Monthly Archives: September 2012

When the professor shows you the 3D printer in the Eng Fizz labs for the first time

When a professor over in Hennings today showed me and my friends the 3D printer for the first time and we were just like,

When I first came into engineering, I thought for sure I was either going into mechanical or computer engineering but after seeing all the awesome toys that engineering physics gets to play with… Man, I don’t know.

There’s a really popular stereotype about engineers being socially awkward and really nerdy. I’m not gonna lie, it’s true a lot of the time(at least for me…) but hey– we have the coolest, most awesome toys. Aside from the 3D printer, there’s a laser cutter and a water jet cutter, all three of which we’re allowed to use for our own personal projects(as long as we pay for the materials, which is only 10 cents a gram). Looking around and seeing the machines in the lab today, I felt like a fat kid who had been let loose in a Hostess factory and then told he was allowed to make his own twinkies.

Looks like I can finally build that light saber shaft.

Standard

Why I love Physics 153

Ok, not really, but this happened a while ago and I CAN’T BELIEVE I FORGOT TO POST IT.

About a week and a half ago, I was sitting in Physics 153 learning about thermodynamics and linear expansion, blah blah blah when all of a sudden, “WHAT?! NO SEATS?! I HATE WHEN THERE ARE NO SEATS. RAWWRRRRR!”. And I turn around to see the Hulk rampaging through the aisle, leaving a trail of physics homework and textbooks in his wake. Three days later, I see this video in my YouTube subscription feed from the Chengman:

Look closely at 1:27. That tiny burred face in the middle column? Yeah, that’s me.

Standard

No…… homework? :O

When I finish all my homework ahead of time and I have a rare, homework-free night:

I’m pretty sure I’ve been zapped into an alternate universe because something is seriously wrong when your friends in Arts are complaining about having homework and I, the engineer, am just sitting there playing Tetris on my computer(not to say that Arts majors don’t work hard. I know all too well from AP courses that arts classes are extremely difficult). Let this teach something to all you future university students: do your homework right away when it’s assigned to you. Even if it’s not due for another week, start it right away and just keep plowing through your work because then you’re done with everything half-way through the week and you get to spend the next few nights just hanging around in the floor lounge and watching American Pie with the fantastic people in your building. Just goes to show that university work isn’t as bad as everyone thinks it is, as long as you stay on top of everything. So remember, work hard now, party hard after… or play Tetris later, if you’re anything like me 😛

 

**Edit: I apologize for my excessive use of .gif photos lately. Let’s just say I spent a lot of time on Tumblr over the summer and I may or may not have turned into a compulsive image-saver. I’ll get counseling, I promise.

Standard

Back to the grind…

After the first week of school and you’re so exhausted all you really want to do is collapse

I only have four classes this semester but I’m exhausted beyond belief. I’ve already been assigned a small pile of homework this week and once I get home to do that, I’m so tired I pass out at 11 or 12. I have no idea how some of the people on my floor have the stamina to be out at all hours drinking and partying…

On another note, the UBC campus looks almost exactly like the brochure. I mean, it’s enormous and confusing, too and I can never find my way to class, but at least I have some nice scenery while I’m lost. Over the past three days, I think I’ve probably spent about twenty percent of my time on campus just searching for classes. I’m so directionally confused, I’m pretty sure I’ll still be that first-year walking around with a map in her hands when December rolls around. Luckily, I always have classmates who are as equally directionally challenged and are willing to get lost on the way to class with me. On the upside, I don’t have to worry about the dreaded Freshman 15 because I’ll have the Freshman -30 from all the walking I have to do to get to class 🙂

With that said, I’m off to go battle the beast that is laundry, and hope that my clothes don’t all shrink and/or become horribly discoloured.

Standard

#UniversityProblems

Holy crap I hate university desks. They’re so small and tiny I just sit there wondering how the hell I’m supposed to fit my notebook on this thing. It also sucks when you’re left-handed and you’re stuck in that tiny right-handed desk so you’re reduced to having to awkwardly hold your own arm up as you write instead of  resting it on the thingy that extends from the side of the desk.

