The skipping of the seasons

Posted on by under Chronicled Adventures, Observations and Reflections, UBC

IMG_20150305_171418Spring has arrived in my beloved Vancouver! Pictured here is my second favorite tree around my house, and my dog about to do his business. I don’t really like winter, which I guess is a consequence of my tropical roots, but I feel sad that winter barely came. I was planning on snowboarding for the first time this winter. Skiing wasn’t really my thing, but Nathan wanted to teach me how to snowboard, and I decided I want to learn, but then it barely snowed on our mountains. It’s rained the past few days, as if winter is trying to make its last few attempts to settle in Vancouver, but spring persists. Below is a picture from downtown a few weeks ago, while I was having the famous Japa Dog of downtown Vancouver with my parents (but I’m boring, so I had a regular hot dog).

The past semester has taught me a few things about my choice in courses. Firstly, I am not a political scientist, even though Robert Crawford did almost convince me for a moment there. There is just something so intangible about politics, and for some reason, philosophy doesn’t infuriate me quite in the same way. I think it’s because philosophy doesn’t try to put up a guise of empiricism, whereas political science does. The textbook for POLI 100 is particularly uninspiring in this regard as well, because I could probably have paid for the textbook if I had a dollar for every time the phrase “is difficult to define” (or something similar) was repeated in the text. I took POLI 100 because I wasn’t hearing good reviews about the creative writing course I initially intended on taking. My reasoning at the time was that I was doing a lot of writing anyway. In retrospect, that was pretty stupid, since creative writing is really not the same flavor as academic writing at all, but I have learned some things in POLI 100 that I wouldn’t have learned otherwise (obviously). The most important thing I’ve learned is that I am not taking any more political science courses. (Sorry, Robert.)

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The second thing I’ve learned about myself–which is a bit more heartbreaking than the thought of not being a political scientist–is that I am not a mathematician, either. I think I knew this in the deepest parts of my heart, but I just wouldn’t let myself admit it. Close to the middle of the semester, I was telling people that the “official statement” was that I liked math, which is still true. What I don’t like about poli is what I like about math: the concrete abstractness of it all. Sometimes I think about the arbitrary symbols that somehow work to these rules and theorems that people have discovered or created, and to me, it’s just so meaningless and magical. However, what people don’t realize is that what it takes to be truly excellent in mathematics is not only an understanding of the rules. Much like any art, one learns the rules and then must be creative enough to work with all the rules and learn where they don’t apply. The creative thinking involved with mathematics is something I just don’t possess, and that’s what made me realize that I couldn’t push this minor in mathematics, no matter how much I wanted to. I resigned myself to the fact that while math was important to me, the hit it was taking on my GPA was just too much of a sacrifice. Math was making me forget that I am an A-student, even in university (just with a bit more effort). My last math lecture recently also made me realize that there’s no way I’m never going to take math courses ever again, but there’s definitely no way I can specialize in it. So, although French last semester was tedious, I did quite well in it and I do like the French language, and once I take higher-level courses, I expect I’ll be challenged again, so it’s really not too bad of an idea to minor in French. Besides, it’d make Mom really happy.

I know spring has just arrived, but I’ve already got summer in my sights. Nathan recently revealed to me his plans to play beach volleyball very regularly this summer. Now, I’m really not a big fan of the beach. I just don’t like the feeling of sand on my feet… things getting beneath your toes and sticking to your skin. But the idea of suntanning and reading on the beach, watching Nathan play volleyball, got me quite excited. (I already bought a new bikini, which was quite premature.)

The other thing I’m looking forward to is my family trip to New York at the end of June. Two things on my bucket list are to see a Broadway show and to watch Misty Copeland dance live, two things my parents know I’m dead set on accomplishing this summer. I’ve dreamed about seeing Wicked for years, and I know the soundtrack by heart. As for ballet and Misty Copeland, I haven’t been dreaming about it for that long, but I’m still beyond excited to see those magnificent legs in action. I’ve always associated LA and NYC with the “big dreams, big city” thing of the USA, but all the love I could have had for LA, I gave to NYC. I’ve been to LA every summer for the past three years, and it’s definitely not my favorite place–but I’m so excited to be in the Big Apple for the first time.

I feel like I can’t really come up with anything conclusive about the first year of university. I mean, I’ve obviously got a few weeks left, but it’s so near to end that I’ve just realized how sudden it’s all been. I’ve made some wonderful friends who I intend on keeping, and I’m so glad for the friends who have stuck around from high school. I still feel like I’m in between things, but I’m happy here.

Arts One Review & Survival Guide, Part I

Posted on by under UBC

I say Part I because I’m only halfway through, so my techniques might change halfway through or everything will be put into a different perspective after the final, but for anybody out there considering Arts One, I’d love to provide my input. (I love Arts One.)

I like saying that I grew up in Canada, which is not really true because I’ve only lived here for eight years of my eighteen, but most of my character-shaping did happen in Canada. I went to school with most of the same kids from grade five to grade twelve, and most of my friends were within walking distance away. My graduating class was a comfy 300 or so, and I could probably name most of them. I didn’t quite realize just how suburban I was until I came to UBC, though. At Destination UBC, we had to line up to enter the Chan Centre at some point, and the line went all the way out the door down the block to the Law building. I remember walking down the sidewalk with two of my friends, looking at all those strange faces and realizing that these people would be my schoolmates, and I didn’t know any of them. I had never felt more small town than at that moment.

On the same day, however, I met Robert Crawford and learned more about Arts One. I had received the emails, before that day, about Coordinated Arts Program and Arts One, I had looked at the YouTube videos describing the programs very briefly, and I knew that they were small(er) programs. At first, that didn’t attract me because small programs sounded scary, for some reason. Tutorials of four in which the professor and my classmates would be studying my writing in detail? Definitely scary. Then I saw the Arts One reading list for the first time, and I realized what the program actually was, and this is the structure of it, for your benefit:

  1. TWO Arts One streams, with their own teaching team of five or four professors
  2. 4/5 professors take their turns lecturing to the whole stream of up to 80/100 students, in which the basic ideas of the text are explained
  3. those 80/100 students are split into seminars of up to TWENTY, each with a specific professor, in which the texts are discussed more deeply and complexly among peers and professors
  4. those 20 students are split into tutorial groups/workshops of up to FOUR (plus your professor), in which your essays are closely examined and critiqued

And your timeline looks like this:

  1. read Book A before Monday
  2. Book A lecture on Monday, half of the class receives essay topics for Book A
  3. write Book A essay while reading Book B before next Monday
  4. Book B lecture on next Monday, other half receives essay topics for Book B

So it works out that each person ends up writing 12 essays overall, and the whole group reads ~24 texts.

I always knew that I wanted to study literature deeply and thoughtfully and complexly, but other than that, my interests were specific but not really in one place. I was interested in mathematics, French, and history, and figured I would minor in one of those. Arts One is so interdisciplinary, and I love it. I have been able to examine different kinds of literature, appreciate new and unexpected theories and philosophies, and formulate my own ideas based on discourses that I have disagreed with. I have listened to philosophy, I have glimpsed into political science, and I have studied the history of ideas. As an academic, I’ve learned how to read more complexly and to write more efficiently. The room for two electives has allowed me to continue studying math and French, just as I had wanted.

I think, even if you are not interested in English, history, or philosophy (which is what Arts One gives you credit for), the program gives you such valuable skills for the rest of your academic career in the arts. Reading, writing, and thinking are always relevant, and Arts One is such a perfect place to hone those skills. Your readings, professors, and peers will ask questions and make you ask questions that will shape you into a unique and effective thinker. One of my best friends, who entered UBC into the faculty of science but intends to transfer into arts, has wished more than once that she were in Arts One–not because she thinks she would enjoy it (although I’m sure she would have), but because Arts One without a doubt improves you as a scholar.

So you’re in Arts One–YOU GO GIRL. Best decision of life. I’m sure you’ll figure it out, or you’ll read this, attempt to do it, and then fail, but you should hear it anyway. (And so should I, for the next term.)

A 3-Step Guide to Not Losing Your Sanity in Arts One
Reading, Writing, and Thinking

  1. Finish Your Reading Before Lecture 

    Or do, like, half of it before lecture. Or at the very least, take really good notes during lecture, especially if you’re not writing on it. You’re going to have to know the texts for the final exam anyway, and you’re guaranteed to not be as well versed in books you’re not writing on than books you are. So give all the texts equal love. Besides, lectures are so much more interesting and SUPER VALUABLE when you’ve actually done the reading.

