International House

This is literally the best place to be on Wednesday. They have coffee hour for different cultures on Wednesday’s 9pm. Ihouse is just an amazing experience, you meet a lot of nice people.

I really hate giving negative reviews but I feel like I must, since I don’t see this mentioned on other reviews.
First let me start out with the positives:
The actual building is gorgeous. They maintain it well and obviously put a lot of money into it. There is a lot of history in the building and it is really cool to be a part of it. On top of that, the building is very close to campus. I would recommend living on one of the higher up floors (5,6,7 or 8) where there are graduate students if you want a quite place to study. The views are amazing from the top floor. Speaking of graduate students, you will meet a lot of international graduate students and make tons of great friends. It really was a lot of fun.
Now onto the negatives:
The rooms are tiny (old building, not much they can do about it). The 3^rd and 4^th floor can get pretty loud (the undergraduate floors). But the main reason I am giving this place one star is BEDBUGS. Now let me be fair, the other UC Dorms had problems with Bedbugs last year as well. But UC Pest Control is more competent at dealing with the problem.
If you want dorm living, the UC dorms are a lot better at dealing with the problem, should it come up.

The I House in-​house catering is fabulous! Veggie Samosa, Chicken Satay, Lox on Croutons, and much more. The presentation was beautiful. If I ever got married again (oh slap me), I’d have my reception at the I House. The event venues are lovely. Lost a star, the everyday dining commons sucks.

My Update on International House. I met up with one of my friends inside of International House («I-​House») in front of the doors of the Chevron Auditorium where the the Center for Educational Partnerships («CEP») welcome dinner was to be held for incoming students who participated in a CEP-​related program. I-​House holds dinners, receptions, and other Cal and non-​Cal events such as weddings.
I was surprised there were not too many tables inside the auditorium. There were under 20 tables with about eight-​place settings each. I expected a much larger turnout of incoming Cal students attending the dinner. (I thought some of our mutual friends and transferees from BCC would be at the dinner also.) My friend and I were given a choice to choose our seats. I went for one of the front tables. We were joined by other students from Berkeley City College, Merritt College, and a student from College of Marin. And there were other transfer students and high school graduates at the dinner. The dinner was an opportunity for the attendees to be informed of many of the services offered at Cal and to start building community amongst ourselves.
The evening started off with opening remarks and introductions of representatives from many of the key departments and colleges; the ones I remember were the Financial Aid & Scholarships Office, College of Letters and Sciences, College of Natural Resources, College of Engineering, Cal Corps, Cal Student Central, Office of the Registrar, among other service department representatives in attendance. Very important key departments and services for Cal students to know!
The dinner buffet menu offered with a meat and a vegetarian option. Angel Hair pasta with tomato sauce. Chicken with rice and mushrooms. The dinner rolls with unsalted butter. Waldorf Salad: spinach, apple, and candied walnuts with an apple dressing on the side. And a mini dessert assortment of brownies, blondies, mini cookies, mini cupcakes, mini Key Lime pies, among other desserts. I sampled just about everything. I thought the food tasted pretty good. I went back for seconds on the chicken, rice, and mushrooms.
The welcome dinner concluded with a Q&A student panel made up of Cal Students who either got admitted to Cal either from high school or community college. They shared their experiences of adjusting to Cal, finding their community and place at Cal, and imparting their words of wisdom along with their advice to the incoming students on making the most of their time at Cal.
Hearing about their experiences and their words gave me hope. I know I will be seeking a balance between studying and socializing in Bear Territory. And I hope I will be attending future dinners, meetings, and receptions at I-​House.
Go Bears!
Update Lucky #13 for 2013

Great place 4 lunch. the make your own sandwich kinda thing is fun and good. Get chips, it goes well with the sandwich :)

The I-​House, located grandly at the top of the Bancroft hill, is home to international students, as well as a pretty decent café. Sometimes I like to make myself up there for a coffee or a chat with someone, and then buy a sandwich in the process.
I went a couple days ago and order the skirt steak sandwich. It was actually very delicious. The steak was very tender and well-​seasoned and was laid on the sandwich in the right portions. The avocado on the inside was a great complement to the heaviness of the steak (I usually love love love the avocado and steak combination in sandwiches). The bread was toasted and buttered very nicely — I could’ve probably just eaten it by itself.

