Two things happened to me a few days ago that were ostensibly unimportant; but retrospectively striking.

The first thing that happened, was that a professor in a seminar I’m in this year asked the class, following our lively discussion of the week’s course material, what practical value we felt the course held, out of curiosity. At first, she was met with blank stares – this is, after all, a group of students taking a seminar, largely, I surmised, because this seminar so happened to be on an awesome topic. One student articulated this, noting that she was in the class out of academic interest – and what’s wrong with that, really? Undergrad would seem the time to learn about that which interests you, and not hesitate in that pursuit. There was some rambling about practical skills that could be gained from the course on my own part – and I maintain that beyond the value of the reading and assignments, any experience in a seminar setting has its own practical application – but it was agreed that it was a question perhaps worth returning to at the end of semester.

The second thing that happened, was that a cousin of mine, to whom I had recently sent a necklace I made in the mail, wrote on my Facebook wall thanking me for the jewelry. She added jokingly that perhaps I could make a career out of it – and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that she meant that in the most complimentary, just-because-she-loves-the-necklace, not-at-all-related-to-the-value-of-my-undergraduate-degree sort of way. But still, it made me think. I absolutely love my program at U of T – I am beyond impressed with the amazingly precise, fascinating topics I have been able to study. But when I tell people what I’m studying, following a measure of curiosity, I am met with the question of what my plans are for after the completion of my degree. Will I need to find something else to make a career out of, when all is said and done? Will I end up doing something that is so far removed from my degree that these years won’t retain their meaning for me?

Which brings me to the present.

There is a certain preoccupation I have noticed for some time now with getting from point A to point B. Everything in life gets you from one point to another; everything is a trajectory. High school is a Point A that gets you to university, college, or whatever path you so choose or fall into – Point B. And the formula is easily applied specifically to university as well: undergrad is a Point A that can lead you to quite a selection of Point Bs: medical school, law school, graduate school, teacher’s college, straight into your career… There are many opportunities; but so far, in second-year, I don’t find that people (including third-years) have such a quick answer regarding what their plan is after undergrad, where as high school students seem to know their trajectory earlier on.

I’ve seen a lot of jokes lately on the internet and on television (notably on Daniel Radcliffe’s appearance on Saturday Night Live, in a hilarious and clever sketch called “You Can Do Anything”), poking fun at the age we live in for producing a generation that is ‘entitled’ in the sense of being encouraged to do anything we want, rather than forced into studying for obviously practical occupations. I do find it quite funny, and I think a lot of students share the sentiment that they can laugh at their lack of a clear trajectory or obvious practical application for their degrees. But that’s not to say that straight A science students who are obviously going to medical school, or political science majors who could have told you on your first day at U of T that they were going to law school, are any better than any other student, just because they have a very clear Point B.

A third thing happened to me, a few days ago. I was having a conversation with a friend of mine, in a science program (but without a clear Point B as well), and she was telling me something really interesting she learned in a psychology class. It reminded me a lot of something I learned in a history class, which I then told her, and then we spent an hour or so discussing this historical anecdote I had offered in the context of this psychological phenomenon she had learned about.

Here’s what I’m getting at: there is a certain preoccupation with Point A and Point B – but for your undergrad experience to really resonate with you, you need to go beyond that line of thinking. This is a time to learn, so unique to any other academic experience you’ll ever have. This is about practical skills, certainly, and in any classroom at U of T, science, arts, engineering, you are guaranteed to gain those in one way or another, in the experience of attending lecture; taking notes; participating; writing, and so on. Of course, this is about Point B; getting the grades you need to get there, figuring out what you want that to be. But the essence of undergrad, as I see it, is developing a worldview; learning what your interests are and becoming a scholar in those fields; not just reading and writing about the world, but engaging with it, from whichever standpoint appeals to you. This is a time, more than to achieve high marks and get to the next step, to become intellectually actualized, establishing this new toolbox of knowledge that you can continually reference and build upon in your life.

U of T, for certain, is an excellent Point A; worth fully appreciating the pause, before rushing off to Point B. It’s not what you’re studying here, or where you’re going next, that makes your experience worthy: it is your engagement with your studies, the impressions that permanently mark your point of view; not the grades and the diploma and the plans you leave here with, but the person you leave here as.

At the beginning of this academic year, I made myself a mental list of New (Academic) Year’s Resolutions to follow in order to do better here at U of T. Among this list were such goals as: not driving myself crazy with stress, something which I have successfully followed through with although I have certainly maintained a fair degree of my natural insanity; not skipping lectures and tutorials for frivolous reasons, something which I have mostly managed to do; and continuing with my system of abiding by false early due dates, which has fortunately become habit to me.

While keeping these goals was not particularly difficult, one goal I found to be more of a challenge was that of frequently attending office hours in order to engage with professors and T.A.s, get feedback on papers, and generally network. For many U of T students, myself included last year, office hours are a mere footnote in a syllabus; perhaps worth highlighting in a fleeting moment of eagerness, but realistically, something to be skimmed; perhaps prior to a paper, if you’re having trouble, you may go to an office hour to get a push in the right direction, or at least a pull away from the wrong one; perhaps after a poor test grade, you might go to dispute your grade or pinpoint where you went wrong. Often times these interactions are vague and frustrating.

