Katy at UBC

So, my (our) first week at UBC is over. It’s been a little hectic, what with switching classes and whatnot. I hope that everyone has had a good summer! This summer I went to Italy with my family, where we went to some amazing museums and ate delicious food. I also went to Berlin, Amsterdam and Brussels with my cousin Lauren. We ended up seeing the Berlin Wall, the red light district in Amsterdam, and eating some moules and frites in Belgium! (I would highly recommend the Belgian waffles at Dandoy in Belgium!)

A highlight of my summer was seeing the statue of David in real life – it’s huge!

This is just a quick post to see how everyone’s summer went! What was the most memorable experience from your summer holiday?

x

Katy

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I just wanted to give a quick update from my last post. I’ve gotten a job at Anthropologie – (Yay!) they have such nice clothes! But the thing is, I’m a little worried about working there because I’ve never worked retail before. I’m not anxious about interacting with customers, but I’ve never used a cash register before (and I’m terrible at math).

PS. I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!

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So… I have officially finished my first year of University. On Friday, I finished my last exam (all my exams were in the same week.) YAAHH!!!

In other news, what the heck am I going to do until school starts in September? Since I’m not taking any summer courses, I basically don’t have anything to do. If I don’t have anything to occupy my time I’m probably going to go crazy. I really need to get a job, but I don’t know where to apply.

If you’d like to catch up with me, you can check out my Flickr, or through the comments on this blog.

x

PS. If anyone has heard about job openings I would love you forever.

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This year I chose to enter the New Media CAP stream at UBC. If anyone reading this is thinking about entering this program (or any like it) from high school next year, these are my personal opinions about the program.

OK, first of all what the heck is CAP? The coordinated arts program at UBC is a first year option where students interested in a certain area of study choose a standardized timetable customized for the entire year. Basically, students choose a theme that is offered that year. Then, students get a standardized timetable for the entire year (but you can choose your electives.) This timetable will be customized to the theme that was chosen – for example, the courses, coursework, readings, and lectures will all focus on that material. For me, Since I had chosen New Media, the courses that were given included Journalism and Visual Arts, the coursework focused on the impact of new media and technology, and the professors all tailored their lectures to this idea.

Pros: What are the benefits to this program?

1. All of the courses have the same people in your stream. This means that you will get to know the 100 people in your stream very well.
2. You get a study room just for CAP/CSP/Arts One/Science One students. TRUST ME. This was the most useful thing the entire year. When exam time comes around and people are jockeying for seats in Ike, you’ll be glad this room is reserved. I studied there every single day for the entire year.
3. The classes are small. Compared to other classes which can have 300 students in one lecture hall, this was really nice. It also felt like the professors cared about their students, which is nice.
4. It is a nice transition from high school because you get to know everyone, and the class schedule is made for you. If you are at all worried about being overwhelmed in Uni, I would recommend something like this. One of the most stressful things is signing up for courses, so this really alleviates some of that stress.
5. Some other programs that are similar to this would be the Coordinated Science Program (CSP), Arts One, and Science One. The science programs would be worth looking into if you are thinking about this type of program but were thinking of entering into Sciences.

Cons: There are some downsides to this program.

1. All the courses have the same people in them. Although this can be a good thing, it also makes it difficult to meet people outside the course. This is especially true because I don’t live on campus and don’t have a chance to meet people in residence.
2. Sometimes the material can get repetitious. Because all of the professors are teaching about the same material, there can be some overlap between courses.
3. If you don’t like a course, you can’t drop it. Since the courses are standardized, dropping one course would mean you’d have to drop all of them. So you’re stuck with all the courses even if you don’t like them.

This doesn’t mean that I didn’t enjoy this program, I did! It’s just that with everything, there are downsides to this program. I would recommend it to high school students who don’t really know what they want to do in University, but generally know what they are interested in. If you are unsure of some of my points, or have questions about this program, the UBC CAP website is a good place to start.

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I can hardly believe that there is only a week left of school – it seems like I was starting classes yesterday! I guess that studying makes time go more quickly than you think, but at the time it seems like time is standing still.

This year, I think I’ve learned a couple things that I should continue to do, and some things that  I know I should try to improve on in the future. Overall, I’ve made friends, experienced a different type of community and life in University than in high school, and tried to scrape by with a passable average.

Looking back, I know now that I definitely made the right choice by coming to UBC. At first, I was a little apprehensive because I knew I would be getting a different experience than most of my friends. While they would be going off away to school leaving behind family and friends, I decided to stay and live here. I’ll admit that going into classes and not seeing anyone that I recognized was a little daunting, but the fact that no one knew me also made it a little easier. If an old friend from high school had been in my classes with me, I know that I would have stuck to them like glue, and made little effort to get to know new people (what can I say, I’m shy.) This way, I was forced to get to know others in my classes.

