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.

Just for fun, I started searching Twitter for Tweets written about U of T. I have been saving them as favorites over time. Here are some funny ones I have found:

• @shaelaska: “why doesn’t u of t have buffyology? http://bit.ly/fXmt3“
• @StephenAlain: “I hope it storms superhard and washes u of t away…”
• @Gregory188: “Campus is abuzz with fresh faces ready to have their dreams and GPAs crushed by U of T.”
• @paulmarai: “The purell to student ratio at u of t is astonishing.”
• @thegrubby1: “Latest report on uoft girls: so far, classics has the least hot girls per capita of any class, even Dostoevsky…”
• @Zadkiel: “shared a cab with a belly dancer and a uoft grad….interesting end to an evening.”
• @AakankshaT: “Overheard a bunch of froshies complaining about hard UofT is & how they hate first year..wanted to smack ‘em. It just gets worse so shut it.”
• @inesrosa: “‘As a man you spend all your time waiting on bitches’ – overheard while walking thru campus. Charming.”
• @arahslife “I will not be setting foot on the U of T campus for three weeks and that makes me feel so good inside. Soo GOOOODD”
• @meghansauve: “$7,439.04 tuition. The sum of outrageously expensive and 4 cents! U of T, you are completely mad.”
• @timylee: “@alextruong It happens. I once got an email from U of T congratulating me on my enrollment to their Dentistry program. Prob an email typo.”

Speaking of Twitter, blogUT is on there now. Follow us! And for more stuff overheard on campus, check out the Facebook group.

Earthcycle, also known as Environment Week, is coming up at U of T from September 21st to 26th. With over 25 things to see and do — all incorporating the theme of climate change and the environment — you might get overwhelmed with what you want to check out. Here are some of blogUT’s event picks for Earthcycle.

Workshops and Tours

Container Gardening Workshop
Thursday Sept. 24 from 1pm – 3pm @ International Student Centre Veranda

Learn about city gardening – grow your own food

Trinity College Green Roof Tour & Lunch
Wednesday Sept. 23 from 12pm – 2 pm @ St. Hilda’s College Residence

Students from Trinity College, the first University of Toronto signatory to the Presidents’ Climate Change Initiative, will provide a tour of their green roof and free lunch to visitors.

Food

Hot Yam vegan lunch
Thursday Sept. 24 from 12pm – 2 pm @ International Student Centre, Baldwin Room

A $4 vegan lunch by the Hot Yam! — a healthy environmental alternative to fast food and animal products.
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The new school year is rolling around and the course textbook list is out now on the U of T Bookstore website.

Before you head on down to the bookstore and leave a dent in your credit card, you might want to try to:

1. BUY YOUR BOOKS USED

   You can get used books from a number of places, including:

   a) Book exchange websites, such as TUSBE (my favorite)
   b) The UTSU book exchange
   c) Websites that sell used books, such as abebooks.com and even Amazon
   d) Your friends!

   Don’t forget that the U of T Bookstore also sells used books, but you might be able to get a better deal if you look around other places.

2. BUY YOUR BOOKS FROM THE DISCOUNT BOOKSTORE

   If the book you want is the latest edition and you can’t get it used, then your best option is to buy it from the discount bookstore, located across the street from the U of T bookstore. The price difference isn’t crazy, but it’s probably the cost of a cheap meal.

3. SEE IF THERE’S AN ONLINE VERSION

   Sometimes if you Google hard enough, you can find a PDF version of a textbook you can view for free. You might prefer to have a hard copy of all the pages to carry around, though it can be handy for those times that you don’t have the book on you.

To make sure you are getting the right book for the right price, remember to:

• Check the ISBN number of the book you want with the one you’re buying
• Look around at the prices people are offering for the book and see if you can get a cheaper deal
• See if the book is actually “Required” for the course; I often find that I don’t even use books that are “Recommended.”

If you have any tips on buying or selling textbooks, leave them in the comments!

On my second installment introducing farmer’s markets around Toronto, I’d like to introduce the little one on Borden, one block west of Brunswick (where Future’s Bakery is) since it’s really close to campus. In want of something healthier than the stuff they serve at residence? Drop by this market every Wednesday for some fresh fruit, vegetables, baked goods, honey, cheese and meat. Although the market is relatively small compared to Brick Works and the famous St. Lawrence Farmer’s Market, it’s still a lovely source of food from the Ontario greenbelt. (Not to mention the organizers like handing out free samples pretty often!) So here is the information you need if you ever want to visit:

MyMarket Bloor-Borden

Where?

The farmer’s market can be found in the parking lot on the corner of Bloor and Borden, 1 block west of Brunswick Avenue where Future’s Bakery is. It is between the intersections of Bloor and Bathurst (its closest intersection) and Bloor and Spadina.

When?

Every Wednesday from 3PM to 7PM, rain or shine from June 3rd to October 28.

Is there anything to do there?

• Sample food
• Buy food if you want
• Do something fun on or off campus

Just as a sidenote…

Ontario peaches, at this moment, are absolutely lovely at this time of year. They’re sweet and slightly tart and full of colour, just as peaches should be.

I didn’t take too many pictures but I really like this one:

Tomatoes of all sorts of shapes and colours!

Pictures by Jess.

I spent much of yesterday at Sid Smith trying (and I really want to emphasize that word, trying) to study for a mid-term. Unfortunately, the forces of nature were working against me not only because my mind seemed to wander off endlessly, but also because of all the commotion that was going on around me. Apparently, it’s election season at U of T. All day I was bombarded with pamphlets and strangers encouraging me to vote. Vote for Change! Demand Access! Rah, rah, rah! I couldn’t help but be swept up by all the excitement so off to the poll I went to cast my ever so valuable vote.

And staring into those little colourful pieces of paper with various names of people that I couldn’t even attach a face to…I couldn’t help but wonder (yes, my inner Carrie Bradshaw is coming out!), is this really the democratic process that we all so ardently and passionately advocate (okay…maybe not so juicy as Sex and the City…)? There I was standing at a booth deciding who I should vote for for this position and that position and I didn’t even have a single clue who some of those people were. Let me tell you the various considerations that went into my decision-making process: (more…)