This year, in keeping with my goals, I regularly attended several office hours. I scheduled them into my agenda and went to discuss course material with professors and T.A.s, with an emphasis, of course, on the content of my assignments. This experience was rather enlightening, and I got a good sample of the different types of office hours you may encounter and their value.

There are a lot of obvious benefits to attending office hours.  First of all, there is the development of a relationship with your professor or T.A. In the long-run, any U of T reference is going to be a helpful one for you, and you want to be able to approach a professor who genuinely knows you and can write a letter that reflects that. Office hours are an opportunity for you to connect with professors and articulate your ideas to them. Another benefit of becoming familiarized with your professor or T.A. through office hours is that they will appreciate the effort and thought you are putting into their course. Further, when you receive an assignment or test back, you will find it easier to approach them afterward to discuss your grade without any implication of underlying hostility on either end. Rather than a defense, you can generate a helpful discussion.

Regular attendance to office hours also help you to develop an outstanding thesis and paper. Professors and T.A.s are evidently the ones grading your work and they have specific expectations and preferences which are hardly a secret – but you need to put forth the effort to inquire about them in order to obtain such information. Many profs and T.A.s, in my experience, will read parts of your paper and suggest changes. They may at least read your thesis or give the paper a thoughtful perusal, which itself is incredibly helpful. They will also point out small errors in formatting that you may have missed to ensure your essay is up to the standards of citation style in a given class; this helps so you don’t lose marks for frustratingly arbitrary reason such as putting a comma where there should have been a period in your Works Cited.

Not all office hours hold the key to an A of course. Some T.A.s will provide evasive and insubstantial answers in order to avoid any academic misdemeanour, for example, or some profs will provide far different criticism than suggested by your T.A.s that throws you off. However, I have found that most of the time, office hours are a really valuable use of 15-20 minutes in your day that can significantly enhance the quality of your work, as well as the quality of your understanding of course material.  Attending office hours to discuss course content is a really effective way of engaging meaningfully with a class.

I find I rarely have to wait at office hours. Professors are required to hold them, but they don’t often see much of an audience, except the week before a paper is due. They’re there every week, offering you the opportunity to include them in the process of producing your assignment and to have their guidance in the process of learning and understanding the course material. The art of the office hour, therefore, quite simply, is largely remembering to attend it.

I can feel it in the air – that distinct sense of shifting, as students are handing in their last essays and attending their last few lectures; the end of the semester is finally approaching, and as usual, it looks gruesome. The exam period – not only the actual writing of the tests, but the process of studying – overnights at Robarts, rewriting and rereading, cue cards, highlighters, coffee, sweatpants, snow, slouching – is just around the corner. It’s not a pretty time for U of T students, but it’s always laced with the comforting knowledge that winter break, that brief pause in our otherwise non-stop academic year (pardon me – there was that oh-so-satisfying “micro reading week”) where we might do a bit reading for year-long courses, but mostly can sleep, breathe, eat, and do all those other things that normal, non-U of T students do regularly and might consider, in fact, necessary to human survival.

I’m hoping to maintain my peace of mind during exam season this year, and while I know those moments of panic are unavoidable, there are certainly a lot of opportunities on campus for students to relax and defeat the stress plague, if only momentarily.

Hart House offers a variety of programs to soothe the stressed student:

• Massage Mondays – Yes, this is exactly what it sounds like. Free massages, because U of T knows – you deserve it.
• Lunchtime Crafts – Personally, I find arts and crafts to be really relaxing – though, of course, I have never produced anything presentable. Distract yourself with a little A&C, and who knows, maybe you will produce a great work!
• ThursTeas – Enjoy a warm cup of tea at Hart House while chatting with some new friends or reading a (non-school related, perhaps) book.
• Let Shakespeare distract you with the production of Macbeth playing at Hart House Theatre until November 26.
• Jazz at Oscars – This free event every Friday night brings all sorts of different music to the Hart House Arbor Room. Be entranced by live music to distract yourself from stress. The monthly Sunday concert in the Great Hall might also be of interest.

It’s difficult for students to keep up exercising during exam time, but sometimes going to the gym is exactly what you need to wake you up and keep you studying productively. Both the Athletic centre and Hart House offer a wide variety of drop-in fitness classes. The AC has free yoga among its repertoire, certainly a relaxing pastime.

The Multi-Faith Centre offers a variety of yoga and meditation courses over the term, designed to help you relax and find peace of mind.

The Angela Grauerholz exhibit is still on the University of Toronto Art Centre until November 26, and the centre remains open until December 10, for your perusing pleasure. Take your mind off exams by taking a brief tour through this great U of T resource.

Every Friday night at Innis Café, story tellers come deliver tales for “1001 Friday Nights of Storytelling”, a tradition which has been running since 1978. A well-told story could be just the right thing you need to wind down and distract yourself from the looming stress of exams. Innis Town Hall also has inexpensive movies playing throughout the exam period, which may also serve as a welcome distraction.

