1 Admin vs. 70 Grad Students: Who Really Works at Western?

My convocation, featuring Amit Chakma (left) and the late Chancellor, Joseph Rotman (right)

On Monday morning, Western’s student newspaper informed me that Amit Chakma, Western University’s president, made nearly a million dollars last year. Apparently his salary is capped at $440,000, but he chose to work through a year of paid leave, earning bonuses which brought his salary up to $967,000.

I’m normally not the sort of person to complain about other people making a lot of money, and I feel very blessed to receive nearly $20,000 in research grants and TAships from Western. To me, getting paid $35 an hour to fangirl about The Hobbit makes grad school the ultimate job and I don’t care that my salary is technically under the poverty line, because it’s plenty in my current situation.

So why do I feel the need to write about Chakma’s salary? Not because I think that there’s something inherently wrong with a human being making a million dollars, but because I attend a publically-funded university that’s cutting arts programs and replacing faculty with sessional instructors in order to save money… and that same university just released a list of over 1200 people (admin, faculty, and staff) who earn more than $100,000 every year.

As a grad student, I know money talks. OGS (Ontario Graduate Scholarship- $15,0000 for one year) and SSHRC (Social Science and Humanities Research Council- $20,000/35,000 for 3-4 years) carry enormous weight. If I was to win a SSHRC (I won’t know ‘till May) I would be accepted by virtually any university in Canada (potentially even ones which had previously

rejected me) because funding is just that important.

SSHRC applications work in two stages: you apply to your university, and they forward the best applications to the Canada-wide competition. I discovered in January that I had been forwarded, but I’ve yet to hear of anyone else from my 60-person department who was. Through the grapevine, I know that there can only have been one or two other applications sent on. This means that, absolute best case scenario, the English department at Western could receive three new SSHRCs, totalling $105,000 next year. Worst case, we’ll receive nothing.  

Western currently offers 278 OGS scholarships every year (heavily government subsidized), which amounts to approximately $4,000,000 in funding. That sounds like a big number, until you realize it’s only four times what Chakma made last year. Chakma’s salary alone could fund almost 70 graduate students. In fact, since these scholarships are so highly government subsidized, UWO only spends $1,400,000 on OGS’s, or approximately Chakma’s salary plus the next top earner, Michael Strong (Dean of the school of Medicine and Dentistry, $462,125). Are these two men doing more for the university than nearly three hundred grad students?

Full disclosure: I was just rejected from UBC (University of British Columbia-- known for being one of the best and biggest English grad programs in Canada) because they only had enough money to offer four funded spots this year. Funding for graduate programs is obviously in crisis.

I don’t care that Amit Chakma makes at least fifty times what I do (100 times, if you count the fact that half my salary goes towards my tuition). He’s got a lot more experience than I do. I’m perfectly happy with my current salary.

But I do care that arts programs are in a funding crisis, unable to offer spots to graduate students, overworking underpaid TAs and sessional instructors, increasing class sizes, and ultimately hurting students at all levels. And while instructors and programs are being cut, lowering the quality of education students are paying for and our government is subsidizing, the top dog is making a million dollars.

Seventy graduate students leading tutorials. Thirty sessional instructors giving dynamic lectures. Ten full-time faculty conducting ground-breaking research.

Or one head-honcho speaking at convocation about how valuable our Western degree is.

This isn’t about Chakma. This isn’t about him making too much or me too little. This is about my university, which, when money was tight, chose to more than double the salary of an overpaid administrator rather than hiring the teachers and researchers who form the backbone of the university. And that is a decision which I cannot agree with.  

Day 152: Back in St. A!

 I’m back “home” in St. Andrew’s. Back at classes. Back walking the familiar three streets. Back to seeing friends everywhere and back to looking forward to hanging out at G&S and CU events.

The John Lennon wall in Prague

I’m loving it. The first few hours felt so deliciously fresh and new—I could see the familiar town with new eyes, appreciate the cobbled streets and the stone buildings. I could walk around without constantly checking a map, but the town still felt just a tad untouched after I had been away for so long.

It feels normal now, after I’ve been back for about three days. I've seen almost everyone, restocked my cupboards, and done most of my unpacking. The initial strangeness has past and normal life has begun.