  2. Start Drafting Your Essay EarlyYou get a week to write this essay. When the end of term comes and people are whining about writing a 2000-word final essay within three weeks, you’re going to slap them and say that you’ve written at least five essays by the time they start whining. You’re going to be reading this in front of your peers and your professor. This isn’t something you should deadline write. Give yourself room to proofread so that you’re not reading in front of your tutorial and realizing that you wrote “the the” or something stupid like that.
  3. Take Good NotesIt’s a bit different from why I, at least, am used to taking notes, because I’m used to taking notes for rote memorization and using them for tests, but I’ve found (especially with Crawford) I can’t use notes to write essays. Arts One encourages you to utilize lectures and discussions in your essays but don’t “squawk like a parrot”. Arts One notes in lectures and discussions are vital for understanding these texts more deeply, and–here’s a crazy idea–understanding your texts before you write essays about them are super helpful.

    Furthermore, take good notes in your books! Most people don’t like the idea of vandalizing textbooks because you can resell them later, but I don’t think Arts One texts are supposed to be resold. At Imagine Day, Crawford told us that we should expect to spend money on books, especially as scholars. Books are our tools. A mechanic doesn’t buy tools and prepare them for reselling later, he/she needs a wide variety of tools that will be used for the job. Write in your books, dog-ear the pages, highlight. These books are a communication of some of the most influential ideas in human history, so take part in the conversation.

On adjusting

Posted on by under Observations and Reflections, UBC

Okay, so, the midterm did not go well, but right after it, I did some math homework. That went well. (The following days of math homework did not go well, but we don’t have to focus on that part.) Also, we had our first lecture since the midterm today, and prof assured us that the midterm was meant to be, in fact, even harder than the final.

I’ve never had to work my ass off for school, which sounds like bragging (and it is, I guess), but that’s how it was. I am one of Those Kids for whom The System is designed for. So, I don’t know what it’s like to have to work hard in a course and then see reward. There came a point in my last year of high school math that I realized I was 4% from an A, the end was nigh, and it didn’t look like I was about to get high 90s marks on any of my coming assessments, especially for the final. I tried to work hard anyway. I finished the course with an 80%… which is nothing to stick your nose up at, considering it was Pre-Calculus 12, but it’s my only B in 3 years of high school. It hurts my ego! This is my line: “I’m a straight-A student… mostly.” Blech. Oh well. Moving on.

It’s looking like I’m going to have to work even harder for Math 180 than I did for Pre-Calculus 12. I don’t know if it’s going to work, since the only time I’ve ever tried was a non-success, but I’m damn well going to try. I ought to, considering I still want to minor in mathematics. I’d want to minor in it even if I failed. Mathematics is my abusive boyfriend, and I am a weak-willed, infatuated little girl, enticed by the magic of mathematics. I annoyed my two friends in Pre-Calculus 12 because every time our teacher explained something, and I understood it, I would say, “Math is magical!” But you know what? It is. I can’t get enough of it. Mathematics lets you play with it, lets you think you can manipulate it, but underneath it all, mathematics is always the boss. I know this relationship isn’t getting anywhere, but I’m addicted.

Can anybody count the adverbs for me? I’d ask you to count the colons and semi-colons, too, but I’m almost sure there aren’t any. At the first Arts One tutorial that I presented my essay in, I became aware of how many times I ended words with “-ly”. I found it pleasantly ironic that we hadn’t covered adverbs in my French lecture that day, which had been the class just before… naturally, we were going to spend half an hour on it in Arts One tutorial (albeit in English, but whatever.) If anything, I’m starting to realize just how reluctant I am. Maybe. Possibly. Perhaps. Almost. Is it symbolic? Maybe. Possibly. Perhaps. Almost. I’ll explore it some other time.

I cannot quit adverbs cold turkey! I’m trying, Crawford, I am. My understanding of addiction is limited, but I think there is this point in addiction where your body becomes reliant on the drug. You can’t take it because it’s bad for you (even if everything does look super cool and psychedelic), but you can’t not take it because your body can’t work without it anymore. That’s my writing and adverbs. I’m really trying. That’s adjustment number two. So far:

  1. I need to work hard. 🙁
  2. I’m quitting adverbs… cold turkey. Maybe. Possibly. Perhaps. Almost. (Also colons and semi-colons. Goodbye, beloved colons… I loved you so. I loved the way you turned my sentences into minivans, packing potentially endless clauses together into one monster of a sentence.) I know blog writing is different, and I don’t have to avoid them here, but I figure if I get into the habit in all my writing, I’ll be able to more easily avoid adverbscolonssemicolons in my essays.

