02/17/14

My 18 Before 19

So my birthday was on Friday (yes, Valentine’s Day) and I am officially the newest and the last “adult” in my circle of friends. Since I got to come home for Reading Week, I also got to have a weekend of celebrations with the fam  and with the friends I have still living in my hometown.

Did you know that Blue Chip will make you a giant cookie with your name on it for your birthday? (Not pictured) My roommate did that for me and she shall now be known as the Greatest Roomie Ever.

Obviously in the split second between 11:59 pm on February 13 and 12 am on the 14th, I didn’t suddenly develop a fully matured prefrontal cortex and start making only rational decisions. I didn’t suddenly figure out how to file taxes, or find a place to live next year or get a job. These are all things grownups do right? It’s funny to me that 18 is considered the point when one becomes an adult, but I guess it’s as good a number as any. Over the last few months, I’ve learned a little about what it’s like to act like an independent adult. I had to learn how to take care of myself when I was almost the sickest I’d ever been, which involved hospitals and insurancey-type things (thank God UBC hospital makes that pretty simple for you). And I’m learning right now just how freaking difficult it is to find a three bedroom apartment anywhere near campus.

So in honour of the last 18 years I’ve had on this planet,  here are some non-academic things I hope to implement or do in the next one, God willing:

  1. Go ziplining
  2. Bike/Rollerblade the Seawall
  3. Read my Bible everyday (but maybe start with a 3x/week as I’ve already failed at this quite a few times)
  4. Do the Grouse Grind
  5. Perform at both UBC Slam and Vancouver Poetry Slam
  6. Downsize my closet and donate everything that isn’t absolutely essential
  7. Start volunteering again
  8. Go to bed before midnight on weeknights (This was my only New Year’s goal —not resolution– and I still haven’t succeeded)
  9. Start going for a run a few times a week
  10. Get a paying job and reduce or eliminate my student loan amount for the remaining years of my degree
  11. Travel to a part of the country I’ve never seen before
  12. Start laying down actual designs for the clothing brand that’s existed in my head for a while
  13. Get my drivers license and go on a road trip
  14. See MGK live again and start going to more hip hop shows
  15. Complete a creative piece of writing every week
  16. Join a recreational soccer team
  17. Go on a brief mirror fast like the kinds described here and here and hopefully learn something. (This one’s because I think that NOT having a full length mirror in my dorm room is actually making me more vain.)
  18. Start phasing out music that contributes to the sexism and misogyny in our culture. Support and promote positive hip hop.

This list may change but I’ll try and blog about each one that I accomplish.

Oh and in case y’all were wondering, the first drink I ever ordered was a “frozen white peach Bellini”. Yup, I’m that girl. Or should I say woman?

 

02/5/14

2 Places to get Yummy Sushi for Cheap

Before we start, no, I was not paid to say nice things about these places. (But if you’d like to pay me, you’d be even more nice … 😉 just kidding. not really.)

Prior to my arrival in Vancouver, I was not a fan of sushi. But now I know that was just because I hadn’t tasted the restaurant quality stuff. The African in me didn’t understand the point of cold rice or cold fish and why on earth anyone would put the two together.

BUT THEN

A friend of mine knows a lot of good Japanese restaurants in Vancouver and sometimes she invites me along on her sushicapades. (Also, another friend likes to make café-crawls so perhaps restaurant features will become a regular on this blog?) Allow me to share with you two places we’ve visited that give you tons of food for not a lot of money. Keep in mind, I’m not an aficionado so this isn’t necessarily top-of-the-line food (if you know somewhere better, comment!) but I liked it and so did most people in our dining party.

1.) B.C. Sushi. Four words: ALL YOU CAN EAT

eating (1408) Animated Gif on Giphy

You will get your money’s worth at this place, which is located here. The buffet cost us $13.95 I think and that was because it was the weekend. Not sure, but I think it costs $12.95 during the week. I went in with the intention of ordering one round of food. We ordered three. And there were five of us. The amount of food we ordered covered three tables and it just kept coming. I highly recommend the yam tempura as well as the spring rolls which are perfectly bite-sized. Their California and salmon rolls were decent but I can’t remember what other ones we ordered. S always asks for spicy mayo with her food because it’s never on the table. So if you haven’t, you should give that a try at least once. They also have a non-buffet option.

