Monthly Archives: September 2011

occupation: student

Posted on by

When people ask me what I did this summer I honestly tell them that I lived with my dentist. That sounds super awkward, right? Well, it was. But I should probably mention that my dentist also happens to be my uncle. I will probably try and blame him for any really horrible grades I receive this year since he did personally remove most, if not all of the wisdom right out of me. But, nonetheless it was a great summer.

The thing about living with a dentist is that you kind of end up going to their office a lot. I got to poke around a few times. Not in anyone’s mouth with a dental scalar, but help out with some administrative tasks. One day I was looking at one of those forms you fill out with your name, medical history, insurance info and one specific line caught my attention. It read “Occupation: ____”. Typically, young people our age write one word that starts with an ‘s’ and rhymes with ‘tudent’. It’s the safe answer. Some people think it is the polite way to say “I am unemployed”, “I am finding myself” or “I have no idea what I’m doing with my life”. But I think being a student is so much more.

Did you know that 99% of the world’s population does not have a university or college education? How lucky are we? If you think about it for the most part, all we are asked to do as students is to learn. Just learn. Learn about stuff. Take a minute and let that idea soak in. The act of learning is quite magnificent really.

Of course there are marks that count and are recorded but let us not hone in on that right now. I dare you to think about what you want out of university. Why you made the decision to come here. I have heard multiple times that it was “the thing to do after high school”. But I am not too sure how long that really lasts as motivation. I am pretty hopeful that every single person came to UBC with some kind of intention to learn. (Whether that’s learning your alcohol tolerance level is another story…) So often I hear students embarrassed that they do not know what to major in yet. Why try and restrict yourself to one area of study so soon. I challenge you to take a course in as many different faculties as you can. Because now is the time. If not now, then when? Information is so easily available at our fingertips. We have all these resources available for us to use. This may be the only time in your life where you can completely devote yourself to acquiring knowledge.

So no matter what you are interested in studying, go forth and expand your horizons. Learn outside of the box. And when I say box I mean the boxes on your class timetable. Get involved!

I encourage you to be the type of person that knows stuff about stuff, I want to be the type of person who goes to a dinner party and is able to make conversation with anyone, whether they are a cowboy, an alien or President Obama. Fill your head with knowledge. Keep questioning, keep being curious, keep learning my friends. Undergrad is going to go by fast, but for now if you’re going to focus on one thing, focus on being a student.

“Knowledge is one. Its division into subjects is a concession to human weakness.” – Sir Halford John Mackinder

[Editor’s note: Originally published in The Totem Times]

Welcome to my office slash gypsy fortune teller cave slash rainforest treehouse.

Posted on by

Studio apartment sounds like a luxury when you’re living in a dorm room. I’ve finally got the chance to visit all the different residences on campus and I think I’ve done a pretty good job for living the sweet life in first year residence again. Yup, there’s actually crazy people called RA’s who willing do this again.

Between all the work-orders I’ve already had to call in about my bathroom, TV, the jammed keys, broken fuses and bugs everywhere it’s kind of funny how used to Totem I am.

The place where I find shelter is in my room. When I wake up in the morning at Totem magotem I feel like I’m in a rainforest. I’m only on the second floor, which is close enough that in case of some dire circumstance I need to break the glass window and jump out while running away from some rampage tiger that has escaped from the zoo and has come to hunt me down with a pack of vampires. While it would violate resident contract standards, I’m sure it’s possible. Despite the leafy greens that crowd my window, when I wake up in the morning I have a sense of familiarity of where I am. It’s strange but seeing the sunshine go through the “chlorophyll-ed” leaves, I can imagine I’m on an exotic island. The tree blocks the ground so you can’t really tell how high up you are, but it’s reassuring that I won’t have to worry about peepers or creepers.

I’ve set up my room in a way that when you walk in I’m seated like a receptionist at a dental office. I figure I’ll be spending lots of time in my room that I need to get productive work done. (And not just sit there listening to Enrique Iglesias all night or surfing IMDB). I’ve also put up some red drapes that apparently looks like a fortune teller’s gypsy cave. I hope that sounds inviting so that residents feel welcome to come in and chat at anytime.

I was asked last week to show my room to some visitors from Japan. Little did I know that three Japanese business men, a translator, a RLM and a representative from UBC Housing and Hospitality Services would all be crammed into my cozy dorm room. It seemed like quite an honour when they started taking pictures but I wasn’t really anticipating answering questions. When there’s six people staring at you and half of them are talking in a different language it’s slightly intimidating finding words in your brain to say. Never before had I had a translator speak on my behalf. It was quite exciting. Definitely something I could get used to.

While I love my dorm, I love crashing over at my friend’s place. You know you’ve got special friends when you can show up at their place at 11:00 p.m. Make blueberry muffins and coffee and watch Vampire Diaries – on a week night! I look forward to many more snuggle times in -40 degree sleeping bags.

I hope the rest of you are finding lovely posters to put up in your dorms and new apartments.