[insert witty title here]

was what my friend said when talking about the new UPass system and how we have to carry two “IDs” (the pass and our UBC card.)  Whilst making the following face:

Ok, not actually but everyone loves internet memes.

Quick update on my life, guess where I am!

If you guessed YVR then you are absolutely correct and amazing at remembering minute details.

I am about 2 hours away from boarding my flight to Beijing, then Hong Kong to endevour in my next “great adventure” of university life.  Exchange.  It may seem like nothing to those of you who came all the way to Vancouver and are fighting it out on their own right now but for me, someone with overprotective parents who don’t think I could survive for even two weeks on my own, this is a challenge I’ve been dreaming of since senior year in high school.

I don’t have anything too insightful to say right now but I wanted to make an in the moment post.  So for the sake of that I will tell you of my in the moment feeling: sleepy, and wondering why I am not as excited as I thought I would be right now.  But that’s the curious thing about trips, some how when I’m planning and signing up everything is delightful and as it draws close, it just feels unreal so I’m not as excited.  Anyone else get that?

Maybe it’s my friend’s mentality about trips passing over to me.  ”You’re not going for sure until you land.”

It’s really hard to be alone.

I came to UBC knowing that most of my closest friends wouldn’t be here, but I thought it would be ok.  I’m a pretty independent person anyway. I still get to see them just not as much as I would like even though none of them moved overseas or anything.  It’s not like they would be in my classes either, but it makes more of a difference than I thought.

You think I would’ve felt this loneliness earlier and not when the school year is nearing it’s end.  The feeling just suddenly hit me today when I was riding the skytrain home.

Maybe it’s not loneliness but nostalgia.  I do wonder what it would be like to be going to the same school as them though.

How must it feel to be an international student?  Maybe I’m underestimating the difficulty but it seems like it’s harder to be nearby and not see your friends than far away and not see them.  Am I heartless?  I don’t think so, it’s just my thought.  I’m not bent on it, you can change my mind if you want.

Ok, I’m not totally alone, I’ve made friends, I like being around them.  But when it’s time to go home… wait.  Maybe it’s that long lonely commute I hate.

I’m so relieved. After reading other people’s posts about their first visit to UBC, I’m glad to know I’m not the only one who has never been. Though some of you are actually international students which kind of changes things since I’ve always been in the area… but whatever. It’s fine. =D

Random fact about me #1 (because at this point I don’t intend on making a real profile): I am a local commuting student… is “local” the correct term? As in opposite of “international?”

I knew that UBC is big.  I just didn’t think it would be this big.  My friend and I spent 5 hours just walking around exploring.  It was a good way to spend our day considering we were too broke to do anything else.  5 hours sounds a little ridiculous, but we spent a good 20 minutes wandering to find the bookstore and another hour inside it playing with the Macs and looking at other random stuff.

Opinions (and facts?) of UBC:

• the bus loop is kind of far from everything
• the ocean can be seen from the Rose Garden, but the ocean is still a ways away.  It is still beautiful though.
• Chapman Commons at the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre looks like Hogwarts! Read the rest of this entry »