Category — Academics

I should be attempting to do my Arts One readings and but I’m failing miserably.

Hello friends! My inability to actually understand anything that I’m reading and the nice doom and gloom feeling outside is not a good combination. I can’t concentrate, but I also don’t wanna go outside to go concentrate in the IBLC Harry Potter room (which I’ve heard is pretty darn cool). I’ve been at UBC for a week officially, and it’s starting to feel like home. I’m not quite feeling the back-to-actual-work vibe, but I think I’ll get around to it eventually.

Despite the unfamiliarity of so much rain (I kinda knew what I was getting into though), I don’t even feel that far away from Ontario. I don’t know if it just hasn’t hit me yet, or if the crazyness of my first week has numbed my feelings. Either way, I’m really liking it here. I was worried back in my first post that the excitement I felt pre-UBC would dwindle or that it wouldn’t live up to my expectations. Quite the opposite, in fact. I couldn’t feel like I belonged anymore than I do right now: sitting in my room, about to make some tea and attempt to make sense of dear old Immanuel Kant.

UBC is the place for me (I totally didn’t mean to awkwardly rhyme like Professor Stephen Toope and AMS Prez Bijan Ahmadian’s Imagine day speech). There is no other sentence that sums up my feelings like that one. Everything from move-in day at Vanier, rez activities, the school/faculty pride and spirit at Imagine day, going to horribly awkward frat parties (note to self: never again) or just having supa cool hallway-candy parties with the awesome girls on my floor. I’m just hoping that the feelings I have right now will either stay the same or evolve into even better ones.

Well, lovelies, it seems the Conjectural Beginning of Human History is calling my name. Later!

Sorry this is a little late!

Please note: This is a little more oriented to buying books for Arts One, although it can be applied to anyone.

Saving money during my years at university and trying to reduce the amount of debt that will burden me post-grad, I have looked extensively into ways to save and ways to earn. My university education is being financed by some OSAP, student line of credit, bursaries, a scholarship, hopefully a Work Study placement, my savings and my parental unit. My initial goal going into grade twelve was to graduate university with no debt, but I’ve knocked that goal down a few realistic notches and it now sits at: as little debt as possible.

One of the major purchases that I can actually do something about reducing (as tuition, mandatory student fees, housing and my meal plan, is TEXTBOOKS. The one thing that I didn’t really know what to expect. I’m taking Psychology 100, Women’s Studies 101 (term 1), French 123 (term 2) and the Arts One, Group A program for my first year. The pro and con to Arts One is that there  are quite a few books that I need. In an attempt to help other first years, and potential ones, and to also see for myself where the heck all my money went, I’m going to detail my textbook spending spree here. My journey begins…

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