THERAPY DOGS ARE OUT; LLAMAS ARE IN
Furry mammals help UC Berkeley students de-stress ahead of finals
BERKELEY >> Years ago, resident advisers would spread out rolls of bubble wrap during the “dead week” ahead of final exams and let nervous students blow off stress by popping a few bubbles. The lucky ones got to pet a puppy or two.
Now, UC Berkeley is bringing the de-stressing game to a whole new level with llamas. Yes, llamas.
On Monday, four of the furry mammals made their way from the Sierra foothills to Memorial Glade near the center of campus at the behest of the student government.
“We really wanted to bring something unusual and out of the blue,” said Ana Claire Mancia, a junior who helped organize the event. Mission accomplished.
They’re soft and friendly and, really, why not? Petting llamas, their owner George Caldwell said, can be therapeutic.
“They just lift people,” he said. “It’s a beautiful thing to see.”
And, Mancia pointed out, they make for excellent selfies and Snapchat snaps.
The school also will have dogs on hand this week to calm students as they prepare for next week’s big exams. But at this point the canines’ presence is borderline passé and frazzled students barely register their
wagging tails.
But llamas? People stop for llamas.
“Folks that see the llamas have to come over and interact with them,” Caldwell said.
As soon as the van carrying the creatures pulled up at Cal, it was swarmed by curious students. The llamas, who also make appearances at nursing homes and weddings, didn't seem to mind.
“They are trained to be really gentle,” Mancia said.
Standing stoically on campus on what was a particularly blustery day, the llamas, including a youngster named Amigo and an old hat named Quinoa, coaxed smiles and even
laughs from sleep-deprived, bleary-eyed students.
“Their day just changed totally,” Caldwell said as he surveyed the scene. “Everybody's having a great time.”
A short walk away, the student government on Monday was running another de-stressing activity, albeit one that seemed to actually induce anxiety in some students.
Students who could bear to part with their cell phones for at least an hour got a prize. The longer they went, the better the prize. One hour earned an eye mask. Two hours, water bottles and notebooks. Students who lasted an agonizing four hours got pillow covers and blankets. The idea, said sophomore Sabrina Jones, who helped organize the “blackout challenge”, was to encourage students to study
without the distraction of phones and to actually engage face-to-face with other humans when they needed a break.
“That's critical for happiness,” Jones said. By midday, more than 100 people had turned over their phones and Jones was hoping she'd have enough prizes.
But not everyone made it very long.
“It might,” Jones acknowledged, “be a little hard for some people.”
Back outside, petting llamas clearly came easier for students. Caldwell wasn't surprised.
“When people are approaching and they see the llamas,” he said, “their faces turn naturally from whatever it is to big old smiles.”