“It's such a cold, cold world (hello cold world) And it's got me down, but I'll get right back up, as long as its spins around Hello cold world” - ‘Hello Cold World’, by Paramore The winter blahs are still…
My #TryItUofT Experience
Last week I wrote about some personal strides I’ve been hoping to make academically. Another thing I want to do this semester, though, is to become more involved in the U of T community. Seeing as how it is still #TryItUofT month, I thought now would be a perfect time to change things up.
#GOALS
Like a new year (hello 2016!!), a new semester never fails to get me in the mood to reflect on my goals. Goals forgotten, goals achieved, #goals that I aspire to move from the murky depths of my Pinterest board to real life and goals that are relevant to what I hope the new semester might hold for me.
At the beginning of last semester, I spent one particularly quiet night shift at work outlining the academic hopes and dreams that I would ‘surely’ have no trouble fulfilling — the steps that would have me on the road to university success in no time. However, upon revisiting said list, I can now safely say that my list was pretty unauthentic and maybe even impractical. My goal for this semester? Setting realistic goals.
One Down, One to Go
Crazy as it may seem, this semester’s almost over! Classes ended this week, and finals season has finally arrived. If it weren’t for my impending doom, I wouldn’t have been able to tell that it’d already been four months since I first touched down in Toronto. Amidst all the hapless cramm — I mean, conscientious studying, in a bout of productive procrastination I thought I’d take a look back at my first semester here at U of T.
An Endless Tug-of-War: Being a Diasporic Asian
My Neighbour Totoro. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
Char siu bao. Maple syrup pancakes.
Red pockets. Christmas trees.
As a child, I never questioned why my life was a mix of Canadian and Chinese culture. It had always seemed natural to participate in each culture’s respective traditions and indulge in its entertainment and food. I didn’t realize that this was partially due to the fact that I was a diasporic Asian.
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"
First-Year: A Mid-Semester Review
This past month has undoubtedly been one of the more strenuous months of my life thus far, and that probably goes for a lot of my fellow freshmen. Midterms hit me hard and have left me feeling absolutely exhausted. Even though mental wellness month just ended, I still think it's important to make sure sure that I head into the second half of this fall semester with a healthy mindset.
On Exploring Toronto
Having had a (relatively) lax last couple of days, I decided to get out and discover a new part of Toronto. At a photo walk last month, I met a couple of people who work at Fujifilm who recommended I…
First-Years and Midterm Stress
Fall is in the air, but for us university students, that just means that midterms have arrived. Personally, this past long weekend consisted of studying for a term test and a midterm, getting work done for other courses, and giving…
Chasing the Blues Away
Hey U of T! I hope you’ve had a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoyed this lovely long weekend- which for me, included some much-needed sleep-ins because my world is about to get a lot busier. My courses are now reaching the…