FML @ UTM

‘Like’ this if any of the following applies to you. And even if they don’t, ‘like’ it anyways to ease my FML moments and make me happy

1. 110N: Trying to get into the 110N bus during daytime on a weekday reminds me of the scene in Titanic when the ship is sinking and everybody’s fighting to get on to one of the small boats. You get what I’m saying?
2. The pain of residence students: I’ve been living on residence since first year, and although I enjoy the convenience and the facilities, living on campus isn’t as ‘perfect’ as what many commuting students think it is. Having to move out at the end of every few months can be exhausting. UTM residence requires you to move out at the end of every academic period (fall-winter / summer) unless you’re an upper year student and make a special request to stay in the same unit. I did this at the end of the previous summer and I was lucky enough to get to stay in the same unit. But today my roommate told me we’ll probably have to move out of our unit this summer because they’re closing our residence building to renovate. Considering the fact that we own a giant TV, a microwave, a big rice cooker, 2 large shoe hangers, and countless personal furniture, plus there’re no elevators in our building, we see a lot coming our way.
3. Food on campus: You know how people say that everybody gains weight in their freshman year because of their studying and sleeping habit? I’d say I agree to an extent, but there sure is something else which accelerates the weight gain. You know what I’m talking about…
4. Tim Hortons line: Because they can be pretty fast and because of their competitive price, Tim Hortons (especially the one in south building) is never empty during a weekday. And because you have back-to-back classes with 10 minutes in between, and your stomach is growling like crazy. The line just looks uglier than ever.
5. Library & Starbucks
   1. You’ll study very hard today
   2. You walk to the library
   3. You find a seat (if you’re lucky)
   4. You (try to) study…
   5. … S***, you can’t focus and you’re sleepy
   6. Ok, you need Starbucks, then after that you’ll be able to study
   7. You walk down to Starbucks
   8. You bought a venti drink with whip cream (perhaps some chocolate sauce at the top too)
   9. You walk back to your seat.
   10. You enjoy your Starbucks and while you’re drinking you can’t work because one of your hands is occupied with holding the coffee cup. So you’ll browse around facebook for the moment.
   11. You finished the coffee, time to study
   12. *You study*
   13. (10 mins later) Your stomach’s too full and you’re too sugar high to focus.
   14. You can’t study now. PERIOD.
   15. (The next day), refer back to number 1.
6. Library ‘silent’ zone: There’s a reason why they categorize areas in the library to suit your study habits (cell phone friendly zone, conversation friendly zone, silent zone, etc.). But obviously some people either just don’t recognize the library zone map (which are placed all around the library), or they’re just plain rude. For those of you who managed to get through the Starbucks vs. study dilemma (refer above), maybe you might not be lucky enough to get through this one. Ever been so determined to study that you pick the silent zone but then not long after you sit down and are about to dig into the course material someone’s phone just rings and the owner has the nerve to pick up or people around you considers ‘whispering’ 10 times louder than your definition of whispering? Cos that’s exactly what’s happening to me at this very moment while I’m writing this article.
7. Library seat: You may get rid of your Starbucks vs. study dilemma and have no problem with studying in a loud environment. Well take this, there’re currently 11,900 active students at UTM and the library has 4 floors in which each floor mostly contain bookshelves and whatever amount of extra area they have they just fill it up with either study tables (in which very frequently one student just takes up one whole table) or study cubicles. You don’t even have to wait until exam period to see this. During daytime on a weekday, just accept it, you’re never going to be fast enough to get a library seat. But don’t worry, the little windowless study room in the north building still welcomes you with open arms.
8. Textbook prices: I’m not going to hide. This is why illegal photocopying, illegal ebook downloads, and SparkNotes exist. So stop blaming us.
9. The always-changing text edition: ECO100 will always be ECO100, and the same applies to every other course. If the course material is going to be same, or ridiculously similar to the one of the previous academic period, why bother printing thousands of copies of the new edition (and they campaign so much about how ‘green’ they are) of the same textbook and announcing that we ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO buy the new edition. Or is it just another one of their strategies for us to suck it up and pay for their expensive textbooks (refer above)? Again this is why students do the things I just mentioned in number 8.
10. Tuition fees: UTMSU said it all. Great job!

Don’t get me wrong though. I love UTM and I’m very happy with my decision to come study here. I’m just posting this for the sake of sharing stories that others can also relate to. If you have any FML moments to share, post them as a comment below

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