{"id":28280,"date":"2016-04-08T10:43:26","date_gmt":"2016-04-08T14:43:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/?p=28280"},"modified":"2016-04-07T11:04:58","modified_gmt":"2016-04-07T15:04:58","slug":"interlude-moving-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/2016\/04\/08\/interlude-moving-on\/","title":{"rendered":"Interlude: Moving On"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote>\u201c'Cause little by little, we gave you everything you ever dreamed of\r\nLittle by little, the wheels of your life have slowly fallen off\r\nLittle by little, you have to give it all in all your life\u201d - \u2018Little by Little\u2019, by Oasis<\/blockquote>\r\nThese past eight months have been a whirlwind. Sitting here now, on the precipice of bringing my freshman year of university to a close, it\u2019s amazing to look back and see how much has changed since I first touched down in Toronto, and since I first began writing for the site.\r\n\r\n<!--more-->\r\n\r\nSince beginning my time on the blog, I\u2019ve made a few periodic reflections on my experiences. This has proven a positive exercise, as I\u2019ve been able to look back on what I\u2019ve done, and could\u2019ve done better. In September, I distinctly recall a sense of cautious optimism about kickstarting my post-secondary career. In the days and weeks that followed, it\u2019s difficult to deny that engineering did its best to dampen those aspirations with a rigorous curriculum. The level of academic intensity in the faculty was one that I had yet to personally experience, and it took a while for things to settle in.\r\n\r\n<figure id=\"attachment_28283\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-28283\" style=\"width: 584px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2016\/04\/DSCF6563.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-28283\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2016\/04\/DSCF6563-873x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Regular reflection has proven to be quite useful for personal growth.\" width=\"584\" height=\"685\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2016\/04\/DSCF6563-873x1024.jpg 873w, https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2016\/04\/DSCF6563-256x300.jpg 256w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-28283\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Regular reflection has proven to be quite useful for personal growth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\nOnce the rigmarole was established, I was quick to set aside time for unwinding. In hindsight, it\u2019s one of the decisions that\u2019s enabled me to get this far in one piece. Having that ability to de-stress and refocus proved critical at times. Finding time to enjoy hobbies and spend days with friends has thus far consistently been a welcome change of pace from the studying and assignment-fretting that comes with the Engineering faculty. Being in an urban hub such as Toronto, there\u2019s always an opportunity for a photo, and that\u2019s something for which I\u2019m truly grateful. I had never really become so passionate about photography until I first began meeting and speaking with fellow urban photographers in the area. Their varying styles and constant searches for the next shot, have played major roles in sparking my own development.\r\n\r\n<figure id=\"attachment_28281\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-28281\" style=\"width: 584px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2016\/04\/DSCF6674_1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-28281\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2016\/04\/DSCF6674_1-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"I've grown immeasurably as a photographer since arriving in the 6ix. \" width=\"584\" height=\"584\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2016\/04\/DSCF6674_1-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2016\/04\/DSCF6674_1-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2016\/04\/DSCF6674_1-300x300.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-28281\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">I've grown immeasurably as a photographer since arriving in the 6ix.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\nAnother aspect of the year I\u2019ve come to appreciate has been the plethora of support from the community here. Be it in the form of near-instant replies to questions in the various student-run Facebook groups, or the myriad events organized to take our minds off of stress-inducing thoughts, there\u2019s been no shortage of goodwill. The engineering events in particular have seemed a little more, for lack of better word, \u2018exciting\u2019 at times, but that\u2019s likely due to the never-ending stream of work we face. I can\u2019t speak to the other faculties, but I\u2019m sure there have been more than enough things going on in any given week, for one to enjoy and meet fellow students.\r\n\r\nThroughout the rollercoaster of the Engineering academic calendar, having the privilege of relaying my first year in Toronto through this medium has been an honour that I\u2019ll always treasure. Surrounded by one of the most talented groups of people that I\u2019ve ever worked with, I\u2019ve grown leaps and bounds as a writer as well as a person; it seems folly to leave without wishing each of them the best of luck in their future endeavours. It\u2019s been quite the introduction to Life at U of T; when all is said and done at the end of the month, I\u2019ll be able to look back on a completed year, well-equipped to handle the years to come. Then, I'll be able to head back home, knowing full well that in spite of the times I've had here, West Coast is\u00a0still best coast \ud83d\ude42\r\n<blockquote>\"I followed the stars and I sailed to the sun\r\nI held it in my fingers\" - 'Ballad of the Mighty I', by Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds<\/blockquote>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<blockquote>\u201c'Cause little by little, we gave you everything you ever dreamed of\r\nLittle by little, the wheels of your life have slowly fallen off\r\nLittle by little, you have to give it all in all your life\u201d - \u2018Little by Little\u2019, by Oasis<\/blockquote>\r\nThese past eight months have been a whirlwind. Sitting here now, on the precipice of bringing my freshman year of university to a close, it\u2019s amazing to look back and see how much has changed since I first touched down in Toronto, and since I first began writing for the site.\r\n\r\n<div class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/2016\/04\/08\/interlude-moving-on\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;Interlude: Moving On&rdquo;<\/span>&hellip;<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"author":277,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28280"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/277"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28280"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28280\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28284,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28280\/revisions\/28284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}