Wandering and wondering

Bring this backyard sunshine back

Despite the relentless flow of the first year, I finally gathered some time to continue this blog, sitting on the bumpy R4 bus on the umpteenth cloudy day of fall. No words can describe the rollercoaster I have been on for the past two months. I know it’s cliché, but it was just like yesterday when I just melting on a green hammock at my home in Saigon, sipping bubble tea and asking for another piece of bánh tráng nướng from my ever-indulging aunt. In a flash, I was fighting jetlag around the labyrinthine corners of UBC, eyes glued to Google Maps while praying that I wouldn’t collide with a rocket-speed cyclist on Main Mall. Somehow, I returned to my middle school version - a tired bus rider listening to EDM and cheesy pop music on her 1.5-hour commute to school (one-way). As the lead-tinted clouds of Vancouver floated above the golden maple trees, I began the next chapter of my life on an overcrowded bus ride, just like seven years ago across the ocean.

A week before classes started, I spent an entire afternoon wandering around the campus, showing my dear old friends from Ontario the vast campus. Climbing the steps of the Rose Garden, we took the majestic view of the crispy blue ocean lined by the lush green North Shore mountains. Despite the misty day and the light drizzle, we enjoyed the intoxicating scent of the roses. I couldn’t help but feel a surge of awe, living the moment in the intersectionality of all the fragments of my past put together. From the moss-covered French colonial buildings of my middle school in Saigon to the sparkling snowy days in Charlottetown, every memory had come together, with me finding myself reuniting with the dear people I have known for years. We had a short tour around campus, starting from trying not to get lost in the AMS Nest and ending with all of us sitting on a hill with a view of the sea blocked by the giant construction near the Museum of Anthropology. When all of our legs were aching from climbing the hills, we rode back to Richmond to recharge our batteries at the mall, where I could enjoy the long-yearned spicy fillings of shawarma and half a litre of blueberry milk tea - not long before discovering my wallet had gone on a strike on the last day of my truly free summer.

There's no way that these exact rose bushes I visited in August were still blooming in late November, but hey, what's winter in Vancouver?

The next morning took a rough grind on me, as it was the first day of Jump Start, an orientation program for incoming first-year students at UBC. As I joined the commuter stream, I was relieved that I was not the only one who suffered from the eternal trips back and forth from Richmond every day. After a few awkward conversations, we quickly warmed up with a few icebreakers, then joined a lecturer in a crash course on navigating our first year. Little did I know that no lesson would prepare me enough for the weeks that lay ahead. After the session, we went on a guided tour around the campus with our Orientation Leaders, who were upper-year students in the Faculty of Science. Walking around until my feet ached for around two hours every day for three days, I felt I could never get used to the gigantic campus without gluing my eyes on Google Maps. The 3-day orientation was filled with excitement, where I could get a taste of first-year life before plunging into the deep end where I am now, but that's another story - for then, I was on cloud ninth. The orientation ended with Imagine Day, where in one place I saw the best costumes (Star Wars-themed deans), the worst faculty chant (no I didn't even memorize it), and the largest crowd ever (8,000-ish students) at the welcoming pep rally. But the best thing that I discovered about UBC was that it was a place for reunions. Seeing people from every one of the five schools I attended during four years in just a week at UBC was pure magic.

Lost in the crowd and even more lost during the Science chant

Just another one of the thirty-something clubs on Imagine Day with newsletters I opted out from in November :)

During the first few weeks, I often went to my Collegium, a place on campus where first-year commuter students could crash as a “home away from home.” Despite having to navigate through the unimaginable crowds of students from every faculty occupying the space for the first few days to join social events, I soon grow to love the place. There’s a cozy blue couch tucked in a quiet corner that welcomes every tired student for a power nap, the common area for studying, and a full-fledged kitchen for students to cook, store, or eat their meals, and my all-time favourite drinks counter, where I can make myself a hot chocolate or coffee to carry myself through 9 AM classes. But what I loved the most was the friendships formed with other students there, as we bonded over the most random situations ever, whether through overpriced snacks or midterm misery. As the first term is nearly over, the Collegia will always hold a special place in my heart.

My first ever lecture at university, Sociology, was at 9 AM sharp, so I had to battle my sleepiness and arrive on campus almost half an hour early. Contrary to my expectations, the first lecture went wonderfully as I got to learn more about my professor, who had an immense sense of humour, accentuated more by his thick Yorkshire accent. As I took my first sociology course, I became more awed by the world around me. Patterns long assumed as norms were slowly unearthed, revealing deeply etched streaks of human nature, not often without dark truths (I could ramble for hours about this, but there are four more courses to be worried about, so off we go). After the first class, I wandered the campus for a quiet study spot, usually accompanied by a steaming cup of hot chocolate or tea to get me through the day. When the two-hour break was over, I arrived at my Biology 112 class, where it took me a month to organize my note-taking system (fortunately things turned out well in the end). At 3 PM, I would have my Chemistry lecture with over two hundred other students tuckered in an overly warm lecture hall. It was so snug in the winter that I couldn't resist taking micro naps every five seconds, even though the professor was phenomenal (she once dressed in an inflatable dog costume for a charity campaign - and that day I didn't dare to blink during the lecture).

It can be hard to show where the electrons are

On my way to my Sociology discussion class across NW Marine Drive. When you cross the street after 5 PM on a rainy November afternoon, with the cars coming down the hill at breakneck speed, it's even more fun.

And just like that, I finished the last of my six midterms last week and now frantically preparing for finals. Although it's hard to detach myself from all the work, I try my best to cherish the single things I love - taking aimless walks during sunny days, squandering extra espresso foam for my iced latte at Tims every weekend, or keeping rambling on this blog after getting off the R4 bus. Or as Bon Jovi said, "We gotta hold on to what we've got." Who knows what I'm holding onto may unfold, and that keeps me going.