General – Page 134 – Life @ U of T

(So You Want To) Drop It Like It’s Hot

This past week, as I found myself staring at the textbook that I haven’t bothered to open in weeks, and looking at the rubric for an essay I really didn’t want to write, a little bird whispered something in my ear. What did that little bird say you ask? “Drop the course”. I tried to ignore it, but the thought of dropping kept pushing itself to the front of my mind. Sure, I could push myself to catch up on weeks of lectures and readings, and take time away from the projects I was truly passionate about to smash out an essay that I wouldn’t be proud of. After talking it through with a few friends, as well as an academic advisor, I made the decision to drop the class, as in the long run it would be better for my GPA and far better for my mental health. In the hopes of easing the stress that comes with dropping a class, I’ve written up what I learned from my experience dropping a class with less than a month left in the semester.

Last week, as I found myself staring at the textbook that I haven’t bothered to open in weeks, and looking at the rubric for an essay I really didn’t want to write, a little bird whispered something in my ear. What did that little bird say you ask? “Drop the course”.

text conversation reading "can we just drop it?" "like it's hot?" — My internal monologue last week (credit: dontworrybecolorful.tumblr.com)

I tried to ignore it, but the thought of dropping kept pushing itself to the front of my mind. Sure, I could push myself to catch up on weeks of lectures and readings, and take time away from the projects I was truly passionate about to smash out an essay that I wouldn’t be proud of. But after talking it through with a few friends, as well as an academic advisor, I made the decision to drop the class, as in the long run it would be better for my GPA and far better for my mental health. In the hopes of easing the stress that comes with dropping a class, I’ve written up what I learned from my experience dropping a class with less than a month left in the semester.

The deal with roommates

I’ve moved around the city a few times since coming to Toronto, living with different roommates in different areas downtown. I’m lucky to be able to say that it’s been really fun living with new people each time and getting to know them - but every roommate situation brings with it its own unique quirks. It’s totally normal to have conflicts when living with people (even if they’re your friends)! After a few years living with roommates, here are words to live by when living with others I’ve collected over the years.

International Perspective: A Holiday Collective

Are you an international student missing out on your "home holiday seasons" and family this year? Read on to meet some of U of T's own international students, and their tips on how to deal with missing family, friends and holiday traditions while studying at university.

: Meet Kana! She is a second year student studying Peace, Conflict and Justice, Contemporary Asian Studies and Environmental Anthropology here at U of T. Kana moved to T.O. from Osaka, Japan. She likes to meet new people and try out cool restaurants in the city!

: Say hello to Logan! Logan studies Genome Biology, with minors in Physiology and Immunology. He grew up in a small rural town in Indiana, USA, and he spends his free time exploring the 6ix and admires ALL the dogs Toronto has to offer.

: Introducing Charmaine! Charmaine is a first year student, intending to specialize in Neuroscience. She is from Zimbabwe, and loves writing short stories, dancing, singing and watching television series when she is not doing school work.

Becoming a Morning Person: An Experiment

Anyone who knows me knows that, by nature, I am not a morning person.

me any time before noon source: runwayrepublic.tumblr.com

Early mornings usually see me with the functioning capacity of a sloth on sleeping pills.

(Minus those two wretched early class days when I have to be up and ready to commute), I tend to sleep in and then feel horribly guilty for having wasted most of the morning.

Occasionally, ambitious 6 AM alarms are set, complete with threatening labels to motivate me to wake up....

…but with little success.

However, a week ago I was reading a Forbes article (you know, as any sophisticated, intellectual young person often does…...lol jk it randomly popped up on my Facebook newsfeed) entitled 'How to Become A Morning Person.'

Inspired by the examples of several successful early risers such as Margaret Thatcher, Indra Nooyi and Anna Wintour, to name a few, I decided to challenge myself:

Seven days, seven early mornings.

The Importance of Student Politics

A pretty important vote was held last week at the University of Toronto Student Union’s (UTSU) Annual General Meeting, at least for the Faculty of Engineering. If it failed to pass in our favor, not only would we be left with one representative on the UTSU board, we might also lose out on the 50% fees from UTSU that were agreed to be diverted to the Engineering Society (EngSoc). Thankfully, the student body came through (albeit on the second attempt, as this was a second round of voting), and we engineers kept our seats on the board. This was my first real exposure to student politics on a university level, and it’s truly opened my eyes to the importance of having it around.

Should you go on exchange?

With the semester coming quickly to a close and my time at University of Edinburgh wrapping up, I’m feeling a little bit nostalgic. My exchange has gone by way too fast, and it’s gotten me thinking about whether I would do it over again. Was spending my last semester at U of T studying abroad the right decision? And is exchange maybe just one of those things everyone should do? The short answer to that question is a absolutely, definitely, positively, 100% yes. If you’re too busy trying to dig yourself out from under a pile of essay writing, you can just stop reading here and go start your exchange application now.

My home for the last three months: University of Edinburgh — University of Edinburgh, my home for the semester. One of the perks of exchange = beautiful new campus to explore.

My Intramural Experience!

Recently, I’ve been making it a priority to be more active. When you’re in school, it’s easy to get bogged down with assignments and term tests that hitting the gym is not even on your radar. This semester, I found a perfect solution to incorporate exercise into my study schedule! And that was taking part in intramurals!

safeTALK

I recently chose to attend the safeTALK: Suicide Alertness for Everyone training for the same reason I decide to take First Aid and CPR training every year: I want to know what to do if someone needs my help. In other words, if ever I encounter someone who is thinking or talking about harming themselves, I want to make sure I can respond appropriately and feel confident in doing so. The safeTALK training helped me in many of these aspects, and incorporated a variety of helpful resources including a take-home manual, video modules, wallet cards, as well as opportunities to engage in role play.

The Resource Book contains the course information, plus additional readings about suicide prevention policies, healing after a suicide has happened, and mental health. — The safeTALK Resource Book contains the course information, plus additional readings about suicide prevention policies, healing after a suicide has happened, and mental health.

I’ve included my thoughts and notes about how the training went here!

It’s essay season; do you know where your apostrophe should go?

You gotta write good like you know you should. Take them words and string 'em together all smart-like. Why? Because words make us wanna go:

Pictured: graphic of "Yaaaaaaas werk!" written in the fanciest calligraphy font I could find

That was painful, I know. I am deeply sorry for putting you through that. The point of it was to show how cringeworthy bad writing can be. [Life@UofT will not be held responsible for any damages resulting from rageful fits my above paragraph may have induced, including but not limited to thrown computers, torn pillows, and a decreased faith in humanity] Good writing is so important in the academic environment. Professors believe that profoundly; a lot of what they do depends on the written word. It's no surprise, then, that professors are often experts at writing well. I have picked up so many great tricks from them throughout my time at university. In the spirit of solidarity during prime essay season, I would like to share my favourite tips with you lovely people.

photo of a black horse and a light brown horse

A Trip to the Farm

Unless you've been living under a rock, you've no doubt heard that Toronto opened up it's first cat cafe last week. Sadly, the long lines have kept me apart from Toronto's hottest felines, so I decided to hit visit the next best place, The Riverdale Farm. Sure, I didn't get to have coffee with a cat, but I did get to pet a horse which was pretty darn cool.

Category: General (page 134)