So, this  post has been a long time coming considering I’ve been here for over a month now. Eep! I think I need to make a schedule or something for when I should make posts. The past month has been … interesting … to say the least. As I write this, my floor is the quietest it has ever been on a Friday night; probably because everyone’s gone home for Thanksgiving. Alas, as an out-of-province student with no desire to drop that much cash for a 3 day weekend, I am still here. And while I’m here, I decided that there is no better time to write about all the wonderful and not-so-wonderful things I’ve learned about living in residence at UBC.

Brace yourselves.

(Also, they are not in order of importance, just the order in which they sprang from my mind.)

1. You may or may not find your second family in residence. I don’t know about some of you, but when I decided I was going to live on campus, some people made it sound like all my neighbours were going to be my new best friends. I missed the first weekend of living here because I was at Frosh and when I came back it seemed like everyone had already buddied up. Other Froshees I talked to experienced the same thing. But the longer I’m here, the more I think that might have happened anyways. I’m saving this for a future post, but you know what is a good way to meet people? JOINING STUFF. All that aside, who knows? You very well could meet your new crew in res.
2. If you leave your dish rag in the sink, someone will use it to clean up their dishes or their mess. Most likely their dirtiest dishes or messiest mess. Lesson learned.
3. You will get comfortable with people seeing you lookin a hot mess in the morning. You may not be able to imagine it now, but trust, there are certain things everyone’s gotta get over when sharing a bathroom. Unless you’re one of The Lucky Ones. (AKA the kids who live in hemlesem and qelexen.)
4. You know how every college prep article says bring flip flops for the shower?  Bring flip flops for the shower. Don’t ask questions.
5. It’s hard to study in your room. You’re probably thinking, “obviously, Liz, that’s because it’s so loud.” But that’s what noise-cancelling headphones are for. I find it hard to study in here because it’s so much easier to distract myself. Most of my work requires my laptop which, besides being the handy homework helper it is, also has the “Internet” where one can “watch Suits” and “not do homework”. I’ve discovered that one may feel more compelled to actually do one’s homework when surrounded by people doing the same quietly say, in a library or study lounge. There are lots of places to study on campus. I prefer Irving K. Barber just because I find it hard to study in complete silence. If you’re looking for that deathly quiet space, I’ve heard Koerner is good for that. The Chapman Learning Commons on the third floor of Irving is also pretty quiet and has tons of computers to use. If you’re a Sauder student, there’s also the CLC in David Lam (no line for printers!) that can also be accessed from the second floor in Henry Angus. But they do have a no hot food rule that really is a deal breaker for me sometimes.
6. Naps are probably the best thing about living on campus. Seriously. Mid-afternoon naps between class are thebomb.com as one of my good friends says. So are mid-afternoon outfit changes, especially when the weather can’t make up its mind.
7. Totem Park is a far, far away land. It really does feel that way when it takes at least 15 minutes to walk anywhere on campus. Walking from my house to Buchanan D is enough vigorous exercise to actually warm me up on a rainy morning.
8. All the afore-mentioned exercise will not stop all the pizza you’ve been eating from having some kind of effect. I eat pizza like once a week. Clubs always seem to be using free food to lure you to their events and more often than not it’s pizza. And if it isn’t free, it’s cheap. A slice at Pie R Squared is $1.25. When you have hefty student loans, you will eat there more often than you care to admit. This is probably a good time for me to start going to the gym.
9. Having a roommate isn’t as bad as you think. At least for me. My roommate and I are friends and it turns out that we like a lot of the same stuff and we’re both from the same province. Obviously that isn’t the case for everyone. But I think as long as you both went in with a mutual expectation of respect and set some boundaries (!) in the beginning then it should be fine.

I might do another list about what I’ve learn while living in Vancouver and obviously the first point will be BRING AN UMBRELLA. ALWAYS.

P.S. Just in case you were wondering; this is what my room looked like. You know, back when it was clean.

You may notice my amazing Channing Tatum poster on the left – from the Poster Sale @ the SUB.