Category Archives: 1st year blogs

Summer To Do List.

Posted on by

Summer of 3rd year is quite possibly my last summer vacation ever. Or at least until I retire or strike it rich. When will I ever get four months of no responsibilities and a casual return to the usual in September again? Maybe if I take more than 4 years to graduate. (Which is likely too actually…)  To try and not regret the following months, I’ve started a list of stuff I want to do before the summer ends.

  1. Dye my hair something not brown: because soon I will be old and it will be deemed inappropriate
  2. Master parallel parking: I have my N but I still can’t really do this
  3. Drive on the highway (after the parallel parking mastering)
  4. Write a song
  5. Go on a short distance trip: likely Seattle or Banff
  6. Watch a band play live, maybe an indie show would be cool
  7. Watch the new Batman movie
  8. Watch the new Spiderman movie
  9. Watch at least two movies on my IMDB watchlist outside of the two above mentioned movies
  10. Travel somewhere farther away for over a week, or however long I can take work off
  11. Go hiking
  12. Play basketball
  13. Make a creative contribution at work
  14. Read a book
  15. Then read another book
  16. Learn to read and write 100 Chinese characters
  17. Lose 5 pounds, or alternative: get fit

So the items aren’t anything seriously epic, but it’s a start.

There was actually a lot of contemplation done before deciding what to do this summer.  School? Work? Full time or part time? Paid or un-paid? Travel?

Summer of 3rd year is a chance to make sure you graduate in 4 years, if that is your goal. Third year is a great time to get an internship too. What with the fear of an empty resume next spring and the many opportunities to leverage our student status for a real foot in the door somewhere.

I think getting an internship would have been the smarter choice for my future. I ended up disregarding that. I’ve taken summer school every year since grade 8, except grade 12.  I worked/volunteered at the same time for most of those summers.  I don’t regret any of those summers at all, but taking a summer to just be a kid again is the choice I felt I needed to pick.  Many internships are full time all summer long, so travelling for something like two weeks would be out of the question. Maybe I’m just a fool who has fallen to short-sighted temptations. Hope I don’t regret it!

UBC’s coat of arms are at the Univeristy of Queensland, how cool is that?

Posted on by
Building the Great Court / Source: The University of Queensland Library At my exchange university, the University of Queensland (UQ), There’s this really great space in the centre of campus called the Great Court. Picture a big grassy area with trees where students can relax in, surrounded by an enclosed by old sandstone buildings and [...]

Those 11 days between Term 2 and a Go Global summer trip

Posted on by

In the middle of the hustle and bustle of packing my dormitory belongings yesterday, I paused and took a look at my beautiful (but I’m biased) plant, Dionysus.  The red squiggle indicates where the leaves hung at the beginning of this school year.   It grew remarkably during this time with just a cup of water every few days, sunshine as often as Vancouver could afford it, and a pinch of me proudly fawning over it.  I had to wonder:  did I grow half as much?

The reality is that while I may not have smiled throughout, I think I did.  Not that I could draw red squiggly markers indicating how and when and what and who and why—would that I were a poet or a storyteller so that I could weave my tales these last few months together into a story!  But I think I did.  It was not in the manner in which I had wished…but the aches of becoming wise sometimes resemble the pangs of a certain set of teeth breaking through the gums, yes?

Despite this, I’m afraid everything has become a little stale here, a little bitter, and it’s time to get re-energized.  I’ll be spending 6 weeks with 19 other UBC Vancouver & Okanagan students and 2 professors, studying in multiple regions in Guatemala (inshallah!)  Thanks to generous ARCAAP funding applicable to the Arts Term Abroad in Global Citizenship program through UBC Go Global.  What’s a humanities education without travel?  I think travelling makes you humble, and humility makes you wise.  Particularly when you know next to nothing about Central America…I will be largely unplugged from the Internet starting May 5th, but if it’s not too inconvenient, I’ll try to blog on paper and then type it up quickly at an internet cafe.

And now I have 11 days between what was and what will be.  My plans include learning a handful of words in Spanish, reading some good ol’ political theory, being with close family and friends, and breathing (I highly recommend it.)

3rd year.. is finally done..

Posted on by

It was so exhausting this year on top of all the ECs. But along the way I have learned a great deal and my life and personality gradually changed… for the better I hope! But yup 3/5 of my undergrad is gone and done.

Unfortunately many of my friends weren’t done by the time I was done.. I was seriously becoming socially deprived and bored out of my skull. Fortunately DHL was done the day after I was done so we hung out. We ended up playing Super Smash Bros. on N64. Ah, what a classic. We spent a solid 4 hours playing and unlocking the secret characters. SO NOSTALGIC. Those were the days, playing retro video games non stop. I miss my own N64.

We ended up going to Sushi Garden and ate to our heart’s content. There were line ups as usual. Even for a table for 2, we had to wait 30 minutes.

