Life as a University Student: Public Transit

Hey everyone, sorry for not updating this blog more often. I’ve been crazy busy with my move so I've been relying on posts that I scheduled months ago. Now that those have run out, I’m going to have to make a better effort to keep this blog alive.

My new blog schedule is probably going to go something like this:

Tuesday: Writing Tip

Thursday: Book Review

Saturday: My Life

Since it’s Saturday, that means it’s going to be a My Life post. Basically, these are going to be quick posts about stuff that’s been happening to me with the move and university.

So far, I think my biggest learning curve has been using public transit. Back on PEI we’ve only had busses for about five years and they get so little use that having five people on a bus at a time is busy. I never rode the bus back home, so getting everywhere by bus is a huge change for me.

Busses are really practical for university students for a couple reasons. First of all, it’s already paid for as part of my student fees. If I had a car I’d have to pay for gas, insurance, maintenance, parking (which is $700 at king’s) and stuff like that. Taking the bus is saving me a ton of money, not to mention the whole ‘save the environment’ thing.

The biggest downside is simply how long it takes to get anywhere. This afternoon I’m heading to the mall to hang out with my cousins. It’s just 10 km away and according to google maps it should take me about 25 minutes to get there. Even if I biked it should take me just under an hour, but with a bus transfer and stopping everywhere it’s going to take me about an hour and a half to get there.

Now, since today’s Saturday and I have nothing to do, I don’t really care that I’m going to be spending nearly three hours on busses just to get to the mall. But in a couple weeks when I’m snowed under with homework I just won’t have that kind of time. Even getting to campus (25 minutes by bus) is going to be annoying. The slowness of city buses will limit me to the area right around my apartment. Since I’m used to having a car, this feels just a little claustrophobic.

Oh, well. I’ll get used to it. So far living away from home has been better than I thought it was going to be, and it’s my own fault that I’m heading to the mall tomorrow, so I shouldn’t complain. I just felt like griping a bit, since I actually don’t have anything to complain about.

What about all of you? How’s school so far? If you’re starting University, was it what you expected? Have any of you had any interesting experiences with public transit? 

School Suggestions: Some Final Tips

Here are a couple quick ideas to help you get the most out of your university experience.

1- Learn to use the library. Often the prof with leave a copy of the textbook on reserve at the library. This means that instead of dishing out $70 for a textbook that you’ll never use again, you can get it for free at the library. This may be inconvenient, but it’s a real money saver.

2- Use the online resources. Your university probably has online access to all sorts of online resources, such as the Oxford English Dictionary and databases of articles and journals. You can search through these quickly, and they’re great if you have to write a paper in a hurry and don’t have time to search through books at the library. I wrote several research papers citing approximately 30 sources, all of which I found in the online databases.

3- Use the help centers. UPEI had both a writing center and a math help center; I assume most other universities will have similar things. If you’re just having a little trouble something and you don’t want to bother the prof, these institutions can give you the help you need.

4- Make friends. This one may sound a little basic, but University is so much more fun when you have friends in your classes. I had good friends in Math and Science, but I had to try and make friends in all of my Arts courses. I ended up meeting some awesome people who I really enjoyed talking to and discussing essay ideas with. It’s nice to have at least one acquaintance in every class, someone you can talk to about assignments and study with whenever a test is coming up.

5- Work hard. This one is self-explanatory. University isn’t easy. Just remember that anything worth doing is worth working at.

And this wraps up my School Suggestions Saturday Series (don’t you love my alliteration?). I hope I’ve helped some upcoming university students and some of you highschool students who are still considering if University is for you. Over the next couple months I’ll be blogging about my university experiences in a little bit of a more personal way. Good luck to all you students out there!

First-Impression Friday: Hereafter

Drifting in the dark waters of a mysterious river, the only thing Amelia knows for sure is that she's dead. With no recollection of her past life—or her actual death—she's trapped alone in a nightmarish existence. All of this changes when she tries to rescue a boy, Joshua, from drowning in her river. As a ghost, she can do nothing but will him to live. Yet in an unforgettable moment of connection, she helps him survive.

Amelia and Joshua grow ever closer as they begin to uncover the strange circumstances of her death and the secrets of the dark river that held her captive for so long. But even while they struggle to keep their bond hidden from the living world, a frightening spirit named Eli is doing everything in his power to destroy their newfound happiness and drag Amelia back into the ghost world . . . forever.

Title: The title screams paranormal. Hereafter is a great title for this story, since it gives a good idea of what this book’s about: a dead girl.

Cover: I must say I absolutely love this cover. The blues and greens are so pretty, and even though you can’t really see it, I love the dress Amelia is wearing. Also, it’s just a little shiny, so it’s even prettier in real life.

