"The Best Four Years of Your Life", Part 3: Life Outside of the Classroom
When you ask people what their favourite part about their university experience was, very rarely, if ever, do they say that it was the courses they took or the actually school part of it. Life outside of the classroom is so important; even though it’s been said one too many times, getting involved in extra-curriculars and taking time to enjoy the area surrounding your school is no joke, and it contributes immensely to how you feel about the four years that pass you by so quickly.
It’s never too early, it’s never too late
The “life outside of the classroom” mindset is something that I severely lacked in my first year, which probably explains why it was so unenjoyable. The scariest part about starting somewhere new is feeling alone, but when you really think about it, there are thousands of freshmen that are going through the same thing as you, and finding a few people you can connect with through that experience shouldn’t be too hard… or so I thought.
I always blame my unfortunate first year experience on the fact that I didn’t live in a first-year residence, with the rest of the freshmen. Residences are where all the first years make the friends that they keep for the rest of their university lives. I never experienced being put in a room with a random roommate and becoming best friends, throwing parties in a res room, or eating in a dining hall with my res buddies. In retrospect, the bigger issue wasn’t where I was living, but it was my mindset; I thought my grades and doing well in school were the only thing that mattered, even though I ended up doing very poorly. I thought joining clubs were a waste of time. I’d stay cooped up in my room (yes, I did this even pre-covid) and thought that I didn’t need any friends. Well, spoiler alert: having some friends doesn’t hurt!
Let’s just fast forward to my second year - I promise it’s not as bleak and dismal as the first. Switching programs was definitely the best decision for me. It felt right to be a part of something that I chose for myself, rather than something I would have just settled with. Once I declared my Computer Science major, I felt unstoppable, in the sense that I felt like I was a “cool” kid now, with all these skills, and wanted to get as involved as I could. I think I was a bit too ambitious at first, thinking that I should attend a Hackathon at Yale University (yes, Yale… what was I thinking?), as a coding newbie who didn’t even know what the difference between Java and JavaScript was. I was humbled after that experience, and needed to see a chiropractor after sleeping on the cold floors of the university gym.
Some of the other Hackathons and Tech competitions I participated in that year included Hack McWics, BOLT Bootcamp, and McHacks. Hack, hack, hack… what’s all that about? It sounds intimidating for sure, and trust me, going to your first few hackathons will be terrifying, but it’s normal to feel a bit out of place at first. I think a common misconception is that you need to be a professional coder or a seasoned techie to be able to attend something like that. In my opinion, hackathons are for three things: networking, learning, and getting lots of free swag. If any of these interest you, and you have a few friends to drag along, hackathons are super valuable experiences. These types of settings give you the opportunity to get hands-on experience utilizing the things you learn in the classroom, which I promise you are way more fun than the lectures make them out to be. On top of applying what you already know, there’s always workshops or panels that can teach you the things you wished you learned in school. I’ve received interview invites through networking with recruiters at hackathons and made friends from all different schools. Another bonus is being able to add projects that you work on during the hackathon onto your resumé, and bam! You have something to talk about at your next interview.
Embracing your program
A lot of your university persona revolves around what you study and what program you’re in. There’s a clear divide in how Engineering students are vs Managements students vs Arts students, and so on. You chose your major for one of few reasons; either you know exactly what you want to do, you’re interested in the field and want to learn more about it, or you have no idea what to study and just chose randomly. In most cases, I think the reasons lean more towards the second one - you have a few years to earn a degree, why not make the most of it?
When I first decided to switch into CS, I didn’t really know what that meant. So I take a bunch of COMP courses now, is that it? What does it mean to be a “Computer Science Student”? I wanted to really embrace my program and everything it had to offer. Other than getting involved in hackathons and things outside of school, there are plenty of program-related resources available to all students, including a departmental student society. Mine is called CSUS - Computer Science Undergraduate Society. I was always intimidated by anything student council related, but trust me, it’s not the same as the student council you may know from high school. It’s not about organizing pep rallies and spirit weeks, but instead about representing your departments' student body and providing helpful resources to them.
In the Winter semester of my second year I decided to apply to be a CSUS Helpdesk tutor. The Helpdesk is a initiative run by CSUS that offers free peer tutoring for any undergraduate student, focusing on the entry level COMP courses. As a Helpdesk tutor, you’re responsible for a 2-hour weekly shift where you help students in any class that you’ve previously taken and are comfortable with. I thought this would be a great opportunity to get involved in the CS community and to keep my fundamentals sharp. I strongly believe that you learn so much when you teach, and it’s a rewarding experience to be able to relate to other students and help them through the struggles that you’ve previously experienced.
I enjoyed being a tutor and admired the initiative so much that in the next semester, I applied to become the VP Helpdesk for CSUS. This is a role on the CSUS Executive council where you run the Helpdesk, instead of just being a member. As the VP, I’m in charge of recruiting and interviewing new tutors, holding orientation, creating the tutor schedule, and managing the operations of the Helpdesk throughout the semester. I helped the Helpdesk transition into an online format on Discord during the pandemic and re-defined many of the logistics behind recruiting and operations. I’ve been the VP for the last 3 semesters and it has been incredibly rewarding and fun to be an essential part of the initative.
Becoming part of CSUS was one of the best decisions I made at McGill. It was important for me to do more than just be in my program in order to feel like I belonged in my program, and I loved being able to meet so many new people with similar interests and different views, while also being able to help the student body. There is no how-to guide to being the perfect “CS student”; everyone is different. Embracing your program can mean many different things, from joining student councils, to doing research, to attending workshops, to taking a cool class, to meeting new people. An essential part of my undergrad experience has been my involvement in my department, and this isn’t for everyone, but it’s important to find ways to enjoy what you’re studying and take advantage of the opportunities that only the university life can offer you.
