University is like the waiting room, a bit of a holding zone for adulthood. It’s the place where we leave our parents behind and venture out alone. It is not boring like in a doctor’s office. University is more like a series of airport terminal waiting rooms, back when airplanes couldn’t carry enough fuel for long haul transcontinental flight. It’s like trying to get to New Zealand or Australia from good old Toronto. At each stop you celebrate the fact that your plane didn’t crash, have adventures, and learn all sorts of random things in the place where you just landed. Through the shared trials and tribulations of air travel you bond with your fellow travellers, clap with them each time the plane safely touches down, commiserate about the five consecutive breakfasts they’ve subjected you to. Sometimes your plans get derailed. You get stuck on an island somewhere lamenting the stupidity of a place that builds a runway next to a mountain that slumps over the runway every time there are tropical storms, so nearly a quarter of the year. Why haven’t they built a retaining wall or re-enforced it or something? Gosh darn it! Other times you might get unexpected surprises. Sitting on the tarmac wondering why two guys just entered the plane and are systematically spraying everything. Then they leave closing the door behind them. You look around, why aren’t the other passengers concerned?! That could have been poison. Have they been brain washed!!!! WHAT IS GOING ON!? Oh wait, the plane is just getting fumigated, no big deal. This is totally normal, obviously…
University is all that time spent in waiting rooms, and the time spent in the air. It is the trip, full of detours, impromptu adventures and unlimited learning (some of it mandated of course). Adult life is the destination. For most of adult life means working some version of 9-5 hours, limited vacation time. You will take many more trips, but chances are you won’t be nearly as unencumbered as you are now. This is your chance to take risks, learn new things and share your unique talents with others. This is a time when you can afford to fail, and learn what it means to pick yourself up and emerge stronger for it.
Co-op gives us a unique opportunity to try lots of different jobs. You could end up doing anything for 4 months and after those 4 months you are under no obligation to return to it. Take this opportunity to try living in different places, working non-traditional hours and maybe even explore radically different industries. I have fond memories of my first co-op among the forests and wildlife based out of Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory. I have really appreciated the extra days off that working 12 hour shifts gives me. (If you work night shifts you can sleep in as late as you want!) The world is your Oyster – enjoy it.
Here at Waterloo you will make friends, you will learn new things, you will grow as a person. There will be times when it feels like everyone knows what they are doing – they probably don’t, and there will be times when you might feel stranded – there are resources, remember, you are never alone help is at the end of your fingertips. In high school I did a lot of sports so I usually worked alone and did a lot of catch up on my own. At Waterloo I’ve realized that that isn’t an option. Engineering is like a big family. Studying and Labs are often group activities. In the end this is your education, you are paying for this opportunity to learn and this is the degree that future employers will look at. If you find yourself lost don’t be afraid to ask for help to dig yourself out. WEEF TA’s, fellow classmates and upper years, like your Bigs and Huges, are excellent resources while study groups can help you learn those things you didn’t even realize you hadn’t learned and push you to keep at it. Sometimes friends even help you to know when it’s better to take a break and eat a Kitkat. (Or some real food, real food is a pretty good idea).
As Incoming Editor in Chief I’m really looking forward to creating five informative, exciting, and sometimes humorous publications. Hopefully they will keep you up to date on what’s going on around campus, especially EngSoc events, and offering advice as you make your way through this first term. (Should you study for the Phys 115 midterm? Only if you think you’ve studied enough to get 100% in all of your other exams! Also, pro tip, sometimes the most boring sounding O-week events are actually the best!)
So I’m going to close where I really should have begun. Welcome to the Waterloo family! This is the beginning of the rest of your life. I know you will make the most of it!
Leave a Reply