Katy at UBC

If you’re a fan of MTV’s hit show The Buried Life and you’re a student at UBC, you’re in luck!

The guys from The Buried Life are keynote speakers at this year’s Student Leadership Conference on Jan 8th, 2011. If you’re not familiar with the show, well, you should be! The four guys (Ben, Jonnie, Duncan, and Dave) from Victoria, BC are crossing off items from their list of 100 Things To Do Before [They] Die. In addition, “whenever they cross something off [their] list, they help a stranger cross something off theirs.” The result is an inspirational journey that’s entertaining, full of good music, and laughs (the guys are hilarious together!).

If you want to sign up, it costs $33.60 including HST. But if the price intimidates you (we are poor uni students) know that the price includes lunch, workshops, and other speakers. Also, that price is about a week’s worth of Starbucks, so if you’re super broke, just skip coffee for a week!

Here’s the link to the website where there’s tons more information on the other speakers, and where you can sign up yourself: http://slc.ubc.ca/

x

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…I feel like a bad fan. 🙁

I haven’t gone to see the Deathly Hallows yet!

Like always, I’m just worried that seeing the movies will change the way I picture the novel in my mind. In a way, it always does, but it’s not necessarily bad, I guess. It’s just, there’s a way you picture certain scenes in the book and I’m not sure if any movie, no matter how amazing, could ever capture.

I’m probably going to see it this weekend anyway.

x

PS. This post makes it seem like I’m not excited to see the movie – but that’s not the case. I’m super stoked! I just get weird sometimes.

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Dang! Winter is officially here.

With the first snow of the season, I’m starting to wonder about the rest of the winter this year. I mean, if it’s only November, and we already have snow, what’s December going to look like?

It’s already pretty cold on campus, and it kind of sucks when you’re walking to the bus loop at 5pm and it’s already dark. On one hand, I really want it to snow, because I FREAKIN’ LOVE SNOW, but on the other hand, it’s no fun having to put on 5 layers of clothes just to walk to class.

Anyway, I hope everyone’s good, and having fun in the snow!

x

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Halloween is definitely one of my favourite holidays, and there are so many fun things to do in Vancouver this time of year!

1) Fright Nights at the PNE: Every year the PNE opens late, and you can go on the rides in the dark! There are also actors in costumes, and haunted houses! This is definitely something to check out, but if you’re only going to do one thing this Halloween I would recommend #3.

2) Rocky Horror Picture Show at the Ridge Theatre: This only goes on for two nights (the 30th and 31st) at midnight. I went last year for the first time, and it was really fun, and also a little bit strange. If you’ve never been to a live showing of RHPS, I’d highly recommend it. You get to watch the movie with a cast of actors acting it out right in front of the screen, and throw things at the screen (toast, toilet paper etc.) If you haven’t been to one, the it’s a little hard to describe. It’s only $12.75 admission, but get there early so you’re guaranteed to get in.

3) The Haunted House in Dunbar: Wow. This haunted house is amazing. It’s free to get in, but you’re encouraged to give a donation (all proceeds will be donated to the B.C. Professional Fire Fighters’ Burn Fund, the Christmas Bureau, and the Vancouver Police Union Charity Foundation). The sets and costumes are all very professional, and it takes the owners about 10 months to organize and create! Yes, this is done out of someone’s house, but I wouldn’t underestimate it. In my opinion, this is one of the best haunted houses in Vancouver. Their website can be found here: http://www.dunbarhauntedhouse.com/

x

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OK, so I can now breathe a sigh of relief. My first set of midterms are over. YAY!

I can’t really judge how I fared on the midterms, because I always get really superstitious about my grades. This thing always happens to me where I think I did really well, and then I get my test back and I’m disappointed because I set my expectations too high. However, if I don’t expect too much, then I’m usually (somewhat) ok with the mark I achieved. It’s kind of weird, but that usually happens to me when I get cocky about my mark before I’ve gotten the actual mark.

If that makes any sense at all. haha

So I didn’t have as many midterms (exams) as other people I know, mostly because some of my courses don’t have midterms, only projects and papers. For example, in Visual Arts we had a project we had to hand in that week, and for Arts Studies we had a paper to write. Stuff like that. I only had 2 real exams; one for Sociology, and one for Human Biology.

Sociology Midterm: I was told to study the “big picture” stuff from those who had taken the course before, and they were right. Our profs (Flynn and Ketchell) don’t expect you to memorize the nitty gritty facts, like dates, but they really expect you to understand the material and know how to explain it in detail. For this exam, the multiple choice was pretty tricky, and there were those types of questions that are just frustrating. You know those ones where basically all the answers are right, but you have to choose the one that’s the best? yeah.

Biology Midterm: I’m taking Biol 153 (same as 155 but with a lab) which is meant for dentistry and midwifery students. I’m not really sure why I’m taking this course, because I don’t want to become either, but whatever. The midterm for this course was word-for-word almost exactly the same as the practice exam on the professor’s (Harris’) website. It’s frustrating because I looked that over, and if I get a lot of marks off, I know I’ll be really mad at myself because I’d seen the questions before.

