Tag Archives: campus

March 10, 2013 · 11:57 am

I’ll be a MUG Leader Next Year!

I opened my email Friday afternoon, saw the subject line pop up in my inbox and hurriedly scrolled down the message to see

“Congratulations! 

We believe that you would be an excellent addition to our program this year, and we would like to offer you the position of:

Music MUG Leader”

Yay!

In two weeks I’ll get to attend a “March Welcome Event” and meet my fellow MUG Leaders, and I’m sure it’ll be one of those fun and spirited days that become one of your UBC experiences you’ll always remember. I’m looking forward to it!

I’m super pumped for next year’s Imagine Day already. This past year, I wasn’t a MUG Leader, so I kind of wandered around campus, feeling the energy of the day but not directly being a part of it, and I kind of regretted not applying to be a MUG Leader last spring. But next year will be different! I’m already excited to meet new music students and get to know them a bit and be a part of their first year (first day, even) at UBC.

I remember Imagine Day as being incredibly energized and inspiring, and the first day that I really felt as though I belonged on this campus. If I can be part of that again, and also create that experience for someone else, you can count me in!

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November 16, 2012 · 6:40 pm

Free Hankies – Nothing to Sneeze At

You know what’s gross? How much we dispose of unnecessarily every day. According to the Ubyssey, the SUB produces 40 bags of trash every day, just out of the bathrooms. Picture that. Picture your bedroom, full to the ceiling of barely used paper towels. Now imagine that happening every day. I mean, really?

A student project has been created with the intent of reducing the amount of paper towel waste UBC students produce (Ubyssey article here).  They’ve set up a booth in the SUB handing out handkerchiefs in exchange for a donation to the Ancient Forest Alliance (you can also pay five dollars for a prettier hanky, which will help make the project more sustainable in the future).

I picked up mine today, and I think it’s time for a behavioural change.  Yes, it’s a bit easier just to take the available paper towel and throw it out after and not have to worry about washing your hankie or how to dry it after use.  But in a lot of ways, doing things that harm the environment are born out of laziness and convenience. Taking just the little bit of effort here by using that little towel could result in hundreds, maybe thousands of pounds of paper towels not being used. And in turn, less trees would need to be cut down. And more living trees = healthier planet!

A few other ways you can cut out needless disposables out of your life: bring a reusable travel mug for your morning mocha and keep your own chopsticks handy for when you’re craving sushi.  In the kitchen, opt for a rag instead of paper towels and tupperware instead of plastic wrap.

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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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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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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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April 22, 2012 · 9:49 pm

UBC Botanical Gardens

Vancouver is a stunning place in the spring time, and nowhere is that clearer than in the UBC Botanical Gardens.  My parents were here this weekend to help me pack up my dorm room (which I’ll make a post on later), so for fun we went to the Botanical Gardens.  Rhododendron in all the colours of the rainbow, giant magnolia blossoms, and those iconic BC conifers that reach high into the sky.  And boy, does the air smell fantastic!

Admission to the UBC Botanical Gardens is free for UBC students, but if you’re willing to pay a little more, I would definitely recommend paying the extra fee to go on the Greenheart Canopy Walkway. At its highest point it goes up to 70 feet above the ground, and walking across the swinging bridge is fun! Believe me, I’m afraid of heights and I enjoyed myself!  Plus if you get the guided tour (at no extra cost) you get a lot of great information and insight into the forest around you and the walkway itself.

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April 2, 2012 · 8:08 pm

Take a Second to Appreciate

Today as I was hurrying from the music building to my next class in the chemistry building (it’s actually a philosophy course; I don’t know why it’s in there), I sort of had a little magic moment.  As I walked past Koerner Library onto that big lovely square looking out at Irving, I was struck by how awesome UBC is.  I walked up to the railing that overlooked the mini-valley between Irving and Koerner, and watched as three friends lay sprawled out on the grass, eating their lunch; a man was practicing yoga on the pavement not far from them, and all around me people were walking, talking, laughing, rushing off to their next class; across from me people were puring in and out of Irving, and over my shoulder construction workers were getting on with their work, contributing to our ever-changing campus.

I took in a big breath of cool spring moment-of-sunshine-between-rain air, and thought:

Wow.

I thought, right in front of me, there is so much; there is beauty, there is friendship, there is happiness, there is progress, there is energy, there is innovation and love and opportunity and so much energy, oh my goodness, isn’t it so amazing?

You know when you go to recruitment and welcome events?  When you went to a campus tour?  When you went to Imagine Day, do you remember how you felt?  When they played that slide show, that movie, didn’t you feel so incredibly inspired?  Didn’t it all feel so magical?

That’s how it felt for me.  And I think that sometimes we get so caught up in homework and tests and trying to pay our tuition and making plans for the weekend or for the summer that we kind of forget how incredibly amazing this place is we live in every day.

UBC is a really awesome and magical place, and I really encourage you to just take a second to breathe it in and appreciate it, because it’s still as magical as it was when you were sitting in the stadium on Imagine Day.

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October 24, 2011 · 4:38 pm

This is why I love Vancouver

 

The knoll outside the SUB in autumn.

 

Walking home from buying groceries at the village today, I wandered into this gorgeous scene – the knoll outside the SUB, painted in all the colours of autumn: red, gold, green.  Campus in the sunshine is just about as good as pick-me-ups get.  The air is fresh, and everything is brighter and clearer and all around more cheerful.  It’s so much easier to appreciate the architecture and style everything here is constructed with.  It isn’t fall in Winnipeg, but it’s amazing and beautiful in its own right.

And hey, who says Vancouver is too soggy for crunchy leaves?

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October 14, 2011 · 4:17 pm

Barber Courtyard: The perfect place to enjoy an autumn afternoon.

Fall in Winnipeg is one my absolute favourite things in the world – and one of the things I miss the most about home. The sun shines a little differently, painting everything gold, and the air feels different. The sky goes on forever in an endless see of blue, a few white wispy clouds way up above you; fall in Winnipeg is openness, joy, falling in love; it is indescribable. It’s something you just have to breathe in to understand.

Today is a day that reminds me so much of Winnipeg fall. It’s sunny, dry, cool but not too cool, and reminds me so much of home it puts a smile on my face. So when my prof let my German class out early on a Friday afternoon, I couldn’t resist buying a cup of hot chocolate from Ike’s Cafe and just sit outside and enjoy the weather. This sort of sun is what we get nearly every day in Winnipeg, whereas here in Vancouver it’s more of a rare treat.

The place I wound up in was the courtyard outside Irving K. Barber Learning Centre. It’s the perfect place just to sit, chat with friends, people-watch, or just day dream, while the sun warms your back and the water in the fountain splashes pleasantly. It’s a gorgeous place at UBC, one you may not notice otherwise; it isn’t on any brochure that I’ve see, nor pointed out on any map – and yet it has one of the nicest atmospheres I’ve felt so far. I’m sorry I didn’t get a picture, I left my camera in my room, but that just means you have to go check it out for yourself!

XO – Samantha.

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