First Day of University Check List

When you're in primary, middle and high school you are given a list of all the things that you'll need to

bring with you on the first day. However when University rolls around, you are suddenly (or not so suddenly in the case of some folks) an adult and you're expected to simply KNOW what you need for the first day of school.

If you're anything like me, then you probably are sitting at home right now thinking, "What the heck should I bring with me? What should I wear? What will I NEED? Will I need school supplies? Will a need to have a laptop, will I be the ONLY one without a laptop? WHO CAN I ASK?!?!"

First of all let me say, calm down, take a deep breath, you'll be fine. Here's a short list of some of things you might want to bring with you on your first day of school. This is be no means a REQUIRED list of things to have, neither is this an EXHAUSTIVE list of what you'll need. Feel free to take my list and add to it as you see fit.

Clothing
--York's Keele campus is huge, it houses over 90 different buildings and sits on hundreds of acres of land. With that mind you might want to dress comfortably. Comfortable shoes are a must, at least for day one since you don't really know how much walking you'll be doing, especially if you don't know
exactly where your classes are.  Similarly the temperatures in different buildings varies and so you might want to bring a light jacket, just so you don't freeze. Overall I'd recommend comfy clothing so that you can move freely and quickly from one class to the other.

School Supplies
--Unlike high school you probably won't need a backpack full of school supplies, you might not need scotch tape, or glue; you might not need a stapler or hole puncher with you either. You probably will need pens, pencils, highlighters, white out and erasers. Some people think that in university EVERYONE will have a laptop, or that you HAVE to
have a laptop in order to do well. Let me step in here and just say that everyone needing or having a laptop in class is a MYTH. For the majority of my classes I myself used a notebook, and hand wrote my notes. You can absolutely do well in university without a laptop. I would recommend attending the first class without a laptop since the first lecture probably won't be too content heavy and laptops are heavy and difficult to transport.


Food/Drink
--It's really important to remember that you'll be on campus for at least 3 hours, and during that time you might get a little hungry. For those of you that have planned to have multiple classes on the same day, you might want to seriously consider bringing some snacks or a packed lunch and a water bottle with
you.

**Insider Tip: Lines at restaurants on campus during the first weeks of classes are going to be very long so bringing food is always a good idea just in case you don't have time to wait in line between classes!**

Electronics
--You might want to bring your cell phone, iPod/ MP3, iPad/ Tablet or Laptop with you to keep you entertained throughout day while you're moving between classes. Be sure to bring your chargers with you to school so that you can charge them between classes at the Vari Hall charging stations between
classes.

I hope that you found my list helpful, and that you can make some use of it, if there's anything you want to discuss about what I've written here, please feel free to comment below!

Until next time, remember to take it one day at a time and catch me in the Zone!

Nicole

Lecture? Tutorial? What's the difference?

Typical University Lecture

In most High Schools, a class is a class is a class. However you might notice as you're enrolling in your courses for the fall that some of your classes are not in fact classes at all. You might find that some of your
 "classes" are Lectures, some Seminars, some Tutorials while some are Labs, depending on your program you might have some PKIN classes, practicums or even performance type "classes". You might be at a loss trying to figure out these difference between these types of classes, so that's where I come in!!

Lecture vs. Tutorial vs. Labs
--A Lecture is probably the most standard, form of University instruction. You might recognize this from TV shows or movies, it is usually characterized by a large number of students, gathering in a large hall sitting and listening to a Professor or instructor discuss a particular topic for anywhere from 1-3 hours.

Typical Tutorial Room @York

--Tutorials operate in conjunction with lectures, they usually occur either before or after the lecture with smaller groups of students working with a TA. In tutorials you have the opportunity to engage with the course material more directly than you do in lecture. You have the opportunity to ask questions and discuss the importance/ significance of the readings to the course objectives. Tutorials generally last anywhere from 1-2
hrs depending on the class.

--Labs are very similar to tutorials in that they also occur either before or after the lecture, and they are smaller groups of students working with a TA going over specific lab components affiliated with the course.Labs usually last anywhere from 1-2 hrs depending on the class.

Labs can be FANCY!

Both Tutorials and Labs record attendance, and they both have participation points allocated to them. This can be a less intimidating way for students to engage with material and TA's/ course directors. That being
said I would highly recommend attending both lectures and tutorials/ labs, since they are a great way to ask your questions and get more familiar and comfortable with course material.


Now for those of you that have been adding up the amount of time I have listed here might be thinking "WOAH that a LOT of class time! Ain't nobody got time for that!" Let me put your mind at ease and explain that at York you are required to have at least 3hours of taught instruction per class per week. That means that you're lecture + tutorial/ lab time must equal a total of 3 hours. So you might have a 1 hour lecture followed by a 2 hour tutorial/ lab or a 2 hour lecture followed by a 1 hour tutorial/ lab.

So be sure to step into Class!

You might also be interested to know that generally in the FIRST week of class you will not have tutorials or labs. Especially if your tutorial section occurs BEFORE your first lecture. As a general rule professors cancel the first week of tutorials so that students have a chance to get accustomed to the course and have the opportunity to purchase books, and other course materials so they are prepared for the tutorial or lab.

University is all about going to class, hopefully you feel more ready to attend your first day now that you know a little more about what you should expect from your Lectures, Tutorials and Labs. If you have any questions you you wanna chat about what lectures, tutorials or labs are really like, feel free to comment
below!

Until next time, remember to take it one day at a time and catch me in the Zone!

Nicole

Anxious about University? Tips to adjust from a York Veteran!

The next chapter of your life
is waiting for you!

High School is over and you survived, now you're embarking on a new chapter of your life. On the
surface you might be calm and ready but underneath you might be freaking out just a little bit. Don't worry, you're not alone pretty much every other first year is nervous about their first year. I'm here to offer you some tips for adjusting to University Life!