3.5 stars. Very happening place to meet international students, visiting scholars, etc Food is slightly below average and the prices are really high compared to the area. A Pitcher is $ 15 and s a Grilled Cheese is at least 5.95.

There’s a lot of false propaganda about how amazing and wonderful the I-​House is. I’ve been living at the I-​House since August, and I don’t think the I-​House is that amazing and wonderful.
First, I never got a good night of sleep there. Every time someone slams a door (which is very frequent even during the night!), you feel like a bomb went off — I keep waking up during the night even with earplugs! There’s also people talking in the hallways all the time, even at «quiet hours.» Once I woke up at 2AM because someone was listening to loud music with the door of the room open. When I went there and asked the 4 boys that were in the room to keep the volume down and the door closed, their reply was «Do you want to join us?» I have called the RA on duty various times to no avail.
Second, there’s no privacy, and while some social life and partying is good, there is such thing as too much social life and too much partying at the I-​House. It’s impossible to have some peace and quiet if you need.
Third, the I-​House is very expensive for the amenities that you get. The rooms are tiny and a bit claustrophobic. Sometimes you need walk an entire corridor to reach the bathroom (there’s no sink in the rooms). Furthermore, it can get even more expensive if you need to sleep outside the I-​House when you really need a good night of sleep. At various points during the semester, I had to spend a night at a nearby hotel for my own sanity. I did that several times. Here are some examples of situations that led me to go to the hotel nearby:
(1) I had arrived from a very exhausting trip at around 10PM and desperately needed sleep. I realized by midnight that it was going to be impossible to get any sleep for the next few hours since there was a huge party going on at various floors of the I-​House.
(2) Another time I went to the hotel was when I had an important meeting early in the morning the next day and there was still noise in the hallway by 11PM, despite my asking for people to be quiet.
(3) After 2 days in bed with a cold and not much sleep because of noise, I decided to go to the hotel early in the evening and get a long good night of sleep that helped me recover.
It has been very expensive for me to do this, and every time I spend the money I regret living at the I-​House.
If you want the «I-​House experience,» and by that I mean the events, without all the disadvantages of living there, just pay for the events you’d like to go. If they’re only for residents, find a I-​House friend to let you in (there’s very little control!). Also, you might feel like going more if you aren’t living there anyway. I’m so unhappy with the I-​House (mostly for not being able to get good sleep) that I don’t even feel like going.

Having lived here for two years, there will always be a special place in my heart for I-​House. I made many lasting memories and friendships, and I’ve enjoyed many of the programs and «special dinners» in the dining hall.
This is a great option to consider for very close-​to campus housing with many opportunities to meet people from different programs and cultures.

I lived here for 2 years as a graduate student. They remodeled the bathrooms between my 1^st and 2^nd year, and it was much nicer, though the water pressure was lacking.
Dining hall food is known to be pretty atrocious, and yet you’re required to buy a meal plan consisting of at least 12 meals a week (other options are 15 — default, and 18). I got sick of the food after 2 days, even though it does change everyday, and there are brunches on weekends. I did enjoy the themed dinners though.
Programs are great. There are retreats, free football tickets, presentations, Sunday Suppers, other fine dining events, dances, and more.
I love living in I-​Houses (having lived at UCSD I-​House and Yonsei University I-​House previously) because of the awesome international friendships made. You meet the best and the brightest students from their countries, but they’re also fun and willing to go along with spontaneous ideas and trips you might come up with. They’ll force you to be a tourist in your own city/​state/​country and get you out of your comfort zone.

International House, also known as I-​House, is a dormitory for advanced undergraduates, graduate and professional students and visiting scholars. The House was created as a gift from John D. Rockefeller, Jr. specifically to foster relationships between students from different countries. It is notable for having housed many famous artists, scientists, and scholars connected with the university.
I have never lived at the I-​House, although my ex-​wife, an old girl friend, and a few other acquaintance have. My experiences have been limited to attending High Holy Days and other events here and taking a few meals at the ground floor café. I love the architecture, the historic feel, and of course the Bay view down Bancroft. What impresses me the most is listening to those friends that have lived here, their stories, and how it truly was one of the best times of their lives.

