My first week at UBC has been exciting but also tiring. I’m glad the sun came out for the rest of the week after that gloomy Imagine Day.

This week I was fortunate enough to only have classes on Wednesday and Friday.

On Wednesday my bus was running very slow do to construction on the route it goes by so I was LATE for my VERY first class at university!

I was very worried when I got off the bus at 8:50am since my first class was at 9am and it was all the way in the Geography Building! I tried to walk as fast as I could but I was also worried I would get lost so I kept on looking at the map I had in my hand. I ended up being 5 minutes late for class but it was okay since some other people in my class were running late as well. I quickly found my friend who saved me a seat and tried to absorb as much information as I could. I was a bit confused at first since the professor already started talking but luckily she said all the information she told us would be on her website.

I was early for my next class but for some reason EVERYONE was inside already and the professor already started her lesson.

So once again I was kind of confused. Unfortunately didn’t meet anyone in that class since I didn’t find anyone to sit with. But I ended up dropping that class after school.

I had a hard time finding my third class. It’s in one of the Ponderosa buildings and I had trouble finding the area. I had to ask 3 people (who were very helpful) and I finally found my class! I was about 10 minutes late for that class but luckily I didn’t miss much and other students were still coming in.

Finally it was time for my three hour break! Which I spent eating lunch and wandering around looking for my friends. There was also lots of free stuff around the campus including free food!

Finally it was time for my last class of the day. I arrived early and I didn’t miss anything the professor said! The class went by quickly and I realized I just survived my first day at UBC! I was very happy to have a day off on Thursday!

Fortunately, Friday went by more smoothly than Wednesday. I took a different bus this time and ended up being 10 minutes early for my first class. I also didn’t get lost at all on Friday! At the end of the day, all I wanted to do was sleep!

What I’ve Learned:

• Wear a hood when sleeping on the bus. If you find the bar on the chair too hard to rest on, rest your head on the window! And if you’re a germaphobe like me, wear a hood to protect your head.
• Wear comfortable shoes. You’re going to be doing quite a bit of walking all day so make sure your shoes don’t make your feet cry.
• Follow UBC Twitter Accounts. Many of these accounts are very informative and let you know about cool things happening around the campus.
• Don’t be afraid to ask. If you’re lost, don’t be afraid to approach someone for help. Students at UBC are very helpful!

What I Want To Learn:

• Where and what are the best places to get food? I’ve heard of a few good food places so far but I want to know more!
• Where are washrooms? Sometimes it’s hard to find washrooms in buildings! So far I’ve only used the washrooms in Collegia because my friend let me in and the ones in the Sauder building because my sister showed me where they are!
• What are the best study spots? I haven’t done any studying yet but I want to find out where I should go when that time of year comes around.

I was a bit nervous about Imagine Day on Monday night but I was excited for a fresh start at university.

I got up at 6:15am to get ready for Imagine Day. I thought we had to meet our orientation leaders right at 8:30am so I didn’t want to be late. It turns out we could’ve met up with them at anytime between 8:30-9:00am.

The day was going smoothly since my bus arrived on time, but as the bus drove over to the UBC bus loop, I looked out the window… RAIN!

As much as I love the rain…I WAS REALLY HOPING IT WOULDN’T RAIN ON IMAGINE DAY. However I was wearing a windbreaker and I brought a small umbrella just in case so I was prepared.

After I met up with my friendly orientation leader and met the rest of my orientation group we went over to the Chan Centre for the Meet the Dean session. The dean gave a nice speech to welcome us to the Faculty of Arts, but my favourite part was when the cute Arts Owl came out!

The rest of the day consisted of a campus tour, meet a professor session, lunch, and a pep rally. It was pouring rain all day so I didn’t get to many good pictures outside.

During the pep rally I felt my the people around me weren’t too pumped and I felt a bit awkward at times.

But the pep rally was still cool. Some faculties (like Engineering) were super pumped!

I liked the music and the speeches were interesting to listen to. UBC’s President, Professor Gupta even accepted the ASL Ice Bucket Challenge!

My favourite part of the day was when my orientation leader took us to the Buchanan Courtyard to get free swag such as clipboards and water bottles.

Overall Imagine Day was nice despite the bad weather. I liked meeting new people and getting more familiar with UBC.

Hi everyone welcome to my first blog post!

I hope I’ll have enough things to write about this school year since my life isn’t that exciting but I think my first year at UBC will be quite eventful.

Last week I went with my older sister to get my U-Pass and UBC Card. There wasn’t even a line to get UBC cards so I got mine really quickly! Unfortunately, my UBC card picture is kind of bad but I’ll have to suck it up for a few years.

I’ve always felt that UBC is really big and confusing but my sister showed me around and helped me find my first semester classes so I feel less lost now. I still find the campus confusing but at least I know where my classes are! I’m  definitely looking forward to the campus tour during Imagine Day tomorrow, hopefully I’ll feel more comfortable for my first day of classes.

My family went on a trip to Seattle for three days this past weekend. We went sightseeing around downtown Seattle and of course, shopping. I was really looking forward to some back to school shopping so we were lucky enough to find a hotel across from this huge mall called Westfield Southcenter in Tukwila. I live in Burnaby and I always go to Metrotown, and this mall is almost as big as Metrotown so I was very satisfied.  We went to West Southcenter two days in a row which gave me plenty of time to get some clothes and get a new backpack. On our last day we stopped by the Seattle Premium Outlets, it’s known for its brand name stores with amazing deals. I got a lot of clothes from there since they were having really good Labour Day Weekend sales. If you have some spare time and want to get some shopping done there’s a bus that does round trips from Vancouver to Seattle with a stop at the Seattle Premium Outlets. I’ve never tried it myself but here’s a link if you’re interested! http://www.quickcoach.com/index.htm

There was a Target right beside our hotel so I went a bit crazy buying school supplies. They have a way better selection and better prices than the Targets we have up here in Canada. Target was having a big sale on school supplies so I stocked up on lots of notebooks!

After my trip to Seattle, I feel I am well rested and ready for Imagine Day and my very first week at UBC! The email I got from UBC last week about Imagine Day was very helpful and I’m looking forward to it.  Even though it is the last day of summer vacation, it’s still exciting to start a new chapter in my life.