Who: ONE LOVE: U of T Students for Jamaica

What: Bake sale

Time: Tuesday, November 22 · 11:30am – 2:30pm

Location: Sidney Smith Hall, 100 st.George street

Would you like to grab a quick snack? Come visit us at our table to buy tasty snacks and learn more about our club.We will be selling various types of baked goods. All the money will be given to support our brothers and sisters in the town of Riverton Meadows, Jamaica. So if you are passing through Sid Smith come drop by and say hello.

For more information, visit the group’s website or Facebook page.

The bake sales are back on campus! While they’re a great way to promote and fundraise for a club, they’re also a great way to get your muffin fix on a dreary day. What’s better than homemade baked goodies? (Sleep is an invalid answer. It does not exist.)

I have recently fallen in love with the heavenly thing normal people like to call the “banana chocolate chip muffin” and what I like to call “OMIGODTHISISSOGOODICANTTAKEIT” (said with a mouthful of muffin). To show my love, I have written a poem.

How dare you
Marry without me knowing!
Brought together in the heat of baking,
Union consummated in my mouth,
Tickling my taste buds
In ways I never before imagined.

How could you
Not tell me?
I thought we were friends, banana!
Friend enough for you to share.
So what if I don’t like chocolate?
I would’ve given it a chance.

It’s okay now
Because I know.
I will look for you two.
Look for you and find you.
I will be that annoying third wheel
And eat you.

My unreasonable obsession aside, remember to support our campus groups! Get to know them! You can find them in Sid Smith, Med Sci, and various other places around campus. Muffins, cupcakes and cookies are usually staples.

Of course, if you know where I can find banana chocolate chip muffins, call me up. Right. Away.

In a university that has an incredibly international student populace and in an age in which people are more open-minded to other cultures, intercultural relationships are (not surprisingly) becoming a common phenomenon. In my own experience, I’ve noted a few factors of these relationships that notable:

The learning experience

Culture

When you’re in a relationship, especially at the beginning, you want to learn as much as you can about the other person. You ask for favourite colours (mine’s green), favourite food (lasagna), number of siblings, traditions, values, and a variety of other details both big and small.
When it comes to intercultural relationships, there is whole other level of learning about the other person. The values and opinions that each person has, is created in part by the culture they belong to. So, you not only learn about the person, you learn about the history and the formation of a culture and nationality completely different to your own.

It’s a mutual sharing experience as well. You want to share your culture as much as you want to learn about the other. I see this both in my relationship (combination Canadian-Argentine and Azerbaijani) as well as in the ones my friends are in. There’s an interchange of values between Japanese and Arabs, Canadian and Bajans, Latin American and Icelandic. Such different cultures in each relationship, and these lead sometimes to arguments, others to jokes, and others to moments of understanding that deepen the relationship even more. Even in our university student youth, we learn about the cultures that surround us by simply learning from the people we are with, and it’s quite a fun experience!

Language

Hola – Bonjour – Arigato – Ciao – Hello

The other learning experience that comes up is language. In my own case, I have only recently bought a self-teaching language book so that I can speak one of the other languages my boyfriend speaks (Russian), while he is learning Spanish. Granted, there are other reasons for which we are learning the languages, but – at least on my side – wanting to communicate with him on another level is a main one. And again, this goes beyond me as well. It’s a case of wanting to interact with your boyfriend/girlfriend in a way that not many others can. Plus, it’s a lot easier to have secret (or dirty) conversations in public without anyone else knowing what you’re saying!

Expectations

One thing that is clear in intercultural relationships is that there are always different expectations that tend to rise from the cultural difference. An example: Meeting the family. In Latin American cultures, meeting your partner’s family is done after (at most) two weeks of dating. After that, you are pretty much incorporated into the family, you join for big meals, and you are treated with the same amount of joviality as you would from your own family. However, I have now faced the reality that other cultures aren’t as comfortable with this idea, so, as I expect my boyfriend to meet my family ASAP, he’s thinking that it’s going to be another year before he does so! We both expect completely different things because of the way we grew up and what we were taught.

This variance in expectations can be seen in specific cases:

The Latina woman: A Latina will expect – to all you boys out there who are looking for one – a guy to be confident in himself. Not only that, but he should not be afraid to give a compliment to a girl, or to take control when needed. A Latina woman needs to feel both in control and dependent at the same time, so you have to be masterful and learn to use a certain type of finesse for them.
Tip: They like chocolate, and flowers

The Canadian guy: (from what I’ve observed) is shy (unless he’s too cocky, however, we will ignore this particular specimen). I’ve seen them to require girls that are cheesy up to an extent, but cannot handle (or don’t want to handle) too much drama or cattiness from girls. Traditional and quiet, but always ready to laugh, the Canadian boy tends to look for girls he can talk to easily, laugh with, and love easily.

