Orientation at the University of Waterloo

It’s been a crazy week: moving in to residence at starting orientation at the University of Waterloo, meeting so many of my peers, taking part in orientation activities, the list is endless. In this post I summarize each day from the past week, not only for your enjoyment but so I can remember the events, too (honestly, so much has happened that it will likely get jumbled in my brain soon enough). Without further ado, here is what orientation at the University of Waterloo is like!

**Note: I never wrote part two of this post because life got super busy. Also, the photos unfortunately were lost from this post when I transfered the blog to a new host…sadness –  Jenna, December 2019**

Sunday, September 3rd

Move in day! My move in time was 12pm-2pm, so I didn’t have to leave my house until around 10am. The car was loaded up the night before and yikes there was a lot of stuff. I was packed in like a sardine on the two hour ride to Waterloo. There were many heartfelt goodbyes on this day, which includes many tears (especially when saying goodbye to my cat). 

The actual move-in was quite challenging because there was one elevator for everyone on my wing of the residence. I decided taking the stairs would be the easiest way to move my things, but by the last load my arms dead and all my energy was sucked out of me. My parents and I had to quickly unpack as much as we could because the parents were supposed to be out of the rooms by 2:30pm (not really much time to move, I know).

Welcome to residence life

When they left, we had an all-residence welcome meeting and then went back to our floors to meet our neighbours and Don. I really enjoyed meeting everyone and I am surrounded by some awesome people. My Don is also super chill and knows how get us to connect (Cards Against Humanity, anyone?). After having dinner in our residence’s cafeteria, all of the first years headed over to the gym for a big Warrior Welcome. We heard some amazing speeches and learned great things about the school, and by the time the welcome finished we were all pumped to begin this new chapter of our lives.

In the evening there was a residence bonfire. I went with a few of my floor mates to the event. There was a big fire with marshmallows to roast, some students playing guitar, and the event took place right by the river on campus so the atmosphere was amazing. It ran late into the evening, and I was pretty tired, so as soon as I got back to my room I fell asleep.

Monday, September 4th

Today was the first full day of orientation at the University of Waterloo and boy was it busy! Orientation at the University of Waterloo is structured so you have residence orientation the first day or two, then Faculty orientation the rest of the week. Today was all about residence! 

I had breakfast with some friends in the cafeteria, but was disappointed about the oatmeal (my favourite breakfast choice; they only had instant oats). The morning was titled “Wellness Morning,” where we could choose from a variety of activities to take part in. I first chose succulent plant making, so I got to plant mint leaves in a little pot and paint it gold. It’s now a nice addition to my room!

I then went on a hike with my Don and other students from my residence up to Columbia Lake. It was so beautiful there, and I met more people that are a part of my program. After we returned to residence I ventured over to the campus bookstore to get some batteries for the fairy lights I set up in my room. I was surprised that the place was open, considering it was a holiday and nothing else (not even Tim Hortons! Gasp!) was open. I also went in search of the classrooms where my courses are being held, but was kicked out of one building because I was a first year (?? This is where my class is being held, though??) After a bit of scouting (and mainly failing) I returned to my residence.

Afternoon adventures

After a delicious lunch it was time for Floor Competitions. We played various games like Huckle Buckle, Amoeba tag, and Sardines with our floor against the other floors in our residence. I only stayed for a few hours and then met up with my parents to go to Starbucks. They stayed in a hotel in St. Jacobs for a few nights, so it made me happy to see them before they went home. After Starbucks they came back to my dorm to help me set up a few things like my printer, and then they were off (more tears occurred during this parting, of course). 

Dinner came and unfortunately the “Goose Chase” event that was meant to take place after was canceled. There was a ridiculous amount of rain, so running around outdoors taking pictures wasn’t the best idea. Instead, I met up with a few friends I’d made on the floors above me. I went on a walk into town with one girl to get some supplies from a (surprisingly) open supermarket, and I enjoyed getting to know her more and just chat.

Worried about making friends?

One of the things I was worried about coming to university was not being able to make friends. In my high school it took quite awhile to build friendships, and that was what I was expecting here. This was not the case, though! Everyone is in the same boat, and everyone is feeling homesick. Being there for each other during this new part of our lives really makes for a supportive community.

