Life Unplugged

The beginning of November marks the start of “Unplugged” month at U of T, which is an initiative that encourages students to escape the tight grasp of their social media accounts. Who hasn’t felt that nagging feeling to check your phone at least twice during your one hour lecture or the all-consuming fear that your insta-hashtag is “too literal”?. Inspired by Madelin’s leap of faith into a notification-less world. I decided to embark on a challenge of my own: to delete all my social media apps off my phone for an entire week. Here is my story: "UNMISTAKEABLE  LAW & ORDER ‘DUN DUN’ SOUND EFFECT"

#UofTRemembers: Remembrance Day events on and around campus

November 11 is Remembrance Day. This year marks the hundredth anniversary of the writing of “In Flanders Fields” by U of T alumnus John McCrae. There are lots of ways for you to learn about the history of U of T’s involvement in the world wars and pay your respects to Canadian veterans this week on and around campus.   Visit Soldier’s Tower and see artifacts, photos, and the memorial room. The Soldier’s Tower in Hart House is a stunning memorial to U of T’s veterans. They’re holding open hours for the U of T community to drop in and explore. Tuesday, 12pm-3pm Wednesday, 11am-4pm (anticipate line-ups) Attend U of T’s annual Service of Remembrance. Each year, this service takes place outside by the Soldier’s Tower war memorial between University College and Hart House, and is followed by a free public reception in the Great Hall of Hart House. There will be lots of interesting, insightful speakers from the U of T community. For more information about the service, check out U of T’s alumni website. Wednesday, 10:20am-11:00am
The 2013 Service of Remembrance at Soldier's Tower. Courtesy of U of T Archives.
The 2013 Service of Remembrance at Soldier's Tower.

Exchange Expectations vs. Reality

Before leaving on exchange, I had a clear (and very unrealistic!) vision of what my everyday life would be like: I would spend my days wandering around Edinburgh, taking photos and going to beautiful sites, going out for coffee, keeping a travel journal, meeting friends for lunch, going to lots of events, and travelling to different European cities on the weekends. Somehow, nothing school related ever really made it into that vision of everyday life. Lectures? Studying? I wasn’t convinced that those things actually existed when you went on exchange. Wouldn’t they just kind of…stop? Or take care of themselves?
A photo from a weekend trip to Venice, AKA what I thought I would be doing every weekend.
A photo from a weekend trip to Venice, AKA what I thought I would be doing every weekend.

Spotlight on Nursing!

As your Professional Faculty blogger, I hope to provide you with insight from other professional faculties at the University of Toronto. I figure the best way to accomplish this would be to interview the students and alumni of these programs. My first student profile will be Katie! She is a graduate from the Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing at the University of Toronto. She graduated the program in 2013, and she is currently working as a Registered Nurse at the Oakville-Trafalgar Hospital where she provides care for patients on the rehabilitation unit. I spoke with her about her journey in nursing, and was able to attain valuable insight about the program and the profession!

Weighing In

Happy November all! What if I told you I have absolutely no idea how much I weigh? In fact, I haven’t weighed myself in years! It wasn’t always this way. In high school, I was a member of the school’s wrestling team. During wrestling season, not only was I acutely aware of my weight to the fraction of a kilogram, but so was my entire team. On top of that, I was responsible for maintaining or manipulating my weight in preparation for tournaments, so I could be at my "most competitive".

Watching Paint Dry Has Never Been so Fun – VUSAQ’s Art Battle

Brushes fly across the canvas, water spills, paint splatters. There's one more minute left in this round of the art battle, and each artist is trying their hardest to win.  I had the pleasure to attend an Art Battle organized by the VUSAQ equity commission this week. The battle supported Sprott House, Toronto's first transitional home for homeless LGBTQ2SA+ youth. Between the great art, awesome music, and super cool people, it was truly one of the best events I've been to this year. DSC07342

Specters and Phantoms and Ghouls, Oh My!

In the spirit (tee hee, see what I did there?) of Student Life’s fifteen-minute leaf walks on campus—and also in the spirit of Halloween—I have decided to create a walking route of my own. Autumn leaves may be a tad more picturesque in terms of dead things you can observe on a walk, but ghosts are cool too. Without further ado, I present to you my campus ghost walk!

Pictured: a map of UofT displaying a route from Queen's Park to the MacDonald-Mowat Building

Put title of blog post here (or: the perils of writing)

Words. Words that form a thesis statement. More words, separated into paragraphs. Further words. In conclusion, words. When I start a new paper, the first thing I type looks something like the above, or, more often, a string of frustrated nothing. Something like: askljaldjsadieruhejbrjnfgmkngfkgkfkgslmsdgkmdskmf. Starting to write is tough. Identifying the right moment to turn your zillions of tabs of research, piles of books, and pages of notes into your paper is always a challenge - and despite your preparedness to go, you’ll always be flipping through some book mid-essay trying desperately to find that one line you wish you had saved the page of.
A paper with the words "writing an essay" written on it with fruit loops spread out over the text to do the "i"s and make round letter shapes.
Very critical to my writing process: snacks. Photo via areta ekarafi/Flickr.

Are You Going Global?

Bonjour! 

Hola! 

Namaste! 

Guten Tag! 

Ni Hah! 

No, I don’t actually speak all these languages (gosh, I wish I did) but get this-  U of T has sent students to all the places these languages are spoken and many, many more besides. All the international programs through which students can study abroad will be having an informative fair this week at Sid Smith from Tuesday through till Thursday!