My SJU Experience

Tatianna. 20 years old. Joint Honours English & Fine Arts; Residence Don at St. Jerome's University.

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STOP

I'm starting to notice, not just with my own floor but with everyone in residence, that the impending summer is affecting everything we do. It's like we are all scrambling to make the most of the last few precious weeks before we all part ways. Even though the stress of classes is at an all time high, I feel like people are spending more time together, choosing love over the fear and pressure of academics. People are more comfortable, showing their true colours despite what others may think.

We are all getting closer, and I love it.

I have to stop myself every time I start thinking about how painful it is going to be to say goodbye to everyone. Because it's also a really beautiful and happy thing. This year has been wonderful. I will always have these amazing memories. My heart has been truly touched, and that is going to be ever-present in my life even when we spread our wings and fly away.

A few of us had a total girl's slumber party the other night; we moved mattresses into my room, ate junk food, watched extremely sad chick flicks, laughed and cried and forgot about the rest of the world just for a night. On one hand, I don't even want to imagine what it will be like without the residence lifestyle, without living among a mass of young and beautiful women that I can talk to at any moment... but on the other I know that there's no reason to worry. It's easy to panic when change starts to threaten us, to assume the worst and think only of the negative things. But the truth is that there are usually the same amount of positives, if not more, than negatives, to any situation. Life is better if we look on the bright side (and I mean really look on the bright side). Until next time! Tatianna 

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FRONTROW NIGHT!

COME OUT TO FRONTROW NIGHT TONIGHT, AND SUPPORT RELAY FOR LIFE!

It’s going to be super fun… and you don’t have to be 19! If you’re lucky, you may get a henna tattoo from yours truly. Hope to see you there! (I believe it’s five dollars at the door!) 

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Midterm Week

This week, everyone's midterms have started it seems. I only have one, but that's pretty normal for me. I am in English and Fine Arts, which makes my grading a bit different than most of the programs at Waterloo. All of my marks are project based, whether that be essays or works of art. Some of my classes have final exams, and some don't. There's good and bad to both of course... but I love to write, so it's really not that painful for me. I have an essay, an essay proposal and a short story due when I get back from reading week (we get a break from February 18th to the 22nd!). I'm not worried though, as long as I stay focused this weekend, I will have the whole week to relax and recharge. Til next time! Tatianna 

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It's starting again!!! #spetzhouse for the win!

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Relay for Life is coming!

Last week we there was a Relay Rally to promote the upcoming Relay for Life event at St. Jerome's! For those who don't know, Relay for Life is a fundraiser to celebrate cancer survival, to promote cancer awareness, and to remember those who have passed.

It runs from 7pm to 7am. That's right, you are awake all night long. It's so much fun though, that you don't even realize how tired you are... There are things to do, fundraising events, food to eat, and entertainment to watch.

The rally was low key, and I remember feeling a real sense of family while I was there. There were only about fifty people in the lounge, but they were all bubbly and excited. This year's event chair, Bess Mitchell, revealed a touching video that the whole team had been working on about what cancer means to the general public. They had popcorn, snacks and a live musical performance.

It was all very touching and exciting. I kept thinking about last year's Relay for Life -- I was on the committee. We ended up raising over $30,000 last year, which was beyond our wildest expectations. It was incredibly rewarding to plan such a huge event, and see it's success, and I can't wait to see what comes of this year.

I am not on the committee this year, mostly because my life is pretty busy with Donning and my course load, but I think I will probably volunteer to help out on the night of.

I have mixed feelings of course, because Relay for Life comes at the very END of the term, and I do not want this year to be over... not even a little bit. I don't want my girls to move out, and I don't want the Don team to part ways. I guess all good things must come to an end, so I might as well make the most of the time I have left. Relay for Life seems like a pretty good way to do that.

It is an amazing event; it really reveals the closeness of the St Jerome's community. It's magical to see everyone coming together for one cause, and I wouldn't miss it for the world.

Click here for the SJU Relay for Life Facebook  page!

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2013!?

Woah! I can't believe it's already the end of January. I swear, I meant to write a blog post for the first week back... but time is escaping me at the moment. It was so lovely to come back after the holiday to the smiling faces of rested residents and the buzz of a new year, with new schedules and even some new people. I don't tend to go into too much detail about my position as Residence Don on this blog, but I feel it's necessary if I am going to talk about what it's like to come back for the Winter term.

After four months of living together, the sense of community here has become so strong. It was magical to to be reunited with all the wonderful girls on my floor, to hear their stories and share experiences. I truly missed them like crazy! It's strange to go from seeing certain people every single day, to not seeing them at all and constantly wondering how they are doing. Wondering if they are smiling, if they are happy, if they are having a good time, if they are with family, or friends, or pets, or someone special. I feel like there is a collective appreciation for the Christmas holidays. It's all anyone seems to talk about for the whole month of December... though I can't help but to think that there is the same type of collective appreciation for the life that we have here at St. Jerome's. I was personally excited to return almost as soon as I had left the building, and I know for a fact that I am not the only person to feel that way.

This academic year is flying by, and I don't even want to think about how I am going to feel when I have to say goodbye for more than a mere couple of weeks. It's exciting though... because I know that I am in for a fantastic term regardless.

Until next time, Tatianna 

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Last Tuesday was “A Very SJ Christmas”, which included a lovely dinner, an ugly Christmas sweater contest, cupcake decorating, and the traditional Parade of Lights. I recorded an audio clip of us during the Parade of Lights carolling. The song is Silent Night. If you listen close you can hear everyone’s laughter weaving in and out of the song. It’s pretty clear just from the audio that everyone is smiling and having a good time. Enjoy!

We all had candles in our hand, and walked around the school until we ran out of songs. The weather was extremely mild so we didn’t even have to bundle up. Of course, we still managed to justify warming up with hot chocolate and rice krispies afterward. I just love SJ Christmas!

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A few days ago, some student leaders and community members worked together to deck the halls of the St. Jerome's cafeteria. It was really magical to see so many people gather together to help put together and decorate a giant tree, sing along to Christmas music and string lights all around.

I love the fact that this happened at three o'clock in the afternoon on the last week of classes. What's the big deal, you ask? Well, it's academic crunch time and I know that people are starting to feel the stress…. yet there were still many helping hands and smiling faces to be seen all around the cafeteria.

It only took a couple hours, and it looks absolutely beautiful. It has affected the entire atmosphere of the room.  It's even warmer and more welcoming than it is normally, especially in comparison to the chilly weather we have been having outside (We had our first snow last week!). I didn't think it could be so, but it seems to be even more of a challenge than usual to get up and leave the table when I'm finished.

I think there's something to be said about the space where you eat. It's just special. For as long as I've been at SJ, meal times have truly felt like family time. I can't imagine life at university without thinking of gathering around a giant table and catching up on everyone's day.

I guess it just makes sense to decorate here. It's natural. Residence is our home, and so the cafeteria is our kitchen. It's comfortable, familiar, and even more so during the holiday season.

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The End is Here Already?!

The final weeks of the term are going to be stressful academically. Not just for me, but for everyone. I can feel it all around residence; there is tension in the air as people are starting to realize how quickly time seems to be slipping away. All those projects put on hold are starting to force their way back to the surface of reality, and it's scary when exams and final marks are looming overhead.

I've been through this lovely phase of school a few times now, and I think I've finally learned how to prevent myself from going crazy when the pressure of school tries to swallow me whole. All of last week I focused on allowing myself to relax, spend time with my floor and don team, as well as my mom and sister. Anxiety comes so naturally to me with academic stress, but I find that if I still make time to do the things I love, the actual school work doesn't seem so painful when the time comes to do it.

It's really hard to strike that balance between socializing, personal time, and academic effort -- but once you do, it's pretty great. I suppose there are some people out there who aren't natural worriers like I am, but I guess success in university is all dependent on getting to know yourself. Those who don't struggle with anxiety or stress may have to learn how to pull up their socks and time-manage when it gets down to the wire for assignments and such.

All I know is that university life is absolutely incredible with the right balance of friends, quiet time and school work. It's taken me two academic years to get here, but that's just fine with me. I can't wait for the upcoming exam period, where I get to operate by my own schedule, get into the Christmas spirit with great people, and celebrate another accomplished term!

Good luck everyone! Tatianna 

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This passed Saturday was Fall Open House at the University of Waterloo, and of course, St. Jerome's. It's a day where prospective students can come to learn about the programs offered here and what it is life to live in residence. Personally, I have a soft spot for tour day. I think it's because I was an ambassador last year, and I had so much fun taking people around and showing them the place that I've considered to be home for quite awhile now. It's just really cool to see the eager faces of potential students, and to think that I was once one of them.

I knew that there would be lots of Ambassadors and Student Leaders in the White Cafeteria, so I stopped by with a friend to say hello. What was going to be five minutes turned into a few hours, because when we got there we realized that our Student Activities Team was making promotional t-shirts and coffee mugs for St. Jerome's Movember. The Student Leaders were making shirts to encourage the rest of residence to participate.