Pitch:  For people who like paranormal romance, this pitch is sure to be intriguing. For someone like me, it’s a big turnoff. First of all, I don’t like paranormal romance, and having a dead protagonist just seems really weird. It seems like a well crafted story, but I’m not looking forward to it.

First Sentence: It was the same as always, but different from the first time.

A great first line. It makes me need to read on. What is this mysterious ‘it’? And how in the world can it be the same, and yet different? While this is a little vague, it is attention grabbing.

First Chapter: This chapter has some great points and some really bad parts. The writing is fairly good. It opens with the MC dreaming that she’s drowning, and it’s described so vividly I felt myself squirming. However, as soon as the dream ends, she starts thinking about what’s happened over the past years, telling us all sorts of backstory. One big writing rule is to not give any backstory in the first fifty pages unless absolutely necessary. Here’s it’s really not necessary. This scene would have been more powerful, especially the cliffhanger at the end, had it been written in straight narrative, not backstory.

Overall: For a fan of paranormal romance, this story has great packaging. There’s a perfect title combined with a gorgeous cover and an intriguing pitch. However, all of this convinces me that it’s really not the sort of story I’ll enjoy.       

School Suggestions: Come to Class

This week’s tip is going to sound pretty basic, especially to all you highschoolers, but it’s amazing how many people don’t do this simple thing. One big thing that many university students don’t do is come to class.  Attendance at university is ridiculously low. I’ve been in a class where the room was always half full, until when the midterm rolled around and we had to bring in extra chairs. There was another class that had a 120 people signed up, but there were only 50 there on any given day.

I understand why people skip class. Sometimes you’ll have a doctor’s appointment or something that absolutely can’t be skipped. Sometimes you just hate that particular class, or you think that the lecture is useless and you might as well just read the book. Other times you might be just too busy with coursework to come to class. When you hit university and you’re not forced to come to class, it’s far too easy to find excuses to skip.

Before you get into that habit, I suggest you think about all the good reasons for coming to class. First of all, lots of courses have participation marks. If you don’t show up, then you loose 10-15% of your mark. That’s a lot to loose because you didn’t put your butt in the chair for three hours a week. If your class has a participation mark, attending is a really good idea.

Even if you don’t get marks for coming, it’s still important. For instance, a lot of English classes don’t have a textbook. You might study the literature, but most of the material that will be covered on the exams comes from the lecture. When I took Shakespeare I read through the plays, but my prof also lectured on the theatre itself, as well as Shakespeare’s life. If I had missed the class I wouldn’t have known that for the exam. If your class doesn’t have a textbook, it’s pretty much mandatory to come to class. At very least, get someone’s notes and look them over.

Personally, I think the ‘I’m too busy to come to class’ excuse is just a load of you-know-what. If you’re so busy that you can’t take an hour or two out of your day to go to class, you probably need to cut back on work or partying or TV or whatever it is you do. Even if you’re skipping class to do work for another class, this still means you need better time managing skills.

The last reason to come to class is that profs don’t like it when students skip. My dad finds it so frustrating when students come to him for help, even though they’ve missed almost all the classes. It’s not fair to ask the prof to help you with something one-on-one if you don’t come to the classes. Also, it’s discouraging for a prof to teach to a half-empty classroom. It’s hard for them to be enthusiastic about a subject if their students couldn’t care enough to come.

In short, attending classes is one easy thing that can help you learn, up your marks, and improve your overall university experience. Coming from someone who’s never missed a class, I strongly recommend you try to skip as few classes as possible.

First-Impression Friday: Ruby Red

Gwyneth Shepherd's sophisticated, beautiful cousin Charlotte has been prepared her entire life for traveling through time. But unexpectedly, it is Gwyneth, who in the middle of class takes a sudden spin to a different era!

Gwyneth must now unearth the mystery of why her mother would lie about her birth date to ward off suspicion about her ability, brush up on her history, and work with Gideon--the time traveler from a similarly gifted family that passes the gene through its male line, and whose presence becomes, in time, less insufferable and more essential. Together, Gwyneth and Gideon journey through time to discover who, in the 18th century and in contemporary London, they can trust.

Title: I don’t care for this title. Ruby Red does nothing at all for me. It doesn’t give me an idea of what the story is about and it almost sounds cliché, like Dorothy’s red slippers.

Cover: I can’t say I care for this cover either. It looks really old fashioned, with the picture of the girl at the top. I do like the designs, especially the watch at the bottom, but it all feels rather overwhelming.

