Sitting in the window of David’s Tea on 4th Ave after a yoga class, sipping on some Jolly Jellybean and listening to Mother Mother on repeat. This is the setting in which I finished off my first real research paper of university (I don’t count the lab report I wrote on snails). This is a pretty bold statement, but I think writing this paper has been my best academic experience of second term. Which is ironic, since it’s for my English class, which is the only non-science course I’m currently taking.
So why is this paper so awesome? Well, my topic is pretty sweet. I watched this series of videos a while ago called “Everything is a Remix”. Basically, it explains that everything, from movies to songs to electronics, is a “remix”—a reinterpretation of an existing idea. Inspired by this, I decided to look at what effect this idea has on the definition of authorship (i.e. who is the true creator of the remix—the remixer or the original artist?) and whether copyright laws should be adjusted to account for this new definition. Nerdy fun times.
But although my topic is awesome, I think the main reason why I haven’t been enjoying my academics very much has to do with the rest of my courses. The difficult thing about first year science, aside from adjusting to the pace of university work, is that you’re not necessarily taking courses that interest you. Everyone ends up taking the same math, physics, chem and bio combination as everyone else, and once you add in your English credits, there isn’t much time to take fun electives to learn about the Middle Ages and watch cult cinema movies (yes, these are both real courses).
The reason this is a problem for me is that I’m not really into the whole math and physics thing, and even some of the things we’re learning in BIOL 121 don’t really appeal to me. Genetics? For sure. Ecology? Not my cup of David’s Tea. I’m a human biology kind of girl, and trudging around in a forest trying to identify plants just doesn’t appeal to me. Plus, I totally suck at it. I didn’t know a Douglas fir from a sword fern on our field trip to Pacific Spirit Park last week. That being said, I know that things will improve once I get to apply for my specialization in June (fingers crossed for Integrated Science!), but let’s just say that academically, I hope my other terms at UBC are vast improvements over this one. I guess taking six courses didn’t help either.
But regardless of having to suffer through physics and calculus, this year has been absolutely incredible. I’m a completely different person from the wide-eyed Ontarian who arrived on campus back in September, and I can’t believe that I’m going to be saying goodbye to the ocean, first year, and my West coast life so soon. Maybe this is a premature though, since the year isn’t over just yet. Tomorrow is LDOC (Last Day of Classes), which is a bit of an inaccurate name since I highly doubt most of the campus will actually be attending class, and Block Party rowdiness is going down. It’s going to be a great way to end the most amazing year of my life so far. Thanks for the good times, UBC. I’ll be sure to enjoy it while it lasts.
