Over the Edge September 8-22 Life & Style Page 8 Thirteen Things Every UNBC Student Must Do Before Graduating By Ecaterina Ciugureanu || Features Editor 1. Walk up the University Hill — that 4. thing is equivalent to some kind of Tibetan self exploration meditation or something. If you are as out of shape as | am, you go through a number of stages: denial (“This hill is not THAT bad”), anger (“This hill is stupid, | am stupid”), bargaining (“Perhaps it’s not too late to turn around?”), depression (“This sucks”), acceptance (“Oh well, | am a better person for it’). Then again, | do recall a time in my first year 5. when a group of us walked down to McDonalds and back when the buses were no longer running and that went by like a breeze. 2. Take arandom elective — | suggest picking any first year class that starts with the words, “Everything you learned in high school was wrong.” Nothing in my first year made me want to rip out all of my hair like that statement. But on a serious note, no class you will take in university (do NOT quote me on this) is useless. Psychology was just an elective for me, now it's my major. You might discover something that you will really love. 3. Abuse a caffeinated beverage —these are best paired with an all nighter followed by an 8:30 class. Embrace the freshman 15 — the number 15 goes both ways. Personally, with the absence of my dear Russian mother and the exuberant pressure | put on myself, | lost 15 pounds. It’s okay though because after my first year | gained them back and they are now firmly planted for life this time. The phrase, “I forgot to eat” is not even in my dictionary. Answer your phone on the quite floor at the library — that is the 3" floor in case you were wondering. 8. Nothing on this list will subject you to the wrath of an older student like this super secret assignment. This is a bit of a hobby actually since | like to go up there to write a paper, start hysterically crying, call my mom sobbing, and when someone walks up to shush me, | just start propelling all the books | picked up for research through the air and at 9. the shusher. But don’t do that. 6. Getto know your professors — not by facebooking them obviously, but walk up to them, ask them a class related question and chat them up a bit. Professors at UNBC have a tendency to be the coolest people ever. Not all professors 10. enjoy student interaction though, so remember the golden rule: talking to your professors is like hitting on a girl — no means no. 7. Join a club you would not normally join — best case scenario: you will meet awesome people and enjoy the club; worst case scenario: your inbox will be filled with emails you could not care less about. eyes. Humiliate yourself at karaoke — while this activity is not restricted to university students, it is surely a coming of age ritual. It took me 3 years (and loud booing of the crowd) to figure out | CANNOT rap but | have a feeling that | still did not get it through my head. Prince George, get ready for an ENCORE. Throw away your vegetables at first signs of rotting — THIS IS SERIOUS, | left a cucumber in my fridge for 5 months...my fridge grew HAIR. Cleaning the fridge activated my gag reflex. It was a MESS. Just thinking about it brings tears to my Shake your head vigourously with the most judgemental face you can muster when selling back you books. You may have pay $200 for the Biology book, but they’re only going to give you $2 — although | understand that is just how the system works, it never fails to outrage me. “Oh, | am sorry, a new edition of this book is coming out this year, we are not buying this edition back.” People! Spend some time with your children or something! Stop writing books. Never mind, | am wrong. You can’t put a price on knowledge...although the bookstore does it every day and knowledge is NOT cheap. 11. Learn wild animal safety strategies — you will need them. Let’s just say, | went to the Canadian Wilds section at the Calgary zoo and it was like | was back at the UNBC campus. 12. Adopt at least 1 green habit — you are not a true UNBC student until you jump on the green bandwagon (which would probably resemble a bike). Recycle. Buy local food. Replace an electric can opener with a regular one. Use CFLs (energy saving light bulbs). Donate your stuff. Use cloth grocery bags. Turn stuff off if you don’t use it. Use a coffee mug instead of paper coffee cups. Use a stainless steel water bottle instead of wasting plastic. Watch your water use. Take the bus. | could go on for hours. 13. Meet a girl named Bennet — you can thank me later. Corporate Ethics vs. Alberta Kali Flick || Business Manager Alberta is one of our countries many great provinces with plenty to offer its population and tourists. My particular favourite area is between Jasper and Banff, Alberta. Some of the most spectacular mountain landscapes on Earth all within the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Alberta holds an abundant amount of tourist attractions, such as, the Columbia Ice fields, the Banff-Jasper National Park, the Banff hot springs, and many more places of interest. Alberta’s economy is one of the strongest in Canada supported by the petroleum industry. They are the largest producer of conventional crude oil, synthetic crude, natural gas, and gas products in the country. Recently, Corporate Ethics International has launched a campaign in the United States and next in the U.K. urgings tourists to avoid Alberta until the oil sands come to a standstill. Corporate Ethics International is an organization based around the Business Ethics Network which designs, organizes, and coordinates campaigns to change the nature of business. The campaign is called “Rethink Alberta” and is expressed in a video composed of pictures of Alberta’s beautiful destinations followed by photos of drowning ducks in tailings ponds. | wonder if this U.S. organization chose to slander Alberta as a diversionary tactic while the worst environmental disaster continues to impact the gulf from the BP spill. Now the question lingering in my head is what does the oil sands and tailings ponds have to do with Banff and other tourist destinations? The industry definitely has its problems including tailing spills but what one must recognize is firstly the amount of economic stability provided by the industry and secondly the efforts towards reclamation. Yes, open pit mining destroys the boreal forest and muskeg, but the Alberta government requires companies to restore the land to “equivalent land capability”. At the end of the day Corporate Ethics definitely has a point that the oil sands of Alberta are environmentally degrading, but they fail to show environmental reclamation. Steps are being taken to mitigate the effect the tar sands have on local animal species. Such as stockpiling the topsoil and muskeg so they can be replaced while the rest of the material is used to reconstruct the landscape in areas where mining is complete. So where does this leave CEI and Alberta, all CEI has done is point out a problem. Now what? Well it seems we need a solution. How could a country’s secure energy source be replaced? That’s what should really be shared through these campaigns, rather than pointing fingers about who is hurting the environment more we should be focusing on how can we solve the problem long-term? | think everyone, including Corporate Ethics International, needs to rethink “rethink Alberta” and commit to a realistic campaign solving problems and campaigning solely to unite each province, country, and the world in solving this energy source crisis which effects every individual. Check out the “rethink Alberta” campaign for yourself at {http:/Awww.rethinkalberta. com/}. Let us and other readers know how you feel, email your comments to {over-the-edge@unbc.ca} subject ‘Oil Sands Submission’. “| may not agree with what you have to say, but I will defend to the death your rightto Say it.” - Voltaire The Opinions Expressed in Over the Edge are those of the writers alone and do not necessarily reflect those of teh editorial staff or newspaper society. 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