Life in Montreal: Exploring a new city
In this section, I want to share a few of my tips and the things I learned while living in a new city for school. There’s a lot of uncertainty that comes with moving somewhere foreign; Foreign doesn’t have to mean a completely new country or continent, but more-so a place that is unfamiliar to you. After being a Montreal resident for the past four years, I think I’ve compiled my fair share of tips for exploring somewhere new, not specific to my personal experience.
Be open to new cultures and perspectives
This may not extremely relevant for me in particular, but if you’re moving somewhere a bit more foreign, literally, then this should be an essential part of your travelling and moving mindset. People in different parts of the world do things differently, so be open to embracing new perspectives and experiencing new cultures. At a smaller scale, I felt a sort of culture shock during my move. When I first came to Montreal, it took a while to get used to the French speaking culture, and realizing that French is the first language that people greet you in, until they realize that you have no idea what they’re saying. Even though I come from a French immersion background, this isn’t common for many McGill students that come from out-of-province, so it’s important to recognize the difference in cultures and lifestyle, and try to integrate it into your daily life.
Familiarize yourself with travel and transportation
Every city has it’s own forms of transportation, and it’s super important to familiarize yourself with it if you want to be able to go anywhere. When I was home in Toronto, I was used to driving everywhere and also knew exactly what busses to take to get from one place to another. Since I moved to Downtown Montreal, driving wasn’t really an option anymore, so I had to learn the metro (this means subway) routes and the metro stops around my area. Luckily, I live very close to a metro stop and am able to get to different places downtown relatively easy. I’m guilty of staying within the McGill bubble and haven’t really taken the time to explore the outskirts of the bubble, but getting to know the different forms of transportation will make it a lot easier for you to do so.
Live somewhere accessible
This relates to the previous point of being familiar with the city’s transportation; living somewhere accessible makes everything easier. This could mean living close to a metro stop, a bus stop, grocery stores, a mall, restaurants or your workplace or school.
Since I was moving for school, it made sense to me (and to my parents) to live as close to school as possible. There’s a lot of time that can be wasted in commuting back and forth, and if I’m already deciding to pay the pricey Downtown rent, I might as well choose an optimal location. As I mentioned before, I also chose somewhere close to a metro stop so that I could easily go to different regions of Downtown, without needing to worry about calling an uber every time I wanted to try a new restaurant. I live less than a 2 minute walk from a grocery store, which makes those Winter-depression grocery runs a lot less dreadful. I also live very close to the Montreal Eaton Centre, which makes it a lot harder to control my shopping addiction, but makes it very easy to pick up something if I ever need it.
The definition of “accessible” can change depending on what you’re moving for, and what you do on a daily basis. The overall consensus is to try to make life easier for yourself, and shave off some commuting time wherever you can.
Find exploring buddies
What makes exploring somewhere new even more fun is exploring with other people. When you make friends that are also new to the city, you can make plans to explore and experience new things together. It’s also fun to know people who know the city super well, and who can act as your guide and recommend the best places to visit. In my first year, I had a “brunch buddy”, someone I would try new brunch places with every few weekends. This made me want to try new places more, knowing that I would have someone to do it with, and knowing that it was a set thing in stone that I could look forward to. My roommate and I would always try new restaurants together and go shopping in different areas. This encouraged me to try things outside of my little bubble too; it can be scary to go to new neighbourhoods and to travel by yourself, but having someone or a group of people to do it with makes it a bit less scary and a bit more exciting.
Embrace solo adventures
Since I have personally struggled at using the previous tip, I thought it would only be appropriate to mention the tenet that I have embodied over my last four years: embrace solo adventures. From movies about the stereotypical college experience to romanticized YA novels, there’s this misconception that every person’s university experience should look similar: an unbreakable bond between a group of friends, parties every weekend, and meeting the love of your life at a social event. I’m sorry to break it to you, but most people’s experiences look nothing like that. In high school, I was used to being around my friends all the time, since we all had similar classes and could eat lunch together everyday. Plans were super easily made if someone wanted to hang out after school or on the weekend, and there wasn’t much effort needed to maintain the friendships.
Since coming to university, I have learned to enjoy being alone. You’ll no longer know everyone in every single class, your schedule will not always align with other people, you have to make an effort to see your friends, and weekends are just as busy as the weekdays, if not more.
It’s totally okay to be seen walking on campus alone. I used to be embarrassed to be seen walking by myself, then I realized that there are more people who are by themselves than there are with other people. It’s totally okay to be seen eating in residence alone, with your earphones in, watching a Youtube video while scarfing down a burger. It’s totally okay to study at the library alone in your favourite spot, with no distractions. It’s totally okay to explore the city by yourself; there’s actually beauty in it. You can do whatever you want, whenever you want, wherever you want. There’s no shame in enjoying your own presence, and I believe it’s something that many people struggle with. If you’re able to embrace those solo adventures, you’ll have many more opportunities to make the most of your experience in a new city.
Being a student has been a core part of my identity for the past 16 years. Being a university student is a privilege that I am grateful to have experienced for the past four. That being said, I’m very excited for everything life has to offer post-student era, and I’m excited to share the life lessons I’ll learn and the milestones I’ll reach with whoever wants to read about it. Tune in a few months from now for Part 4 of my University series, which I’ll report post-graduation, with the hopes of having better advice to offer as an official university graduate (fingers crossed). 🦋
To read the main article, please go to the following link: https://medium.com/@darienhong/the-best-four-years-of-your-life-part-3-life-outside-of-the-classroom-3748b2fdc811