Welcome to Surviving Studenthood! (Become a Fan on Facebook)
This is a blog which narrates the experiences of a university student, to be a voice of student everywhere. Even if you and I live in different countries, attend different schools, and study different subjects, we are still the same. We struggle through surviving “studenthood” together, and we are all looking for an outlet to express who are we and what we believe in.
We forgot all about our follow-up post, but a comment left on the original got us back on track. The question is, what are the alternative options besides living on campus, and commuting?
We will confess, the choices are slim.
Apartments On/Near Campus
One option is to live in an apartment near campus. If you get lucky, you can avoid the drunken mess of “newly-released” undergraduate students. On the other hand, if your neighbours end up being a family with small children, you aren’t going to have it might quieter. You don’t get to control or choose your neighbours in an apartment, and they may not be into studying – or keeping the noise down – at all. You’d be surprised how noise, sounds, even cooking smells! can waft into your apartment and destroy your concentration.
There are other important points to consider:
The anonymity of apartments means that safety is an issue. If something went wrong, it could be days before anyone noticed you were missing. It’s really important, if you live in an apartment, to keep in touch with friends or family. After what happened to the poor York University student Liu Qian, we urge you not to take safety as a light issue.
Additionally, the cost of the apartment might be 12 months, which means you need to sublet your apartment for the summer months, or you end up incurring a hefty charge paying for rent in an apartment you aren’t using.
Speaking of extra charges – finding an apartment farther from your university means you pay a double whammy for public transit. “Only 15 minutes away” becomes really challenging to walk when there is a blizzard outside. You also have to lug all your books to campus, because coming back during the day isn’t really a viable option, unless you don’t mind paying a lot for transit.
Definitely, there are pros – better facilities than residences, more amenities, no students, etc. People who live in apartments don’t consider it an 8-month rental: its their home, and they want the space respected – an attitude you don’t often find on residence.
Other thoughts? If you don’t live on res or commute from home, what are some note-worthy options for living?
(This post was written in conjunction with The Wonders of Womanhood writers. Many thanks for your words of wisdom, ideas, thoughts….and just the right amount of feminine touch.)
I don’t know what it is, dear readers, but I have a terrible feeling settling in my soul. Partly, it’s because of the upcoming “U of T Hell Week” that sinks its teeth into us next week – I think the amount of assignments, exams and papers I have due next week is worse than any other week I’ve had in four years of undergraduate study.
But the other part, I think, is the realization that a very important chapter in my life is coming to a close. No matter how challenging and destitute university feels while you are in it, its impending close is bittersweet. While it is exciting to move on to other projects, it is so hard to let go of that which you know and feel comfortable with, and more importantly, the wonderful experiences you have had as a university student. As I always say, there is no other time in your life where every day, you will develop and grow so much as a person. Every time you leave a classroom, you are irrevocably changed through the knowledge you have gained. That experience is irreplaceable.
Somehow, I am not sure if I am ready to leave that behind…I guess you could say, I have pre-graduation jitters. 
I guess one of the reasons endings are so important to us, is because we want to feel like we made a difference; that we impacted someone’s life, and that even when we leave, the memories and the friendships that we have made in university will carry with us into our future paths. I think its scary when you realize you haven’t as much of a difference as you hoped, where the ever-lasting friendship you thought you had was really just you putting in 70% of the work, and receiving only 30% back, or when the relationship you spent so much time investing in is suddenly moving away and moving on without you. Some of those realizations hit me these past few weeks – while perhaps I hadn’t made as much of an impact as I had hoped, I also realized that maybe others were more ready to move on than I expected, and I was the one holding back and holding on.
Friendships and relationships are a bit like holding sand tightly in your hand – the more you clutch, the faster it slips from your fingers and the move you lose. But letting people go and hoping they come back in their own time, is daunting in itself – with the realization that you must let go without any conditions of hope for return. It requires a lot of faith, which is also ingredient for investing in one’s own future.
That is hard for me; I’ve never been the “wait and see” type, and maybe that’s why I’m still trying to hold on to what I know – because it is real, and true, and tangible and right there in front of me, while the future is still unknown and fleeting, like wisps of clouds. My view into the future is foggy, and I am afraid to venture out into that which I cannot see. I feel vulnerable, afraid, and exposed. And, while the other side of the bridge may lead to a place that is better than I ever imagined, it’s always hard to take those first steps, to close your eyes with blind faith and recognize that you have worked so hard to be standing, here at this precise moment, that not taking that first step will always be more of an injustice than any misstep you could ever make along the way.
As I write this post, I realize that we approach the final stretch; the last few miles on the well-worth path that we have always known. And while the beaten path is familiar and comforting, the new path may lead to exciting adventures and tales of wonder that are just beyond the horizon.
Cheers to all of you graduating this year. Here’s to something new.
- Surviving Studenthood & The Wonders of Womanhood
Welcome LSATers! Congrats on completing the first LSAT test of the new year. While its not exactly the Valentine’s weekend you had planned, hopefully the LSAT was so awesome, it was like giant lovefest for you.
We’ve discovered how important the LSAT is to our readers and subscribers, so we will dedicate a post or two which include everything and anything about the LSAT – your experiences, updates we get on scores, and what people around the world thought of it. We open the comments section up to hear your thoughts and feelings, so comment away! We will also be posting updates right here on this post, so bookmark our website, and check back here every once in a while before your score comes out to see what people are saying.
