I recently started a volunteer placement at a large food bank in Toronto. It was a requirement of a course I'm taking and, to tell you the truth, I was dreading it. I'm so busy, and this just seemed…
I Belize in Student Exchanges
Dear lifeatuoft readers (I still feel like I'm writing postcards), Over Reading Week, I had the opportunity to participate in a Human Biology and Aboriginal Studies student exchange in Belize; ten students coming from different interests and fields of study,…
Undergraduate research, demystified
So, the other night at Snakes & Lattes (we all need a break to eat cookies and play board games and be nerds every once in awhile, right?), a friend and I were talking about his hopes to gain summer…
Watch out for flying arrows…it’s Valentine’s Day Tomorrow!
Tomorrow is Valentine's day and I have to ask, what do you do if cupid's arrow misses your hind quarters and you are left alone and jaded on this most commercial of holidays. Well why not call on U of T's very own…
Double Double: Why two professors are better than one
This year, something amazing has happened in three of my courses. My teachers have multiplied, meaning, I've had a number of classes with co-professors/instructors. Yes, two for the price of one. This seems highly unusual and has never happened to…
My name is Erin?
The time has come for me to take the Aboriginal Studies language requirement and when I stepped into the classroom for my first Inuktitut lesson, I immediately stepped back out of it. Why? After stepping into the class and scanning…
I’m so ridiculously excited for my project course
I just got off the phone with my mother. According to her, auditing math courses just for fun makes me "a huge nerd". True. But 'round these parts (namely, the departments where I study, or more broadly, this whole…
A Letter to Fellow Travellers
Imagine for me, lifeatuoft, the following 3 things: (1) a friend who will love anyone exactly as they are, (2) a professor who knows that the hard problems of science have deep existential relevance, and (3) a joyous and unrelenting…
“First of all, are you okay?”
Back in September, I started off the school year on the wrong foot. Actually, to push the tired foot analogy a little further, I was dragging my feet, tripping over shoelaces and falling down. Probably in a puddle. Of mud.…
Cyber-security, Facebook, and why there’s no such thing as a free lunch
Sometimes, school and the hyperactive “Type faster! Why are you wasting time on sleep!” rhythm of student life (particularly in the final weeks of term) overwhelm me and it’s easy to lose sight of why I’m here, in a haze…