Now comes the time to blog properly about my trip. I’ve been writing blog posts as I went along, so I actually only have two more posts to complete before I have a whole 11-post series to share with you.

The major holdup will be the photos. I took nearly 2000 pictures over the forty days, so I’m a little swamped with sorting and editing. Right now I don’t even know where to begin. Kayla already has her photos and blog posts up- no idea how she did it!

To be fair, she didn’t have a large scholarship application to complete the weekend after getting back. I’ve just finalized my application for the Ontario Graduate Scholarship, worth $15,000 for a year. If I get it, then that’ll give me enough to be financially worry-free next year. If not, well, I’ll still have enough to survive, but I may not be able to afford a car, or going to see plays, or travelling to see my family, or going out to dinner, or youth conferences… all those ‘extra’ things. Strange, how an academic scholarship will finance all the non-academic aspects of my life! I guess all the academic things are sort of non-negotiable, so I’ll be paying for them no matter what.

At any rate, I’ve submitted my application, so I can now stop thinking about my MA next year and concentrate on my modules this semester: Scottish Literature and T. S. Eliot. Both my professors seem friendly, knowledgeable, and comfortable in front of a class, and both have fantastic Scottish accents. It seems it’ll be an intense semester (T. S. Eliot is going to require so much work!) but I’m looking forward to it.

On that note, time for me to stop blogging and start reading T. S. Eliot’s biography… fun times…

And maybe tomorrow... York!

Day 34: Study, Panic, and a St. Andrew's Sunset

It happens every term. You’d think I’d be used to it, what with being in fourth year, but it still hits me every time.

The shocking fact: going to university means you actually have to do work.

Revolutionary, ain’t it? It seems like it should be obvious, and it is, really, but sometimes the obvious things are the ones that slip your attention.

Obviously, I knew that coming to study at St. Andrew’s would require a certain amount of, well, studying. But all the hustle-bustle of Fresher’s week and auditions and general craziness made me forget about the actual point of being here.

The end result of my thoughtlessness was that essays that were apparently due far in the future were suddenly not so distant. And trying to learn five hundred Old English words in two weeks is certainly not optimal.

I’m kicking myself now for not working harder in the first few weeks, since it means that I’m currently quite busy, and will potentially get lower marks on certain assignments because I simply don’t have the time to complete them as well as I really should. However, at least I have an excuse—everything else going on in St. Andrew’s distracted me.

The odd thing is that this happens every year, even when I don’t have a million societies to steal my attention. Every year, about two or three weeks in, I suddenly realize that I have an essay coming up that I haven’t even thought about. Or a test in a few days that I haven’t studied for. Or a presentation on a book I haven’t read.

Once the realization hits, I kick into full study mode and get everything done, but there’s always that moment of panic when I find out how “behind” I am. And, at this point in my academic career, there’s the frustration when I recognize that I still haven’t fixed my study habits in order to combat the week-two-shock.

I suppose there’s not much hope for me, considering that this is the last autumn I’ll spend as an undergraduate student. Maybe things will get better in grad school? We’ll see… For now, though, all I can do is to make the best of the situation and tell myself that even if my marks aren’t as good as they really should be, going to St. Andrew’s was still worth it.

After all, even studying is tolerable when my break involves a walk along this beach:

Castle Sands at Sunset

The Cathedral and graveyard

PURPLE CLOUDS (slightly edited, yes. But they were definitely close to this colour!)

The pier 

Fishing boats. And lobster traps. And people ask me if St. Andrew's is very different from home... :P

Having the ocean here means so much to me.  It's amazing how much I love it, how just walking by it and watching the waves thunder along for a minute makes me feel so much calmer. Coming to the sea is like coming home. 

View up towards the castle

From the end of the pier looking up towards town

The waves were really crashing against the rocks

Tip of the pier

Reflections at East Sands

And there was even a heron who posed obligingly 

The Castle at sunset
(the upload made this picture look pixelated... sorry...)

Day 7: And So It Begins

This one's for my dad. :)

The (in)famous Fresher’s week has started.

Frankly, I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I’ve been to three universities, and this is the first time I’ve every actually done orientation week. I had no idea if it would be a lot of games, or information, or drinking, or meeting people… or what.

To my relief, I’ve really been enjoying it so far. While Fresher’s Week technically just started today, the past three days have been a bit of a whirlwind with near constant activities. There has simply been so much to do and so many people to meet that when I go to bed each night I only have enough time to write in my journal: “So tired, but today was fantastic.”

