Monthly Archives: August 2013

August 29, 2013 · 9:26 pm

The Suitcase Battle

I feel like everyone moving into residence this weekend can relate to this: How do I fit my life into a single suitcase? When did I acquire this much stuff? Why do I feel like all of it is necessary to bring with me? For people moving into residence, lots of people drive and have their entire cars to fill (aka jam with as much stuff as possible). For those of us flying into Vancouver, in most cases you only get one checked bag with your ticket price.

So, once I narrow all my possessions down to everything I can cram inside my purple suitcase, the darn thing is over the weight limit. Nooooo. Cue trying to narrow it down some more. Unfortunately, taking out a few pieces of clothing and a cookbook or two isn’t going to take the weight down by fifteen pounds. (Yes, I know.) Then I proceed to try to spread everything out into my carry on as well, but naturally it doesn’t all fit.

Having lost the war with my suitcase, I move on to the next solution: Check a second bag. Yes, it only costs $20 extra, but it will be difficult to carry with my carry-on luggage. (No one is coming to meet me at the airport.) Well, I was probably going to be taking a taxi anyway. Thank goodness I have a wonderful room mate who will help me carry my things into the building.

Even with the problem solved, I am still astounded at how much stuff I have acquired. I’m amazed at how much clothing I have, and how I can’t seem to let myself leave much of it behind. (Though I still don’t have nearly as many shoes as my room mate.) It’s weird, isn’t it? How our lives become an accumulation of possessions? Somehow this suddenly became philosophical.

How about you? Did you have an epic battle with your suitcase/trunk/moving boxes? Let me know in comments :)

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August 27, 2013 · 8:21 pm

Life Lesson Learned

Namely, do not try to have someone to come install your home internet the week before school starts and expect them to be available by the end of the week.

To clarify, I’m getting back to Vancouver on Friday and thought hmm, I’d better get the internet put back in my apartment before the weekend or I’ll have to wait until Tuesday! Then it turned out that they won’t be coming til Thursday. I’ll have a fun week without internet… (Isn’t it amazing how dependent we are on internet? Seriously though first week comes with so many emails!)

Probably I’ll become an annoying patron of Save On Foods, hanging out in their restauranty area using their free wifi. Any blog posts from next week will probably be coming from there. And I will have so much to blog about! My first time as a MUG leader, and -hopefully- an interview for a Work Study position.

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August 20, 2013 · 2:23 pm

On Entering Third Year

In case you haven’t been looking at your calendar recently, OH MY GOSH THERE ARE ONLY TWO WEEKS UNTIL SCHOOL STARTS. Part of me is crazy excited for Imagine Day and all the cool stuff I get to do this year and seeing my friends again and being back in Vancouver and the other part is taken aback by how fast four months went by and sad that I’ll have to leave my friends, family, and boyfriend for several months once again.

In the midst of this swirling muck of emotion I thought I’d write down a few thoughts about entering my third year of my degree.

  • Where the heck did the time go? I feel like I just moved into first year residence. Now you’re telling me I’m halfway done?
  • I’m halfway done?!?! This means I only have two more years left before entering the real world and leaving behind this campus and the friends I made here?? So not ready for that. Not ready to think about it. Moving on to the next point.
  • I’m excited to be doing more courses that I’m enthusiastic about taking. At this point in my degree, I get to focus on playing my instrument and taking electives that interest me.
  • I feel kind of like a grown-up mentor person. Then again I don’t really have that many people to mentor so that also feels kind of irrelevant.
  • I’m feeling more responsible. I plan to take on a lot more extra-curricular activities this year (including being a club executive!) so I’ll have to step up and make sure I handle them all!
  • I’m excited to take advantages one of the best opportunities UBC has to offer: Go Global. If everything goes according to plan, next February I’ll be on a plane to Belgium!
  • I feel like I really need to experience everything at UBC before I leave. In first year I felt like I had tons of time, but now here I am two years later, and although I’ve already done a lot, I still feel like there’s a ton I want to do! Time to make a UBC and Vancouver to-do list and cross those experiences off.

Goodness, before you know it, I’ll be graduating. Wait, I’m not thinking about that. Not thinking about it.

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August 10, 2013 · 8:43 pm

Belgium, Here I Come!

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I’m finally getting my Go Global experience! If you are a regular to my blog you may recall that first I really really wanted to go on exchange, then found out that it wasn’t going to fit into my degree, and then was really disappointed when everyone else got their acceptances for their magical exchanges in far off lands while I was stuck at home. And while UBC is totally amazing and everything, I was still very disappointed.

But then, about a month ago, I received an email from the school of music saying that a research project involving gesture-tracking software was looking for third and fourth year musicians to participate, and that the project will be going to Belgium for two weeks to collaborate with students at another university there. I was so excited! This would be my chance to go experience another country as part of my UBC education.

At the moment, I’m not 100% clear on what exactly the research is going to entail, but I’m very excited to find out. Also, I haven’t technically received the Participation Agreement yet, but I have been accepted into the program, so I feel like it isn’t too early to celebrate. If it is, well, whatever. But for now I’ll be daydreaming of Belgium!

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