Tag Archives: UBC blog squad

05/1/14

Wrapping Up

Wow.

 

Wow.

 

First off, I would like to congratulate the people who got their acceptance letters from UBC! Well done! If you’ve accepted your offer (and I don’t see why you won’t), you’re going to be in for a ride. The UBC Blog Squad is a really good resource to get to know more about life as a first year and more. Hashtag shameless plug. Hashtag ubcblogsquadforever.

So after 8 months of being lost, doing stupid things, having heart-breaking exam schedules and many sleepless nights, I am done. DONE. Well, not DONE like graduating-from-university-done, but I’m done with first year. I can scarcely believe it. I can still remember the day I left for Vancouver (I cried secretly on the airplane; I think my mom noticed but she pretended not to). I was young(er), and so naive…. Now I’m still fairly young – turned 19!, and I’ve learned so much from my first year in university. Still pretty stupid, though. I had to live in a foreign country all by myself. I had to file taxes (it was painful and I didn’t know what I was doing most of the time). I had to do scary adult-things like pay bills and go to fancy offices and speak nicely. I presented at an academic conference. I ogled some cute guys.

It’s been a year to remember. Sure, it wasn’t always sunshine and rainbows and puppies, and I did occasionally want to flip tables and cry my eyes out, but it has been illuminating. I would never trade my first year in university for anything else.

(Unless someone wants to give me a pet dragon. I want a dragon.)

I thought I’d be a little more social and outgoing in university, but umm, leopards don’t change and their spots and stuff. I am a natural recluse. So I spent time outside of classes either working or sitting in my room. I enjoyed my time cooped up in my tiny room, but I suggest you do not do this. I hope I get involved a little more next year… (without having to socialize much… wishful thinking. What can I say, we can’t all be outgoing and energetic. I usually fake it, then run back into the embrace of my bed asap)

Many of my friends in residence are jetting off home, but I am staying in Vancouver. *silent sobs* I miss the food back home a LOT, and I really want to see my friends and experience crazy driving (if you think the drivers in Vancouver are crazy, you ain’t seen nothing till you head to Asia). I want to bask in face-melting heat and hair-ripping humidity. I want to eat spicy food and see an entire family ride on a single motorbike (this is an actual thing) (PS this is dangerous please do not try it). I want to have oily skin and sweat profusely. I want to finally not have to use a universal adapter to charge my laptop. But nope, I’m staying here, and I’m completely cool with it. I’ll actually be taking two summer courses, so I guess I can blog about that too.

I also need to look for a job. I applied for some Work Learn jobs but they rejected me…… Which didn’t hurt at all. Haha. Ha. ha. SOMEONE PLEASE HIRE ME.

 

Well, this chapter is now over. (Now I’m going to rest and not study for two weeks before summer school, play some Bioshock Infinite maybe and not think about life). I can’t wait to see what second year holds. I’m already excited. And scared. But mostly excited.

12/12/13

Baby, It’s Cold Outside

“A tale that will warm your heart and soul, perfect for winter!” – Jack Froze, North Pole Times

“… a magical story of love and reconciliation… sure to be a family favourite!” – Nicholas Claus Jr., Thine Magazine

“Heartbreakingly powerful and exquisitely crafted…” – Easton Bunny, Magazine Magazine, starred review.

 

********************************

 

“I’m going to take my exam now. Wish me luck.”

“Don’t go.”

I roll my eyes. “Stop being so clingy, I really have to take this exam. I don’t like it, but I have to go. I’ll be back in three hours.”

“But baby, it’s cold outside.”

I heave a deep breath to steady my nerves. I have a final exam in 40 minutes and now I have to deal with the kind of temptation that even a saint cannot resist. Why is this even happening to me? “I really can’t stay,” I breathe, looking away.

“But baby, it’s cold outside.”

“Stop!” I throw my hands up in the air in exasperation. “This exam is worth thirty percent of my grade. That may not mean anything to you, but it sure means something to me. Please respect that. I’ve got to go.”

I feel forlorn eyes gazing into me and my eyes tear up unexpectedly. Crap. No. No no no. Not the eyes. “But baby, it’s cold outside.”