I had to visit a bookstore-- so weird seeing
the UK covers on all the books!

Last week, I was still adjusting. I was getting used to being independent again, and I was trying to figure out what life would be like here. It was a good week, but one filled with a lot of mornings where I just really didn’t want to get out of bed and face all the paperwork (bank, phone, etc…) ahead of me.

But that’s all taken care of, now. I am officially a matriculated student of the University of Saint Andrew’s, which is rather cool, and I have a British bank account (with plenty of British money) and a British phone, and British friends… I’m even starting to develop a British accent, which is lovely.

I think I might prefer these to the North American covers.

Sometime soon, I should write a proper Fresher’s Week post, outlining some of the events I’ve been to so far and others I plan to attend. But right now my brain is a little too scattered… As soon as I’m done writing this post I’m going to head off to a pub to go hang out with some of the other Bobby Jones scholars for a few hours, then run to Toastie Bar (where toasted sandwiches are just 50p), then return home and sleep to prepare for another busy day tomorrow.

And this one is for Uncle Marty. :) Still haven't found the
church where he preached, though...

For the record: I’m a fan of Fresher’s week so far. Maybe it’s because I arrived early, or maybe it’s because the Christian Union is just so welcoming, but I don’t feel overwhelmed at all. I feel like I’ve been here for much longer than a week, and I’m really looking forward to term. So far, despite all my nervousness before coming, St. Andrew’s has been wonderful.

Little creek/river thing that runs through St. Andrew's

Explore: Back Home

The Confederation Bridge (the longest over-water
bridge in the world, which takes you to PEI)

I’m home. Explore has been finished for a week.

It’s kind of weird, being home. In some ways, though, it just feels really normal, and in still other ways it feels weird that it feels so normal.

The strangest bit was Monday morning, when, instead of heading off to class, I went into Charlottetown for lunch with my friend. We went to an adorable little café, and I could ask questions about my food without having to think for a minute about the wording. I could chat with the cashiers. I could listen to the other patrons talking and actually understand what they were saying.

One of my favourite PEI beaches

I had to stop myself saying merci when they handed me my food. That’s been the most difficult; all the little things. The automatic desole when I bump into something, or oui in response to a question. The little phrases: ca fait de sense or quelque chose comme ca. I trained myself to give these responses and it takes a little while to un-learn them.

It’s sad, though, how quickly I’m adjusting. The first few days felt really strange, but after almost a week it’s just normal to be speaking only English. I’m making efforts to keep up my French, like reading the Bible in French, or speaking to my mom and friends, but it’s not the same as several hours of complete immersion. 

Lupins!

I don’t want to lose it. Explore, as fun as it was, was by no means easy, and I don’t want to forget everything I worked so hard to learn. Technically, I only need the credit to satisfy the language requirement for my MA, but practically, knowing a second language will be so useful on my travels. I’m already considering spending next summer in France, taking more courses.

At Explore, they sold coffee mugs with the following quote (in French) on them:

He who does not know a foreign language knows nothing of his own.

-- Goette

What's this? A National Park you guess? Nope...
it's my backyard. :)

At the beginning of Explore, as an arrogant English Major, I disagreed sharply with that quote. How could I have been a reader all my life, a writer for ten years, and a literature student for three, and yet still know nothing of my own language? Over the five weeks, though, I learned how right Goette was. The more I learned about French, the more I delved into English, learning about the structure, the phrases, and the purpose of the language. I probably learned almost as much about English as I did about French.

All that to say, I think I will remain a student of languages. Explore may be finished, but I’ll treat it as a springboard to further studies, not a one-off deal. After all, I’ll need yet another language if I do a PhD. Next stop… Latin?

Explore Day 16

Day 16. Three weekends gone. It’s a little weird to think that I’ve actually spent more weekends here than I have left. On Tuesday, I’ll be officially half-way through.

I had a great weekend doing some fun things, and I'll blog about that tomorrow (well, hopefully...) Right now, though, I need to rant about French. 

