Category Archives: Campus Life

August 27, 2012 · 10:58 am

Need a Job? Work on Campus

Are you looking for a part time job for during the school year? The bad news: so is everyone else. The good news: UBC has tons of opportunities for employment for students, so your chances of being employed aren’t actually that bad.

Work Study/Work Learn

Work Study and Work Learn is a program run by Career Services that “supports and subsidizes meaningful work experiences on campus.”  “Work Study” is the program name for domestic students, whereas “Work Learn” is the program name for international students. It’s pretty much the same thing; international students, just make sure you have a valid Study Permit and Social Insurance Number.  All Vancouver campus students currently enrolled in courses at UBC and with a valid UBC student number.

Hours are 10 or less per week, and pay is generally pretty darn good. Jobs offered can range from lab assistants to research assistants to working in various UBC departments or libraries. The goal of these programs is to give students professional experience, in many cases in the field of their study.

Most Work Study/Work Learn positions were posted last week, but more will continue to be posted until mid-September. Be sure to apply soon, as positions are often filled before the final application date has passed.

 

Work on Campus Week

This week there will be a recruitment fair in Brock Hall, 1874 East Mall. Drop by between 11:00 am and 3:00 pm on the following days to meet employers on campus. Remember to bring your resume!

Monday, August 27th – AMS Food and Beverage

Tuesday, August 28th – Parking & Access Control

Wednesday, August 29th – AMS Retail

 Thursday, August 30th – Annual Giving

(Annual Giving is a call centre that calls alumni and asks for donations.)
For more information, visit Careers Online.

Don’t forget, there are plenty of other job opportunities post on Careers Online throughout the year, so take a look at those too.

You can also apply to work for UBC Food Services or the UBC Aquatic Centre or the many independent businesses on campus, such as Save On Foods and Shoppers Drug Mart.

Happy Hunting! (Bet you thought I wasn’t going to mention there are only 8 days til school starts, didn’t you!)

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August 26, 2012 · 9:44 pm

Welcome to Well Dressed

As I walk around campus, I can’t help but notice how well dressed everyone on this campus seems to be. I can’t help but think, “Am I the only one around here that didn’t buy a chiffon blouse this summer?”  I mean, I worked at a clothing store this summer so I consider myself capable of getting dressed in the morning, but I suppose that since coming back to Vancouver I haven’t been trying very hard. Possibly because the walk from my place to the music building is 30 minutes, and I don’t want to sweat through all my nice clothes.

Sometimes it can feel like the pressure’s on to dress nicely, but it’s also true that if you aren’t the cutting edge of style no one is going to judge you for that either. This isn’t high school anymore guys; if you just want to be comfortable, rest assured you will not become a social outcast for that.  If you’re cool with what you’re wearing, well you know what, so is everyone else.

All I’m saying is this: students at UBC are a good lookin’ bunch, and I personally feel like I need want to come up to the standard.

 

P.S. Only 9 days!

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August 25, 2012 · 1:53 pm

Free Frozen Yogurt Today!

What better way to celebrate only 10 days until the start of school than with some free frozen yogurt? Menchie’s in Wesbrook Village is giving away free frozen yogurt today until 5 pm. Prepare yourself for above average deliciousness levels.  There’s a line around the corner, but who cares? It’s still summer, it’s not like I have anything better to do. And I mean, you say free food, and I’m there.

Hint hint, event planners?

That yogurt sure was delish! And since their hours are 11-10 most days, it might be a good place for a late night study snack…

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August 24, 2012 · 3:52 pm

This wasn’t always here, right?

With only 11 days to go, if my five-posts-in-three-days didn’t tip you off, I’m CRAZY EXCITED FOR SCHOOL!

I had my first Marbelous cookie of the year on Tuesday. Good start. (Side note: if you are new and don’t know what I’m talking about, go to the SUB. Go to Blue Chip Cookies. Buy one. You won’t be sorry, I promise. Well, maybe if you have allergies. But only maybe.)

My roommate Christie arrived today and currently her parents are putting together her loft bed as I type. She seems to have an overwhelming amount of possessions.. I mean, who needs that many shoes?? (Just kidding, Christie, love you :P)

However: yesterday as I was approaching the SUB, I noticed something very out of place. What?


This used to be on the other side of the SUB, right? Hidden behind tree branches by the entrance to the Aquatic Centre? Someone please comment and tell me I’m not crazy.

Oh, another side note: there’s tons of construction on the corner of University and East Mall, but you can still get into the Aquatic Centre through their main doors. Just go around the east side of the SUB or go through the eating area exit doors. (And if you didn’t know, entrance to the Aquatic Centre is free with your UBC student card!)