Someone please explain to me the logic here.

Standard

Imagine Day

Do I really even need to post something? I’m sure there are dozens of my fellow blog squadders who have already thoroughly covered this topic, haha.

But here goes anyway:

MUG

I had originally planned to wake up at seven in the morning so that I would have ample time to wake up and eat breakfast, but unfortunately, that plan like many others similar to it, failed me. Don’t judge me. When it’s seven in the morning and you figure you have another hour before you actually have to leave, it’s hard to resist the soft fluffiness of your pillow. Nonetheless, I managed to drag myself out from under the covers and into clothes and reach the Thunderbird field to meet my MUG, where I had to navigate a sea of red to find them. Also to note, I was the only girl in my engineering MUG. How stereotypical.

Also while meeting with my MUG, the EUS was kind enough to give us a lovely goodie bag filled with the Engineer’s Handbuk, which contained wonderful information about the EUS and it’s many many traditions along with an agenda that had hilarious nerdy, science and math related pick up lines(“I’d be the photon to your electron and take you to an excited state”), along with some awesome EUS sunglasses, the AMS insider, and a t-shirt. I asked for a medium, so the shirt is a tad oversized on me, but ah, well.

Meet the Dean

For applied science, this was in Thunderbird Stadium. The Dean of Engineering spoke to us, along with the EUS(Engineering Undergraduate Society) president. Both gave speeches on how we would go on to work hard and achieve great things during our time here at UBC. Nothing extremely special but still motivating and inspiring. I spent a lot of the time rather dazed, given that I had only woken up about half an hour before and was fairly groggy from the walk up.

Student Success Workshop

Here, we were given advice about how to balance our life at UBC. An engineering physics professor(whose name I can’t recall at the moment) came and spoke to us as well. He made it very clear that the excellent grades we were used to getting in high school would be very difficult to achieve here at UBC. Very encouraging…. but at least now I have to motivation to work hard 🙂 We were also given in a worksheet to colour in based on our feelings toward how fulfilled we feel in different aspects of our lives(personal, emotional, academic, spiritual, health, etc) although none of us actually filled it out…. ah well.

Campus tour

The most useful part of Imagine day definitely had to be the campus tour. My MUG leader was very helpful and showed us where the main buildings for engineering were located on campus. Unfortunately, that turned out to backfire, but I’ll post something else about that.

Rally(I forget what the official name was)

DEFINITELY the most fun part of the day. All 8,000 undergrads were put into one gym for the sole purpose of expressing their faculty pride. Needless to say, engineers pwnd everyone else, but I might be a little biased. As soon as we entered the gym, it was pretty obvious that the engineers dominated over both Arts and Science since we are clearly and most obviously the best. I mean, purple and blue may have taken up the most space in the gym, but we all know red was where it’s at.

Beyond our supermegaawesomefoxyhot faculty cheer, the best part of the rally was definitely watching the head of each faculty walk in to the soundtrack of the Imperial March. I would gladly be a Stormtrooper for those people anyday.

Main Event

The main event was a club fair where all of UBC’s clubs came out to strut their stuff. As if the sheer amount of clubs wasn’t impressive enough, what they were actually for impressed me further. For example, the UBC Baja club makes and races cars. Maybe I’m just easily impressed, or I just really really wanted to joyride, but they didn’t even have to ask for me to put my email down on the sign-up sheet. There’s also a Mafia Club. Wait, WHAT?! There is a club that comes together once a month for the sole purpose of playing Mafia?! Another club where I didn’t even think about putting down my email.

Once I managed to dig my way out of the ocean of clubs, I headed off with a friend for sushi and Korean tofu in the Village before retreating to my dorm room and falling soundly asleep for classes the next day.

But just in case the rest of you didn’t know….. WHO THE HELL ARE WE?!

We are, we are, we are, the engineers,

We can, we can, we can, demolish forty beers,

Drink rum, drink rum, drink rum, drink rum, drink rum, and follow us,

For we don’t give a damn for old men who don’t give a damn for us!

Standard