On a positive note, I spent today virtually immersed in French, and it went relatively well. I go to a French-speaking church here, and, while I don’t understand as much of the sermon as I would like, I can read along with the Bible fairly well and sing the songs. After church, I talked to several people and actually had a couple lengthy conversations all in French. The people in the church are lovely, and so eager to help me learn French. One family even invited me over for lunch and then took me on a whirlwind tour of Old Quebec. My ‘tour guide’ didn’t speak much English, but whenever I was unsure of a French word she used, she was great at explaining the meaning.

In short, my spoken French skills are definitely improving, which is what I care about most. There’s still a lot that I don’t know how to say (and it’s so frustrating when I forget basic words like ‘older’ or ‘maybe’) but I can carry on a basic conversation. Whenever I get back to ‘normal life’ on PEI and meet French tourists, I’ll hopefully be able to make them feel welcome.

Negatively, though, I’ll be insanely busy this week, with a little test Tuesday, two oral exams on Thursday, and a grammar exam on Friday. Since my last post I’ve been working away, and the various tenses are starting to make sense, but still… there’s a lot left to learn. When I studied French during homeschooling, we really concentrated on oral skills rather than grammar; French class was watching The Lord of the Rings in French. So, I can talk to a francophone, but I have no idea how to conjugate etre in the infinitif.

I haven’t met anyone else with this problem. In most of my classes people have no difficulty in thinking of an IR verb which ends in U in the passé compose. However, when the prof describes pronominal verbs, they get all confused. I understand pronominals, but I don’t know how to use avoir or etre properly when forming the sentence.

It’s frustrating. I know I’m learning, but there’s so much I don’t know, and likely will never know. The Explore program will not make me bilingual.

At the end of the day, though, it’s okay. It’s okay that I don’t know how to correctly use the infinitive. It’s okay that the course is difficult. It’s okay that I probably won’t get an A on the course. Because I am learning. I’m speaking French, and understanding French, and even learning French grammar, no matter how slowly.  And, frankly, a 60% on a grammar test won’t matter if I’ve learned how to speak the language.

Explore Day 14

Sub-campus tunnels

Day 14. Three weeks remaining.

I’m basically 2/5^th of my way through the Explore program now, with two weeks down and three more to go. This means that I’m pretty settled in, with a great group of friends (who apparently read my blog… so I won’t be saying anything nasty about them) and a reasonable routine. However, it also means that the workload is dramatically increasing. Not that it was much before, with maybe an hour of devoir (homework) a day, but next week I have at least three major tests. So, right now my life is split between impromptu socials (like spending two hours having supper because we chat so much) and headache-causing school (trying to sort out the difference between the imperfect and the passé compose).

Laval's concert hall

I’ve been to a couple cultural activities in the past week. On Monday, my Quebecois friend had a clarinet recital for her CEGEP (the Quebec version of a sort of highschool/college transition) exam. It was lovely to hear my friend, and also to support the other young musicians. I miss the music scene on PEI.

Parliament (with a lovely stained glass
window depicting Samuel de Champlain)

On Wednesday, Explore ran a tour of the Quebec parliament buildings. It was fascinating because the clash of English/French cultures is so evident in parliament, from the architecture of the building to the way they run their government. Since the tour was conducted entirely in French I missed a lot of the details, but the building itself was beautiful and we got to see part of a session.

Salad. :)

This week I had my first “petit test de conjugation” on irregular subjunctive verbs. Since I had over-studied on Monday, I was pleased to find that I got 100% on my test. The mark barely matters, since the test was worth only 2% of my course grade, but it does mean that I understand subjunctives. Unfortunately, we’ve moved on to other tenses, like the imparfait or passé composé, and I find those much more difficult. We did some exercises today in lab, and I failed a bunch of them. Oh, well. I’ve been doing more research today after class, and it’s starting to make sense to me. Hopefully I have a good grasp of these concepts before next Friday…

New outfit, and a smiley on my conjugation test!

At this point, with the weekend finally here, I’m trying to get all my devoir done so I can enjoy some activities. Tonight some friends and I might go to the campus pub, and tomorrow I’ve signed up for hiking at Cap Tourmente. Judging from the information pamphlet, we’ll also be visiting a basilique, which likely means Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré, one of the biggest cathedrals in Quebec. I hope I’m not misreading the pamphlet, because that church is on my Quebec bucket list.

And now I should probably get cracking on that homework…

A Double Life

“I hope you have not been leading a double life, pretending to be wicked but really being good all the time. That would be hypocrisy.”