The biggest adjustment so far, however, is not even academic. I moved to Vancouver when I was nine, almost ten. I went to the same school with a lot of the same people for seven years. Until I came to UBC, I did not realize how small town I was. I could trust that I would know someone in any class I joined, and if I wasn’t good friends with anyone, that meant I would do well in class because nobody would bother me. I was always able to Facebook message someone if I didn’t get the homework, though.

Then, all of a sudden, BAM just a number. It didn’t take long for my greatest fear to become that I would be friendless at the school of my dreams. I was rattling off to my boyfriend about how I was trying to make friends and how it was harder than I expected it to be, and he said, “Jia… it’s been two weeks.”

I’m not adjusted yet, but in the first week or two, I was definitely crying a little bit at night because I thought I was lonely. I don’t do that anymore. I’m adjusting. I’m trying to find this medium between the comfort of high school, home, my small town suburbia, and “the big leagues” of UBC. I didn’t want to go straight home today, because I only had one class, which is only 50 minutes long. I studied (sitting across from a friend–thank you, Arts One, for friends!) for half an hour before heading down to the SUB and getting some fries. As I walked back out, somebody was playing the piano, and it was a song I knew. I still had time before I had to go home, so I sat on a nearby bench for twenty minutes, and I listened.

The songs he played brought me back to sitting in my high school music room (home), listening to people play music. People who are now acquaintances, people who I can’t talk to anymore, people who I still love, all of them. The boy was also playing improv, so they weren’t the exact versions of the song that I knew, but they were still recognizable. I was listening to these familiar-yet-different songs, and I was listening to them at UBC. The comfort of home and the excitement of UBC merged together for me while sitting there, munching on my fries. I didn’t feel so lonely. I knew I was going to be fine. I was content. In fact, I am sure.

Maybe. Possibly. Perhaps. Almost.

I am content, no reluctant adverbs necessary.

 

La vie en rose

Posted on by under Observations and Reflections, UBC

It has been just over three weeks since school started, and already, my first midterm is coming up on Monday, I have handed in one essay and am puking out the second, handed in un brouillon de rédaction, and failed miserably at my first quiz.

I have dreamed about going to UBC for so long that I don’t even remember when I first came up with the idea or why I thought about it in the first place, but it was always something I included in my bucket lists. It was also something I just took for granted. I never seriously considered any other option. I was always a planner: just like I knew all the courses I was going to take in high school since grade 9 started, UBC was just always on the to do list. There’s still something so surreal about being at school every day. It still hits me sometimes that studying here is a dream.

My Arts One seminar prof told a room of 20 presumably high achieving students today that a low B on our first essays should be thought of as an A+. The tension in the room after he said that was tangible. He gave us a very small laugh and said that basically the honeymoon period is coming to a close.

I don’t know, though. I was sitting on the 84 today today, staring at the Student Recreation Centre and the Waffle Building (aka Buch Tower) in the distance, a few hours after I had gotten my miserable failure of a first math quiz back (thank goodness workshop quizzes are worth only 10% of 10% of the overall course mark, but unfortunately, I think the miserable failure of a first math quiz was a bad omen for the future), and I texted my boyfriend: I still don’t believe I get to go to school here.

School is hard. Arts One is a lot of work (even if it is work that I love doing). Math is hard. French is… tedious. But I love every moment of it. Even when I am struggling, even when I am bored, I am so happy.

I’d heard la vie en rose before, of course, but I really, really listened to it a week ago, and I discovered that it’s probably the most beautiful song I’ve ever heard! (I use it as my reward whenever I get a WeBWorK question right.)

I think I’m never going to stop seeing ma vie en rose, particularly not as long as I’m at UBC. No matter how difficult it gets, no matter how close to tears it drives me, I dreamed of this, and it’s lived up to that dream so far. I didn’t dream of a honeymoon, after all. I dreamed of the University of British Columbia, and every hurdle that comes with it.

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