Watermelon sparkling water on tap! Mango sparkling water, too! Unlimited entrees, salad bar, sandwich bar, soup bar, dessert bar, cereal and cookie and muffin bar, coffee and hot chocolate, what else do you need? Well, add an insane number of undergrads and other academia — elevated levels of noise and the décor and style design of the eatery is amazing inside and out!!! Oh, … CASH ONLY!!!

We went to the I House for a meal upon a friend’s invitation and were pleasantly surprised by the quality and quantity of the food. What I meant to say is, I expected the food to be a stinking, pathetic, unredeemable 1 star, but it turns out to be a mediocre, edible, not-​as-​bad-​as-​I-​thought 3 stars. We saw our friend’s bedroom too. Which, unfortunately, conforms to my preconception of what the I House room looks like — yes, it’s a shithole! Tiny and stuffy, fit for rats. If you’re a human, I’d imagine that you might want to spend most of your time elsewhere.
Back to FOOD: Nice selection of salads, soups and breads — at least 3 types of salads, 3 types of soups, 5 types of breads to choose from. Lots of different fruits, too. The staff are very generous in giving away hams and cheese. You can, of course, go back to refill as many times as you like — it’s a meal-​card, cafeteria-​style dorm food. As far as dorm food goes, it’s not too bad… Be warned: Lots of MSG in soups and main courses though. If you’re health conscious, you might wanna stick to greens and breads. Also, there’s no service to speak of. The staff are indifferent and most of your dining experience is basically self-​service. As expected.
DINNING HALL: Beautiful European style. High ceiling. Very bright and airy. Lots of seating space. Relatively clean. I don’t live in the I House but I assume that if you do, this would be THE place to meet people and socialize. Good vibe and diverse people speaking different languages — it’s the International House after all!
LIBRARY: Again, beautiful, old school European style. Not many books but has lots of magazines, newspapers and journals. Quiet. Like a super mini tiny version of the Doe Library. Not top-​notch or awe-​inspiring, but it’s a decent place to read a couple of chapters or relax.
Finally, the horrors — THE BEDROOM. It is H-​O-​R-​R-​I-​B-​L-​E! Tiny as a shoebox and extremely stuffy. After you push open the door to the super small room, you’d see a pathetic-​looking a bunk bed to your left and a miniscule closet space behind the bunk bed. To your right, there are two tiny desks and an ugly book shelf. This, is a room for two guys. I don’t know how they manage to move and turn without knocking onto each other. Adding the mess and litters produced by typical college boys, and a small window with NO VIEW, there you have it — the horror of I House room.
People love to live in the I House for a variety of reasons, e.g. the parties, the décor, outdoor BBQ at the patio, cool events and talks, diverse people from all over the world, and the lasting friendships formed over the years… OK I can understand them all. But very, very few, I would imagine, enjoy living in the I House because of its tiny, claustrophobic bedrooms the size of prison cells. Oh well. Overall, 2.5 stars.

This is a review of the I-​house food. Two of my lab mates live in I-​house, and because they have racked up tons of meals on their meal cards which they have no way of using up before the end of the semester, I’ve been here to visit several times.
The food here is essentially what you expect of cafeteria food – mass quantities of noodles, beef, rice, etc… prepared with little attention to quality. They could definitely add more variety to their salad options. The soup has been consistently good, but otherwise the food is overall mediocre.

Well, it’s hard to write a review about a place that has basically been life for the past three months. I could go on for hours describing everything that goes down at I-​House, but to sum it up: Yes, the rooms are small. Me, I’m never in my room. Yes, the food gets pretty tiresome after a while. It’s not a huge issue, you’ll figure out what you like. And lastly: Yes, it’s totally worth living here. There is tons going on, you’ll meet tons of people, there are tons of hot European chicks, and it’s right across the street from campus. Plus, I’m going to the Netherlands and staying with a Dutch guy I met here for free this summer. See? It’s already paying dividends.

I House boasts a long history of bridging intercultural friendship… many ending in marriage. Sign me up!

3 stars for the incredibly slow pitcher pouring. But will I still go here on breaks between classes to cram in a quick drink? Yep. And the pasta salads are yummy.