Now I find myself weighing the possibilities in my mind: I can stay a little longer and be up to thirty minutes late to the exam…. Or maybe I could just skip it. What is my current grade in that class again? I mentally attempt calculating my scores but give up immediately. But well, life is short… right? Right?? No one cares about grades in first year… right?

“Yes… Come back here.” My bed entices me, showing me its silky sheets. My eyes fall on its soft duvet and I feel myself falling under its spell. I feel my body grow weak as I gaze at its softness. Mmm… it would feel so good to just forget everything and go to sleep…

“Yes… it’s cold outside… stay in here with me.”

“I-I-I must… I must go?” I whimper, torn between my immediate desires and sense of responsibility. What responsibility, though? I couldn’t remember why I had to leave anymore. What could have possibly driven me to go out? I must have been mad… Yes. I was mad.

“It’s cold outside.”

“Yes. It’s too cold outside.” I throw my bag down and leap into the arms of paradise.

 

AND THAT IS HOW I FAILED EVERYTHING

I first converse with inanimate/intangible objects here 

10/30/13

Puppy Love

I can’t tell you when it began.

Maybe I just slipped without noticing, losing just a little bit of the already precarious hold I have. Perhaps I lost focus one day, and everything went spiralling down.

I am so stressed.

Now, I am a little embarrassed to admit this, because some upperclassmen in Arts have talked about how they never had anything to do in first year (what on earth?!) and everyone thinks we’re supposed to be really chill and smoke weed and talk about how things are gnarly and so rad. I also feel bad because I probably have no idea what the kids in engineering feel. Maybe I just have crappy time management skills. Maybe I need to step my game up.

But I digress. Possible reasons aside, I’m tired. I’m not lucky enough to be able to function without many hours of sleep like some. I am a creature of rest. I am a monster of snores. I thrive on being dead to the world. Now I fall asleep in classes, and I even missed one shift in the cafeteria because I couldn’t wake up (yes, it’s the 7am one. Worst decision I’ve made so far, taking that shift). The worst part is that the more I’m stressed, the more I don’t want to do work. And when I have uncompleted work, I go berserk. It’s a vicious cycle.

“I just want to sleep, you know.” I’d say to myself, near tears. The blank page in Microsoft Word would mock me with its glaring brightness.

And then the walls would start laughing and calling me names, saying I’m crazy for talking to myself. Then I’d defend myself, you know, because the wall was talking to itself as well, talk about the pot calling the kettle black. Or stainless steel. But apparently they were talking to my dresser. And that’s when I knew I had gone bonkers, because the dresser is usually silent.

Maybe my past self did something right for once – she foretold my mental breakdown and signed up for a session with a dog in the UBC Wellness Center in Irving.

Now, Wednesdays are intensely busy for me. When I don’t oversleep, I wake up at 6.30am, work, have an hour’s break, and head to back-to-back classes until 4. The dog visits are only between 12 – 1 on Wednesdays, and that so happens to be the same time as my Sociology class. But screw that, I thought. I want to see a dog. You have no idea how much I love dogs. Every time I see someone walking their gorgeous little pooch on campus, I want to run up and play with them, and it takes all of my energy and lots of squealing just to restrain myself. So boo to Sociology.

(Disclaimer: This is not the right attitude to have towards your classes. Please attend lectures diligently.)

(If you’re my prof or TA and you’re somehow reading this AND know who I am… I’m sorry.)

In case you didn’t know, you can sign up to play with a dog for 10 minutes every day in the Wellness Center. You can get more information here.

This is Jasmine

This adorable little cockapoo nearly licked my hand off. I was so overjoyed to be able to actually play with a dog for once that I flew into that room and went all maternal and started speaking in my doggy voice.

“Who’s a good girl? Who’s a good girl?”

The essays and readings may be piling up, but don’t forget to take some time to relax. Maybe you like to jog (which is something I cannot identify with at all, I’m sorry), or maybe you like singing at the top of your lungs or killing pixels in the shape of humans (this I identify with). Being 20 minutes late to Sociology and busting into the lecture like James Bond, and having people give me dirty looks was completely worth spending time with Jasmine.

What do you like to do to relax?

(I like to eat to de-stress, which just ends up making me depressed and angry when I gain weight, which makes me want to eat again…. )