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This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at UCSC chapter.

 

Around March 27th, I got a mysterious phone call. The CEO of Nook Inc., multi million bell-ionaire Tom Nook called me himself to congratulate me on winning their exclusive desert island getaway package (retail price of 1.5 million bells for only $60, a deal yes, yes?) I packed my bags eager to fly off to paradise. Little did I know how tedious island living would be and that I had once again fallen into the crafty paws of this racoon salesman who would drain my pocket and bank account dry…

 

Upon arriving on the island, Nook put me to work gathering supplies, setting up living accomodations, and even assigned me the role of Resident Representative. With my previous experience as a villager of Maple Town and later position as Mayor of Crescent Town, the islanders entrusted me with the task of naming our new home. A place of warmth, support, fun, beautiful towering trees, and a forest – “Maxwell” – yes, that was it! For those of you who knew me in my previous life (last year irl), I was fortunate to serve as a Crown College residential assistant for building Maxwell. My building was definitely the outdoorsy type, with folx doing just about everything from late night endeavors to the rock climbing gym near downtown Santa Cruz, to picking up an abandoned foosball table on a road trip back from a water polo game and playing some intense competitive foosball at one in the morning. I wanted my island to reflect the sweet, crazy memories I had made last year as a RA and just my overall experience being at Santa Cruz. Isabelle at Resident Services can vouch that Maxwell’s a 4 star beauty with a tad too many items littered across the ground (oops), but definitely a work in progress! The southwest beach is still under renovation but is an exciting soon-to-be boardwalk with teacup rides and carnival games. The Able Sisters shop and Nook’s Cranny are just a street above the beach for visitors to grab any last minute trinkets and merch. Other soon attractions include a farm, outdoor gym, retro diner (Saturn’s Cafe vibes anyone?), and a giant flower garden. The aesthetic definitely has many rainbow flower vibes! The current residents of Maxwell include Poncho, Lily, Zucker, Biskit, Gala, Anthony, Rolf, and Snooty. 

 

Though Maxwell is a long way from being finished I enjoy talking to my islanders and spending hours doing construction, fishing, chasing down bugs, deep diving in the ocean, digging up fossils, or painstakingly pulling weeds. Though my bank account always seems to hover at a fragile 50,000 bells, I’m excited for the day when Maxwell will finally be complete and a 5-star  getaway I can proudly show off to my friends. Until then, my favorite place to showcase, hands down, would be my “dorm” room in my house. Complete with a loft bed, bookcase, mini fridge, and more — it definitely reminds me of Room 306, the place where memories were made. 

Vivian Lee

UCSC '21

Vivian is a fourth year student majoring in intensive psychology and minoring in computer science. She is a proud student athlete on the UC Santa Cruz Women's Tennis team and a driven student leader. Vivian is passionate about building community, fostering meaningful relationships, and helping others. In her free time she enjoys reading web novels, spending time with her cat Charlie, and doing fun arts & crafts. As a member of Her Campus she hopes to get into more personal, pleasure writing and reading :)