La Roommates (Kate, Steph, Leigh and moi)

Me and Ladies from 1st Year

School has been back in full swing for the last few weeks. It is my fourth year, my last and final year....thank goodness! I'm through with Western and their damned administrative policies. Instead of helping along students, these administrative rules have only hindered my time here at Western. They weren't as evident during my first, or even second year, but boy have I ever feel their presence these last two years. I will start with capped classroom sizes. Most students have their potential schedules all ready to go at the beginning of the summer when the timetable of classes goes up. I definitely do. Whenever Western does get around to posting some decent classes, I jump on the opportunity to get into them. But of course, when your registration time does finally come around, you realize that half of the classes that you wanted to take are already full, or in many cases, they're all full! Ok, but seriously Western, you can't put a cap of 25 students on a class entitled Genocide. And shouldn't you be letting all the 150 students who want to learn about this human rights atrocity in a class like this??? This is no ordinary class; it could be the beginning of a revolution! But that aside, shouldn't people be allowed to take the classes they have paid for? Registration period is one of the most stressful times of the year for both students and admin. We could all save headaches and stress if there were no such thing as capped classroom sizes. At Otago University in NZ, there were no such things as capped classes, thus students always got to take the classes they wanted. From my experience, there was never any overloaded classrooms, and if there were more students than chairs, we would simply move rooms. C'mon Western, it's simple math!

My second beef with Western is their add/drop period. Why is it only one week long??? I'm sure almost every student knows that on the first day of class, there is never an official lecture! The first class is reserved for picking up the syllabus and seeing if you have friends in the class! I am not saying that profs should have a lecture that first class, but perhaps they should give a talk about a general topic related to the class so we get a feel for his/her lecture style and also an idea of the content. Or to make it easier on all of us, why doesn't western just extend the add/drop time for another week? I just don't see the logic or reasoning behind such a short add/drop? Because of their useless guidelines, I now have a big black "withdrawn" on my transcript (for life) for a philosophy class I dropped out of in my third year. I think I dropped it after the third class, which was literally 6 days after classes had commenced. Thanks Western for tainting my job potential. I am so glad that you want to make my journey into the real world as smooth as possible.

So those are just two of several grievances that I have with my lovely alma mater. I think it is becoming more apparent to me that academic environment is a big factor for me when choosing grad school. I will admit that I have had some pretty incredible and unforgettable experiences at Western, and I don't regret choosing Western, but I don't think I will ever return for any graduate or professional school.

Besides school, I have been making sure to see as many people as I can and get involved with as much as possible. My roommates' Leigh and Steph's birthdays were last week. As you can see, I have posted some pics from Steph's b-day. We had some good nights out together. Oh, I have to vent about one more thing. This time, it's about London. I have gone out a few times in the last week, and each and every time I have left to come home, I have felt more scared than ever walking along Richmond St. (the main downtown road with bars, stores, etc.). The first night I went out, a friend and I were walking home and this car full of obnoxious young guys driving at least 60km/h throws eggs at us! Seriously, wtf?? Luckily, noone was hurt, but Laura got an egg whipped at her legs which obviously broke all over her. I don't even want to think about the fact that it could have hit her in the face. Another night as Steph and I walked home, the guys who were walking in front of us started whipping their post bar food (aka Sammy's wraps and Wendy's burgers) at cars driving by. Before they could even turn around to see us, I hailed a cab and we just drove it the 4 blocks home. What has the world come to when I don't feel safe walking down one of the most busiest and well-lit streets in London, Ontario?

Ok, so there's my rant/update of the last couple weeks. I am going camping this weekend for one last Summer hurrah. The following weekend is Thanksgiving, thus I will be seeing loads of family, including my bro Jerf!

Until then, thanks for reading!

