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An old man in his sixties chants a mantra in a metaphysical center in Anaheim, California. The smell of rose incense and sage permeates across a room with high ceilings and old carpeting.

A trip to the supermarket is reassuring when you find that you’re following your budget. Yet, while manufacturers aren’t raising prices on your favorite products, they are coming up with clever ways to offset rising costs by downsizing products, which means charging the same price for a lighter package.

PHOTOS: Your weekly photographs from the New University Staff photographers.

Money makes the world go around. Although I am a true believer that money does not bring happiness, it is a necessity, especially if you are attending a UC. After my first year at UC Irvine, I have come to the realization that money is definitely not easy to manage. While paying for presents this December, my savings account reached an all-time low: $16.45. For the first time, I actually sat down and realized that instead of living pay check to pay check, I needed to start managing my money.

The night view of Hong Kong from my airplane window showed pitch-black darkness enlivened with gold-illuminated dots everywhere. To me, it looked like a kid’s Lite-Brite creation, with the glowing pegs scattered all around without much thought or purpose. The aerial scene of Hong Kong both excited and scared me. I felt like a child, entranced by the beautiful display of lights and wide-eyed at the thought of being an exchange student in Asia. Though I was excited, there was still that mysterious and empty darkness.

“Good luck, Mallory!” a girl says to me. She has to be joking, walking around to each person and telling him or her “good luck” with a smile on her face. I’m mildly horrified because it’s the opening night for my drama team’s annual Christmas musical and we’re backstage, preparing to begin. Doesn’t she know that it’s bad luck to say good luck in the theatre?

Whether it be a simple T-shirt, skin-tight jeans, a dressy blouse or grey sweatpants, each piece of clothing has a style to communicate. Everything comes with a tone or color that may connect you to the serenity of nature, compliment the color of your eyes or force you to stick out in a sea of people.

This summer I visited family in Seattle. And yes, we took the Twilight tour. But what I discovered on that tour was something much different than the somewhat magical, absolutely cheesy and kind of action-packed world of vampires and werewolves. I discovered the actual lives of the people living there and what I observed is far beyond what the books describe.

It was a sweltering summer day in a village outside of Nairobi, Africa. Jenna Tourje, a second-year graduate student in urban and regional...

In between not failing, making and spending money, maintaining my relationship with friends and not becoming unhealthy, I don’t know if I have time to even think about dating. Grades, sleep, social life, money, future, dating; pick two. Does dating even fit in there? We’re supposed to be at college to learn anyway, right? Maybe the single life is the way to go for college.

Rose Parades, resolutions, and more inside from your New University photographers.

The prototypical holiday season usually induces images of roaring fires, shiny presents and families convening from around the world to gather together around a well-laden table. The part that usually gets left out of the imagination is the one of bad weather, cramped planes and crowded airports. Images of gently-falling snow morph into the harsh reality of torrid blizzards that keep aircrafts circling runways for hours. Gingerbread houses? Eggnog? Ha!