Covering 1.25 million square feet on a 15-acre site, bounded by Jefferson Boulevard, McClintock Avenue and Hoover Street, the USC Village is much more than a medieval burg with a Starbucks and a Trader Joe’s. There’s more beneath the surface. Speaking of which, 150 feet below the surface, a complex stormwater collection system saves almost every drop of rainwater. (For reference, 150 feet equals the height of the clock tower atop McCarthy Honors College.) There, 60-foot deep dry wells capture water and send it into the groundwater aquifer, first running it through a filter, followed by a 20-foot manhole, and then through 35 to 40 feet of rock filtration.

It’s unlike anything USC has ever built. But for 2,500 students living at the Village, what happens above ground is even more exciting. Here are three USC Viterbi students’ guides to the moments seeped down into the groundwater of everyday life at USC Village.

Goldie Roth

Freshman, chemical engineering

Roth, a native of the Washington, D.C., area, serves on the board of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers – USC Chapter. She is also a Viterbi STEM volunteer and a rider on the USC equestrian team.

10:50 a.m.  Free hour! Grab some Starbucks and soak up some sun on the Village couches.

1:50 p.m.  Lunch at Cava with my Thematic Option Core 111 classmates. Typical order: grain bowl with saffron rice, chicken, tomato and cucumber, quinoa, lettuce, feta, lots of pita crisps, and lemon herb tahini dressing. Go ahead, steal my order! Discuss Hume’s theory of human understanding and the connection between Eastern philosophy and quantum mechanics. Explain the rules of football to a non-season ticket-holding Trojan for the third time.

9:30 p.m. Back at McCarthy, reviewing surface integrals with my go-to STEM buddy down the hall. It turns into a heated debate as to why the definition of flux includes dotting with the normal vector.

Kristina Kaypaghian

Sophomore, biomedical engineering (minor in global health)

Kaypaghian, originally from Boise, Idaho, is the public relations chair for the Associated Students of Biomedical Engineering and 3D For Everyone (3D4E).

9:00 a.m. Trader Joe’s dumplings for breakfast in my apartment before biking to class.

12:00 p.m.  Reenergized with a quick nap on the Village couches in the Central Piazza.

8:00 p.m. Lyft (for free!) to Trio House for fried rice and Japanese udon with my friends.

11:00 p.m.  Practice traditional dances such as tinikling and sayaw-sa-banko around Fubon Fountain — moves I picked up at Troy Phi’s Filipino-American Culture Night.

Mala Patel

Sophomore, industrial and systems engineering

Hailing from Orange County, Patel is an ambassador in the Society of Women Engineers who resides at the Village’s Cale and Irani Residential College.

6:45 a.m.  Second alarm goes off. Time to get out of bed and get ready.

9:00 a.m. On my way back from class. Stop at the FedEx to pick up a care package from my parents filled with chips, popcorn, Oreos, and my favorite snacks.So cute!

4:00 p.m. Back to Building 6 and to the study lounge right across from my apartment. Gotta crank out some Physics 151 and Diffy Q homework.

7:45 p.m.  Swipe my card for the gym. Yes! There is one treadmill open … I got lucky!