Monthly Archives: September 2016

IMAGINUS Poster Sale (aka The Week I Feared for my Wallet)

Last Monday, a huge maze of poster boards welcomed me at the Nest:

2016-09-17-12-17-28Honestly, I had already walked up to the second (third?) floor before I even noticed what was happening below; my observation skills are great.

20160912_171828Turns out there was a poster sale going on for the whole week.

My first thought: Ohhhhhhhh no.

I have a fascination for posters, postcards, stickers, buttons etc etc.. Basically any form of decor you can collect endlessly.  My self restraint was at risk here -.-

After classes ended on Monday, I went straight to the Nest, and delved into the tall rows of posters that surrounded me. It was really fun walking among the posters, it was like I was in a jungle with trees made out of aesthetic posters that I really really wanted to buy.

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First Week Adventures 4 – Friday and SUS Carnival

Well this was stuff from 7 days ago.  I’m so good with time management…

Oh well~

One Friday ago! Last day of my first week of uni!

September 9, 2016 (Friday and SUS Carnival)

On the third day of classes, I felt like I was starting to get the hang of things- emphasis on starting. I already knew what madness I would be facing as I went on with my day, all from my experience from the first 2 days:

  • Show up early to lectures unless I want to end up at the back of the class with the seat with the broken table
  • Finding a good spot to eat lunch and locating friends at the Nest is absolute hell
  • Try to ignore the paranoia I get from not being sure I clicked in with my iClicker despite seeing the green light (every time)
  • Wake up early becuase I think my contact lenses hate me and it can take from 20 seconds to 10 minutes for me to get them in for some reason (I’m new to this I’m trying)
  • I need afternoon snacks
  • Sometimes I can barely understand what my notes are saying an hour after I write them
  • Expect the Connect site to be as annoying and confusing as possible
  • Piazza is trying to drown my Gmail account
  • Pre-Reading quizzes are not to be taken lightly (or done only hours before it’s due)
  • Ew Pre-Readings
  • The day hasn’t even started and I’m already tired…

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The Quest for Free Pizza (success)

For AMS First Week (Sept 6~ Sept 16 to be exact), AMS has this thing on snapchat (@ams_ubc) where they post to their story about different food stores in the Nest giving out free food at random times. If you show them a screenshot of the snap, tadaa you get free food!

It was kind of like trying to catch pokemon…

“WILD FREE BUBBLE TEA @ 3 PM HAS APPEARED.” “OH TOO LATE, WILD FREE CHICKEN WRAPS @ 5PM HAVE RUN AWAY!”

My friends and I tried sooooo hard to at least succeed in going to one of these events. For the first week, we failed miserably. Either none of us were at the Nest or we just didn’t get there in time. Once I was five people away to getting free fries when they ran out. I was sad.

However, today, this fateful Wednesday, things took a surprising turn.

At about 4:40pm, I was at the Nest, deciding to take an internet break after suffering through doing physics homework for too long. Immediately after I turned my internet on, I received two notifications.

“KATIE ARE YOU STILL AT THE NEST THERE’S FREE PIZZA”

The second one was from messenger, and it turned out to be a screenshot

14359701_10209013781160200_2117935007_oThe caption was “GO GO GO”. OMG PIZZA Continue reading

First Week Adventures 3 – Second Day and SUS Tea Party

September 8, 2016 (Day 2+SUS Tea Party)

Second day of school!! Here we goooo~

That morning I was still winded and tired from going through Wednesday (see First Week Adventures 2), but then again I didn’t even do that much, I just don’t bode as well in new environments as I want to, and I’ve accepted it at this point.

So off to class I went!!

The girl on the left in the featured photo (they only show up in my actual blog for some reason, not the UBC Blog Squad feed) is my biology lecture buddy for the term. She might not know it, but I am ever so grateful that she’s in the same class as me. It’s comforting to know that there are one or two people I know that can keep me company amongst the 200+ strangers I share lecture halls with. I’ll try with my mediocre socialising skills to get to know more people(hopefully, probably) soon, but for the first day, having a familiar face next to you is always appreciated.

We met up with another friend, (high school friends I love you) and off we trekked to the West Mall Swing Space, which is where my farthest lecture hall is. I learn later that I have made a mistake thinking that Swing isn’t THAT far away from the rest of my lecture halls (haaaaaaaa). As we get to the hallway outside our lecture hall 20 minutes early, once again, (see First Week Adventures 2), the hallways was already packed with students ready to fight the mob for good seats. I have seen students have to stand at the back and write with the wall as their table or sit on the walkways, so I guess showing up to lectures super early is pretty sensible. Continue reading

First Week Adventures 2 – First Day of Classes

Last Wednesday was the first day of classes. That happened.

I feel like I should document this now so I can laugh/reminisce (or sob internally ) at how it all went down when I read this again some time later.

September 7. 2016 (First Day of Classes!)

The night before classes, so the night of Imagine Day, I remember sitting on the floor of my room, having a stare-off with my stack of newly purchased textbooks from the UBC Bookstore. (I obviously lost)

First thought: ugh new textbooks.

Second thought: oh no I don’t have a locker anymore. (I truly miss those, I really liked having a metal box to throw my stuff in and forget about)

Third thought: oh no I have to carry these things around with me…

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I am even more fascinated by the students walking around with teeny bags now, and I have more respect for those that walk around with what seems like a library on their backs and make it look casual and effortless. I really don’t like carrying textbooks around.

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First Week Adventures 1- Imagine Day

So the first week of my university adventure has officially ended.

I survived, I enjoyed it immensely, but I also think I definitely lost some part of my sanity along the way (who needs that anyways). After experiencing the wild ride that is September 6, 2016 to September 9, 2016, I decided it’s time to reflect on the happenings of my first week as an UBC student!

I may or may not also be writing this blog post because I want to ignore all the pre-readings I have to do by Monday. I’m off to a great start aren’t I 😀

Day 1: (September 6th, Imagine Day)

For Imagine Day, I was assigned to Squad 74, to a group called Schrodinger. After I finally located my group, I was mildly disappointed that there wasn’t a cat drawn on it. Our group leader said that no one would get it if we drew a cat next to the word Schrodinger. (seriously? you get it, right? CAT, SCHRODINGER, COME ON) After I got over my initial disappointment of over the sign, I found that all my group members were very friendly and nice and easy to talk to. (Shout out to Schrodinger, thank you for being awesome)

After we met up and assembled our Imagine groups, we were herded towards the Doug Mitchell Arena to meet our dean and our SUS (Science Undergrad Society) Team.

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#IAM(finally)UBC

Almost 1 day until Imagine Day – Wow, this is really happening huh?

I’m a university student.

Am I ready? Heck no, but I’m excited too~

Speaking of being ready, I only got my UBC Card today, which shows exactly how prepared I am 😀

 For the five years of high school, starting university seemed like the goal that was far away and would be beyond reach of every summer break. Now that the time has finally come, and there are no more summer pep talks to tell myself to get it together for another year of high school, part of me feels really lost. 

What is university really going to be like? Am I going to be able to handle it? Will I fit in? Time management? Networking? Classes? Exams? What am I doing??

On Tuesday, the day of Imagine Day, hopefully I’ll start to get my mountain of questions answered. I’ve worked hard and felt like I’ve lost too many neurons in the process to get to this point, and I desperately want to enjoy my UBC journey ahead. I have absolutely no idea what I’m getting myself into, but I guess I’ll find out soon enough.

In the meantime, here’s surviving high school and entering 4+years education ahead~