Category Archives: Suite Life

September 16, 2012 · 10:28 pm

Cooking: The Second-Year’s Nemesis

Chances are, if you were living in residence for your residence, you are now living in some sort of accommodation that includes a kitchen and now you are staring at the cupboards and appliances which stare back at you unhelpfully and you realize: you have to cook for yourself. Yikes.

Maybe you’re one of those people who always cooked a lot for themselves at home anyway, so it isn’t really a big deal, but I am not one of those people; my parents always made the meals in our house. That’s just the way it was. So when I was left alone in my kitchen to try to feed myself, I was anxious. What should I make? Will I screw it up? Will I make a mess, will I break something? Will I over spend on food?

I’ve been cooking for myself for approximately the past two and half weeks (although it feels much longer than that), and I’m feeling much less nervous now. Once you get the hang of things, it isn’t so hard to manage. So although I am no expert, here is my method of feeding myself and relatively healthily and cheaply.

  • Start with what you know. Make a list of all the things you know how to make and what you’ve made before. Gather recipes that your mom made at home so that the familiar tastes will remind you of home and not feel like such a shock. Speaking of mom, get her to walk you through some basics of cooking and a few of your favourite recipes before you leave.
  • Plan ahead. Figure out what you want to eat for most of the week and do a shopping trip at the beginning of the week so you don’t have to go to the store every other day. That way if you also need to take something out of the freezer to make later that night, you’ll remember and not have to deal with frozen pasta sauce that won’t come out of its tupperware.
  • Freeze things. Cooking for one can be challenging, especially since most food is sold in fairly large packages.There’s nothing more disappointing than having your food go off before you can eat it, and things like pasta sauce and cheese can go bad pretty fast. So once I open a jar of pasta sauce, I freeze in serving-size tupperware what I don’t need right away, and when I buy a package of cheese I grate about two thirds of it and freeze it and leave the rest in the fridge. If you’re sharing a fridge/freezer with a lot of people and don’t have room, you’ll have to get creative. Maybe try coordinating shared meals with your roommates? I only have to share with one other person, so I have it easy…
  • Cook ahead. Cooking during the week when you have no time can suck, so making a larger meal on the weekend and then eating leftovers all week can save you the trouble. This week is taco week for me!
  • One thing I like to do to stay healthy is to make sure I have at least one thing from each food group in every meal. Well, the big meals anyway. Breakfast I tend to skip out on the meat group.  I find the hardest thing to get enough of is fruits and vegetables, but what I’ve found that fresh fruit and vegetables like grapes or carrots can easily be added to a meal to fill it out. And frozen vegetables like peas and corn are SUPER easy and fast to make in the microwave.
  • My words on eating cheap: stalk the flyers, take advantage of deals, and don’t buy what you don’t need. Good deals are a no brainer, but sometimes people forget that they don’t really need chips or granola bars, or the most expensive brand of cereal.  In addition, meat such as chicken is usually much cheaper than its equivalent in beef, so maybe hold back on the cow.  Budget yourself, and see what you need to improve on in your spending habits.

I think my favourite go-to food is the quesadilla: fast, easy, and melty-cheese-good. Probably not coincidental that it’s also one of my favourite comfort foods. :P

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September 10, 2012 · 8:40 pm

A Story of Loving Rain

As many of you probably know, the Student Recreation Centre here at UBC does this wonderful thing at the beginning of every term called Shopping Week.  You can go try out any class for free to see if it’s something you want to sign up for.

Originally, I had looked at the schedule and said, “Aw man, none of the yoga classes are at good times for me!” And I thought I’d try going to a place off campus. And on Sunday, that is, yesterday, I was going to go check it out, but I discovered that because of awkward bus changes it would take me nearly an hour to get there, and back. This is despite the fact that it would take a car less than ten minutes to get there.

So I took another look at the Shopping Week Calendar. Sunday Night Vinyasa. Sounds good, what time does it start? 7:30 PM. Time on the clock: 6:45. I quickly signed up for the class (they want you to do that now; you didn’t have to last year) and then dashed out the door in the pouring rain toting my yoga mat and bag filled with water bottle, wallet, cell phone, etc.

