Daily Archives: November 25, 2011

Like, Love, Winter

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My fellow international students:

In the coming months, you are going to embark on one of the most exciting — and altogether terrifying journeys of your life — your first great Canadian winter! And while my title may leave you a bit skeptical, bear with me. If I — a sun loving kid, born and raised for 18 years in the Caribbean — can learn to love winter, you most certainly can, too. This coming winter will be my fifth in Toronto and while I’m no veteran, I have picked up a few key things that you need too if you want to have any chance of really loving winter.

Accept It!
The first step to loving winter is to accept that it is inevitable. It’s not everyone’s favourite season and most people, especially Torontonians I’ve found, choose to deny its existence, writing off those months and focusing on the summer ahead. But winter is coming whether you like it or not, and it’s here to stay for at least four months of the year. So don’t give the winter season the cold shoulder, it has more to offer than you think!

Keep Warm, Stay Healthy
Probably the only thing that can make the cold and dark days of winter any harder to love, is being sick. Make sure to follow Mom’s orders and get lots of vitamins in your system every day. I get that as a student you don’t always have the time, or cash, to stock up on strawberries and oranges, so pop a chewable vitamin every morning and night. It makes all the difference. And get your flu shot!

Get Outside
There’s no end to the number of fun things to do outside in the winter. Tobogganing, sledding, snowball fighting, snow angels, snowman building, snowboarding, skiing, ice skating. Okay I’ll admit, that’s a lot of snow, but ’tis the season, and better yet most of these activities can be had on or around campus for little to no money at all.
Go Ice Skating with some friends at Nathan Philips Square for just the price of skate rentals, or pick up a sled at Canadian Tire for under $5 and hit the slopes around Campus. My personal favourite is the thrilling ride at Winston Churchill Park. Or join one of U of T’s winter based clubs like the Ski and Snowboard club, to get discounted rates at Toronto’s Blue Mountain.

You're never too old to start: Me and my Grandma went Sledding for the first time last Christmas!

Partake in the Festivities
Whether you celebrate one of the many holidays around the wintertime or not, there’s always a sense of joy and celebration that circulates around the New Year, and there are a host of ways for you to embrace the season.
In the weeks of December before the holiday break, Hart House hosts an Annual Winter Buffet in the Great Hall and the Woodsworth College Students’ Association offers a semi-formal holiday Red Party. And in January, the St. George Round Table hosts winter’s answer to frosh week with five days of fun-filled activities called Winterfest, starting on Tuesday, the tenth. Here’s a quick video to get you excited!

Happy Wintering!

Chad

Buddy Up!!

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A Couple o' Buddies!

(Image courtesy of http://www.cribsocial.com/)

You may have heard of it when your parents told you not to party alone at night, or perhaps you remember it from swimming at your summer camp! In any case, the buddy system is a highly valuable approach for more than just party-going and learning to swim.

What is the buddy system? Well in the context of physical activity, it’s when two consenting people commit to a physical activity regime and help each other through it with support, tips and teamwork. How do I know it works?! Well I have a buddy of course! Let’s call her Feeble. She’s far from it, but I like the ring as a pseudonym. Anyways, Feeble and I are workout buddies. We have the same gym plan, similar goals and both need the motivation to actually get up and go.

We’ve been friends for a long time so she doesn’t put up with my whining and I always give her a wake-up call so she doesn’t leave me stranded! Honestly though, I think the relationship’s working out for the both of us. I get more time to hang with my girl, we’re getting a little fitter each time we go and we’ve got a really sweet, free facility that’s convenient for both of us. My fave tandem exercise is definitely lunging around the AC’s strength and conditioning centre or the Hart House weight room. I always feel self-conscious when I do it alone but with two somehow it’s easy!

If it wasn’t for someone else depending on me to be there, I’m sure my attendance would falter…finding the motivation to workout, even when you know the benefits, can be a challenge!

Here are some foolproof steps to help you get into the buddy system and keep up with your working out!

  1. Find a friend, preferably one who’s got similar fitness or workout goals to you.
  2. Compare schedules, highlight times that are free and convenient for both of you.
  3. Discuss what to do, basically make a plan for what you want to do when you get to the gym. Maybe you’ll find a drop-in class or program that fits your schedules and sounds fun.
  4. Buy a lock to share; if you don’t have one you’ll need one to lock up your gear, and usually both sets of gear can fit into one locker!
  5. Lose the excuses, one of the top reasons I don’t go to the gym is crappy weather…but my buddy Feeble knows it’s my weakness and she always has a strong counter argument when I gripe! Thanks Feeble!!

Best of luck to the rest of the buddies out there!!

 

-Laura