If you are a student coming to university next year, do not worry about making friends; it will happen almost immediately! Just be friendly and say hello to your floor mates, and if they ask you to hang out, go for it! These will be your friends for the next four/five years of your life, and quite possibly longer.

We returned and I went back to my floor to find everyone playing Cards Against Humanity (I joined, of course). A crazy thunder storm passed us during the game and the view from our floor was amazing. After cards there was a concert performed by a St. Paul’s alumni who took requests from the students. Overall it was a very relaxed evening, but I was exhausted from the full day and passed out pretty much when I plopped into bed that night.

Tuesday, September 5th

Up bright and early this morning! I learned from yesterday’s breakfast mistake and made my own oats, which I brought in a container down to the cafeteria to eat with my friends. After breakfast I explored campus with a floor mate to find one of our classrooms (the one in the building I was kicked out of, yay!) and then we went for our faculty’s official welcome. We got to know others in our program and meet upper year students, as well as break off into teams to create cheers. We were given orientation t-shirts the day before, each person getting a different colour that corresponded to their team. I was on the pink team, and there was also a blue, orange, purple, green and red team.

We then entered EV3, the newest and most innovative environmental building on campus, to hear from a lead member of the Environment faculty and also have questions answered from an experienced co-op student. They fed us (which is very important, as you’ve already learned from me) and we then had a bit of freedom in our schedule.

Learning about the Faculty and university life

There was an info session called FYI, where several small lectures detailing various important things like time management, finances, co-op, etc. were run. You could attend up to three in the time span that they ran. I only attended the one about time management because I wanted to go get groceries in town, and I had to meet someone at 4:30pm to pick up my used textbook I bought from them (UW students: check out the Facebook Textbook Exchange group!) The lecture was very informative, and although I feel I manage my time efficiently already I did come away from it with some new techniques to better balance my workload. 

The woes of public transit

I left the lecture and began my first adventure off campus: public transit. There are so many different bus routes that pass through the campus and I had no clue where to get the one I needed. I asked a helper at the Banana Stand (Environment’s help booth) and they weren’t sure of the location either. They searched for the station online and found that it was actually at the other end of campus and the next bus was leaving in eleven minutes. If I was going to make it back in time for 4:30pm, I basically had to walk-run to get there, hoping I didn’t look like a total pyscho.

I missed the bus anyway and had to wait twenty minutes for the next. When I finally arrived where I needed (at Sobeys, even though I meant to get to Zehrs…yet another fail on my part), I grabbed some groceries and took the bus back to campus (this time I knew where I was going). 

More fun and adventures

Groceries unpacked, I joined my friends for dinner. We decided to go to the Choose Your Own Adventure event taking place all across campus. There was an inflatable maze, Nerf gun battle, a haunted house, Humans vs. Zombies and so much more. We took to the maze first (which only lasted like thirty seconds) and then split into two groups: one group went to the Nerf gun battle, while the other went to the haunted house. I went to the haunted house. Both lines took about an hour and a half to get through, and once the sun went down it was painfully cold waiting outside, but it was worth it (plus, there was free food like Beavertails and popcorn all over campus, so everyone had full bellies going to the events). The haunted house was already scary enough, considering it took place in the physics building *screams in horror*.

Evening shenanigans

By the time we got out of the haunted house there was only half and hour left of the event. There was a block party going on for all of the university college residences at 10pm, so we decided we’d all meet up and go to that. It was pretty crowded in the one little section they designated for the party, but at least it was warm with all the bodies nearby. There was some crazy dancing at the party; two first years were battling it out, every doing the worm on the pavement.

Oh, and there was free food there, too. Always a necessity.

I bailed around 11:30pm because I was dead tired, absentmindedly going through my nightly rituals while trying not to fall asleep doing them. The great thing about the dorms in my wing is that we all got a double bed, and it is so comfortable. I fell asleep almost instantly. 

I hope you enjoyed this pos about orientation at the University of Waterloo! For those in grade 12 looking to start university next fall, hopefully this gives you some insight to some of the crazy shenanigans that go on during orientation at the University of Waterloo, and likely what will happen during orientation at other schools.

Thanks for reading!

Until next time.