So today is international (or maybe just national to the US) coffee day! Oh happy day, for some people..I guess. Until last year I was fairly anti coffee but somewhere along the line my opinion changed (my friends would say it was Tim Horton’s ‘Roll Up the Rim to Win’s fault, but that’s another story).
Today, in celebration of Coffee Day, many restaurants and cafes were offering promotions involving that addicting black gold. I heard that McDonalds and 7/11 were offering free cups of the stuff but I didn’t have time to go to either of them. After dinner I went down to Starbucks to try out their new Salted Caramel Mocha (unfortunately Starbucks refused to acknowledge this holiday and didn’t really offer anything special). It was pretty good! More or less just their Salted Hot Chocolate with a bit of coffee in it.
For you readers out there this is all I have to offer for today. A comparison of the benefits of coffee and tea!
Posted in Wellness | No Comments »
“Wait, so you have midterms coming up already?”
“Yeah. It’s kind of scary.”
“Your first midterms will be like that. Its like through highschool you were climbing this tall hill, with university at the top. Sad thing is – once you get to the top of that hill and start university its like you’re pushed off that hill and left to roll down it. Midterms come as bumps you hit on that hill and then finals are like a tree you hit at the bottom to stop.”
“That’s horrible!”
“Oh no I didn’t mean it like that! Wait..yes I did..”
Advice from a friend I have in 2nd year at Sauder. I know she means the best but she couldn’t have really chosen a scarier way to describe the adventure I just started. I have my first midterm next this Friday! (Sept 23rd) and I feel like I’ve barely gotten started. Oh my.
Oh and here’s an animation related to her description that will keep you all entertained, hopefully. 🙂
Posted in Academics | 2 Comments »
Hey!
So I’ve been at UBC for nearly 2 weeks now. Here are some things I have learned thus far:
- Be outgoing and meet new people (but try and be meaningful and genuine in your conversation – a lot of people you’ll meet in the first bit you’ll never talk to again. Unfortunate, eh?)
- Try new things. I for one and working my way through the Ubyssey’s list.
- As soon as you start class, you’re already a month behind. Work hard!
One night I was sitting on the knoll and was offered to take a turn riding down it on a block of ice. I was happy, and maybe overly excited, to take the chance! Thanks to whoever it was that provided the ice block, I don’t think I ever got your name. 😀
Oh and being a pseudo food blog (actual review posts to come, promise!) I should mention something food-y. Tomorrow I’m going to training at Sprouts cafe in the basement of the sub. I’m super excited to be cooking for an establishment that sees a good amount of traffic from students. Also – I get to learn to cook as a vegetarian! I’m not sure if that will actually take much learning (I’m assuming I’ll mostly be baking, and I don’t think its vegan) but it will be a good experience.
And I’m getting used to the food here! I like that the meals at Totem are always varied and if I avoid the fries and such from the Grill it is decently healthy. Given up on trying to eat low carb but I’m still going to win my Freshma 15 bet.
Freshman 15 Bet (week 1): -1 lbs
Posted in Academics, Involvement/Leadership, Residence Life | 2 Comments »
When I mention that I moved to Totem park to my family friends and relatives a lot of them warn me about the freshman 15. I’ve been working hard to lose weight over the last year or so; I simply can’t allow this freshman phenomenon to occur.
I was out to dinner at the Eatery (review to come soon) with K and T and we were discussing my moving to residence. They both jokingly warn me about the freshman 15 and I decide that I absolutely wouldn’t let it happen to me. So we made a bet! The conditions of this bet were:
- Instead of gaining the 15 lbs I would lose it
- No extreme dieting tricks
- K (also attending UBC) could decide where we eat if we go out
- Loser buys dinner for winner
After 2 days of living on rez I’m thinking this might be kind of difficult. The food in the dining halls is good but nothing that I’m used to eating when I’m looking to lose weight! The salad bar is intimidating (though i’ll be using it a lot), its near impossible to cut out carbs, and I haven’t gotten the courage to ask any of the chefs to not put 2 huge slathers of mayo on my grilled chicken burger.
But I’m determined to win this challenge! Today I got my birdcoop membership and will be hitting the gym hard starting tomorrow. I’ve figured out some easy ways to cut calories (ex. water is free where as nothing else is) and will continue to be thinking of things like that.
Oh and I moved in! Though I think I mentioned that already. So far I’ve met some really interesting people and probably more international students than I have during the rest of my life. I’m digging my rearranged single room and sense of community and pride for Totem.
First restaurant review will be going up this week!
Posted in Residence Life, Wellness | 3 Comments »
I don’t blog often – its not that I’ve never had blogs, I just don’t post in them. So keeping a weekly blog will be something entirely new for me. I’ll be posting about my adventures as a first year at UBC. So here’s an introduction!
My name is Kiely (male – to avoid any confusion) and I’m on the First Year Blog Squad. I grew up in the Lower Mainland and I’ve lived in the same house all my life. I have a certain affection for the west coast and I don’t see myself leaving anytime soon. I am entering the Faculty of Land and Food Systems and I’ll be living in Totem Park over the next year. I have the option of living between residence and home and plan to take advantage of that.
One important thing about me is that I love food. Every aspect of it, really. I love eating and cooking for others. Over the summer I realized that I spend a lot of my time thinking about food. I’ll probably have more recipe books in my dorm than novels or textbooks (well maybe not textbooks, there seem to be a lot of those). Figuring out the flavour profiles and origins of a cuisine is as satisfying to me as doing a good puzzle or playing a video game.
I’m extremely excited to be starting at UBC in less than a week. There are so many things that will be changing in my life. New residence, new friends, new food! 4/5 days of the week I don’t have any classes earlier than noon so you’ll be likely to find me at the gym or around campus. Feel free to say hi! And I’m not listing any distinguishing features, you’ll all have to go by my About Me picture.
Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments »
