Taking the plunge into learning a new language can be terrifying, and the experience even more so. You’ve heard all the promos on how many doors it opens, but when you’re wading through yet another translation that just makes absolutely no sense, it can be really tempting to just conclude that languages are just not your thing. Maybe you’re just not cut out for it, right?

Not so! I’m on my third non-native language right now, and believe me, I’ve been through all of the painful “bloody hell how does anyone remember this” moments, the “why the f*** do you need subjunctive” moments, the “why does every *&$^% word start with q” moments, and everything in between. The thing is, it really does get better. I promise. If you’re brave enough to keep going with languages, or not sure if you are, here are some tips to help you on your way: (more…)

Well folks, this is the time of year where almost everyone makes their New Year’s resolutions. Some people aim extremely high and some people prefer to keep things within their reach. As with every new year, most people expect to have a fresh start and embrace the year with open arms. Those are the people who make endless goals and have big expectations for the year. Then you have those who just seem to accept the upcoming year without any particular expectations or goals in mind.

It’s always that fresh beginning in which people make goals to stay fit and go to the gym or attempt to become focused in their academics or job. It’s usually one of those two goals that fail within the first couple of months of the new year. Try making goals that you know you would be motivated to make or things you wish you could change about yourself. And I know the obvious choice would be to hit to gym or hit the books, but try goals like eating healthier, or keeping up with readings despite the crazy overload of papers.  Remember that goals that are more specific and measurable have a higher chance of being achieved.

Whatever your goals or expectations are for 2010, I hope you reach your goals above and beyond of what you have planned!

Just three weeks before the end of the fall semester, I have come to the realization that I haven’t done any productive work outside of school since the start of classes.

As a first-year student, I naturally had many plans to do extra-curricular activities over the summer. French Club. The Varsity newspaper. Engineering Toastmasters. Engineers Without Borders. The Blue & Gold Committee (a spirit group for engineers). The Engineering Society, Academic Committee. The Engineering LEGO Club.

Tons of plans, but they’ve fallen through due to:

1. Time commitments. Toastmasters ends at 10pm on Thursdays, when I am often staying up late completing PHY180 lab write-ups. I also have limited time to begin with because the commute eats up 3 hours each day. LEGO Club… well, meetings are also on Thursdays, and I guess doing error analysis calculations is more feasible than constructing a house made of LEGO bricks.
2. Lack of response from group executives. I’m serious – I signed up for a gazillion clubs during the UTSU and Engineering Clubs’ Fairs, but have only been e-mailed by a handful. And some have only e-mailed once, and never again. The only French Club meeting I’ve been to was their introductory brunch, which, incidentally, was delicious.
3. Laziness. I signed up for blogUT, knew I was going to blog the second I had something to say, and… kind of forgot about it.
4. In my defence, it was partly also due to shyness and decision-making. I was trying to come up with something interesting to talk about. Whatever was remotely related to engineering, I stuck the blog entry into the Online Design Journal I’m required to keep in preparation for one of my final exams.

Considering that all of my friends here at U of T are first-years in engineering, I haven’t been doing non-scientifically-related writing for a while now, and I am slowly losing my French skills, my inactivity is clearly something I should deal with.

Fortunately, I kept the last e-mail I got from blogUT, in my Inbox where I could easily see it. And I discovered that not only was the founder a former EngSci graduate, but there were posts, personal ones (i.e. not just artsy reviews or school events!) that could resemble what I’d write in any blog.

I decided not to write for the Arts section of the Varsity when I realized that they didn’t publish book reviews (plus my  reviews are generally outdated – a few months after the book’s release), and didn’t write for the Science section because they seem to expect up-to-date news from research conducted right at the U of T. The Cannon, the engineering newspaper, has never e-mailed me since I wrote my contact information on the sign-up sheet.

So much for trying to be connected to student life. I guess that’s how blogUT started, because it sure feels good to be blogging and just… doing something aside from problem sets and whatnot.

Grad school is every ambitious undergraduate’s  golden fountain of eternal youth, and most of us are like famed Spanish conquistador Gonzalo Pizzaro: doomed to wander the jungles and subjugate the Aztecs in the pursuit of our goal. Unlike Cortez, there is actually a chance of attaining your goal. Of course, having a horde of conquest-thirsty, glory-seeking conquerors would improve anyone’s application, but few of us have this (only 1 student in 2 at Trinity College).  In the absence of a royal mandate, the rest of us have to struggle to make our own applications appear much longer and substantial/menacing (I cite the blowfish as inspiration) than they really are. If you are looking for tips on how to get that golden letter of reference, or how to make it look like you were heavily engaged in your college’s Frosh Week when in fact you were really just passed out in the quadrangle, then look no further! Avail yourselves of these handy tips.

