The Grand Final[e]s

So we've worked hard all year through early morning classes and snowstorms, putting in our hours in libraries and computer labs to learn the material that can sometimes be confounding, at best. You would think that we deserve some sort of appreciation ceremony for all our efforts.

 

But no. That's not how university works. Here, the end of the school year is celebrated with a month long exam period, doesn't that sound fun? Sorry to sound like such a downer, I'm going to blame those two monster multi-choice exams I still have hanging over my head as I write this post riddled with run-on sentences sitting on my kitchen floor. I read somewhere once that you should focus on replacing negative thoughts with positive ones instead of just getting rid of them, so I've compiled a list of reasons why the final exam period is actually GREAT!

 

1. The coffee shop in the library opens all through the night in case of midnight muffins cravings
2. The university student council gives you free rides home in the middle of the night (who needs cabs anyway?)
3. You can buy frozen yogurt just steps from your study spot until 10 o'clock at night (a need, not a want, in my mind)
4. You don't have to go to classes
5. You can sleep in as much as you want
6. You can go to the gym whenever you want
7. There are no essays to write or presentations to give
8. You realise that material that seemed boring in class is actually really interesting (endocrinology is cool, who knew?)
9. You have an incentive to buy new fancy highlighters and pencils at the bookstore (I swear it helps me!)
10. The library staff wish you a good night and good luck, every night
11. Nobody will blink an eye if you order pizza to the library
12. It's less than a month until summer vacation
13. You get to feel like an adult moving-in/out of your current residence
14. You relearn how to fill in bubbles with enviable accuracy
15. Any junk food consumed can be deemed 'brain food' and is therefore, not bad for you

 

Vivian

 

Valentines Day baking!

 

There are 4 times a year when it is beyond reproach to eat copious amounts of sweet things. They are Christmas, Halloween, Easter and of course, Valentines day. As a soph at Western, I get to mentor around 100 first year students. The frosh had planned a Valentines cookie decorating day for Sunday afternoon and I was obviously eager to do the baking. Good sophs don't let frosh eat store bought cookies. . .

Happy Valentines Day,

Vivian

 

Schedule Shuffle

Despite what my calendar says, second semester always feels much shorter than the first one. And though this may seem like as a good thing because it means that we're just a bit closer to a 4-month summer vacation, let this serve as a caveat that second semester will fly right by  you if you don't get yourself organised.

 

With summer job applications, elections for aspiring student politicians, interviews for various extra-curricular events and a new class schedule, it can feel like everything hits you at once the second you get back into town from winter break. Campus rec also changes up their schedule every semester, throwing my near perfectly choreographed schedule last semester into a loop (Goodbye to my post-pharmacology lab spin class. . .)

So what's a student in the 21st century to do? Take advantage of 21st century tools like online and smartphone organizers of course. With free tools that allow you to wirelessly sync calendars, book meetings straight form your email and find pretty every relevant calendar you'll ever need available just a few clicks away, I would be foolish not to use them. Some of my friends like to stick to the old pen-and-paper method, which could be good too. Westernisers are actually available for free to all student if you decide to go retro. The good thing about those is that they already have all campus events already printed in them, not to mention also pages full of coupons to London businesses that we actually use.

But don't get me wrong, change is good, change is necessary. Which is why I say hello to my now 10:30am mornings and 5 fewer hours of class with a warm welcome. Whether you decide to go old school or avant garde, get organized quick or you'll be left behind!

Vivian

 

Wow, another year passed at Western, what to think about?

Well it was a pretty eventful year here at Western, from a few nearly avoided, yet thankfully resolved work stoppages, to an exciting yet disappointing football season, there was certainly never a dull moment in 2010.

But as we start to think about the new year, new possibilities we start to realize that there is just so much ahead. Whether your just starting to realize your university dream, or just trying to figure things out, 2011 can be whatever you make it.

For example, this year I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to join the Lawrence National Centre for Policy and Management on the Student Advisory council and participate in exciting discussions on the future of water resources in North America.

I've also met some fantastic professors this year who have helped me more than I can convey. I've even met new people! (yes, it does still happen after first year) So you might be saying; yes yes, but what are you getting at?

Basically, this year, as in every year of your life, you get a chance to start anew and start shaping the personal, academic and social future of the rest of your life, kinda cool eh?

So take advantage of it, choose to take that risk you might be afraid of, put yourself out there, because you never know when that opportunity might come knocking, so keep your ears open.

Best in 2011,

Brendan

No-EXAM-ber

Despite the start of cold weather this month and resultant difficulties with trying to change the settings on our iPods with gloves on, there is a silver-lining to the proverbial grey cloud. November is the brief period where many Western students get a break from writing exams. Midterm-exam and paper filled October has passed, and there is still about 10 days left before final exams begin. Unfortunately, this brief break from our hectic academic lives always passes much quicker that we would like and it’s always a challenge to find the best way to spend it.  I’ve used my break to try and discover ways to diverge away from the stereotypical unhealthy ways of college living.

This began with my journey of discovering different ways to get the 30 minutes of moderate exercise prescribed by Health Canada here in London.  Among my most noteworthy discoveries is a Hot Yoga studio just 3 minutes away from campus by bus (Yes, I actually timed it, 3 minutes).  If your reaction right now is along the lines of “Hot Yoga, What on earth is Hot Yoga?”, allow me to explain. Hot yoga is a lot like the regular yoga we all know and love, except with one caveat. Hot yoga is practiced in a 40°C room with 45% humidity. Sounds fun, doesn’t it? And though doing anything at all in a 40°C sounds less than appealing to most, I think that I actually prefer it what I now call ‘cold’ yoga. There’s just something about the heat that makes it easier to feel…peaceful. And peacefulness is certainly what many of us need after a long period of exams.

In the meantime, I’ve also been on the prowl for ways to eat a little less like the average college student. To my luck, our daily student newspaper, the Gazette has started printing the nutritional information for some our favourite campus foods. A large blended iced coffee beverage from our favourite on-campus caffeine provider has the same amount of sugar as 19 chips ahoy cookies, ouch.  The new grocery store that’s just opened on campus is really helpful as well, always well stocked with nutrient-loaded fruits and vegetables for me to attempt to cook!

Happy last 10 days of no-EXAM-ber,

Vivian

 

Hello midterms!

While Thanksgiving marks the beginning of the holiday season in some parts of the world, here it marks the beginning of the dreaded midterm season. And while very few students actually enjoy being tested on their studies, my past 2 years at Western have taught me some great ways to get through it all somewhat unscathed.

 

I'm still wishing on perhaps finding the secret to exam success one day, but until I find it, I'm going to have to rely on a few tips and tricks.

 

Firstly, hyperorganization works wonders. Exam schedules are rarely organised to evenly spread out all exams and one can often find themself writing 3 or 4 in a week. So to avoid cramming for 24 hours between each one, I've decided to make study schedules to divide up all the material I need to cover. And so far, it's working...

 

Secondly, multitask. And no I don't mean multitask in a studying, texting, facebooking sort of way, that probably won't help. But more of a workout, listen to music, watch TV sort of way. I'm quite sure that combining 3 ways to combat exam stress all at once works better than doing any of them alone. Fortunately, whoever designed the Western Student Rec Centre had this in mind. They cleverly placed large plasma screens in front of the treadmills and installed iPod compatible cables to match when the facility was finished 2 January's ago and I couldn't be more happy. To add icing on the cake, they charge up your iPod too.

 

Thirdly, it's important to time your caffeine consumption just right. According to my first year chemistry book, caffeine has a metabolic half life of 4-6 hours, which means that after 4-6 hours, only half of that liquid wakefulness is still around to keep me focused on the 500th lecture slide I'm seeing for the night.  From personal experience, a coffee at 11pm is majorly a bad idea. (11pm +  5 hours = 4am), reallyyyy bad idea.

 

5 down, 1 to go!

 

Vivian

 

Halloween Week Yes!

SO this week on campus is a fundraising week to celebrate Halloween. Specifically, the University Student Council is hosting a haunted forest event (in the forest behind Saugeen-Maitland Hall). The video shows the advertisement and takes a little peek at the rest of the University Community Centre.

Enjoy!  

Trick or Treat



 

Though it's 18 degrees out today and still perfectly appropriate to wear flip flops and T shirts out, the way the trees look around our beautiful campus and the huge pumpkin outside my neighbour's doorstep are indicative that it's almost Halloween.

 

And what better to place to spend Halloween than here?

