Hello 2011

The end of one semester brings the start of another. Quite simply, the life of a university student takes on new roles, goals, responsibilities and even headaches for some.

For myself, the excitement of encountering such new experiences is greater than anything; the first day of class when you find out which friends share the same fate as yourself, the realization that your prof doesn’t speak ‘good English’, the thought of living up to your New Year’s resolution of studying harder… the first day was just that for me. It was a long and deserving holiday break, but I’m glad to be back.

More recently, I’ve given some thought with what I want to do with my future years of university. Med school is something I’ve always had a passion to strive for and the path I’m currently taking doesn’t seem to be the best path to take. I initially thought of taking microbiology as a major and use that to get into med school. I’m decent at the biological sciences, however taking mathematics and physics would be the difference between a B+ and an A+. When applying for med school, such difference can determine my acceptance.

I’ve always considered engineering as something to fall back on should med school not work out. If I do major in physics and/or math and med school doesn’t work, at least I’ll be well in the direction of engineering.
Cheers,
Ian

Finals finally finished

Finishing up my astronomy exam concludes what has been a stressful, but successful, last few weeks of my life.

I like what some of my profs have adopted as giving us our results back as soon as possible. They let you take home a copy of your multiple choice answers and compare them to the answer key of which is posted at the conclusion of the exam. I’m rather pleased with the way things turned out for these courses and I CAN wait for the next semester to begin. You may look outside and see falling snow and icicles; I see snowball fights and ice-skating.

Hello, winter break.
Cheers,
Ian

Classes coming to an end

This is it. This is the time of year millions of university and college students have been staring at on their schedules for months. Exam time.

I can say I’m neither excited nor scared for what many may call ‘inevitable doom’. I’ve prepared enough throughout the year that I should get an at-least-satisfactory grade on my finals, but I’ve also heard many stories… profs that throw stuff at you that was never taught, things that weren’t in the textbooks / reading guides… that’s what I’m most scared about. I’d hate to see all this hard work for the past few months simply be shot down by material not covered.

I’m a little nervous about the chemistry and microbiology exams I have on back-to-back days. Microbiology comes first, then chemistry follows 24 hours later. I’m not the kind of guy to study for a future exam (chemistry in this case) when there’s an exam I have before it. Allowing time to sleep, I give myself 16 hours to prepare for this chemistry final.

See you on the other side!
Cheers,
Ian

2010 Year in Review

It’s almost hard to believe that classes are coming to an end – it only seems like a week ago that I blew my life savings on textbooks! Nevertheless, I’ll live my last few weeks at university in the 2010 year to the fullest.

Looking back to the first few weeks of school, I remember two things well above the rest: the first one being in microbiology with Dr. Cardona. A student in the back row accidentally knocked over their empty can of coca-cola and it simply rolled down the sloped surface of the theatre right to my prof’s feet as she was lecturing us. She simply looked down and commented on how the can of cola was “coming to attack her”.

The second one comes from astronomy with Dr. Safi-Harb. Not only has this class been incredibly easy from the start, it’s also featured some gut-splitting humor. One of the more notable instances comes from her diagram of the “onion-shaped” interior of a star which was followed up by flavorful jokes and creative comic strips.

2010, you shall be missed.
Cheers,
Ian

Hospital visit

More recently I have discovered there to be a negative correlation between time spent in the hospital and time spent studying for a test you have the next day!
 I spent a large majority of Monday night / Tuesday morning in the hospital after I started feeling intense abdominal pain, among other things. The exact cause of this pain I’ll keep to myself, but it definitely put a stop sign in front of my textbooks. I did what I could, but as many would call the ‘bare minimum’. I’m still not outta the woods yet, but that’s not going to stop me! The astronomy test I didn’t really study for and wrote today went quite well! A combination of reading the material well ahead of time and paying attention in class made up for the lack of last-minute studying.
 

Cheers,
Ian

No Shave and Shorts November

It all started with a timely facebook status message and a little bit of creativity… ‘No Shave November’ has always been a tradition within my group of friends, but why not take it one step further? Someone suggested the wearing of shorts all month and look what it’s become! Welcome to ‘No Shave and Shorts November’!