                ---- Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest

I lead a double life.

This may not seem surprising. After all, what writer doesn’t? Except for those fortunate few who can afford to make writing their careers, we all have to put down our pens (or shut our laptops) and get on with the normal business of working, parenting, or school.

For me, though, even my writing has fractured. Online, most of you know me as part of the YA literature scene. I write YA, blog about YA, and write reviews of YA novels. However, in “real” life, most people know me as the straight-A student who loves reading Shakespeare or Milton in her free time and has plans to do her PhD and be a professor. Those people are shocked that someone who reads The Wasteland for fun, or who can recite Yeats from memory would also have a shelf full of YA novels.

People normally see “high brow” and “low brow” literature as completely separate. They don’t think that Joyce’s Ulysses and Twilight could have anything in common.

Wait.

Did I just suggest that one of the greatest novels in the English language is somehow similar to a teen vampire story?

Yes. Yes I did. While there are many differences between the two, they are, fundamentally, about what it means to be human. Leopold Bloom wanders aimlessly around Dublin, and Bella Swan falls in love with a sparkling vampire, but both are ordinary humans seeking fulfillment. Well-written or not, “teen trash” or highly literary, entertaining or tedious, these stories tell us something about the human condition.

For me, that’s the point of any and all literature. To reach out to other humans, to overcome, as Joseph Conrad would say, “the loneliness of innumerable hearts,” and to truly communicate with someone else.

That is why I can’t find any disconnect between my scholarly studies and my YA writing. Because whether I’m reading The Hunger Games or Beowulf, Paranormalcy or Pride and Prejudice, J. K. Rowling or Virginia Woolf, I’m still reading about fundamental human issues. The need to be loved. To have faith. To belong.

The style may be different. Yes, some styles may even be “better” (but that’s a completely different argument). But, at the core, they are the same.

That is why I can be both 100% YA author and 100% academic. Because I am also 100% a writer. 

Not Quite Graduating

This is the way the world ends

This is the way the world ends

This is the way the world ends

Not with a bang, but a whimper.

---- T. S. Eliot “The Hollow Men”

To begin on a cheerful note, the lines I just quoted from Eliot’s brilliant poem kind of reflect how I’m feeling right now. I have just a week left of classes, and I’m done at King’s forever. I’ll never have these profs again, or go to classes with many of my friends. When exams end in a month, I’ll never return as an undergraduate.

There should be ceremony. There should be speeches, and prizes, and fancy black hats, and flowers. Instead, I’m just sort of leaving. After all, I’m only done third year. I’m not even graduating. And yet, because I’m going to Scotland next year, I might as well be.

Maybe this is one of the reasons they don’t advise going on exchange in your fourth year (aside from the fact that getting all your required courses done can be a headache). There’s no closure. There’s no recognition of everything I’ve accomplished at King’s. Even next year I won’t be at the May convocation with the rest of my class since I’ll still be writing exams in Scotland. I’ll have to graduate in the fall, with all the kids who needed summer school to finish up. I’m just sort of slipping away.

I don’t regret deciding to go to Scotland. I’m beyond excited to head off, and I know I’ll have an amazing time. BUT… leaving King’s is a little bitter-sweet. I’ve only been here for two years, and it feels like I’m not really quite done yet. I could do another year.

Maybe it’s a good thing to leave now, when I’m still going to look back fondly on my years at King’s. I see so many of my fourth year classmates sighing “I can’t wait to get out of here!” and I completely understand their perspectives. Four years at the same school could get a little old. For me, I’ll have attended four different universities by the time I’m done my undergrad. I’ve had so many opportunities, and no time to get tired of anything.

I’m excited to move on, but I’ll definitely miss King’s. I guess that’s how life is, constantly mediating between the past and the future. But for the present, I’ll enjoy my last month at King’s, even if that last month is spent frantically writing exams. :)

Long Time No See

Hello everyone!

The title of this blog post is, sadly, very appropriate. Apparently I haven't blogged since December! Even then, it was pretty infrequent. All my good intentions to keep posting just went down the tubes as soon as school hit. It was my first year away from home and I was working really hard to keep my average up in order to get a scholarship. Since school ended last week (and I did get my A average!) I'm back at home and ready to start blogging again.

