Freshman Year – Week 2

With Create Week coming to an end, I thought that things might die down a bit but apparently not. More events happened this week (though not as much as Create Week) but with a BIOL 116 and CHEM 121 midterm happening next week, studying is starting to become the biggest priority.

Before I start with anything, I have to announce that I officially recieved my UBC hoodie! I’ve been waiting for this since forever, and to finally have it and be able to wear it gives me a very happy feeling 🙂

UBC What?

On Saturday, I bought my lab coat at the UBC Bookstore! I bought a lab coat and the SPC Card, which will be useful when I go out shopping here and in Vancouver for the summer 🙂 In total, those two items cost $50. I got a financial heart attack (it’s been happening quite a lot these days), and the UBCO Bookstore made a profit. Curse you overpriced items. I have yet to buy my lab goggles, and I fear for my life. I also fear that this Extra small labcoat has sleeves that are too short, and I’ll have to buy another one. Sigh.

All this for $50?!?!?! *faints*

On Sunday, UBC Okanagan’s last day of Create week held a Pep Rally for the girl’s soccer team! It was also the same day as their match against Douglas College. It was pretty cool,  people were giving out signs for people to hold up, and in the  courtyard, people were giving out free towels and face paint. I was also lucky enough to get a picture with none other than UBCO’s beloved mascot Ogi Ogopogo! I didn’t really stay at the soccer game for long though, all my pep got drained by the 27-degree Kelowna sunshine. Even just walking back to my dorm was difficult. There was also a free pancake breakfast that day, and you know how much I love my free food!

Getting my pep on after the pep rally in my nice and cool dorm room with air conditioning

Going to the pep rally with some friends 🙂

On Tuesday, UBC Okanagan finally held their Clubs and Union Course Day! Being the extra-curricular activity lover that I am, I joined a lot of clubs, probably way more that I should have with the academic workload that being in the Sciences comes with. But I’d rather be busy volunteering and getting involved with the community when I’m not doing my homework rather than partying. 😛

The clubs/unions I joined were:
UBCO Pre-Med Society
Chemistry Course Union
UBCO Community Outreach Club
Asian Student Association
Southeast Asia Club
UBCO Student Union
I’m gonna be quite busy this year, but I don’t mind. I think I’ll be able to balance this out with the work I have now (hopefully)

I was finally able to see the new (and undoubtedly the best) residence in UBCO – Purcell! I was able to go there twice, the first time to see my friend’s room, and the second time to do my math homework at the rooftop garden. I love how the whole place didn’t have a dorm feeling, it felt like one large luxurious hotel to me. And the rooftop garden is an amazing place to go to in the sunny weather. Studying won’t be effective there though, trust me 😛

Studying at the rooftop garden in Purcell on a nice sunny day

Friday was a crazy day. First event was the icebreaker for the Asian Student Association. I don’t ever seen such a large congregation of Asians in my time here in UBCO, I felt like I was back in Vancouver! No actually, make that Richmond 🙂 We played some really fun icebreaker games, danced to some oppa Gangnam style, ate free food – it was a lot of fun! It was nice to meet more Filipinos that I could speak Tagalog with, so that was a lot of fun 🙂 I want to try to sign up as an exec, but I don’t think I’m Asian-ized enough XP

Next was the All White Blacklight Dance Party held by UBCO’s DJ Club. It was a pretty fun night, and the place was packed. I was lucky enough to get a ticket before the event sold out! It was crazy, the place was full if backlight, and people were dancing everywhere, it kinda felt like a nightclub to me LOL But it was a lot of fun!

That was one crazy night.

In terms of school, there’s nothing special to mention – more lecture, labs, tutorials, etc. I my first labs this week, for PHYS 112 and BIOL 116. For the physics lab we had to graph stuff on excel (difficult at first glance, but not that bad), and for BIOL 116 lab I have to create the most suitable living condition for mealworms by next week. Fun. I had my PHYS 112 tutorial too, and even though the TA had an accent as well (Spanish accent I think), it was considerable more tolerable as the class only had a bit more than 30 people.

And there was something that my CHEM 121 prof said that really  stood out to me this week. He was comparing high school and university, saying that the study methods for both institutions are noticeably different. While in highschool, one could get away by simply memorizing concepts and ideas, that won’t cut it in university. One has to actually understand the concept, understand the ideas, and know all the general trends and patterns. He promised us that on the first midterm, we will see something that we’ve never seen before, but we should be able to know how to solve it if we understand the concepts and know the general trends and patterns. It’s apparently a good way of sorting out who just memorizes the ideas and who actually understands the concepts and uses their problem-solving skills to answer the questions. It really shows how different university is from high school, and you really can’t get away with just only reading the textbook and memorizing. You actually have to know the concepts inside and out, and understand what goes on.

Some other not-so-interesting things that happened this week…
1. I had my first in-class iClicker quiz at PHYS 112 yesterday. I’m sure I got 100% on it, but if not – huge facepalm.
2. I did my first two loads of laundry on Sunday! The process went quite well, but my reaction to the prices was not pretty.
3. I learned that next month, my MATH 100 and PHYS 112 midterm will be on the same day. THE SAME DAY.
4. We did limit laws in the MATH 100 lecture yesterday. The first time in a long time that I felt smarter than everyone else, since I already knew the concept. Thank goodness for Calculus 12. For those who are taking it in high school, don’t be intimidated by the difficulty of the course! Just try to pass, and it will be extremely helpful in the long run, trust me!
5. I felt a bit homesick on Thursday. Actually, I was really homesick. But I’ll make a more detailed post on that later.
6. I learned that I have a burning hatred for significant figures, but I’m probably gonna have to deal with it for the next 4 years, maybe even the rest of my life. I’m trying to find a compromise 🙂

I am looking forward to nothing next week, it’ll just be filled with me preparing for my BIOL 116 and CHEM 121 midterms. Oh, but I will have my first CHEM 121 lab next week. That should be interesting~

SONGS OF THE WEEK:
Day 7 – Kana Nishino

All My Love is for You – SNSD

No Distance – Jason Chen