On the flip side, my roommate said that she didn’t think B.C. Sushi was the greatest. She’s gone out for Japanese food way more often than I have and she said that the all-you-can-eat aspect was part of the problem. It was evident that the restaurant was focused more on pumping out a large quantity of food than they were on the quality.

Verdict: 3 spicy mayos out of 5.

2. Sun Sushi. Two words: HELLA CHEAP.

It’s the so-full-you-have-trouble-finishing-for-$6.95 kinda cheap.

90s (3517) Animated Gif on Giphy

(sorry couldn’t resist. Full House was my jam.)

I was here a few days ago and I’m seriously impressed with the amount and quality of food you can get for so little. Kinda makes me want to re-evaluate my meal plan. I ordered the Beef Teriyaki Box which was a convenient little box with compartments for salad, four kinds of tempura, California roll (6 pcs), beef and rice. Since moving down my chopsticks skills have gone from non-existent to being able to eat a full meal including rice, which might not be a big deal for y’all, but Friday was like my first time eating rice with chopsticks, so pat on the back for moi.

Even though this was totally me the whole night:

food (3962) Animated Gif on Giphy

Verdict: 4 little boxes out 5

If you do go out and try these places,  which you obviously should cuz hello student budget, hit me up with your reactions and let me know what you thought.

Gifs from giphy.com

12/21/13

Home Time

Some numbers:
17:32 – The time
Four – the number of hours ago that my last final exam finished
Three – the number of hours until I see my parents again

As I write this, I’m sitting in front of a bank of windows facing the darkened tarmac of the Vancouver International Airport. My flight leaves in fifty eight minutes and I’ve hardly been able to think about anything else since I woke up this morning.
It’s a little hard to imagine what it will be like living in my house and with my family again. I’ve only been gone three and a half months, but it feels like a lifetime has happened since I waved goodbye to my mom and dad on University Boulevard in late August. I don’t even know where to start with the stories when it comes time to share. But I have the Facebook pictures to back me up.
As I mentioned, my last final was this evening. POLI 100. It wasn’t that bad actually, though I freaked out and didn’t know what to write when I first read the essay questions. But that always happens to me.
I thought this post was going to be all about my reflections of my first term at university, but I think I’m too tired for that. And the fluorescent airport lighting isn’t exactly stimulating my creative genius.
Instead, let’s talk about surprises. I’ve been planning one for a while. A couple months ago, after I booked my flight home, I decided not to tell my little brother and sister when it was. The uncertainty is driving them crazy. My sister keeps texting me with what she thinks are sneakily crafted text messages like “so would Thursday night be too late for you to start packing then?” Since my plane lands at one in the morning local time, they won’t be coming with the parental units to pick me up. Which is even better, because now it’s going to be an even better surprise.
I won’t get home till around three AM so hopefully they’re sound asleep. I plan to wake up before they do tomorrow morning and hang around my kitchen so that when they come down for breakfast before school (ha, they still have that) I’ll just be nonchalantly drinking hot chocolate or something.

This is gonna be PERFECT.
Can’t wait to see the looks on their faces when they try to figure out how I appeared without them knowing about it. I imagine it’ll look something like this:


Boarding time is in eleven minutes. So stoked.

11/29/13

That Time I Embarassed Myself in front of the Rowing Team

The story begins with me just walking along on campus and minding my own business one afternoon….

A girl hands me a bookmark-thing with some info about UBC Rowing and their upcoming info session. I look at her and her partner. Both are tall and incredibly fit. She asks if I’d be interested in joining rowing?

I ask her three questions:

  1. Do you have to know how to swim?
  2. Do you have to have tried rowing before?
  3. Do you have to be really ripped?

I’m sure it is clear to you, that with the kinds of questions I was asking, I probably shouldn’t have even tried. But she answers no to all three so I accept the bookmark. For a week I’m thinking, yeah Rowing! Why not? Maybe I can do this.

I go to the info session. Some of the coaches are there and they talk about how cool it is that rowing is a sport you can enter at such a late age. How it’ll make you fit. How you could even go the Summer Games.

UBC Rowing has a development team that you can try out for, the goal being that if you make it, they’ll develop you into an athlete worthy of the varsity team in a year or two.

Turns out, this is what I was trying out for. On tryout day, I show up late because my Grandpa calls while I’m walking there to see how I’m settling in at university. (And you can’t just hang up on your grandpa). Oh and to top it all off, I’m feeling absolutely horrible. I had a doctor’s appointment the day before to deal with my suspicions of having tonsillitis and just generally feeling awful. I had emailed the coach the night before to explain what was up but I was still going to give it my all.

