The Arboretum wins first-ever “Best Cry Spot” category, and students attest that it is a deserved title
By JALAN TEHRANIFAR — features@theaggie.org
Did you fail your midterm? Drop your coffee on your brand-new white shirt? Get in a bike accident at the Silo circle? Well don’t hold back your tears, the Arboretum is the perfect place if you need to cry it out.
Fifty-eight percent of respondents voted that the Arboretum is the best place to cry on campus in this year’s Best of Davis survey. Crying in school hallways is totally for high school — real college students know that the secret to the undergraduate experience isn’t not crying at school, but crying in nature at school, and where better than the UC Davis Arboretum? Plus, the Arboretum runs parallel to most of UC Davis’s main campus buildings, making it within reach from virtually anywhere on campus.
Tini Yu, a first-year art studio major, has never cried at the Arboretum but said that she sees the potential of the space.
“I feel like the Arboretum is such a private place to cry,” Yu said. “Because there are so many trees and plants, you can easily hide in there if you need to cry without anyone seeing you. Also, I live in the Tercero dorms and don’t want to cry in front of my roommates so it’s nice that the Arboretum is right behind the dorms. If I ever needed to cry I could just cross the street and go cry in front of the lake while the ducks laugh at me.”
Carly Klinger, a first-year political science major, said that she shed some tears along the Arboretum path during her very first week on campus.
“I actually cried there once,” Klinger said. “I think it was during move-in week. I hadn’t made friends yet so I was exploring campus alone and I was at the Arboretum and I just stood there and cried. The vibes were actually 10-out-of-10, I definitely recommend it.”
Ellie Raymond, a first-year communication major, shared that she cried in the Arboretum before she was even a student here.
“The Arboretum deserves this win,” Raymond said. “I remember a year ago, my family and I drove up to Davis after I got accepted into the school to see the campus. We were walking around campus and we got lost in the Arboretum and I remember I was crying but now I can’t remember what I was crying over.”
According to students, the Arboretum has it all; between its miles-long walking loop and hidden benches, picnic tables and tunnels, the crying possibilities are endless. It begs the question: Is the Arboretum waterway made up of the tears of past students?
Written by: Jalan Tehranifar — features@theaggie.org
