Category Archives: A (stressful) Thing Called School

First Year – Term 2 Course Memories (Each in 10 words)

Math 103 – Integral Calculus with Applications to Life Sciences

FREAKING OSH, converge to 0, +C, Jellyfish live forever, integration

Biology 140 – Laboratory Investigations in Life Science

Tenebrio molitor, Reject Null Hypothesis (α = 0.05, p <0.05), Forcing Research Papers to Make Sense.

Chemistry 123 – Thermodynamics, Kinetics and Organic Chemistry

“Alrightttttttt”, “Ok!”, Chair structures, Entropy, Gibb’s Free Energy, Ice Cream.

Chemistry 123 – Lab

Vitamin C, “the patient is dead”, pure caffeine, no instructions.

Music 119 – Introduction to Music Technology 

“everybody ropes, everybody rides”, MIDI, Technical Difficulties, Goats Beard.

Science 113 – First-Year Seminar in Science

“so, what is science???”, “Weeellllll…”, “alright, carry on”, constant confusion.

Taking Summer Courses for the First Time

A little less than a month ago, I finished my first Summer term at UBC.

And oh my goodness was that a wild ride. Mistakes were definitely made; at often times life decisions were reevaluated with no improvement in sight.

After hearing many stories of 4th years in science rushing to finish their 6 credit communications requirement (Basically English and writing courses of some sort), I didn’t want to be that upper year stuck in a room with 29 1st years, so I decided that I would finish my communications requirement as soon as possible. I didn’t take an English course in first term, and I took Scie 113 (that course made me feel many conflicting emotions that weren’t good) in term 2, so I chose to take English 112 in May.

Being the crazy person that I was, and partially being influenced by my equally crazy and delusional peers, I thought taking 1 course at a time, downgrading from the 5-6 courses I took at a time during the winter term, was kind of an underwhelming course load. (Mistake #1: Thinking 1 core course in the Summer is too little. Past Katie was a very naive soul) I aimed to specialise in Biology, which I got into btw (yay me), so I needed to take the infamous Chem 233 – Introduction to Organic Chemistry. From multiple outlets I’ve heard that the prof teaching Chem 233 during the Summer, Jay Wickenden, was amazing, (which he is, he’s probably my favorite prof so far) and that it would be easier than taking it during the Winter. I had one of the earliest registration times for Summer courses, so I decided I would take Chem 233 and get it over with.

In the end, I took English 112 and Chemistry 233 during the 1st term of Summer.

HAHAHAHAHAHAH OH MAN THAT WAS SUCH A MISTAKE #REGRETS2K17

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First Year – Term 1 Course Memories (each in 10 words)

Math 102 – Differential Calculus with Applications to Life Sciences

Webwork, 10 tries, piazza, FREAKING OSH, Transit police are rich

Biology 112 – Biology of the Cell

Hydrophobic Effect, Glycolysis, Acetyl CoA synthesis, Citric Acid cycle, mitochondriaaaaa

Biology 121 – Genetics, Evolution and Ecology

Mutations, genetic drift, Hardy Weinberg, M&M demonstrations, tree planting, iClickers

Physics 101 – Energy and Waves

Buoyancy force, ν=ƒλ, related to chem, webassign, piazza, nodes, Po=1.013×10^5 Pa

Physics 101 – Lab (you can see that I did not enjoy physics labs)

Anxiety, nightmares, ERROR ANALYSIS, being confused together, questioning everything

Chemistry 121 – Structure and Bonding in Chemistry

Resonance structures, quantum mechanics???, orbitals???, antibonding??????, ν=ƒλ, related to physics

Chemistry 121 – Lab

Anxiety, titrations, 10 minutes quizzes, being confused together, questioning everything

Free Time

Frantically cramming, questioning my self worth, wait what free time?

 

1st Term Thoughts

About a week ago from today, I was supposed to have finished my last final of the term. (Except it was a snow day, so finals got cancelled and now I have to write a final the first week back from winter break – I’m totally bitter but no matter)

Marks were released last Thursday (seriously December is so stressful for so many different reasons), and that marked (heh) the end of my first term attending UBC.

Ohhhh man were the last 4 months a wild ride.

I took 5 courses last term, despite many people suggesting first years only take 4 courses to ease into the ways of uni. There were some times that I wish I had listened to their advice, but I would think about my friends in the Engineering department and convince myself this is better than taking 7+ courses (respect to you people).  Continue reading

Letter to my Printer

Dear Printer:

I guess it’s true that people don’t realise what they have until it’s gone.