 

A walk around campus will provide some strange sights to see around now. A 1000 lbs. pumpkin hanging from a crane? That's the Engineering annual pumpkin drop. Every year, Engineering students raise a pumpkin high above campus in exchange for donations to Engineers without Borders, an organization who's goal is to assist in long term development in countries like Zambia and Ghana.  And when the pumpkin's been raised high enough, it gets dropped and all those interested or unfortunately walking by at the time get a feeling of what it would be like to be inside a pumpkin pie. I suggest a change of clothes.

 

In case you don't remember how fun it was to go trick or treating, allow the Meal Exchange club at Western to remind you. They host Trick or Eat around London neighbourhoods on the afternoon of Halloween. Students go around collecting non-perishable items for the local food bank door-to-door, not to mention that London residents are more than happy to provide us with some candy for our efforts.

 

Last but not least, it's also The University Student Council's Terror Fest, a week of daily Horror Films in our movie theatre, a horrifying haunted forest only open for tours after dark, and also a Zombie dance. Costumes are highly encouraged.

 

Happy Halloween,

Vivian

 

Green is the new Purple

Since 1878, purple has been our favourite colour. But this week, we're trading in our favourite shade of violet for a more earthy tone.

 

IT'S ENVIROWEEK at WESTERN!!

 

Why the excitement?, you may ask. With all that's going on this week to celebrate all things green-friendly, it's hard not to be excited.

 

On our mysteriously named Concrete Beach lie bike racks filled with Purple Bikes, part of our new Bike coop/sharing program. In today's fast paced world, walking just doesn't cut it anymore.

 

Venture into the atrium of the University Community Centre and you'll find a plethora of displays on everything green-related. Visit the Ecosale and get the opportunity to become just a little more responsible while caring for a newly purchased house plant (RIP my unnamed plant 2009-2010). While the smell of freshly baked pie from the farmer's market makes it extremely difficult not to stop by.

 

Head upstairs and get a chance to watching a daily documentary in our very own movie theatre such as 'The Cove' or 'Food Inc.' (while eating a locally grown snack and drinking from a reusable bottle...of course)

 

If you're interested in following the footsteps of famous environmentalist David Suzuki, start by walking in his literal footsteps on a tour of the Biotron (He is said to have toured the facility on his visit here circa 2009), a one of a kind research facility that studies the effects of environmental change on animals and plants.

 

There are endless ways to be green, what's yours?

 

Vivian

 

Your friendly neighbourhood student council

So you may be asking yourself, what do I do with my free time at Western? How am I going to meet people outside of my residence, or classes?

Probably your most effective way is to get involved with your faculty student council (whether it be running for a council position, attending as a 'student at-large' or helping out in anything from charity fundraisers to faculty wide socials).

You could be thinking two things: first! Is that you already love student council (from high school) and your looking for a way to keep that going. OR secondly, you could be like myself, who was loosely interested in student politics in high school, but didn't really get too motivated to join.

Here's some advice, student council or not, it is DEFINITELY worth it to get up, out of residence and into the grand world of Western. This year I decided to do just that. I'm personally from the Centre for American Studies and this year we are finally represented on council. 

As luck would have it, I happen to be one of the two representatives from American Studies now on Social Science Student Council (the largest faculty student council on campus).

So what do I do? Admittedly, I'm completely out of my element and learning as if I'm attempting to ride a bike for the first time, but from what I know so far, there is tons and tons of activities which are primarily aimed at student-student-faculty interaction.

For example, Social Science is hosting their annual Social Science Formal on November 12th which is open to all students in the department and is an excellent way for students to interact. I also hope to be on the charity and levy committee, meaning I'll be helping to organize and facilitate different charity events and fighting for requests from my department.

However, I still think that the most important part of any activity at Western is NETWORKING. Not purely in the business sense, but in the social networking sense. You are only going to be at university once (for most) so please please please please take advantage of this opportunity. At no other time will you have as much access to community events with people your own age, dances, clubs, trips, academic seminars, whatever!

The University of Western Ontario seeks to provide "The Best Student Experience among Canada's Leading Research-Intensive Universities". The key to all of this though, is that YOU take that initiative to get involved. You may hear the typical high school scare tactic "no one is going to hold your hand in university". This is somewhat of a myth.

It is not necessarily that there isn't anyone to help you, because there is an abundance of people and resources looking to help YOU in any way they can. But again, it is all dependent on YOU taking that initiative, raising your hand in class, going to professor office hours, seek and you will find!

Long story short, I would feel selfish if I wasn't able to share the unlimited amount of possibilties Western seems to be throwing at me. 

Care to join?

Brendan