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August 22, 2012 · 3:19 pm

Memorial Road, Lookin’ Fine

Are you loving Memorial Road’s new facelift? Because I know I am! Check it out: all the way from East Mall to the Music building is going to have the same tasteful cobbles as Main Mall, plus they’re putting in shrubs and flowers in between the two pathways, as well as the same breath-taking cherry blossom trees you can find on Lower Mall by Place Vanier. Sweet!


Only half is done at the moment, but it’s looking good already.

But wait, there’s more! The section from Main Mall to the Music Building is already finished! Thank goodness – walking around the Fred Lasserre building every day was a major inconvenience, and now I don’t have to walk through a parking lot anymore!

Looking forward to spring when those cherry blossoms are in bloom!

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· 3:11 pm

Without Furniture

13 days to go!
Here’s that picture of me I promised:


In my PJs, squatting on the kitchen floor, drinking milk out of an empty ice tea bottle… This is the good life.

In related news, my mom and I are nearly done cleaning and my roommate gets here on Friday! Yay!

 

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August 21, 2012 · 3:33 pm

Countdown: 14 days!

Holy banana butts you guys, school starts in exactly two weeks today! I don’t know if you guys are excited as I am, but ooooohhhhh man am I excited.

Yes, I teared up when I had to say goodbye to my boyfriend til Thanksgiving, but now that I’m back on campus I remember exactly how much I love this place.  I can’t believe how much construction there is (it seems like there’s more than last spring, if that’s even possible), but it looks like they left the knoll by the SUB and the beginnings of the New SUB! I’m so excited about that because it’s one of my favourite landmarks at UBC and I thought it would be flattened down by construction. It’s a little hairy cuz it hasn’t been mown in a while, but it’s still the same old knoll :)

I started moving into my new place yesterday, and has it ever been hectic. Cleaning, setting up internet, cleaning, getting things delievered, cleaning, talking to the caretaker, more cleaning. Did I mention cleaning? Also I won’t have any furniture until next Friday, so it’s been fun eating breakfast sitting on the floor against the wall in the kitchen. My mom took a picture, she thought it was so funny. Maybe I’ll upload it later.

I hope you all are as excited as I am! Now, more cleaning!

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August 15, 2012 · 10:43 pm

Second Home?

The time is drawing nearer for me to return to Vancouver, and as usual, the feeling is bittersweet. I am of course very excited for my second year at UBC and I know I’m going to have a fantastic time with my friends there, but I’m also going to really miss my friends in Winnipeg. And honestly, I feel like I didn’t get enough time with my friends here.

It kind of strikes me that this is pretty much the same feeling I had last April when I left campus. I was very sad to leave my friends in BC and I wanted more time for first-year-dorm adventures, although I was also looking forward to seeing my Winnipeg friends again.

I was talking on Skype to a few of my UBC friends tonight, and they all said they were excited to “go home.” And I thought, am I going home too? Or leaving home? Right now, I feel like I’m leaving home, but once I’ve been at UBC for a little while I’m sure I’ll feel at home there as well. I believe that what makes a place a home is the people there. I have fantastic friends in both places, so does that make each place a home? Maybe.

I know that Winnipeg will always be my “first home” for several reasons; my boyfriend is here, my family is here, I have many friends here, I’m familiar with this city, it’s where I grew up. But perhaps UBC has grown into my “second home,” despite how when Steven Toope (the president of UBC) suggested that would happen at the orientation last September I thought to myself: “That is never gonna happen!” (True story.)

Well, things change. I mean, as I just said, Winnipeg is my home. My first home. But I’ve found a home for myself in Vancouver too, and I know I’ll be crazy sad when my time there is done, since it seems unlikely I’ll be able to stay in touch very well with my friends from UBC once I graduate.  I know, I know, I’m getting ahead of myself again.  I guess that’s a bridge I’ll have to cross when I get there, but for now I’m just feeling the bittersweet.

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June 5, 2012 · 5:53 pm

The Long Distance Relationship

Many of those coming to UBC in the fall are coming from out of town, and many of those have boyfriends/girlfriends at home who they are not sure if they want to dump or try to go long distance.  Well, it’s a tough call.  You gotta ask yourself: Do I really love this person?  If I was away from them for months at a time, would I be tempted to cheat? Do I trust them not to cheat? Would I rather tie myself down with something I know and love, or play the field a little?

For me and my boyfriend, it was obvious that we would choose long distance.  Neither of us wanted anyone else, and we didn’t want to break up; we were in love (and – spoiler alert – still are) and we were sure we could do it, even though we knew it would be really hard.

I can’t make the call for you, but just know this: It can work. It can. That said, it can also fall apart.  Whether going long distance is something that’s right for you isn’t something I can tell you, but I can give you a few tips on how to help keep the long distance spark alive.

