ResLIFE

During my first semester at Waterloo I lived in Residence, UWP to be exact. UWP is a unique rez because it’s an apartment style rez, so you have some roommates, in my case, 2, that a share a bathroom, kitchen, and common room with you. I know what you’re thinking! THAT’S AWESOME, you can meet new people and you have lots of freedom. All of which is true (Late night coffee breaks and hangout sessions), but all this new found freedom has its downs, like no moms to make any home cooked meals. I know it doesn’t seem like it’s not that big of a deal at first, but after a few weeks of PLAZA food, a girl could kill for some home cooked grub!! Also, I realized that food doesn’t magically appear in your fridge! Haha! I’ll give you the low down on the hot places to shop! Number 1, on a day that is great for walking, go to VALUMART! It’s much cheaper than sobeys and you get to pass by a petting zoo on that way there ( YES THERE IS A PETTING ZOO SUPER CLOSE TO UWP!! But don’t worry there’s no smell coming from those animals … ). Number 2, you can catch a 5 min. bus ride on the Ixpress to Conestogo mall, where you’ll find Zehr’s! It’s even better than Valumart, because they have a few sample food stands and I find they have better deals on fruit and stuff.

I would suggest setting up a chart to distribute cleaning tasks to each roommate, because I didn’t have one first semester and it was a TOTAL MESS, it was gross. One the last day, my roommate and I cleaned up together and the place looked GREAT! So I know it can be done! With all the stress that engineering students have to endure, a clean living quarter will give you some piece of mind. Another great thing about living in res is that you are super close to your classes, so you can sleep a bit more!

Also, frosh week was great, because I lived in res. As me and my roommate were walking back home from an event we saw these weird looking purple people! THEN I REALIZED IT WAS TIME, TO.GET.PURPLELIZED, so we ran back home put on some raggedy clothes! It was SOOOO awesome, by far the highlight of my frosh week! After getting purplelized, there was an awesome foam party, so everyone I touched had a bit of engineering spirit dyed on them! I could go on and on about my experiences in res, but its different for everyone and it’s an adventure you’ll have to experience for yourself!

Another important thing to remember when living in res is why you came to waterloo in the first place, which is to get a great education. A lot of people can get caught up in all the partying and lose sight of the reason why they chose Waterloo. Everyone wants to make everlasting friendship with people they meet in res, but creating a balance between school and your social life will enable you to stand beside all your new found friends 5 years from now and throw your grad caps together!!!