…

The tryout is in two parts: an “erg” test and a run (I think it’s 2k.). The first part is to test our power on the ergometers (rowing machines). I do alright.The run is obviously a fitness test.

Before coming to UBC, I played soccer for two seasons. Before that I played on other sports teams and did cheer for a couple years. All this is to illustrate that I am an active person. I hate exercise for the sake of exercise (the gym looks like hell), but I love doing my favorite activities like biking and playing soccer. However, once I was here, I didn’t feel like I had enough time or was good enough to join a REC team. I didn’t have the money to sign up for a dance class and as I mentioned the gym looks wholly unappealing to me.

I don’t realize  the effect of all this until I’m about 1 minute into the 2k run. ONE MINUTE! My shins hurt for some reason (I actually think I might have shin splints) . And my arms are killing me which might be from the erg test earlier. Parts of me that have never hurt while exercising before are deciding now is a good time to ruin my life. The more I run, the more I realize I really can’t do this. People keep passing me. My lungs are only barely recovered after being so sick for weeks. To exaggerate a little bit,  I’m dying.

I realize now that I should have just recovered during my recovery period instead of you know, trying out for a new college-level sport.

I come in last.

No one says anything.

I get an email the day after. My name isn’t on the list.

Probably one of the most humiliating things I’ve done since moving away from home. Would I do it again? Yes.

Why?

Because I think we all need a little failure in our lives. Success just feels so much better afterwards.

11/19/13

On Finding Faith & Friends (Part 2)

To pick up this story where I left off:

“Going to that BBQ set in motion a chain of events that leads me to today, many friends richer and a lot less lonely.”

At the BBQ, I can remember thinking that the people at this club were a little weird. They were all so happy, which was weird for me because to say that my emotions are a little understated would be an understatement. The club execs were friendly and welcoming which helped because this was the first time in a long time where I was surrounded by people I didn’t know and had to do things like making small talk.

Afterwards, C*, my roommate, and I discussed with each other how much we enjoyed the BBQ and the people. It’s hard to remember what happened next. I signed up for their mailing list and that’s how I heard about “Core”. Core groups are small groups (well, ours has like 18 people) led by senior students that meet weekly in every residence and do things like Bible study, praying and eating yummy snacks together. I put my name down for the appropriate Core. They happened to be meeting in my floor lounge.

Have you ever met someone and just know that you’d be great friends or maybe something more?

Well as soon as I sat down for that first Core meeting and the group (mostly first-years too) started introducing themselves, I just knew  that these women would become friends of mine. And that’s exactly what happened. Core for us has gone beyond just a weekly Bible-reading/snackage sesh. People from the UCM club at large often comment on how cool it is that our Core actually hangs out outside of events; we do stuff like getting waffles, exploring the beach and going to church together. And UCM has helped me meet even more people outside of Core.

Best of all, my faith has been transformed more in these two-ish months than the last 17 years of my life.

I am so glad I made the spontaneous choice to check out their both two months ago. One of those women actually became my Core leader which was an interesting twist. Everyone always says that to make new friends in a new place, you should just join. I totally agree. If you’re struggling to find your people, or even if you’ve already got a ton of friends, join! Join clubs, join stuff you’re interested in, join clubs doing things you’ve never heard of! I know it can be scary at first because you don’t know anyone, but somewhere along the way, you’ll look around and realize that actually you do know them. If you’re surrounded by people who are automatically interested in the same things you are, or even if they’re not, you guys have already got something to talk about.

So go for it.

 

*We’re gonna call her C from now on, k? Cuz I don’t feel like it’s very nice to use her full name on the very public Internets without her express permission.

11/19/13

On Finding Faith & Friends (Part 1)

In my first few weeks at school here, I realized that I had a problem: I didn’t know what to do with myself on the weekends.

In high school, I went to school Mon-Fri and came home on evenings and weekends. Now, I actually LIVE at school, which sometimes makes it feel like school and school work is inescapable. All the stuff I used to do to have fun during my free time was gone. My friends are spread around the country now and my family is back home along with my bike. I can’t go for long rides around my neighbourhood anymore. I can’t call up my best friends and go see a movie or just hang out together and I can’t just do something spontaneous with my little brother and sister.

