Sustainability is a hot topic right now, and many students are looking for more ways they can go green. Recently, we delivered compost bins to all units in suite-syle residence to allow students the chance to reduce waste by composting organics. A few notes about composting in rez: you can compost meat, bones, dairy and cooked food here at UBC. Our In-Vessel composter can break down a lot more than a traditional backyard composter that you may have at home. Chopsticks and cutlery are NOT compostable, but some takeout containers are – check! Finally, If you take out your compost bin and clean it frequently, you won’t have to worry about smells or fruit flies forming. For answers to all your waste-sorting and recycling or composting questions, check out the UBC Recyclopedia.

If you’re looking for more ways you can live a more sustainable lifestyle, check out this great e-booklet put together by the Campus Sustainability Office.

The cold and flu season is almost upon us again.  A 2008 UBC health survey found that 33% of students felt colds and flus impacted their academics.  Did you know there are many things you can do to stay healthy during this time of year?  The influenza vaccine is the best way to prevent the flu and UBC Student Health Service offers influenza vaccine clinics every November.  There might be a cost to the vaccine for those who are healthy, but your UBC student plan provides $150.00 vaccine coverage yearly.  It is also important to get adequate sleep, eat healthfully, wash your hands and stay home when ill, especially when you have a fever.  If you don’t have a thermometer, pick one up the next time you are at a pharmacy.  For more information about influenza check-out Health Link BC.

Sprouts is teaming up with the AMS Bike Co-op to offer a weekly delivery of fresh, local, organic produce to campus residents by bicycle. We are piloting the program this semester at residences with access to kitchen space.Through many initiatives, Sprouts has endeavoured to make healthy, sustainably produced food affordable and accessible to the campus community. We’re offering The Sprouts Box to further pursue this goal, and support local food producers practicing sustainable farming. You can sign up today in Sprouts or read on for more details about the service…

More questions? Email Alyse at sproutsbox@ubcsprouts.ca

Details

Deliveries will go out every week of the semester starting Monday September 26^th and ending December 29^th.

Residents can choose between a larger mixed fruit and winter vegetable box (priced at $20 per week x 9 weeks = $180 plus a $10 box deposit for the semester) or a smaller mixed fruit and winter vegetable box (priced at $15 per week x 9 weeks = $135 plus a $10 deposit for the semester). Sprouts Boxes will contain local, organic produce (from BC and northernWashington). Because we are choosing to source locally, all produce will of course be seasonal. At this time of year, what is available includes: apples, pears, beets, cabbage, carrots, celeriac, leeks, mushrooms, parsnips, sunchokes, radishes, sprouts, herbs, potatoes, and many varieties of winter squash. So, each week the box will contain some assortment of produce from that list, and we will keep it interesting by varying the exact contents from week to week. As more produce becomes available in the spring, we will incorporate those items into the boxes as well.

The boxes will be delivered on Monday afternoon/evenings by our team of AMS Bike Co-op bicycle volunteers. We will inform you of the specific drop-off time, and location based on which residence you live in case you can’t be there to receive the delivery. Produce will arrive in a food-grade white plastic bucket with our logo, and customers will be asked to leave their empty bucket from the previous delivery available for our volunteers to collect, so that we can ensure it is clean and sanitized in time for the next delivery.

In addition to the produce, you’ll receive a few recipes (especially if we include unusual produce such as sunchokes and celeriac), information about the origin of all the produce and a price break down so that you can be sure that you’ve received what you’re paying for. We expect the precise value of the box to vary from week to week, but we will ensure that over the course of the semester it averages out to what you initially paid us when you signed up for delivery.

Living with roommates can be challenging, but we have the key to a successful year: communication! Taking the time to get to know your roommates and talk about your expectations early means less problems in the future. Your Advisor will be by to visit your unit between September 7-16 to help facilitate your conversation.

Getting to know one another:

• Where are you from?
• What is your family like?
• What is your major? What led you to choose that? What is your schedule like?
• What else are you involved in?
• Is this your first time living in residence, or have you lived elsewhere?
• Do you have household items you’d like to share with the unit?

Setting common expectations for all unit members:

• How will we rotate household chores?
• How will we define clean?
• How do we feel about common space inside the unit – how can it be used?
• What about storing personal items in common areas? Is anything off limits?
• What about noise – how loud is too loud?
• How do we feel about parties in the unit?
• Can we commit to locking doors?

Study habits:

• What time do you study?
• When and for how long do you usually study?

Alcohol:

• Is it ok to drink alcohol in our unit?

Sharing:

• What items are you comfortable sharing?
• What would you prefer not to be borrowed or used?
• What costs will we share?
• Do you prefer to be asked before someone borrows something?

Guests:

• How do you feel about having overnight guests?
• How long is it OK for a guest to stay?

Want to have a Party?

Parties are permitted in Fairview on Friday and Saturday nights (or dinner parties Sunday -Thursday).  A maximum of 25 people are allowed in the unit per party and only three parties can be registered each evening.  To register a party, you must fill out a form and have it approved by the Senior Advisor – Lionel Jensen (unit 2673) at least 72 hours in advance. Remember, unregistered parties are a violation of the standards contract, and will be documented.

Fire Safety

Be careful not to handle, touch or hand anything off of the sprinkler heads in your unit/rooms, as they are highly sensitive and will be set off.  Tampering with any fire equipment such as fire extinguishers, hoses, and alarms is against the residence standards and is cause for eviction from residence.