Exam period is one I clearly characterize as bleak, but I think there are definitely ways to limit your stress. You do yourself a disservice by climbing under a pile of books in a library for a week and not facing the light of day until you are forced to enter the outside world in order to walk to your exam destination. Taking some time during the exam period to not study for exams will make the time you spend studying all the more productive. It’s always a pleasant feeling to realize that the world is going on when you feel like it’s ending, so allow yourself to bear witness to that comforting truth by taking a break. Whether it’s a yoga class, or just a walk around our beautiful campus, indulge yourself this exam period, if only for a moment.

For me, the biggest issue s lectures is not ‘I’m sitting here with hundreds of other students and I’m expected to memorize everything that’s coming out of this one prof’s mouth’, nor is it ‘I’m really tired and the coffee isn’t doing its job so I’m just going to sleep through this class’. And, despite how often this happens to me, the ‘I’m bored and can’t concentrate… time to play tic-tac-toe with my neighbour!’ thing only serves to relieve stress.

As you can tell, I’m easily distracted.

But my self-diagnosed ADHD does not concern me. No, my biggest problem with lectures is the fact that I can never decide how to take notes. And I don’t mean not knowing how to organize my notes; I mean ‘what medium and material do I use to craft the subtle art of note taking?!’ This is mainly a problem when deciding whether or not I need to lug my laptop to lecture with me or not. The worst is when I have two different lectures in one day that require me to bring both my laptop AND a notebook.

So, to help others avoid the same problem I seem to keep having, I sat down today to compile a nice list of the different lecture styles I’ve experienced so far and how best to come prepared to those classes. Mostly I just needed to note which classes are laptop-friendly or not…

Let’s begin. (more…)

La semaine dernière notre merveilleuse Anna vous a introduit à EFUT, le club français de l’UofT. Aujourd’hui je voudrais vous parler d’une autre organisation francophone dont vous n’avez pas peut-être entendu. Savez-vous ce que c’est la SPECQUE?

Mes chers amis, la SPECQUE c’est la Simulation du parlement européen Canada-Québec-Europe. Ne vous laissez pas être détournés par le mot “parliament” (ou “simulation”, ou quoi que ce soit). En fait la SPECQUE présente à chacun une opportunité inoubliable de pousser ses limites, apprendre beacoup sur le monde et les actualités, et finalement voyager et rencontrer des gens inspirants!

Il s’agit d’une semaine intense passée en débats, en commissions, en sessions plénières…on dort peu, on boit beaucoup de caffé…On joue le rôle d’un eurodéputé au sein du parlement européen, ou bien un commissaire qui propose une pièce de législation, ou un rapporteur qui la critique dans son rapport. On peut également être un lobbyiste, un journaliste, un photographe, le président de commission – il y a plein de rôles pour tous les goûts! Donc si vous vous intéressez aux questions de politique européen, la SPECQUE est pour vous!

Elle est peut-être plus chère aux canadiens qu’aux autres, parce que elle a été fondée au Québec en 1998. C’est vrai, la simulation du parlement européen a été proposée par une étudiante de l’Université Laval. La SPECQUE a lieu dans un endroit different chaque an, alternativement en Europe et au Canada. Cet été la ville hôte était Luxembourg, tandis qu’en 2012 Montréal aura ce privilège.

Voilà ce que le site web officiel de la SPECQUE en dit:

“En tant que simulation parlementaire, la SPECQUE permet à ses participants de se développer. Les qualités oratoires, le sens de l’initiative et de la négociation, l’art de la persuasion ainsi que la capacité à analyser en profondeur des questions sensibles, et les aborder sous un angle législatif, sont certaines compétences que la SPECQUE permet de cultiver. La Simulation permet aussi à ses participants d’élargir leurs horizons par la découverte de jeunes issus de milieux et de cultures différentes. Cette découverte, et l’ouverture d’esprit qui en découle, sont d’une valeur inestimable dans le contexte de mondialisation que nous connaissons actuellement.”

Je pourrai ajouter de ma part que je n’aurai jamais imaginé combien la SPECQUE pourrait être intéressante, stimulante et comment elle peut créer une dépendence. Si on y participe une fois, on veut retourner, c’est sûr!

Alors, si vous croyez que la SPECQUE c’est pour vous, contactez-moi pour plus de détails.

Le batîment de la commission européenne où la SPECQUE se déroulait cet été. Je mens pas quand je dis que c’est impressionnant!

Remember the good ol’ high school days when stereotyping first took root? When people were labeled for something as simple as actually doing well school? It started off with the ‘Geek’, then the ‘Nerd’ and, somewhere along the way, became the ‘Genius’. Then things got complicated and there was the geek-nerd, then the Geek-Genius, then the Nerd-Genius, then the Nerd-Geek-Genius (not specifically in that order). But now there is perhaps one label to surpass all others: the Keener.

Before I continue, there is indeed (according to the always-correct Wiki) a difference between a Nerd and a Geek. Please see http://www.wikihow.com/Tell-the-Difference-Between-Nerds-and-Geeks for more details.

Now, I’m sure you’ve all seen an example of a Nerd/Geek/Genius/Keener in your classes, even if you were unaware of the labels. Here’s a basic rundown: (more…)