Well, today I'm gonna let yah guys take a look into what the daily life of a poor student is like.
This is usually the first thing I see every morning.. and the first thing I curse at.. lol.. classes start at 9am, so waking up at 7am is perfect and gives me enough time for everything. Usually though, I don't actually get up at 7am ^^;; I just slam the snooze button..
... and then I see this. And start freaking out and jump out of bed to get ready. This is on good days.. sometimes I don't get back up until 8:45am.
Breakfast! I love breakfast.. I know a lot of people don't like eating breakfast but I absolutely have to. It's one the best meals of the day! If I'm not having some delicious Apple Cinnamon Cheerios, I'm having toast + Peanut butter and boiled eggs.
After getting getting ready I hop into my beloved Jess (my car) and head to school. Anybody else name their car? I know I can't be the only one! The drive to school is about 10 minutes from my place so it's actually pretty close. Not close enough to walk but certainly close enough to bike.
I have a parking pass for the University starting in September 2008 until April 2009. It only cost $150 for 8 months of parking! What a deal! I remember the ludicrous parking prices at SAIT and the University in Calgary and I can't believe what a rip off it is.. but since it's only August I have to park my car in a neighborhood close to the University.
This is the sign that's along the street I park on. When I first saw it it totally confused the hell out of me! I've never seen a sign like this before.. but according to this sign, you're not allowed to park on this side of the street from 9am - 5pm on ODD calendar days, from November 15 to April 30.
Directly across the street on the other side we have this sign. No parking on EVEN days.. lol..
After walking up a hill about 3-5 minutes I arrive at the outside of the University. There's like 4 or 5 different entrances into the university and this is just one of them.
I found this sign pretty amusing the first time I saw it. Apparently "Bearskin Lake" is a residential area on campus.. and I'm not really sure if they have a real lake or not in there..
This is the ATAC building which I believe is the newest building at the University. As you can see, it looks pretty impressive! At night with all the lights it looks even more impressive..
This is the first building I head into. I think it's called the Agora/University Center building.. It has a bunch of big lecture halls and houses all the services in the University. So things such as Registars Office, Financial Aid, Bookstore, etc etc. are all in this building.
A look at the inside of the building. It opens up into a big open area. The shop in the back is actually a Tim Hortons, so on crappy mornings sometimes I like to grab a coffee before heading into class.
One of the typical lecture halls. Nothing too exciting here! In this class there's typically almost 200 students but on a normal lecture day you only see about 2/3 of the class here. The instructor wears a mic so you can actually hear what he's saying at the back of the room.. it doesn't actually work very well though.. >_>
After lecture is over (all 3 hours of it..) I pop outside. This is the view from outside the University Center. During the summer they have all these events with a bunch of kids (the ones in the orange shirts) so you'll see them all over campus during this time.
Another view from the University Center. Lakehead University is actually a pretty nice campus. It seems the designers wanted to build around nature and incorporate it into their design and so you'll see a lot of trees and flowers all over campus. After this, it's time to head over to the cafeteria and have lunch!
Typical lunch. Doesn't look very appetizing does it? ^^ I love Beefaroni though! The little dessert on the side is oranges in a mango gel? Or something like that.. either way, it's delicious!
A view from the cafeteria. I absolutely love the view from the cafeteria. As I was talking about before, instead of ploughing over everything the designers decided to build around nature, so the lake makes for awesome views like this.
Another view from the cafeteria.
After a quick lunch it's time to head to the library and hide in the cubicle. I like using this time to pretend to study.. but there's computers everywhere in the library so it's hard to resist just jumping on the net and wasting away my lunch hour..
After pretending to study I head to my next class. If you ever get lost all you have to do is follow the signs! The writing below the English signs is actually some Native American langauge. There's a lot of Natives at the University and the University offers a ton of Native American related programs.
Since it's summer, they also have a BBQ outside every day. For a couple bucks you can buy a hamburger, hotdog or whatever.
The entire University campus is surrounded by a ton of trees. This is the view from beside the ATAC building looking out into the parking lot.
This is the other side of the ATAC building.
And a shot inside. I don't particularly like the design for this building as it feels kind of "cold". There are windows all around which is very nice, but all the concrete and steel makes the structure feel cold. I don't know what the designers were thinking but they decided to paint everything a bright ass yellow and blue and reminds you of the playground during Elementary. It makes for a very confusing building..
One of the cooler aspects of the building I thought. This is the elevator with a cool post for the buttons and a kind of corrugated steel all around.
The classrooms in this building are a lot more technologically advanced than the earlier one I was at. There's 3 projector screens where the instructor either projects stuff from the computer or writes notes. In addition, all around the room are speakers as well as VIDEO CAMERAS! I guess it's so the prof can stay at his or her desk and see if anybody is cheating during exams, lol..
This is another cool feature in this room. Each row of desks has this sucker between every 2 seats. You just press the button and speak into it so everyone can hear you. Anyways the system is called the "Danish Interpretation Systems" or maybe that's just what the company that makes it is called. There's 3 settings for this.. "ENG" "FRE" and "FLO". English, French, and... what the hell is FLO? Is that Danish or something?
After lecture is over I usually head home or I stay at the library for an hour to study. Once I get home I jump on my laptop and chat with some buds on MSN and watch TV until time for dinner.
This is a man's best friend. I'd love to have an actual BBQ but I can't afford to have one out here. For a George of this size all it'll cost you is $20! What a deal!
Aaaaand here's dinner! Chicken thighs grilled on the George. Before cooking I cover it with Frank's Hot sauce and a bunch of seasoning. It's absolutely delicious. I usually cook about 4 chicken thighs for dinner. If it's not chicken, I'm usually having some delicious Hamburger Helper + Ground Beef.
After dinner, I kick back and watch more TV, sit on my laptop, play games, or whatever to kill the time.. as you can guess, it's extremely exciting, lol..
So there you have it! A look into a typical day for me. I hope you guys enjoyed this post. Peace!