Fingers crossed, I’ll be able to survive final exams.

x

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Ahh… I’m sorry I haven’t posted in so long, but let me explain! I literally haven’t been doing anything but schoolwork, and I doubt that would have been interesting for anyone.

To make up for it, here is a controversial story for you.

Have you heard of Alexandra Wallace? Well, her video has become instantly viral after she posted a video blog on YouTube this weekend. Entitled, “Asians in the Library,” this UCLA student goes on to speak about how the “hordes of Asians” at her school have a lack of “American manners,” and answer their phones in the library. She elaborates on this problem of Asian students saying that there are always “old Asian people running around in the dorms” doing their children’s laundry, cooking their food, etc. Now, some people are calling for her to be expelled from the school, but do you think this is going too far? Watch the video below and tell me what you think – should she be expelled, or was she simply expressing her views and exercising her freedom of speech?

x Katy

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So, if you haven’t heard the news about metered Internet use, you should!

Right now, you pay a flat monthly fee for Internet use – This is a fee that doesn’t change no matter how much, or how little you use it. However, the CRTC is making a move to change this. They are proposing that ISPs (Internet Service Providers) put a cap on monthly downloading amounts. This amount could be as low as 25GB per month, and if you go over your monthly limit, you’ll be charged extra per GB you download (from $1-4/GB).

Technically, this would be like cell phone plans – If you don’t go over your limit, you won’t be charged extra.

Why should you care?

1) How many of you watch TV on the internet? “According to Netflix Canada, high-definition streaming requires about 2GB of data/hour, while standard-definition streaming requires 1GB/hour.” (Banerjee 2011)

According to the data above, if you’re over your monthly limit that could mean an extra $2-8/hour for HD, and $1-4/hour for standard definition.

2) Most University students today (myself included) are required to complete readings online, as well as submit assignments, and research for papers. This can be time consuming, (and now, it appears, paycheck consuming.)

If you’re interested in this topic, I’ve included an interesting video and newspaper article below.

Strombo Talks About the Impending Metered Internet

How much is that data plan going to cost you?

Additionally, if you’re against the idea of metered Internet use, please sign the petition.

Thanks,

Katy

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Yesterday, I had the pleasure of attending the 2011 UBC Student Leadership Conference. This was attended by over 1000 students! Just before the opening ceremonies, I got a chance to snap this photo from the Chan Centre:

The opening speaker was Drew Dudley, who talked about how changing someone’s life can be as simple as giving someone a lollipop. In his case, he brought two people together with a lollipop, and that simple gesture changed their lives – they ended up getting married!

After the opening ceremonies, students dispersed to attend different featured presenters and workshops all over campus. These included talks about sustainability, food insecurity, and even LEGO! Lunch was provided by the SLC, and afterward, students had two more sessions of their choice. The great thing about the SLC is that you can customize you schedule to fit your interests.

After that was the closing ceremony, including the closing keynote speakers, The Buried Life. Dave did a little breakdance, and they talked about how they started the project. Most of them were still in University at the time, and they felt a little lost and overwhelmed, as some students can feel. They wondered if what they were doing was what they really wanted to do in life. (As a side note, Dave gained 45 lbs in his first year in Uni!) Then they related what they were doing to the idea of leadership, which was the topic of this year’s SLC. Sometimes you don’t seek out leadership, or even realize what you are doing is changing people’s lives, but just by doing what you think is right can be life-changing to others.

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So Christmas is just in a few days, and I just wanted to wish everyone happy holidays! I hope you all have a safe and fun vacation – eat lots of food and spend time with the family!

I’ll see you all in 2011!

x

Katy

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Well, today is December 1st. You know what that means. Christmas is less than a month away! It’s sort of weird, because it doesn’t feel like I’ve been in school for that long, and it feels like Halloween was just yesterday.

I hope we get lots of snow this year (the Farmer’s Almanac predicts an unusually cold winter – so says my Dad.) Even though people tend to drive like maniacs when it snows, I still love it. Snow makes everything look better for some reason, somehow classier? I don’t know.

Things I love about the Christmas season:

1) People are nicer. They make an effort to donate to charities and volunteer.

2) Hot chocolate and apple cider.

3) The overall atmosphere is festive

4) Snow/Making Snowmen/Skiing/Sledding/Snowboarding

x

PS. How do you shop for gifts? Are you a “get-everything-done-super-quick-I’m-so-efficient” type of person, or are you more of a “holy-cow-it’s-christmas-eve-and-I-haven’t-bought-anything-yet” type of shopper? I would say I’m in-between.

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