Conclusion

We live in a city and go a university that both exemplify the idea of multiculturalism that Canada portrays to the world. Even at our ages, intercultural relationships are a real thing. Like any other relationship, they have their problems, and their successes, and they have a level to them that adds something interesting and new to one’s life. Mine, at the moment, is my cup of tea, however, I won’t tell you to run out and find the most exotic person you can to try a relationship with. All I’m saying is keep your mind (or heart) open, and be willing to learn something new.

Yours,

A

We all pay attention in class, right? Sure, if these doodles tell you anything.

To help you stay awake pay attention in class, I’m going to share some of my favourite doodle games with you. Vi Hart is a recreational mathematician (yes, they do exist) who makes awesome math-related doodle videos. If math isn’t your thing, just watch her draw. If you consider yourself an honourary nerd (like me), these videos are just the thing to make you smile like Sheldon Cooper.

Just like that.

Disclaimer: We are no responsible for any illegible or defaced notes. Nor are we to blame if your lecture flies by and you haven’t listened to a word your prof is saying. But let’s be honest here: who’s to say that that won’t happen anyway?

I’ve been in Paris for a few weeks now… a month, almost. A month!

Is life here grand?

The city is grand. Living here for the year is certainly not like an extended vacation, though: your mindset is completely different when you know that you’ll be here for a year as a student, and the experience is exciting in a completely different way. However, no matter your purpose in the city, Saturdays are Saturdays (most of the time), and Paris is Paris.  I am in love with this city. I’m in love with its pastries, its unrefrigerated milk, its monuments, its sunsets, its students, its vibrancy, its streets,  its hidden spots, its markets, its evenings, its everythings.

In short, yep, life here is grand!

I was telling my friend earlier that there is something magical about this city at night. You don’t always see it - sometimes you’re having a conversation, or lost, or studying, or whatever. But once in a while, you look up and something very strange happens.

It happened once when picnicking with a few classmates under lamplight on Paris’ Catholic Association’s building’s steps. It happened once while I was waiting for 3 friends one night at the City Hall… the moon formed part of a perfect backdrop for the beautifully illuminated Hotel de Ville square as I watched people wandering, looking, living. I suddenly felt like a part of something very beautiful.

I also feel like the first few weeks in any new place are hilarious. Everything is new and foreign and head-tilt-worthy. Here are a few of those everythings and other thoughts that made me laugh (or just head-tilt): (more…)

Before I start anything, I think it would help to tell you a little about myself and my experience at U of T thus far, especially my first year. I’m a Rotman Commerce student about to start my fourth and final year specializing in Accounting. The Rotman program was launched in 2oo8 – the year I started my journey at U of T. Then, the program had about 1,200 students, and most of my first year classes contained no less than 500 students, as is the case with most first year courses (usually, but not always, held in the dreaded Con Hall). This made it difficult to meet new people and make new friends. The classes were so large that the people you sat beside changed on a daily basis. As a result, you could go days, if not weeks, without seeing  people you may have met in class. Simply put, it can be difficult for U of T students  to make friends. Here is one tip I found helpful, and that you should follow to make sure you don’t experience what I, and many others before me, experienced as a first year student:

Talk to strangers! Your parents may have advised against this in the past, but this can get you a long way when it comes to meeting new people. Don’t be afraid to talk to the fellow student sitting beside you, or who you see multiple times a week. Introduce yourself, exchange e-mail addresses, phone numbers etc. They’re probably in the same position as you, and will be just as excited to meet someone new. I can vouch for the fact that U of T students are friendly and won’t bite. In fact, I would say that I made most of my U of T friends this way (and I remain bite-free).

You can’t simply expect to run into your old high school buddies on your first day here because, chances are, you won’t. The campus is simply too large, and the amount of courses offered, including the different time slots available for each course, are in the hundreds.  I know about twenty high school classmates who chose to attend U of T and, over a three year period, I have only run into one of them once about two years ago.

There are other ways to meet new people and make new friends, but talking to strangers is fail safe, and is sometimes your only option.

Enjoy your first year at U of T! Expect to hear more from me in the weeks and months to come. Cheers.

Dearest blogUT readers and bloggers,

blogUT will be hosting a fall Meet & Greet.  This is your chance to come out to meet our bloggers and learn more about the blog.  Refreshments will be provided. Everyone is welcome! We hope to see you there.

Ally & Leah
Co-Editors of blogUT