As a self-proclaimed York Veteran I've compiled a list of things that you might want to know to help ease your anxiety about starting at University.



1. Keep an OPEN MIND
--Coming into York you might have some preconceptions concerning your university experience. From movies and TV you might expect your career at York to be some kind of montage of parties, all-nighters and missed classes. Alternatively you might expect your university career to be filled with long
research assignments with impossible expectations, professors that live to torture their students and classmates that are out to sabotage your success. Let me be the first to tell you to PUT THESE THOUGHTS OUT OF YOUR MIND!!

Yes University will be different from High School. You will be a small fish in a big pond at first, it will be more work and you might find it difficult to adjust at first but it is not beyond your skill set. You will have to work while you're here, you will have to attend classes, you will have professors that challenge you but it won't be more than you can handle. Be open and willing to try new things while you're here. The four years you're at university are an opportunity for you to learn more about yourself as a person so don't rob yourself of the chance to experience university life.

2. Be Brave!
--Yes York is a big school, Yes you will be one in 60,000 students, but that doesn't mean that you have to be afraid. You have support at every turn so if you need help all you have to do is be brave enough
to ask. If you have a question, there is a VERY strong chance that other people in your class also have the same question. So don't be afraid to put up your hand in lecture and ask. If you don't want to ask in lecture you can also meet with you professor after class or in office hours!

3. Get involved and Cast a WIDE NET
--While at York I would highly recommend that you get involved with campus life in some way. You might not know where your interests lie so why not try a lot of clubs or organizations and see what you like best! We have over close to 500 student clubs, organizations, charities, student governments and YU Connect or this blog for some cool clubs you might be interested in! Be willing to try several different things on till you find what you like.

4. If you need help all you have to do is ask for it!
--If you find yourself at a lost, struggling or just needing a little support all you have to do is reach out to get the help you need. York is dedicated to ensuring that students succeed at University, that being said the university can help you if you don't say you need help. This goes back to being brave, if you need help feel free to ask for it. If you're not sure where to go for help you can stop by the RED Zone and we can help you find the best people that can help you. There are tons of free workshops, seminars, counsellors and peer mentor support systems that are available for ALL York students that there's no shortage of services you can access. Here's some info on the many services that York has available to support students!

5. Try to get ahead and stay organized
--The first few weeks of the fall semester are a little lighter when it comes to work load, so I'd recommend trying to get yourself organized and prepared for when your schedule begins to pick up. There are some quick and easy ways to get organized, using your computer, phone or tablet's calendar blog for some other tips you can use to get organized.
to plot your due dates and other assignments. I'd also recommend using an agenda since you can get a FREE agenda from the York Federation of Students at the beginning of the semester. So pick up you're free agenda and use it to write everything down. Check out this

Well those are my top 5 tips for adjusting to University life. I hope that it helps to calm your anxiety. If you have any questions about the things I've mentioned here please feel free to comment below!

As always, remember to take it one day at a time and catch me in the Zone!

Nicole

Cheap Eats on Campus: Challenge Accepted!

I don't know about you guys but I am constantly finding myself on campus between classes broke and hungry. (I totally didn't mean for that to sound as pathetic as it did!) Knowing that I can't be the only one on campus that experiences this I thought I would dedicate the month of February to finding Cheap meals on campus!

I know that might sound impossible, but for you guys I'll take the challenge!

How am I going to do it?
-I will cover the following meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Snacks and Dinner

-Budget for each meal will be $5 (or as close to $5 as I can get!)

-I'll present you with at least 3 options for each meal
--I'll try to make sure that at least 1 meal is a "Healthy Option"

-Each meal MUST include a beverage

-I'll tell you where you can go to get each option

I know you might be thinking...that doesn't sound hard! Finding places to eat won't be difficult, finding meals for $5 will be a bit more challenging. I'll give it my best shot and hope not to let you guys down.

If you know of a GREAT place that fits the parameters mentioned above let me know about it in the comments section, I'd be more than happy to check it out and add it to the list of places to eat on campus!

Look out for my Breakfast and Snack blog next week!

As always, remember to take it one day at a time and catch me in the Zone!

Nicole

First Year Tips and Tricks!

Hey guys,

So this will be my last post before I submit my blog for the final RedZone application review. I wanted to keep it light and fun like me so I figured I'd give you my very own TOP 10 List. For those of you that don't know what a Top 10 list is...well it's something that David Letterman does on this late night show. Here's an example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueGl0qL-oLo My top ten will be both funny and helpful (hopefully :P)

10. Go to orientation. It's the quickest and most fun way to get to know people and to learn your way around the campus.

9. If you have the opportunity to live on campus...TAKE IT!

8. Explore the colleges, there's more to see then just the Student Center and more to do then wait in the bus line.

7. Go feed the geese!

6. Play broom ball at least once in the 4 years you're at York

5. Make at least one friend in each of your classes...if for no other reason than to have someone to wake you up if you fall asleep in class (Not that that would EVER happen to you since you're such a dedicated student :P)

4. Go chat with the RedZone folks...sure they give directions but they're all super fun and really friendly.

3. Check out all the art work at York there are some AMAZING pieces just waiting for you to find them...I'd HIGHLY recommend checking out the AGYU in ACE.

2. GO TO CLASS!!! You're here to learn after all

AND....

1. Join a club, or college council...or find some way to get involved. Getting connected really makes ALL the difference in the world!

Well those are my Top 10 tips for First Year Students. Don't worry you won't be a Frosh forever and before you know it, you're 4 years at York will be done and you'll be sad to be leaving. It's been a real pleasure writing for you this past week. I hope that you've enjoyed reading it as much as I've enjoyed writing it.

Thanks so much for checking it out!

Take Care,

Nicole