Anyway, I’ll probably update later on more midterm news. (Maybe not if I do really poorly.)

x

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So every year my family goes to the Apple Festival at UBC, and every single year it rains. But not this year! For both days there were nice blue skies and it was actually warm! Thus, it was super busy, and they sold out of a couple types of apples by the time we finally got there.

BTW, we got to there at 11:20ish on Saturday, and I think it starts at 11. So that’s totally crazy! They had already sold out of some types of apples within 20 minutes of opening!

Anyway, we bought 5 bags of apples, and my favourites (the Honeycrisps) taste really good this year. We also bought a jug of apple cider, which is always tasty, and an apple pie, made by a family from Squamish. I’m not kidding you, these pies are freakin’ delicious. I think it’s because they sprinkle the crust with sugar.

Here’s a picture of one of their pies.

From their website:

http://www.goldencrust.ca/index.htm

Anyway, I encourage all of you to go to the Apple Festival if you’re in town next year. (Try one of those pies!)

x

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Ok, so my first week at UBC has passed, and I want to share some things that I’ve found out  – This might be helpful for new students next year.

Things that I wish I’d known for the first week of school:

1) Bring a map – The campus is huge! Even if you think you’ll look silly carrying a map with you, trust me, every other First Year student will have one anyway, so you won’t stick out.

2) Books: You don’t really need your textbooks for the first week of classes, and sometimes the books on the booklist won’t be the ones that you really need – your Prof will tell you which ones to get. Also, the Bookstore on campus is a huge ripoff – try to get your textbooks used and you’ll save a lot of money.

3) Laptops: These are really handy for studying in-between classes, and I think every student needs a good one. I think it’s also good to get one that’s light – you’ll be carrying this around and the laptop in addition to your other items can get very heavy. On the other hand, some Profs don’t  like you to take notes on laptops during class, so be prepared and bring old-school pens and paper as well.

4) Lunch: For the first week you might have to pack a lunch because the lines at the SUB are really long. Also, it saves a lot of money if you bring a lunch from home – even $10 a day can really add up.

5) Talk to people and make friends – Really get to know some people! This is what the University experience is all about!

6) Get involved: Join some clubs and go to Frosh week for your Faculty; they’re fun and a good way to meet people.

If you want to watch a video about this go to:

x Katy

PS. OT If you’re into Harry Potter watch A Very Potter Musical on youtube if you haven’t already. I promise you it is worth it.

Part 1:

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So, today at UBC was Imagine Day – This is a day dedicated to welcoming new students to UBC. It involved meeting a bunch of new people from your faculty, meeting the Dean of your faculty, as well as participating in a Pep Rally with all the Freshmen at UBC. That’s about 7,000 students packed into one auditorium!

My schedule for Imagine Day was as follows:

8:30-9:00 am Morning Meeting – I met up with my MUG leader Katie Marochi as well as the other members of the group.

9:00-10:00 am Student Success Workshop – We met Professor Richardson and he talked about ways to make University a great experience. Some of his tips were to join clubs and get involved, make a study group, and study subjects that you actually like!

10:00-11:00 am Campus Tour– This was a great help for me because I get lost super easily, and the campus is huge!

11:00-12:30 pm Meet the Dean – Again, we were welcomed into the Faculty of Arts, and were informed about all the great experiences abroad that we could have. For example, Go Global.

12:30-1:30 pm Lunch – Free pizza!

1:30-2:15 pm Pep Rally Loading – We walked to the Thunderbird Arena and all 7,000 students packed in.

2:15-3:15 pm Pep Rally – There were more speeches and we were officially welcomed to UBC. There was so much cheering and each Faculty had their own cheer and colour of glow stick!

3:15-5:00 pm The Main Event – All the clubs and societies at UBC set up booths to try and entice you to join them. I had air-dried blueberries from the Food Science Club!

All in all, I think Imagine Day is a great way to start off your University career. It gets you mentally ready for classes, yet doesn’t scare or overwhelm you; lets you meet people from your Faculty before you “officially” start classes, and gets you on the right foot to start classes the next day.

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So it’s that time of year again… The days are getting shorter, and you can’t escape the ads on TV that remind you that summer is nearly over. Time for the Back-to-School blahs – or in my case, New-to-School jitters. I’m starting my Freshman year at UBC in exactly 12 days, and I am

TOTALLY FREAKING OUT!

So, you might thing I’m overreacting here, but there are a few things you don’t know about me that might clear things up a bit.

Reasons my first week at University might not go as smoothly as planned:

1) I get massive nosebleeds. These happen spontaneously and at the most inappropriate of times.

2) My sense of direction is practically nil

3) I’ve always had the need to over-prepare – so I’m going to be that weird kid in the first row who has 20 different kinds of pens and already knows the prof on a first-name basis.

4) I’m sure there are plenty more reasons that I will find out soon.

So yes, I’m a bit anxious for the start of the school year, but I’m also really excited. How cool is it that we get to learn new things with new people in a new setting – everything is so… new!

See you soon,

Katy 🙂

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