Category Archives: Academics

So Much Done. So Much To Do.

I’ve been off the grid for a while. I’d like to say I was chosen as the new 007 agent and had to recover a priceless diamond/nuclear launch codes/world leader from utter catastrophe, but this, sadly, is not the case. The truth is much less explosive, much less dangerous, much more stirred than shaken. I was simply, in simple terms, referring to my simple actions, busy. I can easily look to the end of classes as validation, and I will. Papers and papers and papers. Seven pages about fascism. Ten pages about the Taliban. Nine pages about my trip to New York. Now, that last one does seem like the odd one out. It even sounds fun to some. But, what if I told you *flashlight under chin, said in spooky voice* THAT IT WAS WRITTEN IN FRENCH!

Yes, French, the bane of my education. Many call it the language of love. I call it the language of required credits. I’ll one day appreciate its beauty, its flow, its bravado (ironically, a Spanish word), but today’s not the day. Neither will the next thousand. This is one of those cases where my education won’t come from school, where it won’t come from a teacher. That reminds me, French teachers always had the best disapproving glares. Beat out Science teachers for sure. English teachers never seemed to glare. Probably because of their love of poetry and happy endings. But that’s beside the point.

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Midterms and Papers and Productivity, Oh My!

From the burnt-out, dreadfully lazy, sweatpants-clad ashes of Reading Week emerged the library-going, textbook-reading, caffeine-guzzling phoenix of the past week. Yes, my friends, the week after Reading Week. Ironically one of the most stressful weeks of the year. You’d think a break would settle your nerves, calm your Chi. But I bet many students found themselves at 10:00pm last Sunday saying,

“I have six projects, four papers, two dioramas, a uncooperative dog to train, a sidewalk mural to paint, and an existential interpretive dance piece all due tomorrow! Damn my procrastination!”

So I found myself at IKB most of last week, half trying to find the comfiest chair and half actually doing what I set out for. Seriously though, they have some comfy chairs over there. Much comfier than any of the Koerner chairs. Although, Buchanan has two very snug couches. Geez, this could be a research paper of mine. I’m sure there’s an active academic community willing to discuss UBC furniture comfort. Well, maybe an inactive community, considering their obsession with lounging.

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State Of My Life: Reading Week

Reading Week, a title suggesting monocle-clad scholars in the comfort of their dens, analyzing Voltaire and Descartes, occasionally grumbling a

“mmmmmm, yes”

As they nod their heads ever so gently.

Well, I beg to differ. How have I spent the Sunday before Reading Week? Firstly, in pajamas. Secondly…there is no secondly. My whole day has consisted of resisting the urge to dress like a productive member of society. But let me tell you, it was awesome. When you don’t have a Philosophy paper down your neck or a History reading to catch up on, lounging becomes a lot better. But you know, this free time feels weird. I’m constantly thinking,

“I’m relaxing…for no reason whatsoever. Wait, no pressure? No midterm? No paper? What is this sorcery?”

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Anything and Everything: A Review of My First Semester Adventure

A full semester of UBC. A full semester of equal parts haste, equal parts precision. It showed me that intuition and intellect go nowhere without hard work, much like the papers to prove said intellect. It was fun though. I felt like an high school exchange student in a foreign nation, recognizing key concepts and learning patterns but reveling in this newfound form of tweaked education. Also, I can see the difference between high school and university now. At high school you’re part of the mass, trying to shine just a bit brighter than that guy or that girl. But at university, you’re a shining individual (that’s why you were accepted!), making up the shining mass. I like to think of university as a league of superheroes, because I’m amazed by what people are doing around me, intellectually and socially.

The clubs we have are amazing. I had the opportunity to be in a UBCimprov workshop, and it was my social highlight of the semester. There’s a beautifully ridiculous aura you gain when telling a story about a goat’s estranged mother, a balloon party for lumberjacks, an amusement park in a swamp, anything you want to say. That’s what improv is. It’s those niches we crave which give us the experiences we treasure. How many 100-level courses will we vividly remember? A couple, I’d say. And only the ones that truly touched us. But that crazy and monumental Colour Wars, that chaotic yet fulfilling Totem One Acts, that quaint Lord of the Rings marathon in rez, those are my vivid memories. That’s my niche.

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Nothing But Smooth Sailing

Last exam today. Yes, I’m the sucker who has an exam on the 20th, but I’m feeling less stress and more a feeling of,

“Tuesday! Tuesday! Tuesday! One day left for DECEMBER EXAM MADNESS!”

That needed to be read in a monster truck rally voice. Otherwise, I just sound like a crazy lunatic with caps lock, which is now mostly for angry people on the internet.

The storm is over for me, its rough waves of sleep-deprivation countered with caffeine overdose a thing of the past. I feel smug eating an apple now, content that I have the time to enjoy a juicy piece of fruit, not crouched over my laptop, much like a troll would, separating my candy stockpile into sour and sweet, the sole organization I’d use for nights of sporadic cramming with the occasional maniacal epiphany that doesn’t make much sense in a rational morning. I’ve lost the “exam posture” too, that hunched stance on a leaned-back chair, paired with a scowl saying, “none of this makes sense and I have to prove it does in two days.”

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The Eye of the Storm

You know that feeling at a restaurant when you see your food leave the kitchen and there’s that gap in time before it gets to your table? It’s an odd feeling, right? All you can think of is,

“That’s my food! That’s it! I SHALL BE EATING THAT!”

But your brain has to correct itself and go,

“Woah there cowboy. It’s not here yet. Just sit tight and act cool. Pretend to look at the martini collection or something.”

So you end up just sitting there looking anywhere but the server’s eyes, waiting for the last second to turn and be startled with joy at the arrived meal, as if eye contact would ruin the taste.

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To Be Sick At University

I was sick last week, in the middle of personal midterm hysteria and the deceivingly challenging quest to craft a university paper. Imagine a knight set out to defeat the fierce dragon of responsibility, using the often-nonexistent sword of productivity. Now imagine that knight is sick. Totally changes the story, doesn’t it? Frodo wasn’t sick. Luke Skywalker wasn’t sick. Yet, I was. And it’s a total change to be sick in university.

In high school, people missed days. They commit to the day when they make the decision to go to school. They confide to the story of it all, because that’s what high school is, a story. The cliques, the clubs, the grade hierarchy. It was one big plotline. It’s the reason no one wanted to go in when they missed their morning classes. It would be like starting Lost in season 4. It just wouldn’t make sense.

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What I Am Thankful For

And as Thanksgiving officially comes to a close, the glorious statutory holiday spent mostly digesting, I find myself looking back and forwards, side to side at my life. What am I thankful for? Who has gotten me here? And what was in that cranberry sauce? Seriously, 4 cups crushed cranberries shouldn’t taste like the love of Will and Rose, Forrest and Jenny, even the yellow fish from Finding Nemo and his bubbles. It was that delicious. But as the edible love of Sunday breezed into the bloated orangutan-like aura of Monday, I feel thoughts more of reflection than glazed ham, a rare occurrence for me. And I’m thinking of UBC, my life, and how everything has changed. So with that in mind, please enjoy what I’m thankful for:

I’m thankful for my room. Nothing beats a hard night of studying like the unkempt bed I strive to keep cluttered. Residence life gives people the right to be messy, and I love it. Owning a mess is a liberating feeling.

I’m thankful for the dining hall. Nowhere else could I have lamb, apple pie, soft-serve ice cream and a spicy chicken burger all in one meal. Also, nowhere else do lines go so quickly. I love swiping my UBCcard. I feel like Bill Gates buying a yacht, just putting another transaction on the card of destiny, the one card to rule them all.

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