Garbage & Recycling

Garbage and Recycling chutes are located throughout Fairview Crescent. Do not put household garbage in the bins located in the courtyard. We’re excited to provide compost bins for all units in Fairview this year, and hope you will compost all of your food scraps and compostable paper products. Compost bins can be emptied in the green bins located between the Fairview south entrance and the Commonsblock.

Open Alcohol Policy

In residence, alcohol is allowed inside the units only.  Alcohol in the courtyard, common areas, or outside on residence property is strictly prohibited. Standards action will be taken against those found with open alcohol outside of their room/unit.

Noise

Noise travels very easily throughout the residence, whether you are in your room, or walking through the courtyards.  We ask that you respect your fellow residents’ right to live and study in a quiet, comfortable environment at all times.

Quiet Hours:

Sun-Thursday from 10pm- 7am.
Friday & Saturday from 1am-7am

Smoking

Smoking is not permitted inside residence buildings; this includes the usage of hookahs, shishas or any other smoking devices. Smoking may only occur outside of buildings, and must take place a minimum of six (6) meters away from all buildings, windows and doorways.

Residence Advisors student staff that work to ensure a safe residence community suitable to positive living and learning conditions. Here are just some of the ways that Residence Advisors are here to support you:

• Answer questions about Rez, UBC, Vancouver and to provide you with information about campus life and services;
• Plan activities and programs that are offered in residence;
• Help ‘keep the peace’ in the residence community;
• Are available to offer a listening ear;
• Address issues in residence that may be bothering you such as loud noises, safety concerns, roommate conflicts; and
• Respond to lock outs by letting you back into your unit/room
• So much more!

Overall, Advisors work to ensure that residence can be a constructive living and learning community for all residents.

Looking to contact a Residence Advisor in Fairview? Stop by their units (2641, 2673 or 2729) or call the Duty Phone at 778-887-7279 between 8:00 pm and 7:00 am.

It’s less than 48 hours until move-in begins! Your Residence Advisors have been in training for the last week and have been working hard to get ready for Opening Day. We’ll celebrate your arrival with an ice cream social at 8pm on Sunday and a BBQ at 4pm on Monday. See you on soon!

Come meet your neighbours at the Welcome Back Fairview BBQ, on Sunday, January 9 at 3:30pm, hosted by the Advisors and FCRA.

Are you looking for an on-campus job that offers training experience in a variety of skills including event planning, conflict management and leadership? If yes, consider a position on the Residence Life Staff team at UBC.

Year after year, Residence Life Staff tell us this work provided a unique leadership opportunity that they would not have gained elsewhere. In addition to an amazing experience and excellent training, Residence Life Staff receive a competitive compensation package that includes a staff rate for residence fees and a staff rate for a meal plan (where applicable).

We’re looking for hard-working, outgoing, and responsible staff members to help enhance the residence life experience for other students. If you want to be part of providing a place that helps students succeed, while having fun, we want to hear from you.

You can find out more about the available positions including job descriptions and FAQ’s on our website at: http://www.housing.ubc.ca/employment/residence-life/171.  There are information booths coming to your Commonsblock during the next two weeks so make sure you stop by and ask some questions.

Applications are open NOW and close on January 16th so make sure you don’t miss out on your chance to make a difference!

 I hope you enjoyed your holidays and are ready to start a new year at Fairview. Perhaps over the break you had a chance to think about the past year – the good, the bad, and the ugly. Maybe you’ve even taken these reflections and come up with your very own New Year’s Resolution – which is the same as last year’s, and the year before that.

New Year’s Resolutions are notorious for being broken. The gym is packed for the first week of January, and by February it’s empty. The first few chapters in your textbook are highlighted, but you’re frantically reading most of it the night before your midterm. Here are some tips if you want to make sure that you’re successful in achieving your New Year’s Resolution this year (from Lia Steakley Dicker, editor of the 43 Things Book: Dream It. List It. Do It. How to live a Bigger & Bolder Life):

• Be deliberate: Resist the urge to impulsively make pledges for the upcoming year based on what’s bothering you at a specific moment. Spend a week, or longer, evaluating your priorities for the new year and think about how your resolution fits with these objectives. This is a great conversation to have with a friend, “Could you see me doing this goal, this year?”
• Leave the past behind: Refrain from adopting old resolutions to prevent past regrets from following you into the future. Instead, redefine failed goals. If “lose weight” didn’t work last year, consider the new approaches of “eat healthier” or “exercise five days a week”
• Stay positive: Swearing off bad habits such as “I will never bite my nails again” only emphasizes the forbidden behavior. For better results, cast resolutions in a flattering light and vow to “Take better care of my hands and nails”
• Shorten the deadline: Research has found 80%  of people don’t keep their resolution past Valentine’s Day. Maintain yours until July and you will have accomplished more than most. We’re betting the buzz you get from successfully making reaching the 6-month mark will carry you the rest of the year.
• Define the obstacles: Acknowledging and preparing for the challenges upfront allows you to better navigate bumps in the road ahead.
• Go public with your plans: Telling others about your goals helps you in a couple of ways. Writing the goals down and sharing with others can increase your sense of responsibility to meet your objectives. It also gives others insight into what you are trying to accomplish and opens new doors for support.

Check out the most popular resolutions (and add your own!) here