Food, family, festivities – Bruin Family Weekend had it all.

Thousands of people traveled to campus Nov. 8 and 9 to attend Bruin Family Weekend, a yearly welcome event for the family and guardians of UCLA students. The event’s on-campus activities – which cost $120 to attend – included meals with faculty representatives, access to recreation facilities, campus tours, faculty presentations and lunch with different UCLA schools’ deans.

Lana Karni, who came to Bruin Family Weekend to see her son, said her weekend included experiencing a day in the life of a student, going on a sustainability tour – which included an exhibition of the Smart Grid Energy Research Center living laboratory project – and attending faculty presentations. Karni added that the morning’s activities gave her new insights into the university’s operations.

“(There’s) a lot more research, a lot more things going on, a lot more projects that we didn’t know about,” she said.

Six faculty lectures were offered as part of the weekend’s programming.

Presenters exhibited their research and showcased UCLA facilities, according to the Bruin Family Weekend website. Karni said she was impressed by screenwriting professor George Huang’s presentation, titled “Storytelling is a Superpower,” on filmmaking and screenwriting technique.

“He was very engaging. He was very funny. He was very relatable,” Karni said.

Supriya Gianchandani said she traveled with her husband from Palos Verdes to visit their son, a first-year cognitive science student. The trio’s favorite part of the weekend was attending the football game between UCLA and Iowa at the Rose Bowl, Gianchandani added.

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Gianchandani said that despite hearing about the university’s competitive nature, the weekend made her realize UCLA places the student experience above all else.

“Every time I come here, I am so impressed at how beautiful and how clean everything is,” Gianchandani said. “I didn’t go to college here, and I kind of wish I did.”

Nancy Collins said she came for the weekend to see her son, second-year cognitive science student Ben Purvis. Collins, a UCLA alumnus and a professor of social psychology at UC Santa Barbara, said she enjoyed visiting her alma mater.

“This is such a special campus,” Collins said.

She and Purvis attended the Blue & Gold Lunch in Dickson Plaza, Collins added, where they met with different attending families.

“The best part is probably coming and meeting other Bruin families,” Collins said.

Gabriela Duran, a third-year international development studies and labor studies transfer student, said she led her family, including her mother Hani Duran, on a tour of the campus. Duran’s family members added that they enjoyed the football game and campus architecture.

Gabriela said she found her transition from community college to UCLA to be pleasant.

“I’m super grateful. I feel like it’s been a really smooth transition for me and most of my roommates,” she said. “There’s been nothing that was so overwhelming that we felt we were out of place.”

Hani said she hopes her children make the most of their collegiate experiences.

“I hope you guys (students) really take it all in. Enjoy every moment,” Hani added. “It’ll go by really fast. I hope you guys can look back and really be able to say, ‘Wow, I did it all.’”