This week, I've decided to participate in the Dust it Off Bloghop. Tomorrow, Saturday, and Monday I'll take another look at WANDER (my 2010 NaNo novel). Tomorrow I'll post the pitch, Saturday will have a short excerpt, and then on Monday I'll talk about what I learned from WANDER.

I've also got some exciting news to share with you guys. On Tuesday, I found a wonderful-- and completely unexpected-- email in my inbox and I'm just dying to tell everyone about it. No, I'm not getting a book published, and no, I don't have an agent, but it is a writing opportunity that I'm pretty pumped about. As soon as everything's official, I'll let you all know.

In the meantime, I'll leave you with the promise that I will blog more often. I still have to decide if I want a schedule or not. We'll see. But now, over to you. What sort of posts would you like to see this summer?

A Day in the Life of a University Student: Of Midterms and Doctor Who

The title of this post may seem just a little ridiculous. After all, how are midterms and doctor who related? Does the doctor write midterms? Are there midterms based on doctor who? While both of those would be extremely epic, I’m afraid that they also don’t happen. Basically, the only reason why midterms and doctor who are co-existing in this post is that today I wrote midterms, and then I watched doctor who. ‘nouf said.

As for the midterms, I think I did fairly well. My psych one was hard, but I had studied so much that I knew most of the stuff. It’ll be awhile before I get the marks back, but I’m hoping for at least 90%. (NOTE: I ended up with a 95) Then my poetry one was actually a lot easier than I had been expecting. If I don’t get a hundred it’ll be high nineties (I got 104%, there was a bonus question). Afterwards I talked to a bunch of my classmates and they all said that they thought they did pretty well, too. All in all, my midterms went fairly well. Sorry if this seems like I'm bragging, but since my first essay didn't go near as well as I had hoped, it's nice to be getting these high marks in other subjects. I feel like I've redeemed myself.

Now comes the really cool part of the post, where I rant for ten minutes about how good looking David Tennant is…. no. While I probably could rant for a lot longer than ten minutes about David Tennant, what I really want to tell you about is my extremely strange way of watching movies with a friend while she happens to me back on PEI and I’m in Ontario (approximately 18 hours drive, in case you don’t know your Canadian geography.)

What basically happened is that we started using apple’s Facetime on my iPad. She sat in her living room with an iPod, while I pointed my iPad at my laptop screen. Then I played Doctor Who on my laptop. This meant that we could both watch it at the same time (though I doubt that her picture was exactly the best quality) and talk about it while we watched. Seriously, it felt almost as if we were really sitting on the couch together watching a movie.

Maybe this sounds a little stupid to you. It certainly isn’t something you hear of people doing regularly. But personally, I really enjoyed it. I like watching shows and movies on my own, but it’s even more fun when you have someone to discus it with. I’m the kind of person who likes to talk during movies, pointing out random trivia or just exclaiming “Oh my goodness, this is so sad!” (For anyone who knows their Doctor Who, we were watching the end of season two. Sadness extreme.) Because of this, it was a lot of fun to just sit and watch a movie with my friend, even if she was a thousand miles away.

In other related (happy) news, my last exam for this semester is December 15^th, which means that in seven weeks I should be home! Don’t get me wrong, I love it here, but I can’t wait to see my family and my PEI friends again. 

A Day in the Life of a University Student: Famous Author Moment

This is section two in my miniseries, A Day In The Life Of Me. My bad bus luck story was the annoying part of my day. Now comes the extremely awesome part.

As you will know if you read the previous post (if you haven’t yet, go read it—or skim it—and then come back) I ended up getting to campus in plenty of time for my first exam, psych. My friend was already there when I arrived, sitting right by the front. Normally we sit second row, so I was a bit confused by this, but she said that she sat so close because she wanted the prof to know she wasn’t cheating. Paranoid much? (JK, she’s a lovely person. <3)

Next to me on the other side was a girl who looked a bit familiar, but I couldn’t quiet place her. I started talking to her, just a friendly, “Nervous about the test?” kinda thing, and she pointed out that we’re actually in the same English class. From then on, our conversation went something like this.

Me: So, are you an English major?

Her: Yep. I’m looking to go into publishing.

Me: Seriously? Me too!

Her: That’s awesome! See, I really like to write—

Me: You write? Me too! Like, YA?

Her: Yeah!