  • Skype. Pretty much everyone’s got it, it’s free, so why not? You can talk to your beau for hours if you want for no charge, and you get to see their face, too.  You can even get creative and do things like take your laptop to a coffee shop and Skype from there and have a “date” or leave your computer on overnight and fall asleep together. (Not gonna lie… did that second one nearly every night.)
  • Mail.  Get your partner to send you letters, and send them letters.  And/or packages.  Packages are extra fun.  For example, go to the dollar store and send them something random, like the eye patch I sent my boyfriend with nothing but a piece of pink note paper with a drawing of a stick figure pirate saying “Arr!”  Also getting them to bake for you is extra nice!
  • Spend time with each other.  Over the phone, over Skype, over text even, you have to make time for your partner. Have conversations (if you run out of things to say, there are lots of websites that have random conversation-starter type questions), read a book to them, play internet games, whatever.
  • Don’t cheat. Obvious, and I shouldn’t have to say it, but don’t.  Recipe for ended relationship.
  • See them lots when you visit home. If you don’t even see them when you’re in the same place… Well, what’s the point?
  • For more activities you can do with your long distance significant other, visit http://www.lovingfromadistance.com/thingsforldrcouplestodo.html

For me, long distance worked perfectly.  It was hard at times, and I missed my boyfriend a lot, but we’re still together, and having my relationship that way worked well for me.  It has its advantages: having that familiar person in contact with you regularly helps a lot with home sickness.  Even if you feel that you have no friends and everything is foreign, you at least have them.  It also allowed me to focus on my studies and on friends without having to worry about trying to balance my boyfriend into my schedule too, since we just Skyped every night before bed.  And since I wasn’t interested in anyone else, it wasn’t hard for me to, I don’t know, see lots of handsome men around that I couldn’t touch, or something. I don’t know, because nothing like that happened.

So yeah, it can work, if you put in the effort.  That said, don’t let a long distance relationship limit you and hold you back; don’t spend ALL your time on Skype.  You’re gonna miss out if you do that.  Just take into account your own relationship and what’s right for you. And good luck!


Me and my boyfriend Eric at a big band dance this spring.

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May 20, 2012 · 10:21 pm

Maintaining Friendships After Highschool (Or Not)

So, you’re thinking of leaving home to go to UBC next year, or maybe you aren’t leaving home, but you won’t be going to the same school or classes as your BFFs anymore.  What does this mean?  Can you still be friends? Do you even want to be?  Can you live without them? Or will this be your chance to finally get rid of them?

Naturally, people’s feelings about their high school friends ranges dramatically.  A lot of people I know had friends in high school who they basically were friends with simply because you can’t sit in the same classrooms every day and have absolutely no one to talk to. And once they’re out of high school, they aren’t interested anymore and may never speak to those high school classmates again.  And that’s normal.  In high school you don’t always win the awesome-totally-gets-me-in-every-way-friend lottery, and when you’re out, you’re ready for new friends.

So then there’s the other situation, where you have a really close group of friends who you love dearly.  Leaving those friends can be really hard, and you don’t want those friendships to end just because you’re going to university.  Well my friend, those friendships don’t have to end.  Here’s a few ways you can keep the friendship magic alive:

1) Skype.  It’s free, so why not?  Now you can talk to your friend, AND see them. Awesome!  Definitely beats the phone.

2) Be penpals.  When you’re living in residence, nothing is more exciting than getting mail.  Plus it sometimes feels more personal than an email or instant message.  (Packages are even more fun! wink wink nudge nudge hint hint)

3) Create a (video) blog.  This is one thing me and my friends did this year, and it’s helped us stay really close.  We created a video blog (or vlog) on Youtube and we’d each upload a video once a week, just talking about what we’re up to, or just talking about or doing random stuff.  You can find our channel here, if you’re interested. (I haven’t mentioned the vlog on this blog before since its purpose was for me and my friends to stay in touch, rather than talk about UBC experiences.)

If you don’t want to make videos, you can also make a blog about what you’re doing for your friends to read at home, and they can make one too.  (Me and a few friends do that as well – but I’m not giving you the address for my personal blog! Mwahaha!) You can get a free blog at www.blogspot.com.

Seriously though, if you want to keep your friendship going, all it really takes is a little effort on both sides.  If all you do is instant message on facebook, that’s great, if that works for you.  As long as you contact your friends somewhat regularly in some way so you’re still a part of each other’s lives and check in with them when you’re at home, you should be fine.  This being said, there will be some people who you thought you’d be friends with forever that you end up drifting apart from.  That’s okay too; people change, and that’s okay.  Just remember you’ll be making lots of new friends too, so if a few old ones slip away, you’ll be all right, and you’ll always have your memories of the good times you had with them.

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