de muchas y otras cosas

Today I was (late) at the first Open Forum with a candidate for the new Arts Dean.

I was only there for the last five minutes of Angela Esterhammer’s talk, but I was really impressed by something that I saw. Or rather, something that I didn’t see.

I didn’t see m/any young faces.

I don’t have anything against older people, and I know that some students here are adults. But there’s no denying that at least 98% of the people present, which by the way were not many, where professors or university administration.

The thing is, Arts if almost 1/4 of UBC. About 10,000 students take Arts courses each year.

How is it possible that 10,000 students are going to let about 50 professors make the decision of who OUR new dean is. How are we going to be able to ask that dean to work FOR the students if the students show such a lack of interest in being a part of taking this decision.

THE DEAN OF ARTS WORKS FOR THE STUDENTS.

How big do I have to write that?

THE DEAN OF ARTS’ FIRST PRIORITY SHOULD BE THE STUDENTS.

How loud do I have to say it?

Open Forums are spaces where we should be showing our next dean that we are active students, that we care and we will have expectations for that seat. Expectations that she/he will have to fulfill because we are the ones hiring.

Any student that cares about the Arts faculty should be in these Open Forums asking questions and contributing to the taking of this huge decision for our faculty.

The next to Open Forums are

Gage Averil – Wednesday, April 14, 12:00-2:00 pm @ Angus 492

Angela Redish – Tuesday, April 20, 12:00-2:00 pm @ Angus 492

There’s also a student session for Angela Esterhammer

Wednesday, April 7, 5:00-6:00 pm @ BuTo 104A

Very, very awesome!

Jump Start is a two-week orientation for international students. The best thing about Jump Start is that you get to meet many international students before classes start. That means that the campus is almost empty and it’s only you and some other 200 students running around. : )

During my Jump Start we lived in Gage, but I think next year it’s going to happen in Totem. You get to go on excursions to different places on campus and in Vancouver: parks, beaches, museums, football games (which, by the way, are really boring if you’ve never seen one and don’t know how they work!)…

It’s a great way to get used to Canada, learn how to do all that extra stuff that you have to do because you’re international (visas, work permits…) and MAKE FRIENDS. :)

In two weeks you go from having no idea of what you’re getting yourself into to giving directions during Gala to other international students!

If that’s not enough to convince you… Here are some pictures of amazing people that you might see during Jump Start being really nice RAs and volunteers:

Last night a presentation during the AMS meeting left us all amazed…

It turns out that the secret meeting the AMS had last Monday was all about money. The AMS has 1.87 years left before it goes broke! Sad, sad story. :(

I only took one year of Econ, but I guess it makes sense that in times like these the AMS cut spending on its services. But… How to choose which ones to cut? The ones that are not very efficient?

That’s exactly what the AMS believes.

The VP Finance presented a set of cuts that will increase the AMS life for about 4 years. Not that much, but better than 1.87!

The thing is… it plans to cut on many, many services. Starting with Safewalk.

Obviously Safewalk is underutilized (I think about 4 walks per night?), but is cutting the service the solution?

No! – And that’s what our student council believes too. It was nice to see that they placed the safety of the students before anything else. :)

ISA Open Elections are elections in which  ALL INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS CAN RUN AND VOTE.

Why is the ISA having Open Elections?

Because it’s restructuring everything! The ISA has decided to actually become a space that represents and unites international students.

All students running are amazingly dedicated (yes, including myself) so I really encourage you to run if you want to be part of this movement, it’s going to be an AWESOME working team! Even if you don’t, please show up in I.House on Thursday 8th at 3:30 to vote.

:)

The International Student Association would like to inform that it is undergoing a change in its structure to better represent the international community at UBC. To achieve our objectives we ask you to spread the word about our upcoming elections so that it attracts motivated and committed students to fulfill the goals of this initiative.

Elections will happen on Thursday April 8 at 3:30 in i.House and interested individuals can contact us at international.ubc@gmail.com.

This weekend me and some other 1000 students attended orientations for the first-year orientations in September.

That’s right prospective student, we’re looking forward to welcoming you to UBC!

This, and the fact that this week’s readings for my classes are all the last chapters of the books I bought in January, has finally made me realize that IT’S OVER!!

One full year of university. Crazy. Fun. Busy. Fun. I’m about to become a second year student. Wow.

It feels like it was just yesterday that I was coming to JumpStart, Gala and Imagine and now I’m getting ready to be a leader in them!

Sooo if you’re thinking about skipping orientations, don’t do it!

Also, if you’re an international student try your best to come to JumpStart because it is awesome! Seriously, most of the amazing people that I hang out with are from JumpStart, it’s the best place to meet people and make friends. :)

There’s an awesome photo exhibition at the SUB Art Gallery called Share It.

It’s only going to be there this week so make sure to check it out the next time you’re in the SUB!!

Also, if you’re feeling cultural, visit the MoA, they have an amazing exhibition. They even have things from Guatemala!!

“May I speak with ____ please?

Hi ____ ! This is Valentina calling from the University of British Columbia, I’m a student in the faculty of Arts and I’m calling to congratulate you on being accepted to UBC!”

If you are an international student accepted in Arts you may be getting one of these phone calls!

And, it might be me!! Please be nice and ask me questions that I know the answer to! : )

Now, seriously, I’ve been calling prospective students from all over the world and it’s awesome to see how excited people are about coming to UBC! It reminds me of when I was waiting to come… and now I’ve been here a year. It seems so long but so short at the same time, crazy.

By the way, does any one know what’s happening with the facebook group? Our group had so many people and soooo many discussion groups.

Anyway, CONGRATULATIONS CLASS OF 2014.

Honestly, I hope that you do come to UBC because it’s awesome and amazing and it has nice libraries and great, great people : ). And you get used to the rain ; ).