For those who have never stepped outside to realize the harsh winter conditions that will soon be upon us, it’s cold. Really cold. The idea of shorts during a time like this is either incredibly stupid or incredibly stupid – one of the two. For a lot of people it’s like asking someone to inject you with the cold virus, minus the injection of course. For others, it’s merely a way to show off the gratuitous amounts of insulation their leg hairs can give them.

Last summer when I worked for the Goldeyes with my fellow beer hawkers, there was an unwritten dress code in place that allowed for shorts, a T-shirt and nothing more. Hot and humid? Shorts and T-shirts. Torrential downpour with below-freezing temperatures? Shorts and T-shirts. Earthquake and tsunami? Shorts and T-shirts. You build up a resistance to the cold in a mighty hurry.

Moral of the story: if you see someone walking on the snow-laden grounds of the U of M campus in shorts this month, take a look at the degree of insulation in which they have. You never know, you might just run into me!

The Path you Take

Building off the last blog, I’ve been thinking about my choice in occupations for the next few years. At the moment, I’m a bartender at a small neighbourhood bar and with little experience. Bartending is good money, but the bar I work at is only a guppy in a shark tank. I wouldn’t mind moving up to a bigger bar sometime in the future! I might just take a bartending course at Red River next term to get that experience I need.

I’m all alone when it comes to paying for university, so the more I can make now the better! Where I’m at right now I can probably pull it off without taking any student loans, but a bigger bar would help secure my future! Some guy I ran into at work last night appreciated my service and offered me a serving position at Elephant and Castle; it kinda made me think about working as a server in a fancy restaurant for the next few years.

I still have NO IDEA what kind of path to take yet, but anything I can do now will greatly help in the future!

Cheers,
Ian

Its the Path you Take

Building off the last blog, I’ve been thinking about my choice in occupations for the next few years. At the moment, I’m a bartender at a small neighbourhood bar and with little experience. Bartending is good money, but the bar I work at is only a guppy in a shark tank. I wouldn’t mind moving up to a bigger bar sometime in the future! I might just take a bartending course at Red River next term to get that experience I need.

I’m all alone when it comes to paying for university, so the more I can make now the better! Where I’m at right now I can probably pull it off without taking any student loans, but a bigger bar would help secure my future! Some guy I ran into at work last night appreciated my service and offered me a serving position at Elephant and Castle; it kinda made me think about working as a server in a fancy restaurant for the next few years.

I still have NO IDEA what kind of path to take yet, but anything I can do now will greatly help in the future!

Cheers,
Ian

Its Not the Destination

I’ve taken some time in the past few days to really consider where I want to be in the next few years. Med school is still looking good, but I’m not sure about the path I want to take to get there.

For med school, you don’t need to follow any specific path – the consideration for med school is based on a few factors: you need to take a few chemistry and biology courses, you need a degree and you need to have solid grades. The path I’m taking right now seems like it will make the most sense; I plan on getting a 4-year major in microbiology which includes all the courses I need to take. The only problem is, the courses I’m taking to get there aren’t the easiest courses in the world. The more challenging the course, the lesser the grades I’m probable to get.

I’ve been thinking about incorporating some kind of double major into my schedule. I’m not entirely sure if it will work, but my schedule’s full this year and I’ll see what I can do about my schedule next year. In high school, I excelled in calculus far beyond any of my other courses. If, while still taking the courses I need for a major in microbiology, I can fit in some math credit hours I may very well consider this route. Med school’s unspecific about any kind of degree, so why not take courses I know I can boost my GPA with?
Cheers,
Ian

Tests and Tarbending

If it weren’t enough being a bartender outside of school, how about midterms? Ah, midterms. You know, those things that happen in the middle of the semester for all the courses you’re taking? What makes them even better is if they’re all in the same week!

Welcome to the full-on university experience! I just finished up an astronomy midterm the other week and I have chemistry and microbio to look forward to this week – should be a lot of fun! The astronomy midterm was super easy thanks to the AP courses I took in high school, but I’m a little worried for microbio. I’m way further ahead in the textbook than I need to be, but I feel as though I could have gone through it in a little more detail. I’ve been applying myself to the fullest with studying, so hopefully all will turn out well!

Balancing school and a job is definitely a challenge, but it makes my life a lot more interesting. Not only do I meet some (very) unique people, but bartending always take me way past midnight; after my shift I hit my bed, blink and get ready to catch the bus for university. Somehow I manage to function quite well on a lack of sleep!
Cheers,
Ian