*We talk for awhile about books and queries and stuff like that*

Me: Have you heard about inkpop.com?

Her: Yep, I have an account.

Me: How long have you been on?

Her: About a year and a half.

Me: So, um… do you remember Because You Laughed?

Her: Yeah, the short story. Didn’t that make top five?

Me: *points to myself* Yep, it did.

Her: Hey, wait, did you write that?

Me: *nods*

Her: I’m gonna hug you now. J

*We hug*

*I feel like a famous author*

*The prof says it’s time to start the test*

So, that was my pretty exciting first famous author moment. Well, not really, but you get the idea. I think it’s pretty cool that this random person who I just started talking to on a whim had actually read my story. Also, it must have made enough of an impact on them so they still remembered it two years later. I know that Because You Laughed has over 550 comments and there’s obviously a lot of people who’ve read it and haven’t commented, but it’s still weird to actually meet one of those people.

Needless to say, this conversation made me pretty happy and totally made up for any grumpiness that my terrible bus luck could have caused. It was an awesome thing to happen right before the test. The only bad thing is, I have no idea what this girl’s name is. Hopefully I’ll see her in English class tomorrow so I can prove that she’s not just some illusion that my delirious brain made up… 

A Day in the Life of a University Student: Bad Bus Luck

Today was… how shall I put it… interesting. There were some very high points, some very low points and some just plain random points. Some of it has to do with being a writer, a lot with being a university student, some with being a Doctor Who fan, and everything with being me. Since there’s just so much to tell about today, I’ve decided to break this post up into three parts. Here is number one, Bad Bus Luck.

First of all, you should know that I had two midterms today. One was a psych midterm worth 20%, the other was a poetry test worth 15%. I studied like crazy for the psych midterm since I knew it was going to be hard. The poetry one, not so much. Anyways, I had been preparing for today for a long time, had gotten all my work done last night really early so that I was in bed by ten. I woke up feeling all refreshed and ready to write the tests.

Then, before I left, I sat down on my bed to pray and ask God for help on my midterms. However, I spent just a little longer on it than I had intended, so when I opened my eyes it was already 8:29, and my bus usually gets to its stop between 8:29 and 8:31. I kinda freaked out at this, so I dashed downstairs, threw my lunch in my bag, grabbed my coat, shoved my shoes on, exploded out the door and ran down to the path to the street… only to see the bus pulling away from the stop.

This is kind of a catastrophe. It’s now 8:30, and my exam starts at 9:30. It takes me approximately an hour and eight minutes to walk to King’s. If I ran I could probably make it, but there’s no way I want to show up at my exam panting from running for an hour. The other option is to sit around and see if there’s another bus I could catch. There’s two busses that go by my place, the one I usually take and another one that normally comes before it. I could wait around and see if the other bus is late, or I could start running.

At this point, I have a brilliant idea. My bus has to go through a whole subdivision before coming out again at the main road. If I run really fast, maybe I can make it to the intersection before the bus, and so I’ll catch it there. So I cross the street and start running with my laptop bag swinging around my waist and my coat billowing out.

Just then, the second bus pulls up to the stop just behind me. Great. If I had just waited a minute longer I could have gotten on that. But there’s absolutely no use waiting here now, so I just keep running, then slow down to a walk because I’m really out of shape. About five to ten minutes later I arrive at the intersection, only to see the second bus there at the other side. The light’s red, so I can’t cross over. As soon as the light changes, the bus pulls away.

It’s now 8:40. The next bus won’t get here for another half hour. If I wait for that, then I’ll miss my transfer at main campus and end up at King’s about five minutes late for the exam. Unless I start walking, there’s no way I’ll make it in time.

So I start walking. I speed-walk through another subdivision, glancing longingly at all the cars that pass, until I come up to another major road that’s serviced by about four or five different busses. I take a well deserved break, and five minutes later another bus shows up going east. I grab that, ride it for about two stops, then get off, dash across an intersection and take a north going bus up to campus. Once there, I wait for about ten minutes until a shuttle comes, which takes me to King’s. Arrival time, 9:18.

Despite missing my bus and ending up taking three different busses and walking way too far, I got to campus only about twenty minutes later than I usually do. In the end, it didn’t work out that badly. It just doesn't make sense; I nearly missed my exam because I was praying for help on the exam. How ironic is that?