I am formally apologising right now: I’m sorry for always being mad at you. In retrospect, I may have overreacted. Everyone messes up occasionally, I guess everyone has to malfunction and spew out papers with only one line of gibberish instead of my homework. Heck, I even forgive you for refusing to listen to me and not print at all.

Remember all the good times we’ve had together? I’ll never forget those late nights I spent sitting on the floor, slumped against the wall next to you, exhausted, slightly delirious, waiting for you to give me my Chem lab report. What about the time you finally printed out my sheet music a week after my performance ended? And the multiple occasions where I had to force shut you down for attacking my brother by spraying paper at him? Good times.

Jokes aside, beyond my impatience, you were alright I guess. Even if it took an hour to print 3 pages, it’s still better than no paper at all.

The truth is, I’ve been taking you for granted, and that was terrible of me. I need you. I really do. Without you I can’t get anything done; it’s like part of me is missing (the part where I’ve handed in my reports).

By the looks of it now, you’re not doing too well. Did I do anything wrong? What did I do to deserve this? I’m sorry for always complaining about you, I really am.

Now please don’t die on me please please please I have a paper due tomorrow.

*Update: It actually stopped functioning this should have been a eulogy instead

BIOL 121 Field Trip – I Planted Trees

This afternoon I had to venture into the forest of Pacific Spirit Park for a Biology 121 field trip. Honestly I didn’t expect there to be field trips involved in my first year of uni, but it happened anyways~

Our job was to help plant local plant species into an area that was cleared of invasive plants. We were put into pairs, handed fluorescent yellow gloves and a shovel, and off we went.

I learned today that I don’t function well in intense rain. I also don’t really know how to operate a shovel effectively. I would make a wonderful botanist.

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(this looks hella blurry I now realise, woops)

We planted baby Douglas Firs, Bitter Cherry trees, and nearly got to plant a Hawthorne, which looked very threatening with all its borderline dark red thorns.

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After much struggle, my friend and I managed to plant 8 trees over the span of 2.5 hours, which was pretty impressive in my book. There were rocks and plant roots EVERYWHERE, and that made our lives so much harder. Being in the rain and being surrounded by dirt, I quickly gave up trying to keep my new raincoat clean (much to my mother’s dismay) and just watched as my black coat/leggings and rain boots got attacked by mud. Somehow I even got dirt on my shoulders, I have no idea how that happened.

Despite the gross weather, I quite enjoyed this field trip. It took 3 hours out of my Saturday, when I really should be studying for my 4 upcoming midterms (HA RIP ME), but it was a new, fun experience. There was a satisfaction I got after my friend and I finished planting a tree (honestly I think she did more work than me, you da best), and it was also kind of fun to have an excuse to play around with dirt and use a pickaxe (rocks and tree roots are annoooyyyiinngggg). We even got brownies and chocolate for a snack. That is always welcome.

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After I finish washing myself in a washing machine, I better go back to prepping for midterms.

Review on My First Month of Uni

Last week was my first week of midterms. Oh what a hellish ride that was.

I don’t think I was satisfied with how I did on any of the midterms I wrote. I was disappointed and quite angry at myself for not working as hard as I should have. These were MIDTERMS. I really should have done many things differently. Now that I think of it, I am not satisfied with how I faced my first month of uni.

It was not until I finished my Chem 121 midterm last Thursday did I realize that I have gone through a month of being a university student. I never clearly noticed my transition into university mode-it kind of just happened as it did, and that makes me concerned if I’m even getting used to university properly. From navigating Connect to figuring out my schedules to writing my first 10 minute quiz to doing my first lab, I’ve been struggling to some extent.

Thinking about it, I find myself quite pathetic.

Here I am, surrounded by hundreds of my peers at a time, surrounded by so much confidence and purpose, and I myself don’t know what I’m doing. I know that I should be working harder to keep up, but somehow I always fall short from my goals. There’s no one else to blame that disaster on but me, and I’ve learned that the hard way.

For the past few days I’ve been thinking about how my approach to things could have been improved, and I’ve come up with a list of things I should improve as soon as possible. Learning from my mistakes involves addressing those mistakes head on, and here I am attempting to do just that.

Things I’ve learned: Continue reading