Chase Budinger, the California Athlete of the Year and a McDonald’s All-American, will be the Wildcat’s guest of honor for the next five days, telling you all about his first week at Arizona.

-as told to Roman Veytsman

We got in on Wednesday, we drove up, and it was like a seven-hour drive for us (from Carlsbad, Calif.). When we got here, we stayed at the hotel. I had orientation for the first three days, so my mom moved all my stuff in (to Villa del Puente Residence Hall). I tried to come back every break I had to help, but my mom did most of it.

I’ve been here (in Arizona) before, so it’s nothing new to me, but my first impression was it was hot. Something I have to get used to is the heat because I’m not used to it, but I’m getting there. I just love the campus because the campus is in the middle of the whole city, so that’s the best part.

My friend (Nick) came up with us on the same day so he helped out moving my stuff. (Villa del Puente) is a normal dormitory. It’s nothing special, but we have a good little setup, a nice big plasma screen that my roommate brought because he won it in a golf tournament. I think it’s 38 inches.

We’ve been going to the Student Union Memorial Center and going to East University Boulevard every night. We’ve been going to eat at Pita Pit, La Salsa, Chipotle, Jimmy John’s.

We’ve been trying to meet a lot of people. Me and my roommate Nick walked around the dorm knocking on the doors, saying what’s up to everybody, trying to meet everybody.

(The girls) are pretty nice, but it’s tough because they’re all doing the sorority things right now. They’ve been pretty busy, so it’s hard to talk to them right now.

Some of them (know who I am) but most of them don’t. I got a couple of (pickup lines) but I don’t want to give those out.

I’ve played three games of pickup (basketball) since I’ve been here, but (Saturday) was the first one where everybody was around. We got a good two hours in, just running up and down, playing. Salim (Stoudamire) came down and played with us. He’s a hell of a player. He was helping out with everything, especially me, because college is such a different game. He was telling me places to be when someone drives. He was helping me a lot, and I really appreciated that.

You could say (I’m a little nervous for school). I wrote down all the stuff I have to do (today), and it’s pretty busy. I’m going to be pretty nervous, maybe a little stressed out because I have so much stuff to do, but I think I’m ready for it.

I’m just ready to get started, I’m more excited about us starting practice (tonight) at 6:30.