In fact, I had to dash to catch the bus coming up the road behind me, but made it sort of dry to REC Centre. I walk inside, and what’s this? Oh, the lights are off inside the studio. I take a closer look at a poster for Shopping Week. It starts on Monday. That is, today. My class won’t be starting until next Sunday.

Initially, I felt disappointed. It hadn’t been a great day, and now this. But then, I just sort of didn’t care; I found myself feeling positive. Oh well, I thought to myself. Now I have a whole hour that I didn’t think I’d have before! The only logical thing to do now is to go home, drop off my stuff, and take a walk in the rain to Menchie’s and buy some delicious, delicious, fro-yo.

I walked to Wesbrook Village with my hood down, the rain soaking my hair. Now, I am not normally a person who likes rain. I rather dislike it, in fact. In Winnipeg, when it rains, it rains hard, each drop cold and stinging, painful even. But as I walked to Menchie’s, I just thought of the delight that was ahead of me, and noticed how the rain was soft on my head. I liked it, and welcomed being soaked. The clouds were dark, and I appreciated that. None of this nonsense where it’s raining hard but still bright out, with white clouds. That, to me, is just silliness.

The cheerful bight pink and green of the frozen yogurt shop welcomed me inside, and I picked my flavours – they always have new ones and the choices are so exciting! – pineapple and green apple tart, and then put maraschino cherries on top. Oh, happiness in my mouth. I had a peaceful walk back as the rain dripped down my face and clung to my glasses. When I got home, it occurred to me that without even realizing it, all the stress I’d been feeling earlier that day had just melted away.

I’m trying to describe to you how peaceful I felt in that moment, but it’s hard. I guess what I want you to take away from this is that you’ve just gotta roll with the punches sometimes. Sometimes, it’s just gonna be a hard day, but when something else goes wrong, just laugh and say, Of course! Just go with it. God knows the sunshine isn’t going to last forever and sometimes, you’ve just got to learn to love the rain.

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September 3, 2012 · 8:08 pm

Wreck Beach

With school starting tomorrow and the sun shining in this rainy city, what else was I do to do but go to the beach? Yes, it’s true that Wreck Beach is clothing-optional, but I like to keep mine on and if you keep your eyes mostly on the ground you shouldn’t see too much of anything you don’t want to see.

The mountains, as always, were beautiful. The scene was serene, but full of life; after all, it is a holiday.  Wreck is actually a place I like to come in the winter, when I can just be more or less alone and stare out at the sea and the mountains, contemplate life and find inspiration. But a busy day is is pretty inspirational too.

Among the freshman, booze-vendors, nude tanners, and pot-smokers were also vendors set up towards the trees, selling skirts and scarves, jewelry and bags. I actually spotted a woven bag I liked but didn’t have any money, so I’m seriously considering going back next weekend…

Natasha and Christie and I had a picnic on the beach, punctuated by Christie shaking up her salad, when the lid of her Tupperware popped off and her food flew everywhere, and in her surprise, she kicked up a bunch of sand that went flying into Tash’s peanut butter. My sandwich was safe.  Needless to say, there was laughter. (One of my favourite things!)

Now, we had come to go swimming. I had never actually swam in an ocean before, given that I’m from pretty much the exact centre of the continent, so lakes have been my swimming location for most of my life.  The water was cold – of course, it was only 20 or 21 degrees – but somehow it was easier to keep walking and splashing in as the water crept closer to my head, whereas in the lakes of home I usually have to be pushed in before I’ll let the water get past boob-level.

The waves were huge! I’d gotten waves that large when I’d been sailing on Lake Huron, but never when I’ve been swimming. They kind of scared me, but it was actually pretty exhilarating to time my jump as the wave came, and be suspended a few feet above the sand as the wave pushed me back a meter or two. The salt came as a shock when the water splashed my face and got in my mouth, although Christie (who is from Oregon) said the water wasn’t actually that salty here.