When this hit me during the first couple of weeks, it was a little depressing. Sure, I went out to some of the fun events planned like AMS Firstweek and stuff like that. But while lost in the crowd at Paint Party, I realized it just wasn’t the same going out without my wingwomen, the girls who had been by my side for years. So I kinda stopped going out and just did homework on the weekends, especially as the pace was picking up in my classes.

I was lonely and for the first time I can really remember, I had to put effort into making friends. I’m glad that I have a roommate, otherwise I probably would have spent even more of my time with myself. Sometimes it feels like I only exist within the four walls of my dorm room. I can spend almost full days there, especially when studying for midterms and such.

Now to cut off this mopey monologue before it gets any sadder, I should tell you that there is a light at the end of this tunnel.

One day during the first week of September I happened to be walking along East Mall near the bookstore. I looked over and saw a couple girls standing at a table looking friendly. They probably had a sign announcing the club they represented, I can’t remember anymore. Without really thinking about it, I decided to cross the street and hear what they had to say.

That was probably the best decision I’ve made since coming to university.

Before I moved to the campus, I knew that I wanted to get connected with a Christian community. At Imagine Day, I had gone to most of the Christian clubs’ booths, but none of them felt right, so I was a little discouraged. When I stopped at these girls’ booth that day, I found out that they represented University Christian Ministry.

They were friendly, one of them complemented the purple in my hair (that might have a little something to do with why I liked them so much) and after talking about churches in the area they told me they were having a free BBQ that Friday. I decided to go because, why not? It was free and I’d meet some people. It turns out that my roommate was going too, and I think that might’ve been how I found out she was also a Christian. Going to that BBQ set in motion a chain of events that leads me to today, many friends richer and a lot less lonely.

That journey will be covered in Part 2, so stay tuned…

Liz

11/15/13

Feeling Like Myself Again

You know what man? University changes you.

I realize that’s stating the obvious, but after two rounds of midterms, case projects and a term paper, I am allowed to do that.

I’ve always considered myself someone who had it fairly together. But this last stressful month has made me realize that, nope, I don’t have it all together. Because, someone who was on top of things definitely wouldn’t start studying for their first math midterm the weekend before the exam.

I guess I was “lucky”; I only had three midterms this time around. But trying to juggle studying + other schoolwork + outside commitments made me realize just how important managing your mental health is, especially because it also affects your physical health. Noticing the onset of a Freshman Five was not a happy experience but it did wake me up a little to the reality that not exercising, all-nighters and constant anxiety will eventually catch up to you.

So lately, I’ve been trying to do positive things like starting homework earlier and taking the stairs (not just for the health benefits –I live on the sixth floor, this is serious business — but also because my house is totally going to win Aim to Sustain!). And yesterday, I finally felt like myself again. I’m not the old me, but I’d like to think that’s a good thing now.

10/16/13

Name the New SUB Building!

So unless you’ve missed the massive construction project happening across from the bookstore, complete with festively decorated cranes, those of you on campus know that a new SUB is being built and is due to open in 2014.

But what you might not know is that right now  the AMS is taking student input on the name. Because guess how they’re doing it?

BY LIKES ON FACEBOOK aka the least efficient way possible that is also guaranteed to reach a very small amount of the student population. Their page has 173 likes out of a possible 49 000 people on campus.  That equals…. a very small percentage I’m sure.

So if you don’t want the New Sub to be called The AMS Student Station, please go here and pick something else. Anything else. I warn you though, there are only seven choices. And tell your friends. I’d rather not be stuck with the “Community Centre”, which to me sounds like a place where community league soccer tournaments and bingo fundraisers are held. The Ubyssey did an article about the whole name-choosing process if, like me, you’re interested in why you were never consulted until now.

So vote please. VOTING CLOSES TOMORROW (Wednesday October 16, 2013).

10/11/13

9 Things You Learn While Living in Res

So, this  post has been a long time coming considering I’ve been here for over a month now. Eep! I think I need to make a schedule or something for when I should make posts. The past month has been … interesting … to say the least. As I write this, my floor is the quietest it has ever been on a Friday night; probably because everyone’s gone home for Thanksgiving. Alas, as an out-of-province student with no desire to drop that much cash for a 3 day weekend, I am still here. And while I’m here, I decided that there is no better time to write about all the wonderful and not-so-wonderful things I’ve learned about living in residence at UBC.

Brace yourselves.

(Also, they are not in order of importance, just the order in which they sprang from my mind.)

