Lavender Walls

Late September

The weather this fall is much colder and less sunny than it was last year. The leaves have begun to change color signalling the first signs of autumn. Time seems to move much more quickly here than it did when I was in Vancouver and I wonder if that is attributed to the discrepancy between Mountain Time and Pacific Time.

I have been settling in quite nicely and I have grown quite used to life here. The one thing that I do not look forward to is another long and cold winter for the remainder of the time that I am here. It usually begins to snow in late October and the city will remain cloaked in white until May. I still miss Vancouver and life in the West coast and I wish nothing more but to return to the life and home I left behind. I miss the diversity, the moderate climate, the mountains and the ocean. I miss being able to have cheap, fresh fruits and vegetables available all year round. I miss having Asian products and foods available almost everywhere without having to shell out more money for it due to the lack of competition and the smaller numbers of Asians. I miss having the best, most cost-effective and varied types of Chinese food and sushi in North America.

Hopefully, I will get accepted into grad school at UBC. That way, I will be able to live at home and the cost of pursuing a masters degree will be considerably lower than if I were to go elsewhere. However, I won't be only applying to UBC. I want to stay in the West coast and increase my chances so I am also planning to apply to the University of Washington and San Jose State University for their MLIS (Master of Library and Information Science) programs. UBC, UW and SJSU are all ALA-accredited schools. In case you are wondering what ALA stands for, it is the abbreviated form for American Library Association. Unfortunately, there are no universities that have ALA-accredited library schools in Oregon. UBC and UW are the only universities that have ALA-accredited library schools in B.C and Washington, respectively. In California, there are two universities that have them -- SJSU and UCLA. Berkeley cancelled their program back in 1994 and changed it to (if I remember the name correctly) Management Information Science, which is strictly computer-oriented. Unfortunately, UCLA requires prospective MLIS students to take a course each in computer science and statistics. I do not meet that requirement so I will not be applying there. I would like to apply to UCLA though and if I had known then what I know now, I would've taken courses in introductory stats and comp. sci. during my first two years in university. The one thing I like about UBC's program is that you can pursue a joint masters degree in Library and Information Studies and Archival Studies (MLIS/MAS). In any case, I plan to work on my applications over Christmas holiday.

Why am I interested in this field, you say? I am interested in pursuing this field because I feel it is compatible with my personality. I believe it is something that is right for me and I think that I would be very happy with a career in this field. With the exception of family and friends, I have always been quiet, calm, reserved and quite introverted to those of whom I am not well acquainted with. I have always loved being in a library and I am somewhat of an avid reader. It seems like a comfortable, low-key and less stressful occupation and I believe I would find librarianship a more enjoyable career than I would accounting. Nevertheless, I will apply to the DAP program at UBC just in case things don't work out.

I feel relieved and fortunate that my workload isn't too heavy despite taking a full courseload and having my first class start at 8:00 am every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning. I have been keeping track of my readings and keeping a schedule so that I won't fall behind. When you take a full courseload and fall behind in your readings, it will be very rough on you for the rest of the term as you try to meet deadlines for assignments. I want to prevent myself from pulling all-nighters this year because I know what a strain it can be on my health and appearance.

Helsingborg albergo b&bI have applied for part-time employment at the U of A Libraries and at several eateries at the HUB Mall on campus. I submitted my resumes and applications last week and I haven't received any calls yet. Hopefully, I will get a job in the library because I want to add upon the experience that I had at the VPL Hastings branch this summer. It would be a good thing to have since I want to go to library school. If I can't get a job anywhere, I'll probably just volunteer.

Arlandastad cheap hotelsI checked with the Student Awards Office and my history award/scholarship will not be available for pickup until next Monday. I am looking forward to that because it means I will pay $1000 less for tuition next term. =)

To end this off, I would just like to express my joy at HIST 494!

=DDD!!!

Why? Well, you know why! I have less papers to write during the term! So far, I only have 2 classes that have an essay-writing component to them. I don't mind writing essays, but when you have to do 2 essays each for 2 classes, it can be rough when you have an additional term paper for a seminar! Fourth-year papers are always at least 15 pages long and I have to write 4 papers in addition to reading mounds and mounds of lecture readings.

Prof. Dunch actually didn't assign a term paper for this class. Instead, the paper will be assigned as a take-home exam/essay that should be approximately 10-15 pages long. Aren't fourth-year seminars cool? I like the fact that there are no midterms and finals in seminars. The class size is always small (less than 20 people) and the prof knows you by name. Well, Prof. Jay knows I and most of her other students by name and I haven't taken a seminar with her yet, but that's a special case. I find that profs generally know who you are when the class sizes are smaller. I don't know about everyone else, but it always seems to be the case for me. (Okay. I went off on a tangent there). To bring the discussion back to HIST 494. There are a couple of graduate students in our seminar as the class is a crossover with a grad seminar with the same topic of interest. The only difference is that the grad students have to do more work. Participation and discussion are worth quite a bit and there is a presentation that we have to do on a set of readings of our choice. Undergraduate students can choose to do the presentation with a partner while graduate students have to present on their own. Luckily, Julie happens to be taking the seminar with me so we'll be working on the presentation together. She's also in CHINA 301 (Intermediate Chinese I) with me.