Category Archives: Second Year

A whiny student sigh re:marking practices

Rhetorics is certainly not an easy course. I know a bunch of people will groan and pull the whole, “Oh, the life of an arts student!” but seriously, if you were forced to write an over-extrapolated paper every two weeks about a very vague and subjective topic, you’d feel my pain. It’s almost like a philosophy course, except there is no reasoning behind anything. At all.

Recently we were asked to do a topic proposal for our final projects. Considering he made it seem like a fairly easy task: propose a topic, find some primary documents, and cite some sources you may be using. The nature of topic proposals are quite lenient unto themselves, so I wrote one in about 45 minutes and turned it in the next day with no hassle.

The problem, however, is the mark I received (which, by the way, I didn’t even know was for marks). I got an 18/25 because I “missed” a primary document that I stated I wouldn’t be talking about. Besides that point, and besides the mark, everything in class is weighted evenly – so my shitty topic proposal that took me 45 minutes to complete (and it would’ve been quicker if I didn’t have to cite sources) is worth the same as my 1-page responses, which are equal to an 8-page final paper that will take me upwards of about two weeks to complete (not including doing my readings, prepping my argument, editing/proofreading, etc.).

I personally don’t think this is fair, especially since we don’t get to re-do any of our assignments. The fact the amount of effort it takes to complete any given assignment fluctuates, which is already enough reason to argue the fact that things should be weighted differently. Our prof claims that he wants us to take every assignment seriously, and of course that’s what we (or at least I) do, but this policy makes me want to try less hard for my final paper – especially if it’s just going to count for the same amount as something I worked for 45 minutes on.

Furthermore, the instructions for the responses are quite vague, especially since rhetoric can apply to many aspects of the world around us. and when we do find something to write about, he docks a lot of marks because of formatting or the fact that the topic we chose to write about wasn’t exactly what he was looking for (even if we applied the theories correctly).

I’m conflicted as to whether or not I should talk to my prof about this because I already know he won’t budge on his stance. It sucks, obviously, especially because I tanked my oral presentation, but alas – sometimes life sucks.

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A few words of wisdom for the new year

I’ve got several friends going into university within the next coming years, and all of them seem to ask for the same advice: how do you survive your first year?

There’s really no formula, but here are the top three things I recommend doing to keep yourself happy and at the top of your game:

Make tons of friends. Seriously! I came from a school where very few applied to UBC and those who did either went into Sciences, Engineering, or IR. No one was in liberal arts, and I felt pretty lonely during the first few weeks (especially since I didn’t live on campus). But I stepped out and talked to the people in my classes, found a fair amount of people to socialize with, and now, looking back at it, I feel like I have a pretty solid number of pals going into my second year. You definitely won’t regret making friends in your first year, and they’ll be your support system when things get rough (hey, at least they’ll all empathize with you when you’re battling through finals week).
Study hard! I hate to sound like a nagging mom, but it’s true – what you put into your work, you get back in return. My Arts One professor told us at the beginning of the year that it’s rather easy to get a B in your classes – the difference between an A and a B is effort. Also, you (or one of your family members, or maybe the government?) now have to pay for your studies – and it doesn’t come cheap. Make sure you get the biggest bang for your buck by pulling out the textbooks, hitting up the library, and always (always!) asking for help when you need it. Your prof (and at the very least, your TAs) are there for a reason, and it’s because they want you to succeed as much as you do. Take ownership of your education!
Always make time to care for yourself. I’m speaking from the point of view of an introvert, so this may be a bit harder to do if you’re an extrovert, but it’s always good to have some alone time. Do something to relax, take your mind off the craze of clubs, sports, social gatherings, school, and so on. Grab a latte and people-watch, or go to bed early to catch up on your much needed sleep. You’ll wear yourself out pretty quickly if you’re always on the go or if you spend all your time studying and freaking out about exams. If you feel like you’ve become lost or need a little guidance, pop by the Wellness Centre. It’s not embarrassing to seek out resources to keep yourself safe and happy. You’re the most important person at the end of the day!