And of course, any mention of Wreck Beach would not be complete without complaining about the stairs. I’ve never counted them myself, but there must be at least four hundred, if not more. It is tiring work, climbing back up, let me tell you. But then again, I guess it’s good exercise.

With Imagine Day tomorrow, it’s a good reminder: try something new, have some fun, dream big dreams. Here at UBC, the world is yours for the taking.

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September 2, 2012 · 9:46 pm

Pacific National Exhibition

Since school starts in only 2 days, my friends and I figured, why not have some fun before summer ends? Following that the natural course of action was to head to The Fair at the Pacific National Exhibition. About an hour and a half and a very stressful jam-packed bus ride later, we arrived at the fair and were swept away in the massive crowds of people.

Stop number one? Corn dogs. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten one before today. It’s not exactly the world’s finest delicacy, but not bad either and definitely a life experience I can check off my bucket list. Okay, it wasn’t actually on my list but it’s still a life experience.  We walked around the park and considered buying ride tickets, but then decided we’d rather save our money for something like groceries, or internet bills.

We went to the Super Dogs show, which was actually really impressive and made my day with their corny cartoon-for-ten-year-olds style theme song. Seriously though, those dogs can jump really high! We also went to the barn, and what with the dog show plus the baby chickens/ducks/bunnies/goats/cows/horses there was very nearly a cuteness overload.

The fair also had a Star Trek exhibit, and although I’m not a Trekkie, my friend Kim is a huuuge one. We watched part of the newest movie while waiting in line to get in, and the costumes and props they had on display were really neat. There were also some photo ops in some reconstructed sets; I wish we had bought one so I could show you, but again, groceries need buying. In one, Christie was wearing a green shirt in front of a green screen, so she was invisible, in another, I had the most intense face on the bridge of the USS Enterprise, and then we were all rather awkwardly confused in the teleported room.

However, the day would not be complete without more carnival food. I opted to wait for supper until I got home, but I did buy an order of deep fried Oreos – they were totally worth the five bucks and the thousand calories. Kim got a deep fried pop tart, but both paled in comparison to Christie and Natasha’s pick: deep fried wagon wheels. Imagine an ooey gooey s’more melted inside a warm fluffy donut. Heaven in your mouth, I’m tellin’ ya.

Today was a good day of fun, of not worrying about school coming up, of not stressing over my hurting shoulder muscles. A day of exploring this fabulous city of Vancouver, because what a waste it would be to live here for four years and not see any of it.

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September 1, 2012 · 6:51 pm

Happy Move-In Day!

I hope everyone’s move in went well and you’re all settling nicely :)

I remember when I moved in last year, I was both really excited and really nervous. And pretty lonely. But that kicked in more later. Everyone I met was really nice, but I was in a strange place without my parents for the first time.  I remember the first week or so felt like some weird summer camp where the RA’s were like counsellors and everyone was pretending to be much more mature and much less scared than they actually were.

Of course, there were lots of people whose mentality was “Woohoo! No more parents! Finally!” And I commend those people. However, if you are not one of those people, you aren’t the only one. I promise. Everyone else is just pretending they’re not nervous too.

But you know something? You’re going to be okay. You’re going to be better than okay. If you get homesick, phone your mom. It always made me feel way better. And it’s going to get better as time passes – especially once classes start in 3 days, because you’ll be too busy to be lonely! I always get the loneliest when there’s nothing to do.

If you’re nervous about the work load, just think about this: you were good enough to get to UBC, you’re good enough to do well here. It’s true that on typically a student’s average will drop about 10% in university, but that happens to everyone, and with good time management you should be fine.  Not to mention there are lots of resources to take advantage of when you need help.

And wanna know a secret? When my parents left this morning, I felt a bit nervous too. This will be my first year cooking for myself, and things are going to be pretty crazy at the beginning of September. But I survived last year – thrived, really – and this year is going to be even better. I can handle what’s coming my way. And so can you, even if maybe your brain isn’t quite convinced just yet.

