So today was Imagine Day, and it was awesome…
Let me tell you about it.

A few days ago, we have been assigned to groups of people with whom we would spend Imagine Day with. Those people are some of the many who will be attending our program. In my case, we were a bunch of CAP Media Studies stream students. Our Orientation Leader (Rochelle) had done that program the previous year, and that is basically how we are assigned to the group we are assigned to. We all met at our specific spot and introduced ourselves, then the entire Faculty of Arts (my faculty) was directed into the Chan Center for Performing Arts where we got to meet our dean and the president of the Arts Undergraduate Society. They both gave us inspirational speeches and taught us the faculty’s chant which goes like : “WE ARE LOUD ! WE ARE PROUD ! WE TAKE UP HALF THE CROWD ! WE’VE GOT TALENT ! WE’VE GOT CLASS ! WE ARE ARTS AND WE KICK ASS !”.
After that, Rochelle gave us a campus tour (which was useless to me since I have been on-campus for the past two weeks, but I guess it was useful to some of the Canadians who still get lost while trying to find their way back to their residence), then we headed to Buchanan where we got to meet one of our professors. My group got to meet Dr. D’Onofrio who will be teaching the VISA 110 course of the CAP Media Studies stream program (so you might hear more about her in upcoming posts in the “Courses” tab). She talked to us about CAPs, the university experience and we got to ask her anything about Media Studies or anything related to that subject, which was a first since the beginning of Jump Start. Indeed, the BMS and the CAP being such a small part of the student body, we never really had an information session about those.
Once that was over, we had lunch (free food !) and headed to the Thunderbird Arena to attend the Pep Rally. Now guess what ! My group and many other Arts groups were seated on the floor while all the other faculties had chairs. We were close to the stage so I am not really complaining  about that. The Pep Rally in itself was AWESOME. Though my faculty wasn’t really as pumped and loud as some others (Engineering are loud), we still had our moments. We got to meet the Interim-president, the vice-president, the deans and the AMS president. All gave inspirational speeches, some stressing on mental health, others on the university experience ! All the faculties did their chants, except us… We missed it.
Since we are the centennial class of the university (you should know that by now), we got to make a class photo ! Rochelle was talking about a surprise and I was expecting much more, but now we have a 360° picture of all the 6,000 new undergrads of UBC. We are making history I guess !
Now you might be wondering how all of that is “awesome”… What is “awesome” is the fact that all first-years were in that arena. We are all new here. We are all going to sit in a Buchanan or Sauder or whatever lecture room for the first time ! We all just learnt our faculty’s chant ! We are all taking a step forward in our lives. We are all here to experience something completely out of our comfort zone. That is what made the Pep Rally so awesome. This sense of relatablity (that is not a word but you understand what I am saying) is what makes the Pep Rally so memorable. To celebrate, there was music and our Orientation Leaders were dancing and Engineering was loud and Kinesiology was loud too. The arena was vibrant was energy, filled with our motivation and excitement to be here.
This reassured me. It was like a wake-up call, that hey, I might not have found “my people” yet, but I am in the right place right now. I belong here. Though I never doubted those statements, experiencing the Pep Rally gave me this feeling that this is my home now. I am UBC.

Back to the story !
Once the Pep Rally was over, we went out on Main Mall and almost every club of the AMS had a stand where they would explain what they are all about and we could sign up for the mailing list to have more info, and people were pushing and hustling to know more ! At this point, we didn’t have to stay with our group anymore. Once again, the energy was at its peak. Some stands had music, people were dancing, some were acting crazy, some were shouting about their club, some were laughing loudly ! Everything was everywhere ! I was pissed at people pushing me from the sides, and the front and the back, as we were all trying to make our way through the crowd. But I would say it was all worth it.

#IAMUBC