During the summer, we here at blogUT partnered up with My City Lives to produce a video series on all the hot spots on the U of T campus, all in an effort to get students more actively engaged and involved in campus life!

It’s October now and as we get into the groove of academia, we want to share one of our favourite spots at U of T: Sidney Smith Hall, better known as Sid Smith or SS. Our blogger Saleema takes us on a quick tour, sharing with us this all too familiar building. If you’re a first year and you haven’t been here yet…no worries, you will soon! As Saleema says, it’s the hub of all Arts & Science students!

My City Lives is an online platform that gives us the chance to capture and share our daily experiences around the city on video. Presented on an interactive map, these web stories show exactly where each video was filmed so you can learn more about the city based on the stories and experiences of your fellow citizens. To view the entire blogUT web series, click here.

Ohhhh can’t you just smell the freshness in the air? A brand new school year, a brand new start! Admit it. You’re kind of glad to be back…well, for now at least you are. No worries about readings and deadlines yet but just relishing in the moments you have of seeing your old friends again. Oh and who are you kidding…you’re kind of excited to be back in class again. Wondering if the courses you’re taking will be any good, if the profs will be fun and engaging, checking out the hot guys or gals in the class…it’s okay, no need to deny it!

Twitter’s been buzzing all week with thoughts on the new school year. Have a look at what some people have to say…

So for the good, the bad, and the ugly…here’s to another school year at U of T. Let’s make it the best it can be!

blogUT has been busy working behind the scenes with My City Lives to film and showcase a number of hot spots at the University of Toronto St. George Campus. September is just creeping around the corner and we know there’ll be a ton of new students joining us, many of whom will have no clue of where to go or what to see on campus (ah, to be a froshie!). We wanted to provide a resource to better acquaint these newcomers to our lovely campus. Lord knows we needed it back when we started at U of T. And seriously, what better way to do it than through a video series introducing all the different spots to visit on campus?!

Oh and to those of you who aren’t newbies to the university but still find yourselves lost sometimes? Don’t worry, this is for you too! And to be honest, while we were filming these little snippets, we discovered so many spots we had never been to or even heard of before! It just goes to show that no matter how long you’ve been in one place, you never stop finding new things to do or see!

We’ve got quite a few videos up and ready for viewing, so be sure to check them out on the My City Lives website or just click here. Oh and if you’re wondering who these mysterious “My City Lives” folk are…they’re our friends who have developed an online platform that gives us the chance to capture and share our daily experiences around the city on video. Presented on an interactive map, these web stories show exactly where each video was filmed so you can learn more about the city based on the stories and experiences of your fellow citizens. Pretty cool, huh?

Now our friends at MCL say, “Let’s Magellan our city” and now we’re calling all of you to Magellan our campus!

In the meantime, here’s a sample video where we show you around Hart House…quite literally the “Hart” of U of T, bringing together all of the different colleges and students on campus together to experience life outside of lecture halls, labs, and tutorials!

*If you cannot view this video, please click here.

Well, it looks like the hell that ROSI puts us through every year continues to rage on as students continue to fight for course enrollment! Take a look at what was buzzing on Twitter this week…

Ahhhh, it’s that time of the year  that we love to hate and hate to love…the dreaded/beloved course selections. I don’t know about you but I’m on the love side. There’ s nothing like planning a fresh new academic year. It’s just so full of hope, optimism, and excitement…free of the crushing weight of readings, labs, exams, and tutorials. It’s the calm before the storm and yes, I love to savour every moment of it.

Unfortunately, ROSI wasn’t so kind to me this year. I’m in my final year of undergraduate studies and got the late 10 AM enrollment time…leaving me on waitlists for courses that I desperately want to take. But alas, that is the life of a U of T student.

Read what other students are tweeting about course enrollment…some were successful, others, well, not so much!

As expected, the G20 has taken over the Twittersphere the past week with users from all ages and walks of life, tweeting about the happenings downtown. Some (okay many) expressed their displeasure and outrage of what went down during the G20, provided live updates, and others even used Twitter to organize protests. So…where were you during the G20 weekend? Did you catch any of the protests? Were you a protester yourself? Let us know!

So you’d think with it being summer and all, our dear old campus would be pretty dead and quiet. Not so, my dear friends! This week, St. George campus was buzzing with excitement yet again. I mean, between the G20 madness, tornado warnings, earthquakes, and exams…I would say it was damn eventful week!!

Did you run into trouble with this whole G20 hoopulah? Where were you when the earthquake struck? Did you survive the dreaded exam period? Check out what some other students have to say about it.