Christina VarvisSince we at The Gateway have about a combined 100 years of university experience (200 if you count Editor-in-Chief Andrea Ross), we’ve compiled some expert suggestions of unforgettable things to do before leaving this glorious institution — things upon which to reminisce while slowly dying in the asphyxiating slog of the modern, post-industrial workforce.
Remember, you can always come back for Grad school.
The Harry Potter Room
Though getting hammered at Dewey’s and then vomiting up the Tombstone you ate for lunch can be exciting, you’re going to have to study at some point. Those of you who lock yourself away in the bowels of Cameron or tune out the world in HUB need to get out more often. Sit back, relax and be taken back to a simpler time. In short, you need to study in the Rutherford reading room.
Modeled after a nearly identical hall in Stanford, the “Harry Potter Room” is a place where everyone should spend time. Whether it be half an hour or half a day, the aura in the room lets you sink into whatever it is you’re doing.
Even the walk upstairs to the second floor of Rutherford is an experience. Feeling the divots in the stairs where thousands of feet have walked before is an oddly satisfying feeling, like you’ve implicitly become a part of some exclusive club just by climbing them. Combine that with the original brass door fixtures, vaulted ceilings, chandeliers and more volumes on Canadian Parliamentary History than anyone could ever need, and you feel like you’re in the place where academia comes home to roost.
It’s old, some parts are definitely decrepit, but spend an hour or two there. Study, watch Netflix, whatever it is you do in libraries, and just take in the scene. It’s oddly relaxing, somewhat comforting and definitely an experience you should have before your time at campus is up. — Mitchell Sorensen
Evening Activities
As simple as it might sound, a lot of students should do their best to appreciate everything available for them to do on campus before they graduate.
A lot of students will simply come to school, go to class and then go home with barely anything else added to it while they’re here, and that’s their prerogative, there’s nothing wrong with that decision. You don’t need to join a student group or volunteer on campus if none of that appeals to you.
What you should do at least, though, is spend a bit more time around campus to see what it has to offer. Stick around one evening for an event or promotion a student group worked hard on to make your campus experience better. Play a game of dodgeball, go see campus sports or check out a movie in Dinwoodie Lounge.
More than any of that though, I don’t think you can consider yourself a true U of A student if you haven’t found yourself studying on campus until the wee hours in the morning at least once, and begun to regret all of the decisions that led you to this point. — Andrew Jeffrey
Argue on the Internet
There’s literally nothing better than affirming your own opinion through social media. Anyone who tells you differently is lying to themselves, and can find me on Twitter to argue about it (@Zachsprettycool).
Therefore, the one thing every student should do at the U of A is debate with someone on Overhead/UAlberta Confessions. What better way to show people you’re an
intelligent and well-adjusted adult than by yelling at them through a computer about something that doesn’t really affect you? In addition to increasing your own self-esteem, you’ll be able to drastically decrease the self-esteem of others, which is a much more worthwhile pursuit than spending any time on your schoolwork anyways.
In short, there are literally no drawbacks, so go out there and be as mean as possible. — Zach Borutski