Pitch: I have mixed feelings about this pitch. When I first heard there was time travel involved, I got excited. I love time travel. There are a couple elements that I don’t really care for here, though. First of all, Gwen seems happy that she can’t time travel. Seriously, who would prefer a normal life over time travel? And then the pitch decides to end by talking about an obnoxious (but really hot) guy. This book seems to be straying into really cliché territory.

First Sentence: As she fell to her knees and burst into tears, he looked all around the park.

I don’t like the structure of this sentence at all. It just feels really awkward to me. On the other hand, it has some interesting elements that I want answered. Why is she crying in a public place? Why does the guy not seem to care? This is hardly an attention-grabbing tagline, but it still does make me want to read on.

First Chapter (prologue): This chapter was simply the two people talking. It was intriguing, mentioning an elusive ‘she’ who I guess will be the MC in the story. I like how the prologue makes us sure that something will actually happen in the story. However, some of the dialogue sounded a little fake.

Overall: I’m not a huge fan of the packaging of this book. Since I love time travel I certainly intend to read it, but I’m a little worried about the hot guy. This book seems to have a lot of potential, but it could also be a disappointment.

School Suggestions: Don't Expect High Marks

This lesson is something I had to learn the hard way. No matter how high your marks were in highschool, no matter how hard you work, you can’t count on getting high marks from the get-go.

In all of my courses, the first midterm I got back was a lower mark than my final. Sometimes I improved by as much as 10%. My super genius friend got a 30% on her midterm, but ended up with a 98% average her first year of university. If you’re disappointed with the mark on your first essay/midterm, don’t worry. It’s quite possible that the next one will be better.

After all, isn’t the point of university to learn? If you get a 95% on your first essay, where can you go from there? Often times the bad mark can motivate you to study harder and you end up doing far better on the course than you would have if your first mark had been good.

One thing that a lot of profs do is offer a final exam that counts for 100% of your mark, if that would be higher than averaging it with the midterm. I had this once, and it upped my mark by 8%. Sometimes, if you have multiple quizzes, they’ll drop your lowest one. Thanks to these little safety nets, there’s no reason to be upset by a terrible mark.

If you’re confused by your mark, it’s perfectly acceptable to meet with the prof to discus it. For instance, if you don’t understand criticism on your essay, most profs would love to discuss it with you. Also, most universities require that profs keep a copy of all exams for a set time after the exam so that you can go and look at it. Just make sure that when you go to visit them you’re thinking about learning, not just upping your mark. Profs want to help you learn, not just improve your GPA.

One last thing to remember is that marks are subjective. Especially in a subject like English, opinions can make a big difference. One prof might give you a 70% on an essay that another prof would mark an 85%. It’s impossible to predict, and there’s no real reason to. Just remember to keep your focus on learning, rather than the marks. 

First-Impression Friday: Delirium

Before scientists found the cure, people thought love was a good thing. They didn’t understand that once love -- the deliria -- blooms in your blood, there is no escaping its hold. Things are different now. Scientists are able to eradicate love, and the governments demands that all citizens receive the cure upon turning eighteen. Lena Holoway has always looked forward to the day when she’ll be cured. A life without love is a life without pain: safe, measured, predictable, and happy.

But with ninety-five days left until her treatment, Lena does the unthinkable: She falls in love.

Title: I like the title Delirium. From the little I know about the story, apparently love is referred to as the delirium, so it fits nicely as well as being intriguing.

Cover: I know a lot of people really like this cover, but I can’t stand it. The idea of having the picture underneath is interesting, but it just ends up looking a little strange. I don’t like the picture of the girl by itself, and it’s really hard to see her through the letters. This was an interesting idea for a cover, but I don’t think it worked that well.

Pitch: This pitch is a little heavy on world building, but it really showcases the conflict of the book. Everyone thinks love is a disease which has to be cured. The MC agrees with them, until she falls in love herself. This is a great concept, and even though I don’t like romance, I can’t wait to read it.

First Sentence: It has been sixty-four years since the President and the Consortium identified love as a disease, and forty-three since the scientists perfected a cure.

Like the pitch, this is chilling and intriguing. There’s the idea of love as a disease, and then the idea that scientists can somehow cure love. While this sentence is completely telling and doesn’t jump into the action, it’s still attention grabbing.

First Chapter: Like the first sentence, this chapter is almost exclusively telling. This annoyed me a bit, since it’s much better to get right to the action, but I must say it was all good backstory. I love how the MC has completely bought into the lies of her society. It’s always much more interesting when the MC believes that something is right, and then has to have her mind changed. That way the story centers around her inner struggle, rather than around a war.

Overall: Aside from the fact that I hate the cover, I’m really looking forward to this book. While it’ll probably be a romance, the dystopia aspect of it really intrigues me, and so far the writing is excellent. I can’t wait to start reading.