Upon completing your test, I am sure anxiety set in, coupled with your irritation that you didn’t have your cellphone on you and had to wait forever to use the pay-phone and for someone to come pick up. But while the gnawing feeling in your chest may last until your score comes in, we here at Surviving Studenthood, are here to ease the burden and share in communal experiences.
Now that it’s over, relax. Enjoy a big lunch, turn on the TV and catch up on your old shows, so peruse the web for awesome sites (like ours, and The Wonders of Womanhood!), and after a re-charing break (or day) get back to the assignment you have due Monday.
How was the Feb LSAT? Any sections particularly hard? Was it easier or harder than previous sittings? What would be advice you’d give for the June 2011 LSAT-ers?
Updates and Additions to our Feb 2011 LSAT post
For those of you just heading downtown, I am sure “wrapping up” doesn’t even begin to describe your day (come back to this post when you are ready to curl up in bed with your laptop and peruse blogs!), but bear with us as we provide some perspective and well deserved credit.
Today was a day that put students to the test. For the lucky ones at York or UTM or UTSC, the test didn’t apply. But for U of T St.George or Ryerson or York Region District School Board secondary school students, there was a big examination. It was an examination that tested your commitment to your education.
Did you pass?
I’ve been greatly frustrated with being at school…something about the courses, my friends, and just about everything else has got my brain in a blizzard. When I heard there could be a snowstorm, I have to admit – I was a bit relieved.
According to the weather network, every major city from Windsor to Kingston will see at least 15cm of snow on Wed. In fact, some areas could see up to 30cm between Wed and Thurs. This is going to be a significant winter storm for much on North America; many of the US states are also expecting a massive snowfall and freezing temperatures – snow could be measured in feet in some places! Dozens of flights have already been cancelled as freezing rain is predicted tonight.
With exactly 9 days left before school starts, we figured it was time to get you thinking about the new year and the upcoming new term. Excusing your night of bubbly new year’s eve fun, we’ll assume the rest of the week is going into recovering from your hangover and spending a few more days with your family.
January 3rd marks the first day back to school for elementary and high school students, the first day back to work for those money-making adults, and…the first day of prepping for school for university students. As most of us don’t go back until the 10th of January, it might be important to think about how to spend this next week, post-hangover.
(The following blog post was reblogged from U of T’s student-life blog, UpbeaT)
Being part of a study group is a lot like casual dating. Sometimes, you meet someone and you hit it off instantly. You talk for hours and at the end, you get their number and genuinely hope to meet again. Other times, it’s a bust – something about the person makes you realize there is no “click” and by the time you go on your merry way, several valuable hours have been lost.
Most of my friends have never been in a study group. In accordance with the infamous U of T student experience, concerns about other students “taking my ideas” or “not doing enough work” deter many students from benefiting from being part of a study group. In doing so, they miss out on the experience, advice, knowledge and support of their fellow U of T students.
Perhaps you are interested in testing out the study group waters…so where to begin?
If you are in university, this is probably right around the time you feel like hell, with exams, papers and a million readings that you put off, even though you swore this was the year you would keep up. Don’t fear, you are not alone.
My younger sister came home for the weekend, in a rather perplexed about her current university experience. She is travelling through her first year and, like some foreign visitors, was marred by an experience of unexpected surprises. Rather than brave the university world alone, she got smart and decided not to re-invent the wheel; instead, she opted to talk to her older siblings. It was a rather rousing debate – there are four of us, all at different universities and programs, and it seemed post-worthy for any university student who needs a little guidance to the elixir of good grades. I’ll confess – none of us are geniuses – but I maintain that because we each have averages above 3.5/4.0 GPA, we feel qualified to give a few tips on improving.
This post is a tough-love post: it is for those students who have been cruising through university, and have suddenly realized their grades are not high enough – whether it is for professional school or grad school, for graduation, for your parents, or just for yourself. One thing my sister mentioned is that university students (including herself) feel lost in their student experience, and that a little tough love from some older siblings might have helped. So we’ve decided to play “older sibling” to all of our readers and dish it out, cold (ice-cream!) style.
I’m not sure what it is with girls, but they have this knack for community and sisterhood. Somehow, the girls of our group here at Surviving Studenthood have decided they they need another blog, and we guys have to grin and and stick it out – although, we got dibs on the design of Surviving Studenthood, and decided to funk it up a little more.
The girls bring you ‘The Wonders of Womanhood’. I know I will be reading it, just because I am curious about what wonders women might have that men don’t – and certainly, I will get some insight on how women think. I encourage you to check it out – they’ve snagged a couple of our posts which you may not have read, and they have a few of their own.
I hope you enjoy their new blog!
So, while we keep you posted on the 2010 Oct LSAT sitting (we suspect there may not be much for the next week-ish), we must turn our attention to those pesky law school applications which have been hiding in the rather magnanimous shadow of the LSAT. For those of you applying to Ontario Law Schools, the deadline is right around the corner, on Nov 1st, 2010. While you may be biting your nails in anxious fever about your score, don’t chew to the bone, because you need those fingers for typing!
Lets look at a couple things for applications.