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August 31, 2012 · 9:35 pm

Room Mates!

Okay. I am officially entirely moved in. Except for my posters, I haven’t put them up in my room yet. And my rental harp doesn’t come til tomorrow. But that’s it! Everything is out of its box and in its place. Ahhhh.

My parents leave tomorrow, and then it’ll just be me and my room mate, Christie.  Me and Christie met in Totem Park last year, where we lived on the same floor and joined the knitting club together. So, asking her to live with me this year was kind of a no-brainer and doesn’t have me stressed out at all.

Me and Christie!

However, this is both of our first times living with a room mate; we both had single rooms last year.It helps that we know each other and are friends already; I imagine moving in with someone you don’t know would be much harder.  Even so, we wrote up a room mate agreement a few days ago to make sure we don’t get on each other’s nerves too much. (Seriously though, we’re two of the most mellow people you’ll ever meet – I don’t anticipate much nerve-getting-on.)

We decided that Christie’s bed and desk (essentially her “room”) would be in the living, and I’d take the bedroom, for a couple reasons: we each get our own space, no waking up from each other’s alarms, and I’ll be renting a harp, and this way I can put it in my room and it won’t be in Christie’s way.

We talked about noise (note that we are quiet people) and basically decided that we have to respect the condo rules for quiet time, and in addition just be sensitive about if people are sleeping. That said, if someone is sleeping in until 1 PM (unlikely), the other person can just go about their business without tip-toeing. Regarding visitors, we both pretty much have the same friends, but if someone will be coming over we agreed to just send a text beforehand to give the other person a heads up.

Most of our agreement was regarding cleaning: what needs to cleaned and how often. Mostly we decided that if you make a mess, clean it up right away, and clean as you go. If you don’t make the place dirty, there will be less work less often.  We opted not to make a cleaning schedule because our lives are gonna get crazy busy crazy fast and there will be times when it’s just not gonna happen. Just as general guidelines, the kitchen should be swept once a week, the bathroom given a good scrub down about once a month (or when it needs it), etc…

Honestly, I think we’ll have a pretty good time. Our personalities line up, we already know each other, have similar sleeping habits, and very importantly have our own rooms. I imagine having a room mate in residence would be a challenge; by the end of last year I was glad I didn’t get the double room I had initially asked for. Even still, I believe a pair of room mates can get along with honest guidelines set out in the beginning, and open communications kept up after that.

 

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August 29, 2012 · 1:17 pm

Moving In

Three – the number of hours spent in IKEA.

Two – the number of chairs currently existing in my kitchen so I no longer have to sit on the floor.

One – the number of real beds in my bedroom, meaning I don’t have to sleep on an air mattress anymore!

Yes, that’s right, I’ve finally moved all my stuff into my condo – not to say I’m fully moved in, but all the boxes are safely inside my little bundle of space.  Yesterday was a day so busy and chaotic I didn’t even get to do my daily school countdown post (by the way, there are 6 days left). Today will be a day of do-it-yourself IKEA construction, unpacking boxes, and if I’m lucky, putting the finishing touches on my room.

Okay, let’s be honest. It’s going to be a day of my parents constructing the piecemeal IKEA furniture, me doing a little bit of unpacking, and then running off to practice in the music building, take part in a photo shoot for the new students.ubc.ca, and then later going over to my friend Natasha’s house for an overnight LOST marathon.  I’m sure my parents will be fine without me… probably better off, actually, given my experience with a hammer. (Explanation: none.)  In all seriousness though, I’m extremely lucky to have parents who love me enough to drive my stuff halfway across the country, buy me furniture, move it for me, and then set it up. EXTREMELY EXTREMELY LUCKY.

Moving in so far has been pretty smooth, unless you count the doormat causing the door to not be able to open. But I’m not really counting that.

 

P.S. Yes, I get to be in a photo shoot today! UBC is coming out with a new students website, and of course they need to photos to go with it. I’ve always wondered how you get to be one of those smiling people on the various UBC websites, and now I get to be one of them! EEEEEEE!

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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 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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