Jump Start 2010: Day 1.

Hi! I’m Andrea. I’ll be a first year commerce student and will be living on the second floor of Nootka House. I’m still trying to figure my way around this blog so pardon the bland page. I’m incredibly excited to be on the UBC Blog Squad. For so long, I have admired the many authors and contributors before me, who have made my decision to attend UBC so easy. Now, I am thrilled to be a part of this team!

It’s currently 2:30 AM here in Vancouver, where I have now moved into my dorm room. It has been a busy day so I’ll keep this short but I promise to keep this blog active over the next few days.  Anyway, today was the first day of Jump Start 2010. YAY! It was so nice to finally meet the friends that I had made on Facebook. All of us had been counting down to this day- (or yesterday) the 18th of August, 2010. So far, things have definitely been crazy. Every where you turn, there’s a new friend to make. Someone from a country you might have never even heard of before, speaking languages you didn’t even know existed. I went to an international school last year, but I have never before seen diversity like this. It’s awesome. People here have been so intelligent, friendly and kind so far. Our residence assistants, academic coaches and cohort facilitators have been so patient, helpful and passionate about their jobs as well. In this environment, it is so easy to feel like a part of something great. And like my favorite character Rachel Berry on the TV show Glee says, “Being a part of something special makes you special”.

While Jump Start is an opportunity for us to get used to living in residence and participating in actual lectures, we discovered this morning that this orientation program is so much more than that. At the Jump Start 101 activity this morning, all 250+ of us got into our floor groups and came up with words and phrases that represent what Jump Start means to us. My floor, 2nd Nootka aka Cecilia’s Llamas, said that Jump Start means the 3 Fs to us- family, friends and fun. Even though today was just the first day, I have grown close to some of my friends. And the UBC campus makes that easy. While walking down the thousand steps to the beautiful beach, I learned that my Jordanian friend Anoud is afraid of all bugs except ladybugs, that she is the oldest with three younger brothers in her family, and will be my bike-riding support system when we sign up for the Butts N Guts program in the gym this school year. And on an 8:30 PM trip to McDonald’s in The Village, I learned that my Moroccan friend Ghita is interested in salsa dancing, speaks about a thousand different languages, likes tea and reading The Economist. Even though it will be another three or four months before seeing my family again, I already feel like this place, the 2nd floor of Nootka, has already become a home to me.

I think it’s safe to say that many of us were absolutely terrified before arriving here in Vancouver. I was extremely nervous right as my parents dropped me off at the Totem Park commonsblock. However, that quickly went away as I stepped into the building and saw warm and familiar faces. I am so glad that I started my freshman year at UBC with Jump Start. I have a feeling that my experience here will play a pretty integral part of my next four years here in Vancouver. Bring it on!