Of course, there are many other ways to survive your first year, but these are my fool-proof ways. I think that every year gets better and better so long as you keep your head up and make the most out of the opportunities you come across!

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Textbook Mania

Since the release of booklists for the upcoming Fall term, people have acquired a frenzy I like to call “textbook mania”. Everybody from all over are trying to buy and sell and haggle for the best prices on the book that would have otherwise costed them a fortune at the bookstore. I am also one of those people.

I mean, it’s not a bad thing to look for cheaper books, especially if you don’t mind minor wear and tear. Here’s the cost of my booklist if I were to purchase everything new from the bookstore:

ENGL 229
- Rhetoric of Motives – $42.60
- Rhetoric of Rhetoric – ??? (it’s not on the site, but let’s give it an average of $45)
FREN 111/112
- Imaginez w/Supersite access code – $154.60
LING 200
- Sounds of Language – $62.90
LING 222
- Language Acquisition – $190.90

Altogether, plus the 7% PST, my books would cost an average of $530.72 if I bought them brand new.

LING 200 and 222 have used book substitutions ($47.20 and $143.20, respectively), but even then, it would still cost $462.88, which only saves me about $67.84

Opting for eBooks for LING 200 and 222 ($39.90 and $103.05, respectively) would cost me $412.11, which would save me $118.60 (but hey, I can’t do eBooks because 1. no resale value, and 2. I know I’ll get distracted if I’m reading on my computer).

I opted to search Craigslist for some of my textbooks, and sure enough, I found FREN 111/112, LING 200 and LING 222 texts at a cheaper rate ($30, $30, and $120, respectively, sans tax). I only have to get two of my texts plus an access code from the bookstore, which averages out to about $305.83 altogether (given that the average text for Rhetoric of Rhetoric is $45 and I’m giving the access code the price of $30, and all bookstore prices have tax on top). I’ll be saving at $224.88, which is still about $106 more than I would have saved if I opted for eBooks as a way to save $$$. And I can probably spin all of my books once I’m done with them, should I want to make a little extra cash next year.

Selling my old textbooks has been a bit tough, but that’s because I’ve only made one post on a Facebook group. Perhaps I’ll post in more groups, or on Craigslist too. I can make about $50 from spinning my old Arts One and EOSC 114 texts!

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Clubs, clubs, clubs

After a year of bouncing between Surrey, West End Vancouver, Delta, Burnaby and Downtown (ranging between 40-100km round trips between Surrey and the other locations!) while managing work, school, family, social and romantic lives, I realized that I really didn’t get the ultra cool first year experience that people go home and brag to their families about.

In fact, I actually missed the big concert (??) thing on my first day because my boss at Kumon wanted me to work. I also skimped out on studying for Latin 101 due to having my tutoring job, which sucked because my first assigned grade in term one (since I was taking Arts One and it was a linear course) was a 69%! How horrible that was for someone that had never gotten anything less than an 80% in an arts course before.

Didn’t go to stART up either, because that was way too expensive. Never got to go to a single T-Birds game (even though I bought the First Week kit and it came with a pass to go to any T-Birds game for free). Didn’t attend any First Week events. Never got to go to socials. I missed out on a lot in my first year, now that I look back at it.

It’s unfortunate because I feel like I missed out on so many opportunities to make new friends for reasons such as:

Financial hardship: Hey, shit doesn’t come easy when you need to pay for your own tuition. I was always worried about not having enough money to pay for tuition and books, therefore I had to stick with my job (at one point I had two jobs!) and spend less time at school.
Location: Trust me when I say that it’s extremely easy to attend a 6PM club meeting when you live on campus. When you live 1.5 hours away and you still have homework due the next day? Not so much. Apart from being super tired at the end of the day (I have to leave 2 hours before my class starts, and I wake up at least 2 hours before leaving – therefore, if a class starts at 11AM, I still have to wake up at 7AM, which is gross on so many levels), it’s impossible to study on the bus (people who claim they can study are lying, I can feel it). I can’t afford off-campus housing either, so I’m kinda bound to my home.
Hover parents: Okay, so they’re not super hover-y (is that a word?) but my parents have always been anal about my safety (for good reasons!) but sometimes it gets in the way of living, you feel? They always ask me to come straight home one I’m done class, even though sometimes I want to meet up with friends or study a little at the library.
Anxiety: The god awful crippling sensation I feel when I try to socialize with people and having them laugh at a potential stammer or pronunciation screw up? No thanks, not into that. I can socialize with people once I get comfortable with them (and if I’m sure they won’t make fun of me for trivial reasons), but until then I’m in a constant state of “?????????? pls save me”.
Wanting to allocate more time for my significant other: Okay, so I chose this among the other four aspects above. I know there might be a super important person in your life, and you may disagree with me on this (feel free to!), but I had a lot of trouble balancing the four aspects above AND having a partner in my life. I would skip classes, go WAY out of my way to do things with them, and I would always want to prove to them that my interests wouldn’t shift to another person so I never really pushed myself to meet new people in fear they would question my motive for branching out (they posed this concern to me before I started school, and it was always a conscious thought in my mind). Technically I’m not even allowed to date still (???), so it was actually a huge disadvantage to me.

But this year I want to make up for the loss of my budding first year experiences by joining clubs! I found a few clubs on the AMS website and these were a few that caught my eye in particular:

UBC Cooking Club – I need to learn how to cook anyway, so this could be a great place to branch out and meet new people (who may or may not also need to learn to cook)
UBC Fashion Club – I’d like to pride myself on being fashionable (it’s just that I’m unable to afford my style, that’s all), so I think that I’ll be able to meet like-minded individuals (and maybe I’ll gain inspiration to start buying chic and start a fashion blog).
UBC Pre-Education Club – This is probably the most important club I could join seeing as I want to become a teacher someday (and because my majors don’t lead straight into the teaching program’s requirements).
UBC Jazz Cafe Club – Jazz and food and good company (who probably also enjoy jazz and food)? There’s enough ‘jazz’ in that to convince me to go (sorry, I had to).
UBC Speech and Linguistics Students Association (SALSA) – Another important club/association I want to belong to since one of my majors will be Linguistics anyway! Maybe I’ll meet somebody that I can talk to about the ever-so-interesting discourse particles that hail from Singapore.
UBC Yoga Club – Might as well join the hype. You’re not really from Vancouver if you haven’t participated in at least one yoga class and own at least one article of clothing from Lululemon, right?
UBC English Students Association – Let’s talk about pragmatics? And Shakespeare? And The Great Gatsby? Thanks.

I hope to see these clubs during Club Week! And I want to meet new friends in the process 🙂

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Things are in a constant state of flux…

Summer has come and (almost) gone and as I look back on the past year, I realize that nearly everything has changed.

For starters, I’m a year older with a cornucopia of Arts One essays under my belt. I’ve changed my degree plan from major in English Literature, to major in English Language, to major in English Language with a minor in Gender, Race and Social Justice, to double major in English Language and Linguistics (whew). I’ve met a ton of new people (and dropped a fair few I realized might not have been very good for me to be around). I’ve established a fairly new (fairly tender) relationship status of single. Things are changing, and I wonder how I will change even further once the school year starts.

I remember last year being a frenzy of getting officially accepted into UBC, checking booklists, signing up for my UBC card, venturing to campus on my own, and boasting about doing all of that AND holding down two jobs AND having a boyfriend and et cetera.

Turns out it wasn’t much to boast about. It was draining.

I’m hoping this year will bring a bit more insight into myself as a person, as well as where I want to end up at the end of my degree. I’m feeling confident about my major options, but I still feel a little anxious about my future (in general).

I think it’s probably what a lot of people have anxieties about. Part of me is driven by those anxieties in that I am always on my feet and being proactive to ensure I don’t fall behind, but I don’t think it’s very healthy to be constantly stressed all the time. Part of me also wants to take this year as opportunity for growth, and to make sure I don’t strain myself too much in the process.

Here’s to my second year!

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