TOMORROW’S IMAGINE DAY!

Posted on September 3, 2012 | Leave a comment

Imagine Day 2012

So obviously, I’m excited for Imagine day.  I can’t wait to run around UBC’s beautiful campus with people I’ve just met (and will hopefully be friends with in the future).  I especially look forward to the end of the day rally, when ALL the freshmen gather around in the stadium.  Imagine 7000+ students, each bellowing out our respective faculty pride!  In case you’re wondering, the kids frolicking in bright green (hello, bright green nail polish) will be the kinesiology students (on a side note, it is now the goal of everyone reading this to know the colours of all the faculties).

To be honest, though, I’m a little nervous about meeting people tomorrow.  How are you supposed to greet people you casually “met” online?  Formally introduce yourself, or act as if you’ve been buddies all along?  Awkward handshake and small talk?  And what if you forget someone’s name? There’s a whole lot of social pitfalls that could be out there tomorrow, and I’m doubtful about my ability to successfully navigate them all.  But no matter what happens, tomorrow will make for a good story 🙂

See you all tomorrow!

PS. Weather forecast? Sunny!

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Touching on Vanier vs. Totem

Posted on September 2, 2012 | Leave a comment

I went to UBC again today!  This time, I went to visit some friends living in rez.   The rooms in Vanier were alright!  They were a little cramped for my liking, yes, but then again there’s plenty of space around UBC .  I love the entire layout of Place Vanier.  The  grassy area was definitely perfect for today’s barbeque (and yes, I did buy a burger for $1).  But then  I went to q’elexen house in Totem Park.

Oh. My. Goodness.

It’s unfair, how nice the building is.   My friend lives in a connected single room, and it looks just like a hotel room! In fact, it even smells a little like a freshly serviced hotel room.  There’s so much space, the furniture has more useful features (bulletin board, locked drawer), and the windows are big and clear.  Oh, and did I mention the shared bathroom? My friend is a lucky boy, indeed.

But a major downside of living in Totem Park is that it’s so far away from, well, the centre of everything.  For me, it takes 10 minutes to walk from Totem to Vanier, and even longer to get up to the Main Mall.  Bah!  In my opinion, Place Vanier gets one up on Totem Park, because location, location, location.

Still, I’m a little jealous of everyone living on campus. I’m not excited for  early morning commutes. At all.

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Hey look!

Posted on September 1, 2012 | Leave a comment

I went to Brock Hall this morning to pay my tuition fees, and I picked up a free AMS agenda! It looks pretty neat; there are lists of clubs and services at UBC, as well as spaces to write your daily schedule.  It’ll be dead useful once school starts and things begin to get hectic.  Also, there’s coupons for on-campus food stops! Yay! I suggest that everyone goes to pick one up.

To those of you who will be living in residence: Happy moving-in! 🙂

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People-watching on the 99

Posted on August 31, 2012 | Leave a comment

Things I’m not doing: Preparing to move.

The other day, I took public transit to Cambie and Broadway, where my orthodontist’s office is.

That means I took the 99 B-Line Express bus, which is probably one of the busiest bus routes (the only other huge bus I can think of is the 135 on Hastings Street).  Even on a supposedly non-busy hour like 10am, the bus gets pretty full.  It runs from Commercial-Broadway Skytrain station all the way to UBC, stopping only at major transit stops.  It’s supposed to come every three minutes, which is handy because there are so many people (both students and professionals) coming from all over Greater Vancouver.

Anyways.

On the bus down to the Skytrain, I saw a girl, and someone who presumably was her father, carrying lots of bags and a huge hot pink suitcase.  It was one of those shiny, plasticky suitcases, and it was at least half the girl’s size.  Automatically, I knew she was heading off on a long, extended trip.  It turned out to be that GWAPS and I were heading in the same westward direction (“GWAPS” is the Girl With A Pink Suitcase).  When we got onto the same 99 B-line bus, it finally occurred to me that GWAPS is actually another UBC student! And I’ll bet that she was a fellow first year, too. Question: Are non-international students only allowed to move in on September 1st?

Immediately, I started to notice other potential UBC mates.  There were the twin sisters with long braids; they looked about my age.  And then there was the glasses-wearing, Emma Stone look-alike.  In addition, there were lots of people wearing heavier school backpacks; typical of what you’d see on a normal school day.  I’m pretty sure I accused (all in my head, of course) about a dozen people of being UBC students before I even got off at my stop.

To be honest, I don’t know where I’m going with this. Maybe I’m saying that there will probably always be at least one UBC student on the 99 bus at any time.  I’ll just have you all know; if you see a small Asian girl squinting at you on the bus, it’s probably not me. That is all.

PS. Good luck this school year, GWAPS! I liked those shoes you were wearing!

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Getting back into “School Mode”

Posted on August 30, 2012 | Leave a comment

5 nights until Imagine Day!

Every year, we make the transition from free-for-all summer schedules to rigid school-time routines. There’s a lot of cleaning, re-organizing, and mindset-changing that has to be done in the week before school starts!  Here’s a list of some things that I’m doing to get ready for UBC:

  • Sleeping earlier. This also means I’m forcing myself to wake up earlier, too.  Having become used to staying up way past midnight, I’m finding this really tough.  But I have to prepare myself for those morning classes! My goal every night is to get into bed before midnight (that’s reasonable, right?) and get out of bed before 9:30 the next morning. It’s… sort of happening.
  • Sorting pens.   Isn’t it annoying when you try to quickly scribble down a note, only to find it’s run out of ink?  I’m going through all my writing and art utensils (pens, pencils, Sharpies, markers, crayons, pastels, you name it), testing them, and tossing the ones that don’t work into the trash.  The rest get sorted into different pencil cases, depending on their type and usefulness.
  • Drinking tea. Earl Grey with cream and sugar in the morning, and decaf herbal tea at night!  I’m determined to not get addicted to coffee.
  • Labelling everything. I admit that I like having my name on all my stuff.  It was especially important back in high school, because I always seemed to lose either my favourite pencil or eraser.  Now, I have a surplus of stickers that say “Courtney” on them, so I’m trying to use them all up.  Labelled items include my (new!) textbooks and workbooks.
  • Reading and drawing and listening to music.  Right now, I’m doing all the lazy-day-at-home things I can, because I’m not so sure there will be time for them later.  Among the things I’ve been reading is this, a wonderful pre-UBC guide by a fellow blogsquad member.

Now I’m even more eager to get started at UBC.  September 4th, hurry up!

 

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