Kim Go – 1
First year anxiety/stress/fear – 0
First week is probably the scariest thing in the world to anyone new to UBC. Hell, first anything is a scary thought. But as I’ve said before: take it one day at a time. Look where we are now? First week accomplished! And that’s a lot to any first year who had to face overwhelming factors of new faces, new environments, new transport, new everything!
Let’s recap the week! 😀
Tuesday: IMAGINE DAY
Imagine was crazy for me. That pep rally blew my mind. There were so many people and it was so loud and it just wow. I made friends and got to know the campus. I had a meet with an older student to buy old textbooks that didn’t work out, but all in all a good day.
- Don’t skip out on Imagine Day. It really is fun! And you get lots of free things! And everyone’s really nice and welcoming. Put those fears away that you’re at the bottom of the food chain again. (Well, you are, but people in university are a lot nicer about it than people in high school)
- Double, Triple, Quadruple check the used textbooks you’re buying. I wanted a 7th edition textbook and found one at a really good price. After asking and checking more than 3 times, when we met up it turns out that the seller was selling at 6th edition. Don’t do what I did and buy it anyway. (Don’t worry, I gathered enough courage to call her back and ask for my money back, she was really nice about it!) You should know what you want to buy and you should make sure it’s the right book! You buy used books to save money, not be scammed out of it.
Wednesday: First Official Day of Classes
First day of classes was a little intimidating. Lots of people and meeting all the profs. I honestly was mentally preparing myself the whole bus ride to school. I got this. I can do this. These were things I constantly kept telling myself while taking deep breaths. Yeah… I was that weirdo on the bus.
- Don’t stress out about your books. Don’t freak out if you don’t have them all for first week. Seriously. If you read the “required” list for your courses and for example, bought a used biology textbook and realized you don’t have the MasteringBiology code and go buy it… You’re out of luck (and money!) when you find out first day of class that your MasteringBiology code isn’t needed. Wait for the first class before buying books, because sometimes you don’t even need them! Or they tell you certain used books are just as good.
- Wait before labelling everything. I labelled all my notebooks for my classes and it turns out that for two of them, I don’t even need notebooks. It’s an easy thing to fix… but still! Like I said, wait for that first class. The professors will tell you everything you need. And if you have questions, you can always ask. They seriously don’t bite. They’re quite friendly.
Thursday
On Thursday I had a 3 hour break, from 11 to 2. I had a physics class in the morning and a math class in the afternoon. I ate some lunch with friends, and we chilled out on a bench and enjoyed the weather, getting to know each other.
- Learn how to read the schedule times. The UBC timetable is in 24 hour clock AND it’s a little hard to get used to. I didn’t really learn how to properly read my schedule and ended up going to a class I thought was at 9, when it was at 9:30. Oh it’s just half an hour, Kim! NO. I could have slept in an extra 10 minutes. THAT’S A GOOD CHUNK OF SLEEP.
- Math Class… So you know how in high school, the first day of classes usually means course introductions, ice-breakers and all the jazz? … Except for math? The same applies in university. Seriously. All the other courses spent the entire class talking about course outlines and class expectations. Math class? “Oh I emailed you the website with the course outline! Let’s begin with tangent lines and velocity/time graphs.” …Be prepared to actually begin course material first class in math!
- Don’t be afraid to look stupid!! This is a weird one. But in all honesty, don’t be afraid to ask questions, even if people laugh at you at least you get the right answer. In math class on Thursday, our prof asked us if this looked familiar, which it did, and if any one had never seen it before. People were too scared to raise their hands so he said, “Then let’s skip the whole explanation and go straight into the problem.” Long story short, be honest about whether or not you know things. Otherwise you will regret it
Follow