By Frances Young (Residence Advisor-HMSM House)
After having lived in first-year residence for four years (yes, I said four), I like to believe that my combined experiences of being a first year and residence advising earned me some wisdom points. So, I present to you my first year survival guide.
Get out and introduce yourself to people.
Scared that you’ll appear too keen when meeting new people? Newsflash: it’s the first couple of months of university. Everyone is keen to make friends. So keep your door open, make some small talk in the elevator, tell the guy living right next to you that you too enjoy blasting 90s hip-hop to wake up in the morning. In the spectrum of relationships, I guarantee you’ll land anywhere between ‘cool random person I complain about the weather with in the elevator’ to ‘Instant BFFs after bonding over how good you secretly thought the How I Met Your Mother finale was’.
Get Physical.
As tempting as it is eat a pint of Ben and Jerry’s during midterms season, do try to limit junk food bingeing. ‘But doesn’t that sprint to Magda’s count as my cardio for the week?’ You don’t have to live on salads and protein powder to be healthy. There are so many options to stay in shape on campus. Running on the treadmill not for you? How about a rousing game of Quidditch? From every imaginable type of yoga to climbing Wreck stairs at sunset, there are so many opportunities to get fit. My first year friends and I signed up for a Pussycat dolls dancing class with REC and it was the best core exercise we got – you know, from laughing too much at our inability to dance. Check out the REC, AMS fitness clubs, Totem flag football, or our very own open 24-hour gym in the Commonsblock.
Get involved with a club that has nothing to do with your degree.
Chances are there’s no other point in your life where you can participate in a Mustache Appreciation Society. With over 50,000 students on campus, it can be hard to find your community, so why not join a club? Brewing your own beer, going on stage to do a monologue about your vagina, writing joke articles and getting featured on the country’s top satirical website? If those don’t interest, you’re in luck! There are so many more involvement opportunities to find that one that fits you.
Me and my first year friends taking a picture outside our first home at UBC (Okanagan House in Place Vanier) before tearfully leaving for the summer
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