I’ve realized I’ve done you all a great disservice by not expanding the perspective from which I write. I’ve recently come to appreciate just how easy it may be for me to engage in physical activity on campus compared to some of my peers. So this year, I vow to do my best to step out of my shoes and into some of yours.
To start, I asked what prevents students from participating. With help from my peers and the people of Reddit, I’ve become aware of a few big hurdles…
Nobody likes to be the new kid. Being new at the gym can be incredibly unnerving. I can totally understand that. Gym culture these days is hard to avoid and it seems to be growing increasingly garish.
The community can be a little intense sometimes. Source: goodmorningquote.com
Confession time: I used to be deathly afraid of my professors (and teachers). What?
I also used to be one of those kids that thought teachers lived at school all the time and didn't do anything else. What a shock it was when 6-year-old me saw a teacher outside of school for the first time and realized that teachers are human beings just like me.
Hello new semester! Don’t you just love the buzz around campus this time of year? You know, its that time in the semester where midterms haven’t taken over life yet, the weather is still amazing and you have a whole new batch of stationary to play with. Okay, that last one only applies to me and a handful of very cool people.
It’s also that time of year where I usually make tons of new goals and try extra hard to get this whole studying thing right.
Waking up to a new school year always gives me butterflies. Butterflies from all of the new prospects that the new school year holds. How many new friends will I make this year? Will I find a good mentor in one of my profs? So many things to look forward to, but equally as many things to be nervous about.
When you’re in university, you’re out thousands of dollars from the first day so it’s almost as if every little expense you make during your time here is basically putting you further in the red. This post is not meant to scare you; it’s just meant to bring to your attention a very important part of school life that students can often overlook.
A view from a subway corridor. This is probably the only thing spooky about commuting.
The other day, I was talking with my future roommates in our Facebook group chat about when we would move into the apartment for September. The chat was a mix of finalizing plans and cracking jokes, but it also signalled to me that my summertime commuting for work, volunteer commitments, and social plans was coming to an end. You would think that this realization would immediately bring relief (I mean, commuting wastes so many hours in a day), but strangely, I have mixed feelings about living downtown again.
Spending my hard earned cash.
Since the age of fifteen I have always been employed. Going through high school, it allowed me to have the freedom to spend my hard earned cash on things that I wanted and not have to rely on having to convince my parents to give me money or buy me certain things. Fast forward to my university years, being employed has become even more important. The money that I earn from being employed not only allows me to experience things that Toronto offers, but also helps tremendously in covering the cost of being in school.
It’s that time of year again! With course selection times coming up, we are suddenly uprooted from the comforts of summer and thrown into fall semester preparation. One of the things that I have done in the past to calm my September nerves is to go crazy with Back to School shopping.
I know what you’re thinking: who even goes Back to School shopping after the 8th grade?
Answer: me 🙁
It was a fine Tuesday morning when I woke up after a splendid night out with friends, my hollow stomach rumbling for some greasy, filling food to fuel it. Leaving the house, I headed to the closest diner in Kensington Market (Our Spot), ordered myself a plate of food, and upon checkout, handed the cashier my debit card.
And then it happened. In one of the most dreadful moments of my life, I held the card machine in my hand staring at one word, in big block letters: DECLINED.
