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]

It would make it so much easier to pick up where things left off.

I’ve been back at Totem for 24 hours and that’s exactly how I feel. Like I just picked up everything as if I had never left. That may be because two of my courses are full year so I only have one new class. Super pumped for archaeology.

But I’m already diving headfirst into my busy schedule. I have volunteer training, going to my friend’s concert, Student Leadership Conference this Saturday, getting tickets for UBC’s Got Talent, have a list of stuff to go buy as soon as I get off campus to go shopping. Groceries is #1 on the list.

It’s kind of funny how I left for 3 weeks, but I really just clicked the pause button on Vancouver and suspended life. But hey, it hasn’t been all fun and games. Although I did spend a good chunk of yesterday giving piggy-backs, hugs and sitting on my friends shoulders I did have to write an essay and read a book. So I think it’s safe to say even after one day I’m back into the routine of things. This year I have a few new mottos:

Academic motto: Study. It’ll make you feel better. This used to be “Study as if you always have an exam” but that just got too stressful. It’s true. Once you’ve studied for a little bit and feel confident about the material you’ll feel better. Because you feel good when you have good grades.

Health motto: Work good to feel good. I mean work out. I’m not putting a number down. Just enough to know that I’m healthy. Swimming, running, yoga, Insanity workout, whatever.

Sleep motto: You really really do need sleep.

Fun motto: Remember why you’re here and enjoy yourself.

Sounds good to me. Goodluck with your own resolution, goals, whatever you’re working on.