School begins in four days. FOUR. The upside: my sister is starting her first year at UBC, while she has me to guide her through university freshman life. I’m slightly jealous I didn’t have that opportunity. Oh well.

Also, I’m freaking out a little bit. Here’s to another term of expensive books and no sleep and sugary caffeine-loaded coffee and squeezing in Netflix before a major paper’s due.

Super excited for Imagine Day! My friends who got into UBC straight outta high school last year say it’s a blast, with block parties everywhere you look, the smell of burnt, salty barbecue in the air and too many clubs trying to advertise themselves with cheap, makeshift, strange costumes lol. Apparently I shouldn’t miss it, so we’ll see what happens! I’m feeling the back-to-school anxiety — the closer we get to the first day, the more nervous I become; I can’t believe I’m actually setting foot on UBC grounds after being rejected. Of course, Canadian common knowledge tells you that the school is one of the top universities in the country! Really, SFU is not bad (as a former student I can truly vouch for the school that constantly takes second best to UBC; the rivalry may be amusing, and SFU itself is excellent), but we’re talking about UBC’s high global rankings alongside McGill and U of T. Sound intimidating? Yes. 

For ages, my parents have stressed how much they wanted me to uphold our family tradition by attending UBC (typical strict parenting & a lifetime of standards). I’ve seen and heard everything you expect a BC student to know: UBC was the most prestigious, most reputable university in the province — granted, one of the “Ivy Leagues” of Canada (according to countless people) — and receiving a UBC offer was like winning the Olympics plus a guaranteed period of your parents showing off, your relatives spouting pride for you (or hiding envy because their children a.k.a your cousins couldn’t achieve the same thing), and your friends feeling either absolutely ecstatic, vomit-bitter, or both. Eventually this all built up to a point where the pressure was palpable, the competition was extreme, and the fear of failing was 99.999% strong no matter how hard you tried to hide it. Ugh, I hate it. Stay humble.

Anyways, I think the resignation of President Gupta is still pretty relevant. The ‘UBC Scandal’ was very difficult to ignore, and “did you hear about UBC?” grew into a popular icebreaker for weeks. According to the news, almost each person affiliated with UBC kept various open-ended opinions on the matter, but apparently, one thing was clear: he lost a power struggle.

Well, upper years mention that the school is picking up the pieces and ensuring no student, staff member, or human dwells on this. They’re right, I guess. I haven’t seen any signs of university activity dying down, and thousands of UBC students continue to fill the campus.

I have to admit though…everything is quite surreal.

Let’s hope I don’t fall flat on my face!