Day 14-16 - July 10-12

Forewarning: All future posts will be VERY short.

Now that we are getting closer to the end of Shad, it's crunch time for house projects and such, so please don't get upset when my posts aren't as detailed as my previous ones. I am really tired right now and cannot remember what I've done in the past few days, so forgive me if some things sound sketchy. Oh, and I haven't posted for a while because people have been late showing up for lectures so they have been giving us curfew @ 10:30pm, and we don't stop working on our house projects until 10pm, so there is no time for any blogging, or facebook, or email, or anything really. But today was an achievement for us Shads because we were all on time all day.

Yesterday we went to Vanier Park to Bards on the Beach to see a Shakespeare Play - "Much Ado About Nothing." Supposedly this theater is world famous, and so it should be because it was really well done, funny too! We hung out at the beach there (check out pic) and sat on the rocks for a couple hours. We ordered pizza and ate there. Today we had a super awesome speaker. His name was Alex Shipillo or something along those lines. He was a Shad alumni 5 yrs ago at Memorial U. He works for Impact (Entrepreneurial Group), and has created tonnes of oppurtunites for himself. He has gone to a black tie affair, afternoon tea and had dinner with the Royal family at Buckingham. Google him, I was sooo inspired today and received awesome advice. I'll tell you more about him when I get back because there is so much. We did more rec today. Which reminds me, two days ago we had 4hrs of rec at the UBC gym. We played badminton, basketball, and volleyball and did gymnastics!! Gymnastics was the best part. I went on the beams and was able to a full 360. I was so proud of myself. I still run every morning, but not tomorrow because I am up so late now and we have to be ready to go @ 7:40am tomorrow for who knows what. Everyday is a surprise and I love it.

Man, so far I am enjoying myself so much. These Shads are awesome and I love them all so much. They are completely normal people and are NOT nerds haha. Many of them are super athletic and we do exercise every morning. For eg, one is a speed skater and trains at the oval in Calgary. Ahhh, i don't want to leave at all. I know I still have a week or so left, but that's not enough. I am dreading leaving this place and the people. I have experienced so many wonderful things, it's so upsetting knowing that it will all end so soon. This month has been a blur, and too scared to see it go.

Grrr, got to go. Battery about to run out. Talk soon,

-Carolyn



Here's the account of Monday, July 12 by a fellow UBC Shad.

Waking up to the sound of my alarm clock…
Then groggily brushing my teeth and wolfing down my breakfast…

At last, I arrive at the auditorium to hear two awesome—and no doubt very informative—lectures: one by Ken, our Program Director here at SHAD UBC, and another by a rather special guest…a guest who had been in our very shoes five years ago (a little SHAD with some very big dreams and ego), who, through his commitment and hard work, has attained international recognition. He is of course, none other than Alex Shipillo, who has traveled far and wide, and finally back to his home in Vancouver to share his success story, and push us towards the right direction. Ken was, as usual, incredibly animated during his lectures, and combated fiercely with fellow Shads about the validity of Classical Economics.

But the day doesn’t simply end there: our Program Assistants graciously organized workshops. Each workshop is unique to the PA who designed it-and just to illustrate their diverse skills and interests, our choice of workshops included: Rubix Cubes, Philosophy, Karate, Graphic Design, Kilts, and Poetry. I, along with a cozy group of two other Shad buddies, tapped the hidden poetic potential of our brains and followed our chirpy PA to one of the coolest buildings of UBC: the library. But Not just any library, this library has a little room with a rather peculiar interior design—it was vaguely inspired by the Great Hall of Harry Potter. Have a look!

Upon returning to our residence with a renowned appreciation for nonsensical medieval poetry, Victoria love ballads, sixties hippie poetry, and of course much much more, we continued the vigorous competition at Rec, and fortified our group projects.

At last, I’m relaxing on a couch in our common room, with the relaxing beat of the drum and piano, sharing yet another incredible day at SHAD Valley UBC.

Signing out (and goodnight),

Angela Bo Wan, Shad Valley University of British Columbia 2010
Hometown: Richmond Hill, Ontario