Ahhhhh — I-​House… A dissertation could be written about this place. Most things you hear about it are true. Yes the food inside the dining hall is less than desirable. At the same time it can be an incredible place to live. Many people love it and some come to hate it. What do you expect when you get 600 people from 80 countries living together? When I told someone once where I lived, the responded by saying that they heard I-​House is all about «sex, drugs and rock n roll»… While there is certainly truth to this, there are only about 100 people who are real «active» in house activities, the rest do their own thing or form small groups and often friendships for life.
I agree with the review by Kake. Like with most things in life, if you don’t take things too seriously and if you are open to new things living at I-​House can be a tremendous experience.
If all you care about is being close to school (especially the law school) then go for it. If you want to develop community, then this is also the place for you.

A lot goes on at the I-​House. Some of my best college memories, as well as my worst, took place here. Compared to the other Cal dorms, I-​House provides many unique experiences to its 600 residing students, including an unparalleled level of cultural diversity, entertainment (ping pong/​pool tables, ballroom dance lessons, dance parties, happy hours, etc) and constant social networking. There’s also a lot of drama to be witnessed everyday, and you can only hope that you won’t be dragged into any of them.
The CAFETERIA is where you meet people. I met most of my so-​called lifetime friends here and were exposed to various cultural backgrounds. I learned about countries which I’d never even known they existed. Believe it or not, the food is actually much more edible than what the other dorms serve, the highlight being the occasional BBQ held outside on the porch. The overall ambiance kinda grows on you… it has this antique quality that becomes somewhat comforting.
The BEDROOMS are unbelievably tiny, and if you’re an undergrad, you must share it with a roommate… sometimes two. Don’t live here if you’re claustrophobic or can’t stand bunk-​beds, and depending on which room you get, you’ll be walking some distance to the bathrooms. Each room has one international student paired up with a US resident, which I think is a fairly sound policy.
Having a decent size LIBRARY in the building is convenient, and it’s where you pull all-​nighters in. I usually went there for moral support. It’s quite cozy, too… and you’ll see people in PJ’s carrying their pillows. The GREAT HALL is beautiful, and it has a nice fireplace where you can go sit around late at night. The LAUNDRY room was my least favorite place to hang out in. So was the I-​House CAFE on the ground floor, which was usually over-​crowded, messy and intolerably loud at night.
Best of all, I never felt lonely at I-​House. With an enormous amount of international students, who rarely left to go home on weekends and holidays, there were always people to mingle with.
To sum it up, I-​House has a very special place in my heart, and I’m sure it does for many current and former residents. It deserves all five stars despite its flaws — at least from me — because this is, after all, where J and I met many years ago.

My boyfriend and I met while we lived at I-​House, so recently when it was time to look at wedding venues, I thought it would be sooooo cute to get married here. But then he reminded me, «Didn’t we hate living at I-​House?» Oh yeah, that.
Actually we didn’t *hate* living at I-​House. However, the food did suck hard. My grad school friends declared it to be much worse than their various undergrad universities. The sad thing for me was having gone to Berkeley for my undergrad years, I knew this food was much better.
Good Things About Living at I-​House:
–Crown Prince of Norway lived on my floor
–Coffee/​Cookie Night
–Great Hall
–Sunday Suppers (though you get over it after one year)
–Ample supply of phonebooks to «phonebook» someone into their room (basically creating a wall of phonebooks for someone to wake up to in the morning when opening their door)
Bad Things About Living at I-​House:
–Did I mention the food?
–Room and board money going towards alcohol-​fueled parties where people would get drunk and destroy I-​House
–Where to park on move-​in day?
–Too many blowhard law students
–International students who move here just to commit suicide (we had two in one year and at one point I figured any one person’s odds of doing that were 1:200)
–Too much international friendship propaganda
–Easy to start making stereotypes about whole nations after meeting a couple people from that nation
–Drunken Brits who can’t hold their liquor
–French pukes whose only activity is smoking
Anyway, back to wedding planning…
The catering here is done in-​house, which given my past here is frankly terrifying. I was reassured that the catering department is separate from the student cafeteria, but how I can I be sure? Also, I tasted the «fancy food» from the catering department on Sunday Supper night on several occasions and was never blown away.
The Heller Patio is a decent spot for the ceremony, the Chevron Auditorium is nice though too large for some parties. Good prices though.