 pounds worth of food up and down the hills does not sound so pleasant. I do think that I will continue using a bike for many many years to come even though my friends sometimes make fun of me for it. Feeling the wind when riding around just reminds me how refreshing the fresh air is and how wonderful it is that my body is healthy enough to let me bike around as I've been in too many instances when that wasn't possible.

Recycling and composting is definitely something that I have not taken so seriously ever since moving to LA. Back in Toronto, almost every household have different garbage bins that each serve a different purpose. There were also separate days when the garbage truck came; one for normal garbage and recycling, and one for compost. Not just my parents, but my elementary school was very good at teaching what needs to be recycled.
As I am moving into my own apartment soon, I can take the initiative to buy a recycling and compost bin and educate those that come over. It will take some more effort on my part to find compost drop-off areas and something similar for recycling. It would be good to start this as soon as possible to get back into these good habits rather than just putting everything in the garage bin.

When first coming to live in the heart of Los Angeles last year, I thought that the beaches were the only places to escape the city. As I met more people, I realized that there are so many places to go hiking within a 30-minute car drive. I almost started taking all the greenery for granted back home because it was all around me. So being separated from nature for about 4 months really deepened my appreciation for it. I now notice all the flower bushes that surround bruinwalk, the century-old trees that have roots that are thicker than their branches, and the birds singing at 7am while I'm biking to training. It truly makes me feel so blessed that I get to attend a school like UCLA.

I grew up in a family where I needed to eat all the food off my plate in order to not get in trouble, or my dad would purposely eat less to have room for the rest of my food. This goes to show that the environment
I had growing up taught me how not to waste food. As I started cooking for myself, I began to cook sweet potatoes with the skin on and cutting up the stalk from beets and putting it into my salad. At one point I tried eating a kiwi with the skin on but that was a little too much. There's also a business called Imperfect Foods that delivers groceries that would otherwise go to waste which I think is a really cool initiative. A teammate introduced me to it last year and it's a great thing to have when needing to meal prep.

Mindful eating has been a practice that I only started to seriously implement during my second year of college. For about 7 years prior, I would rush to eat my lunch in the 15 minutes I had between school and practice, and the same goes for dinner. This led to either eating too much or too little as my body and mind did not have enough time to register and digest the nutrients I had just fed it. Half an hour later I would find myself craving snacks or it had just left me sluggish.
By started to consciously eat my food, the main thing I have noticed is just how good it tastes (not to brag about my cooking or anything). It made me realize that I took my mother's cooking for granted for too many years. Praying is another aspect that has helped me find more peace and mindfulness, not just during meals but throughout my days. Thanking God for farmers and all the resources that went into creating just one meal has enlightened me with a new appreciation for the world around me. Praying with others or simply being internally grateful for the people that surround me while we eat always reminds me of how blessed I am to have them.