Well, I’m all moved in to Totem.
Okay, so that happened three days ago. I think I’m fairly settled now. I flew in on the 1st with my dad, and he helped me move all my stuff. I don’t have a laptop, so I had the distinct honor of hauling a rubbermaid containing a desktop computer onto a plane and then bringing it into rez. Following my move, many people commented on my clothing. Apparently I dress like some kind of vampire or other form of undead. Maybe it’s Vancouver. Everyone here dresses all in bright colors, since there’s such a strong hippie influence here (While I have some objections to hippies, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing; it certainly contributes heavily to both the natural beauty on campus and the environmentally friendly nature of the entire university) so my tendency to dress in black coats, black jeans, white dress shirts and motorcycle boots must come a bit out of the left field for some people.
Anyway, I went to IMAGINE today. It’s not really my thing… Well, I liked the lectures (though I was tired, so I had to keep myself from nodding off once or twice) but the whole thing otherwise reminded me of summer camp. Let me state now that I bear an extreme hatred for summer camp. People in summer camps, especially the counselors, have a habit of getting ridiculously excited about everything. Like, a level of excitement I simply cannot begin to comprehend. This was especially evident at the pep rally. I mean, J.D. Salinger could show up at my dorm right now and say he wants to invite me over to his home for a chat and a read of his new book, and I still wouldn’t even begin to show a fraction of the excitement that I saw from more than 3,000 students today over the simple matter of what faculty they were in.
Fun fact: The sciences faculty, when they passed me, chanted “3.14195” when everyone knows that pi to the 5th decimal is 3.14159. Take that. And that’s from an arts student. Some scientists you turned out to be. See? I can show pride in my faculty. Just not by yelling and screaming and chanting.
Speaking of yelling and screaming and chanting, if any of you heard someone yell “McGill Sucks!” at the Chan Centre, that was me. And I think I owe McGill a partial apology. While I stand steadfast in my position that UBC is a superior university for my purposes, UBC’s development in its early history actually owes a lot to McGill. So McGill: You do not, in fact, suck. I’m sorry if I hurt your fragile, personified conceptual feelings.
I didn’t really stay long after the pep rally, but I took a look at some of the clubs. Since before I actually arrived here in Vancouver I’ve been intrigued by UBC’s Wing Chun Kung Fu club. Unfortunately, they didn’t have a booth or anything today. Oh well, I guess I’ll have to approach it through other means.
As a first year, I was exempt from classes today. However, tomorrow my summer truly ends. My father also left to go back to Toronto today. This is where both my independent living and my academic experience really begins. No, I’m not scared. No, I’m not excited. No, I’m not sad. I’m just ready. That’s all.
5 replies on “Apparently, I have come to suck your blood.”
As a Science Student I can assure you that the chant was in fact 3.14159 (rest assured that the entire Faculty of Science at Canada’s top research university would not get pi wrong)!
Also, Imagine had nothing to do with faculty pride (believe it or not). It’s about bringing people together, letting them scream and shout about the same thing as someone else. This creates a commonality which in many cases leads to the friendships that so many 1st years will be needing desperately in a few weeks time.
On texcitement: I think it’s like a party where everyone’s drunk, and you’re kind of sober. You have to get drunk on the crazy tribal energies, or else you’ll miss out on the bit where you sell part of your dignity and sanity to UBC.
As for dressing, Vancouverites are kind of bland compared with the real hippies on Vancouver Island. And there is a sizeable community of people who wear only black. There was this one guy who came to my 300-level econ class decked out in a leather bomber jacket every time, but he goes by motorcycle, so who knows.
By the way, welcome to Vancouver! 🙂
Incidentally, I knew another guy who used to dress like you at Totem. We only ever did see him at night, and we all thought he was really cool.
The science chants were poor as usual, they need to be shorter like the one for arts, or at least have better lines.
Unfortunately you misheard the science cheer. It was in fact 3.14159 and all of the MUG and Squad Leaders were aware of that.
I truly hope that your UBC experience gets more exciting for you. It seems as though you are feeling like Vancouver and UBC are too hippie, small-scale, and beneath you. I don’t like to judge, but that’s typical from a Toronto kid. Snap out of it and you may just have some fun.
“I don’t like to judge, but that’s typical from a Toronto kid.”
Nice. You’re not just judging Max, you’re judging everyone from Toronto who’s chosen to study in Vancouver.