Set Your Own Deadlines (and make them early!)

(BTW, this post was actually written about two weeks ago. Now I'm at the point where all the stuff I mention is coming due, and boy, am I glad that I listened to my own advice.)

Anyone who read the title of this blog post may think that I’m crazy. After all, university deadlines are always looming ominously on the horizon. Why would I want to move them closer?

The thing you have to remember is that some storms are bigger than others. Sometimes you’ll get just a little rain shower and other times it’ll be a huge thunderstorm. Still other times you’ll get a little rain shower and then a huge hurricane will blow in followed by an inch or two of snow, and then you’ll just be stuck.

(Before I continue, I’ll take a second to apologize to anyone who thinks I’ve greatly overused the rain analogy)

I hope you get my drift. Assignments tend to pile up. You’ll have assignments due in two different courses on the same day, or three tests within a week. I have that situation right now (which is why I’m writing this blog post). For the next two weeks I have absolutely nothing due, unless you count a one-paragraph outline of an essay that’s not due until February. If you just look at my next two weeks, I’m doing pretty good.

But then the week after that is nasty. I have a 1000 word book review on All Quiet on the Western Front, a 1000 word Sociology paper, a Psychology exam and a poetry exam, all within a week. Now, I know a lot of students can write a paper in one night, but can anyone write two papers and study for two tests all at the same time? If you want a decent mark, then the answer is no.

So I’ve decided that my Sociology paper will be done this weekend, a good two weeks before the deadline. And then next weekend I’ll write the book review, leaving next week (the one before the tests) virtually free for studying. To make sure I achieve these goals, I’m telling myself that my essays are due before they really are. If I allow myself to think ‘oh, it’s three weeks until this is due’ then I’ll put it on the back burner and spend these next two weeks watching Doctor Who.

Now, this doesn’t mean that my essays will be done done. They won’t be amazingly polished totally-ready-to-hand-in finished drafts. I can certainly do some polishing in the last week right before the deadline. Still, I’ll have a first draft, something to fall back on when it gets crazy.

For all you writers out there, this would be a useful skill to have. I’ve heard that a lot of published authors are publicizing their first book while editing their second book while writing their third book. That’s a lot of work! Working with self-imposed deadlines (I need to have ten blog posts written by Monday) and fixed deadlines (your editor wants the second draft in two weeks) can’t be easy, so it’s best to start practicing now.

Now, over to you, University/Highschool students, or general writer-people. Have you ever mentally moved a deadline forward to get something done? Or do you have other strategies? Since I’m just developing my study habits, I’d love to hear any ideas you have!

Life at University: Food

I know this is a book blog, so I really shouldn't be talking about food, but I've been doing a lot more cooking than writing recently. To my great surprise, this cooking has actually been pretty successful. I've never gone hungry and never had to eat anything gross (well, once the rice was kinda dry) and never burned anything (besides for toast, lol). Since my cooking is going so well, despite the fact that I did barely any cooking at home, I've decided to share a couple of my successes with you. 

This was the first pork chop I cooked. I bought a whole pork loin (pre-sliced) and then put each slice in an individual bag. Then when I want one, I just stick it in the frying pan, add a little salt, and voila! It only takes 5-10 minutes. The peas were done in the microwave and the rice was made in a rice cooker. 

This was my attempt at bruschetta. I put tomato sauce, cheese and a bit of hamburger on the bread and stuck it in the over. The soup is simply tomato soup from a can. 

This was my supper last night. You know you're from PEI when you eat four whole potatoes... Simply cut the potatoes in wedges and put them in a bowl, then add some olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic powder then bake in the oven for 45 minutes. They stuck to the pan a little,  but boy... they were good!  

This is my food cupboard. As you can see, I do have some snack food (the Lays are displayed rather prominently, aren't they?) as well as some healthy stuff, like the huge bags of pasta and rice on the bottom shelf. There's also pancake mix and cans of soup and pudding cups and hot chocolate mix and peanut butter and lots of tasty things.

So, this is my experience with food so far. Will I gain the 'Freshman 15?' We'll have to see.... If any of you would like some tips on cooking while in university then I'll be happy to write a couple quick posts. Otherwise, I'll try to write a bit more about the academic side of things. I just needed to write this so I could boast about my unexpected cooking success. :)

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!