And then I went on a shopping spree at TNT in Metro. I think I bought 10 pounds of fruit lol and a hotpot pot! I’m excited to have hotpot at home; it’s much more delicious when you cook food at home. Well, most of the time. Anyways, almost broke my back hefting the stuff back home. All in all, it was a great day.

Sushi Garden near Metrotown

Posted on by

Occasionally I go to Metrotown to hang out with DHL and the only restaurant I end up going is Sushi Garden. It’s pretty tasty and really cheap compared to sushi places near where I live. Not to mention this is a sushi restaurant owned and managed by Koreans, so their spicy dishes are a big plus.

Seafood Salad

 Cost: $5.95      Taste: 4/7

+ Lots for a cheap price, plenty of seafood. Ah tako is delicious.
+ Flavor was good, the “secret” house sauce made it stand out

- Unfortunately, there was so much water on the bottom of the salad, and it kinda diluted the flavor/made the salad soggy. This happens if the veggies were frozen…

Spicy Salmon Sashimi

 Cost: $8.95      Flavor: 5-5.5/7, depends on the day

+Now this is spicy as I remember when I was a kid back in Korea. The spicy sauce reminded me of those summer days.
+Certainly a lot of sashimi
+The white carrot or daikon or whatever those white strings are at the bottom, they make a nice accompaniment with the soft sashimi texture.
+If you upgrade to the wild salmon, it’s certainly much more better in texture, but not quite sure if it was worth the additional charge ($12.95)

-It may be too spicy for some. My friends couldn’t handle it. But it’s Korean spicy! So good.
-It was good when I had it during lunch. But when I came back another day for dinner, there was certainly something… “fishy” with the salmon. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something was off. It was more slimy I think…

Dynamite Combo

Cost: $7.50    Flavor: 4/7

+That was a huge prawn.

-In all honesty it’s just an average dynamite roll

House Roll

Cost: $4.50      Flavour: 4.5/7

+There was so much stuff. I remember it having cucumbers, tamago, tuna, imitation crab, roe, and a little mayo

-There was so much stuff.
-I had to take bites, and you know what happens when you bite into sushi. It falls apart and makes a mess..

Kitsune Udon (Plain)

Cost: $4.95    Flavour: 4/7

+Big.
+My friend DHL loves udon. Gets it every time.

-Just your average udon in my opinion (Sorry DHL!)
-The fried tofu just looked so… soggy. It kind of looked like a mess. How about having those small square tofu you find in miso soup instead? Oh but they sink… If they float that would be cool.

This restaurant is not bad. I would just come for their spicy sashimi really because I can’t find that sauce anywhere else. And they have great, great prices for a sushi restaurants. You should see Kerrisdale’s sometime and compare. Ajisai sushi anyone?

ARGH I FORGOT TO ORDER THEIR SPECIALTY: ALASKA ROLL. Next time…

Sushi Garden (Kingsway) on Urbanspoon

She’s ALIVE! And offers GIFs.

Posted on by

As of tomorrow, April 25, 2012, 2.30pm, my 2nd year as a UBC student will officially have finished.

Wow.

Cue the “This year just flew by”s and the “I’m gonna be a 3rd year next year?!”s. The end of the year is always a time of mixed feelings, a huge pile of feelings that are settling in my tummy, and ones I am trying to figure out.

2nd year is difficult, more so than 1st year. Like any year, ups and downs were there, but due to personal circumstances I admittedly went through more downs than usual. I will not lie- my feelings are still in the dumps, but the hope is there. There is motivation, and though I am sad, I feel so inspired at the same time. More on this in the next two days- I have a couple more posts coming up- one with more reflection and pictures, another with a lot of reflection on New York, but this post is different. This post is supposed to be my funny one.

Because it’s the sequel to my smash hit of a post from last year, My 1st Year UBC Experience in GIFs, in which I attempt, once more, to express the trials and triumphs of my 2nd Year through that subtle art form, the GIF image.

Here we go- for your enjoyment! Warning that they might load slowly.

Me in September, bright and vibrant with rest and excited to sign up for ALL THE THINGS

Everytime someone goes “YOU COMMUTE 4 HOURS?!”

Nothing could bring me down…

…until October.

Then the cycle of sucky things just becomes routine.

On the bus. Every day.

Losing faith in humanity aka “I thought people got less stupid in uni”

Being in a really painful discussion class with disrespectful classmates

Discovering NEW CONSTRUCTION

Getting the topic for a paper 2 WEEKS BEFORE THE DUE DATE

Night before paper is due

Exam season

POST-PAPER / FINAL CELEBRATIONS

Walking away after my last final

SUMMER TIME WOO

2nd YEAR VERDICT?

I suppose I should continue studying for my last final. See you soon, UBC- I have more GIFs and Hilary Duff music to share.

- Jennine