  1. You may or may not find your second family in residence. I don’t know about some of you, but when I decided I was going to live on campus, some people made it sound like all my neighbours were going to be my new best friends. I missed the first weekend of living here because I was at Frosh and when I came back it seemed like everyone had already buddied up. Other Froshees I talked to experienced the same thing. But the longer I’m here, the more I think that might have happened anyways. I’m saving this for a future post, but you know what is a good way to meet people? JOINING STUFF. All that aside, who knows? You very well could meet your new crew in res.
  2. If you leave your dish rag in the sink, someone will use it to clean up their dishes or their mess. Most likely their dirtiest dishes or messiest mess. Lesson learned.
  3. You will get comfortable with people seeing you lookin a hot mess in the morning. You may not be able to imagine it now, but trust, there are certain things everyone’s gotta get over when sharing a bathroom. Unless you’re one of The Lucky Ones. (AKA the kids who live in hemlesem and qelexen.)
  4. You know how every college prep article says bring flip flops for the shower?  Bring flip flops for the shower. Don’t ask questions.
  5. It’s hard to study in your room. You’re probably thinking, “obviously, Liz, that’s because it’s so loud.” But that’s what noise-cancelling headphones are for. I find it hard to study in here because it’s so much easier to distract myself. Most of my work requires my laptop which, besides being the handy homework helper it is, also has the “Internet” where one can “watch Suits” and “not do homework”. I’ve discovered that one may feel more compelled to actually do one’s homework when surrounded by people doing the same quietly say, in a library or study lounge. There are lots of places to study on campus. I prefer Irving K. Barber just because I find it hard to study in complete silence. If you’re looking for that deathly quiet space, I’ve heard Koerner is good for that. The Chapman Learning Commons on the third floor of Irving is also pretty quiet and has tons of computers to use. If you’re a Sauder student, there’s also the CLC in David Lam (no line for printers!) that can also be accessed from the second floor in Henry Angus. But they do have a no hot food rule that really is a deal breaker for me sometimes.
  6. Naps are probably the best thing about living on campus. Seriously. Mid-afternoon naps between class are thebomb.com as one of my good friends says. So are mid-afternoon outfit changes, especially when the weather can’t make up its mind.
  7. Totem Park is a far, far away land. It really does feel that way when it takes at least 15 minutes to walk anywhere on campus. Walking from my house to Buchanan D is enough vigorous exercise to actually warm me up on a rainy morning.
  8. All the afore-mentioned exercise will not stop all the pizza you’ve been eating from having some kind of effect. I eat pizza like once a week. Clubs always seem to be using free food to lure you to their events and more often than not it’s pizza. And if it isn’t free, it’s cheap. A slice at Pie R Squared is $1.25. When you have hefty student loans, you will eat there more often than you care to admit. This is probably a good time for me to start going to the gym.
  9. Having a roommate isn’t as bad as you think. At least for me. My roommate and I are friends and it turns out that we like a lot of the same stuff and we’re both from the same province. Obviously that isn’t the case for everyone. But I think as long as you both went in with a mutual expectation of respect and set some boundaries (!) in the beginning then it should be fine.

I might do another list about what I’ve learn while living in Vancouver and obviously the first point will be BRING AN UMBRELLA. ALWAYS.

P.S. Just in case you were wondering; this is what my room looked like. You know, back when it was clean.

You may notice my amazing Channing Tatum poster on the left – from the Poster Sale @ the SUB.

 

 

09/10/13

Where Are You?

You might be wondering what corner of the interwebs you have stumbled into.

That would be my little corner of the UBC Blog Squad. I’m Lizzy, your tour guide and I will be narrating for you the epic journey that is my first year at UBC. Please fasten your seatbelt.

……….. In Reality ………………

The story so far has really not been all that epic. My first couple of weeks have been full of meeting so many new people that it’s impossible to remember their names, avoiding going down to the basement of my home in res to do my laundry, hopelessly trying to catch up with assignments and embarrassing myself in front of the varsity rowing team. (Possibly more on that later, if the shame has lessened by then).

I will try my hardest to share the most honest view of my life here (hence the name of the blog) and I hope that whoever ends up reading this will appreciate that. (And maybe even learn a few things?)

If I haven’t yet scared you off; for more about this kid, check the about page. Otherwise, I promise there will be more bloggy tidbits of goodness to come. Sometime after I finish all of last week’s readings.