Rebecca the bride to be and moi

Rebecca and her fiancee, Brian

My cousin Janice and I

Janice and Jon

My ladies Annie and Sofia

Sofia and I

Stephers and I

I flew back into Ontario on August 16th. But since I have been back, I have been out and about all over the place which is the reason for my absence on the blogging scene. The 19th of August was the day of Beck's and Brian's engagement shindig so I made my way to Kitchener for a few days to help them prepare for their (second biggest) day. It was a solid night of wine-tasting, mingling, and of course celebrating. I tried some incredible white wines from Pelee Island. My favourite being the Gewartztraminer of course. Rebecca's mother and I had a great bonding session over the German wine. A bit of background on Rebecca and I: We have been best pals since Grade 6. She is my partner in crime and someone who I totally respect and admire, as much as my own mother. I have seen her grow up into such a brilliant and strong young woman. Brian is one lucky guy, but he recognizes that. They deserve each other wildly and I couldn't be happier for them. It was a solid weekend with the newly engaged couple and I look forward to seeing them in October for Oktoberfest!

After my visit to Kitchener, I made my way to Toronto for a week long adventure. I first met up with my lovely lady pal Sofia who picked me up in her new ride, courtesy of her parents. She was recently hired as a film teacher for schools across Toronto, which is the reason for her parents' generous gift. This is an incredible opportunity for someone who just graduated from a post-secondary institution. I am so proud of her. She will make an excellent teacher due to her zest and passion for film. That same day, I met up with my good friend Annie. It was pretty amazing seeing these girls since I hadn't seen them for almost 9 months. Annie has introduced me to some pretty awesome places around the city, including eateries, book and music stores, and concert halls. Basically, places that a newcomer to the city would not be able to find on their own.

My cousin Janice had me over for a few days as well. Janice and I are about a month a part in age and we literally grew up next door to each other until about the age of 5, but that bond was ever-lasting. While we have had our differences, ultimately we cannot deny the internal bond that only family members share. It was great seeing Janice and her partner Jon. We had some good evenings and daytime buffet-runs. I look forward to our next visit.

Probably one of the highlights of the week was going to visit my maternal grandmother at her nursing home with my brother and Janice. Everytime I see her, my heart lights up because I know how happy she is to see us. My halmunee ("grandmother" in korean) cannot verbally communicate due to a stroke she suffered from over a decade ago, but she finds other ways to express her love to us. Whether it's through smiles, laughs or hugs, it is so endearing and rather refreshing to receive love in such a simple, yet understated fashion. These are the moments that you realize just how much actions really do speak louder than words.

Last, but not least, I must mention my good times with Suleiman in the city. Our first night out was my first night in town with my ladies Sofia and Annie alongside. We met up at The Green Room, where we all shared a pitcher of Amsterdam. Suly and I reminisced about the good ol' days in NZ. It was nice to see a familliar face from the place that I called home not so long ago: Toroa. Near the end of the week, Suly and I met up for a bubble tea, which I missed dearly when I was in NZ. We people watched until it got unbearably cold outside and decided to say goodbye...for now. Although, I didn't get to see Suly for a long time during my week in T.O., I can't complain considering I saw him just a couple months back.

All in all, it was a solid week in T.O. but I couldn't help but notice my feelings towards the city itself had changed. While I have never really complained about the noise, busy streets, pollution or people in the big city, they stuck out to me like a sore thumb this time around. The constant movement, noise, and obnoxious crowds really began to test my patience this week. I really don't consider myself a small-town girl and I do enjoy the excitement of being in a big city, but Toronto lost a lot of its appeal for me this past week. As I said to many of my friends that week, when I arrived into Toronto from a refreshing weekend in Kitchener, it was as if a cloud shadowed over my head and stayed there all week. Luckily, this cloud didn't take away from the time spent with my friends and family, but it sure affected my appreciation for Canada's largest city. For a while, I contemplated moving to Toronto, either for school or work, but after spending more and more time on the West Coast, I think it is becoming pretty clear to me where I will end up. However, that will be the topic of another blog post somewhere in the further future.

I finally arrived back into London on August 26th, refreshed and ready to plant my feet in one place for a while. Seeing my lovely roommate Steph again was pretty fantastic. A few hours after I got into town, we attended Western's Charity dinner, which was pretty amazing. It was great seeing a lot of familiar faces and rekindling friendships. I look forward to doing that for the next little while as I slowly reunite with old friends.

I should be quite busy for the next few weeks preparing for classes and my last year of undergrad, and most likely at Western. I have a renewed energy and enthusiasm to tackle my last year, which I look forward to. I doubt I will have anything too exciting to share over the next week or two, but I promise to keep you updated on a more regular basis. Thanks for reading : )