Where to Hangout with your SO at UCI
With UCI’s beautiful nature-filled campus, and overall relaxed campus vibe, there’s a lot of nice places to spend time in, and around UCI. The question begs to differ, which specific spot works out the best for what you’re looking for out of your date? Let’s find out. This article will not include food spots due to the large amount of amazing restaurants surrounding the UCI area.
Let’s Just Chill
These are the places you could go to just chill with your significant other(SO), embrace the relaxed SoCal lifestyle, and just have a good time.
Aldrich Park
In my experience, Aldrich park is an awesome pitstop between classes to just sit and take a break from a busy day. If you happen to have some more free time on your hands, this is a great place to just sit and chill out with your SO. Hammock’s are a great idea, with trees close enough to engage in some midday napping and well kept grass that makes for perfect picnics! Yes, this is a well known place to hangout, but I thought I’d include it because it’s the staple “relaxing at UCI” spot.
ICS Buildings Outdoor Seating
Down the steps from the McDonnell Douglass Engineering Auditorium and between the ICS building and Engineering tower is the prime outdoor seating space at Irvine. This is an awesome place to come chill with your SO, especially if you don’t have too much time. The area has outdoor sofas for you to relax on, and is a nice place to hangout in general. Keep in mind though, there is a lot of foot traffic throughout this area, so it is a noisier place to be hanging out.
Study Buddies
Let’s say you don’t have too much free time on your hands because you’re busy studying for that big exam you have coming up later this week, or you have a big essay due, so the only time you can spend with your SO is studying. What are some of the best places to go on study dates, outside of the standard Langston Library, the Gateway building, and Starbucks by The Hill?
Paul Merage Lobby
If you’re looking for someplace a little more social, the Paul Merage Lobby is a fantastic space to study with your SO. An area designed for collaboration, you can often go and find many students working on group projects, just hanging out between classes, or studying there. The area welcomes people having conversations, and in my experience makes for some of the most fun times studying. If you get hungry you can always go to the Au Bon Pain in the same building or get some free coffee from across the courtyard. If you decide you want something a little quieter with a better view, you can always go upstairs and outdoors to the balcony that overlooks the gorgeous school of business, which is especially pretty at night when the string lights are on!
Starbucks on Bison Ave
Starbucks may seem like an obvious choice for places to hangout, but this Starbucks is special. With the perpetually amazing weather in Irvine, the outdoor seating at this Starbucks is fantastic, and it being further away from campus makes for a quieter workplace where you can go and hangout, drink coffee, and have a good time. The view from here is really nice, and they’ve had games set out such as cornhole or giant Connect-Four that make for great study breaks.
Something new
Now looking off campus, and the areas surrounding there are some cool things you can go visit with your SO. Yes, you could always go to the standard Newport Beach and eat at the acclaimed Seaside Donuts Bakery (100% worth the hype), but what else can you do?
The LAB Anti-Mall
This shopping center a little under 4 miles away from campus is one of the coolest places I’ve gone since attending UCI. Complete with outdoor art fixtures, sofas, beautiful lights, a hopscotch court, and a number of shops including restaurants, coffee shops, thrift stores, clothing retailers, and barber shops, this Anti-Mall was a one-stop-shop for anything you would need, and it makes for some awesome instagram pictures. I’d highly recommend you come check this place out with your SO, and make a trip out of it due to the high number of shops there!
Little Corona Del Mar Beach
This beach is a little smaller than Newport and Corona Del Mar, the 2 more popular beaches that UCI students attend, and is about 4.5 miles from campus. This beach is a really nice place to enjoy the beautiful SoCal weather, and because it’s not as popular as the main beaches in that area, it’s a little less packed. Come here during sunset for even better instagram pictures, and a view that never gets old.
Day Trips
This may seem a little obvious, but I’m going to include it in here anyways. If you and your SO have a lot of time on your hands, take advantage of the fact that Irvine is situated between two awesome cities to visit, Los Angeles and San Diego and go visit them. Even if you only wanted to go hangout, there’s really vibrant downtown life in both of these cities you can go hangout at, especially at night time.
UCI in general has a lot of cool places to hangout, but the close proximity to two big cities provides for that change of pace in life that a lot of people like to have every once in a while. Especially with the quarter system, it’s easy to settle into a routine to work hard in 10 week blocks, so when you have the time for a break, you and your SO can go on some amazing dates in either of these two cities!
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