I’ve got 2 more exams to write, but I’ve already started moving out of my apartment for the year.  All the furniture and kitchen items are slowly being packed into boxes and moved back home.  I decided not to re-sign my lease as I’ll be working in Toronto for the summer and on exchange in Norway in the fall.  Luckily, I picked up an amazing sublet property for next January to April from a friend who is leaving to go on winter exchange.  Just when I thought my current apartment couldn’t get any better (along the waterfront), my new place is 30 seconds from Stauffer Library and less than a minute to Goodes Hall!  Thankfully, it’ll be fully furnished so this means not having to deal with the hassle of moving bulky items around while driving around in a tiny car.

After doing the interview circuit and dropping off resumes over the past several months, I’ve landed an internship with a consulting and marketing research firm in Toronto for the summer.  As well, I’ll be helping out with a magazine publishing company part time before I move to Norway in the first week of August.

It’s going to be tough not being able to see my Kingston friends for awhile.  So long Kingston, I’ll see you in 8 months!

As mentioned in the post below, classes wrapped up yesterday, which means I survived first year, yay! It’s a weird feeling ending classes at the beginning of April, but definitely one that I don’t mind. The first year exam schedule this year is very spread out, with the first exam on the 16^th and the last one on the 28^th. In a sense, the exam period seems more relaxed than the midterm period (that was also the case in 1^st semester). Besides that, I’ve also been travelling a lot lately in the past few weeks, having gone to Ottawa three times, as well as Montreal. Actually, I’m headed back to Ottawa again tomorrow.

On Thursday, they were having an event celebrating the new expansion and they had exhibits showing and explaining what Goodes would look like after the expansion. It’s a transformation that will affect future classes much more than the ones that are already here, but I’m not sure what stance to take on the matter. Increased class sizes accompany the expansion, meaning the 75 class cap might be harder to sustain in the future, and the student-professor interaction will be compromised. There are also of course benefits of increasing the class size, mainly the increased alumni network in the long run. Either way, the school set up a Tim Hortons station in the Atrium, with unlimited coffee and literally a hundred of boxes of Timbits. There were boxes leftover at the end of the day, so they were telling students that walked by to just take a whole box. One of the perks of being in Commerce, I suppose =).

Winter is definitely gone and we had warm(ish) weather creep up on us; unfortunately today it’s a little cloudy.  I’m very glad that at least it’s not raining.

A few weeks ago I went to the Queen’s Student Alumni Association Media Careers panel in Robert Sutherland Hall (across from Goodes Hall); my first non-Commerce workshop that I attended this year. It was a great panel, featuring Robin Brown of CBC Radio One, Matt Hartley of the Financial Post, and Sarah Crosbie of K-Rock 105.7 FM. All were candid speakers with different perspectives of the media world. It’s sobering to realize just how hard it is to break into the industry, but also encouraging to see how it can be such a rewarding career. The panel was run a little differently than the typical Commerce workshops I attend, but equally as effective and it was nice to talk to students from other faculties who were interested in social media.

The next day, I attended the information meeting for fall semester exchange students. Jam-packed with information in a looong two-hour session, but halfway through, the pizza that the Commerce staff ordered for us perked us right up! I love how the staff thinks of everything. They took us through what to expect on our exchange experience, our academic requirements, and the emergency support system in place for outgoing Queen’s students on exchange. It was reassuring to know that exchange doesn’t mean you’re shipped out to another country and left to fend for yourself; the Queen’s University International Centre does a great job of helping you prepare for life in a new country.

On the first of April, I took the Kingston public transit to the train station to catch a coach back to Toronto for a concert with some other Queen’s Commerce students. On my way there, I looked out the window as I passed Stauffer Library to see a giant inflatable gorilla hanging off the roof. Congrats to whoever managed to sneak him up there without getting caught!

Also over the past week, I, along with the rest of the Queen’s Entrepreneurs’ Competition (The QEC) Executive, and in conjunction with Impact Innovate, organized our first workshop in the Eco-Entrepreneurship Series at Queen’s. Featuring Anthony Watanabe of Innovolve Group as our speaker, it stimulated some interesting discussions. It was a big success, with students from Commerce, Engineering, Environmental Science, and Agriculture attending. I’m going to another QEC Exec Social tonight, and still need to put my costume together since it’s a theme party.

Yesterday was an extremely busy day, as I had a last minute prep meeting with my team for our arbitration case for HR class (COMM181). I also dropped by the Goodes Hall Expansion Open House and had to stop off at IT in Goodes to get my laptop checked out. We were given cookies in HR class (unexpected cookies taste so much better!), then right after that my team had to present our arbitration in Douglas Library.

Tomorrow afternoon I’ll be helping out with the University Experience Program on campus before packing my bags and heading back to Mississauga. My Commerce classes finished up today, and I have one last Sociology of Communication and Information Technologies (SOCY284) paper due on Monday. I’m back in Kingston next Friday to help out with CBC’s Dragon’s Den as it passes through town, and then I’m off to Ottawa for the weekend. My first exam is on the 19th, so I’ll be back in Kingston to get ready for finance…as you can see, April is going to be filled with a lot of travelling.

I hope this update gives you a better idea of life as a second year Commerce student. As always, feel free to email me if you have any questions at 8tykw@queensu.ca. I really enjoy the feedback. Best of luck in your university selections!