INTERVIEWS

If you get an interview with a potential grad school, you should be aware of what they are looking for. The most important part of higher education is getting your foot in the door and never leaving, not even after you die and they have the wrench your corpse out of your office’s ergonomic swivel chair. Thus, having the appearance of a lifetime academic is key. Show up dressed like an Edwardian nobleman: full-tails with a bowler hat, monocle, and a copy of the London Times are highly recommended (NB: do NOT show up with a copy of the New York Times. What, do you WANT to look like some colonial?)

EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

Did you ever visit Israel? Did you ever have a stopover in Jerusalem? Have you ever seen Israel on a map? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions then you have just earned the right to lie on your CV and write “Summer Kibbutz (2008)” under work experience. Likewise, being one of the elected “class representatives” to the Faculty of Arts and Science can, with the stroke of a pen, become “Actively engaged in Student Governance, 2006-present.” Also, if you really want to milk the “class rep” thing you can also include it as a Minor in Futility Studies.

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So, I was having tomato soup this evening while I was doing some research for my anthropology essay. I had my binder of notes sitting open on my lap, and the soup on my desk, and a whole swirl of other stationary, USBs, and a complementary Cirque du Soleil egg shaker around my computer.

Today just happened to be one of those days when my inner klutz kicks in, and as I was reaching over to my keyboard to ask Google to look up something for me, I knocked my bowl of soup right into my damageable (and very biodegradable) paper notes. Great.

As I was taking out all my notes and spreading them on the ground to dry, I was surprised at how little my papers were damaged. Only two pages were significantly soaked (half of them); all the other pages were either completely untouched or had just a couple of splatters on the edges or corners.

How could a half a bowl of soup not turn my lecture notes into a pile of pulp? Well, the pages were saved by the sheet protectors I used as dividers. Even though the notes themselves weren’t in the plastic sleeves, the sheet protectors were able to section off my binder, like how ships have separate locked compartments in their bellies. The soup could only get as far as the end of the anthropology section in my binder…and I’m quite thankful for that. If it got to my psychology notes, well, let’s just say that calling upcoming mid-term exam a “nightmare” would be an understatement.

So, the moral of the story is, if you’re as clumsy as I am, and if you like eating at precarious locations such as your desk, invest in some sheet protectors. Believe it or not, they do save your pages, even if you don’t put your notes in them.

Peter Cen, a fourth year life science student and part-time web developer, was bored one summer. Out of his boredom spawned an iPhone (and iPod Touch) application for U of T students. The free app, called myUT,  has already been downloaded 200 times since its release one month ago.

Here are some of the cool things you can do with it:

- Add schedules and courses
- View updated course information
- Display your weekly timetable
- Find building locations on a map
- Find nearby food and drinks
- Read the U of T News and Events feeds
- Read the Varsity Blues sports feeds
- Quickly access U of T links

Although the course listings available currently only include those from the Faculty of Arts and Science and the Faculty of Engineering, Peter is looking to add others, and has received requests to do so from several grad students.

A demo slideshow is available on the website: http://c-ut.ca/myut. Check it out!

Whew! First week over, and 11 more weeks to go.

The number itself seems small, but it’s a LOT. I’m amazed at how many things a professor can cram into one or two hour sessions.

Overall though, I’m getting quite a good feel for the classes – profs are cool, classmates are great, and the lessons themselves are quick, short, and to the point. But I have to always remain at the top of my game – I can’t lose focus or I might veer off to something that’s totally out of the point.

Classwork is…an interesting point when it comes to university. Never do any of the professors claim that they’re going to bug you to do something – if you don’t, then you don’t get the mark. This brings me to a strange feeling that I’ve been experiencing for the past week. I always feel that I am forgetting to do something, even though I’ve already done all the readings, note taking, and homework. It’ll pass hopefully, but in the mean time, I’ll have to keep up with my studies.

The major side effect of this, however, is ending up home being really, really tired. So I apologize in advance if my post is quite boring.

…Wait, why am I apologizing when I’m almost done?

..Ehh.

I’ll roll with it.