I am always in the mood for a craft, so I ended up making two that I absolutely love. It's funny how the simplest of things can brighten up my weekend. If one things is for certain, it is incredibly easy to get involved at St. Jerome's. There's always some way to participate, and more often than not you are left with memories you will never forget. (Or perhaps even memories that you can wear on your back!)

Until next time, Tatianna 

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It's complete!

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I love it when my Fine Arts projects become something that I will actually want to put up on my wall when the course has finished. Our latest project in Figure and Anatomy is a portraiture project to be created as a triptych (a set of three images that are somehow connected). The idea is to properly create a likeness based on facial features and proportions. It must include three images: a portrait of a celebrity or character, a self-portrait, and a hybrid of the two.

My Figure and Anatomy course is technically a drawing course, but my professor doesn't really put any restrictions on medium. She encourages us to try new things and experiment, but also allows us to use materials that we are more comfortable with if we feel it's appropriate. Good old pencil and paper drawing has never been my forte, and considering we only had a week to do this assignment I decided to stay on the safe side and paint them.

I chose Dexter as my popular culture icon. It's my favourite show and I absolutely love his character. I'm also pretty curious to see what my face would look like if it collided with Micheal C. Hall's.

I spent all of Friday feverishly painting the first two. I did Dexter first because I knew he would be the easiest. My self-portrait came second, and brought with it extreme frustration because I struggled to achieve a likeness. It's still not as recognizable as I would like it to be, but considering that for the first three hours it looked as if it were a distant cousin of mine... I'm choosing not to worry about it too much.

I dedicated about four hours to the third, the morphed face, on Saturday, and there is still quite a bit left for me to tackle today. At the moment I feel completely tired of looking at facial features. Noses, eyes, lips, ears, fingers, and hair. Highlights, shadows, volume and depth. But the clock is ticking and I have to get it done.

This happens every time I create a portrait: I seem to forget how complicated the human face actually is.  

I don't foresee me wanting to hang up a picture of my face morphed with Dexter's, but I will definitely use the one of Dexter. Sometimes it's a stuggle to meet deadlines in Fine Arts... but it does give me a reason to complete art that I otherwise shove to the back burner; I've been wanting another painting of Dexter for awhile now! I'll be sure to upload a picture of all three when they are finished.

Until next time, Tatianna 

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Anatomical Ethics

Last Wednesday was a very challenging day for me. It was one of those days when your class calls for participation that you would rather not offer. One of those days when it's harder to stay in the room than it would be to leave.

My three hour studio class was spent inside the Anatomy Laboratory observing human cadavers. The anatomy lab is used by many different students at the University of Waterloo, from many different faculties. It was my Fine Arts Figure and Anatomy class that brought me there, but I think it's mainly used by students in Kinesiology and Applied Health Science. It is here that students study and maintain donor human bodies for educational purposes. The main reason my class is given the opportunity to work inside the lab is to better understand the interior of the human anatomy. By understanding the internal components of the body, we can better artistically describe the exterior components.

I was well aware of this aspect of the course before I had even enrolled, but I was quite unsure of how I would react. I was legitimately excited for the opportunity of course, but the thought of seeing a dead body for the first time in my life was pretty daunting.

When the lab instructor first revealed one of the cadavers, my heart dropped into my stomach. It was like I froze, and all I wanted to do was try to figure out some way to get myself out of there. The cadavers are donors who have requested that their bodies be used for educational purposes after death, and so most of them have died of old age or illness. Even though I knew that these people wanted their bodies to be used this way, it was very difficult for me to feel as though it was okay for me to be there. I couldn't detach the cadaver under my study from the idea that it was once a human life. It was someone's friend, someone's father, someone's son.

Deep down I wanted to stay. Despite all the kicking and screaming I was doing inside my own head, my feet stayed planted firmly on the ground and I followed along with the instructor. I just kept telling myself that this experience was one in a million for someone like me and it would be worthwhile to stay.

I do feel as though I learned more about human anatomy. Studying the interior of the body helps provide mental puzzle pieces to work with when drawing the human form, making it easier and more natural to draw different positions. Regardless, I feel as though my time in the lab was a worthwhile experience mostly for the exposure it offered. It forced me to stop and think about the human body in an entirely different light. I started thinking way beyond the scope of a regular Fine Arts studio class.

I still don't know how I feel on an ethical level. Part of me doesn't think that I am meant to see such things… But I understand and appreciate why it is part of our course. It's hard to put into words the push and pull that this experience offered me, but I am glad that I chose to stay.

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Last Friday I participated in Habitat for Humanity with St. Jerome's. Eight students, both first and upper years, came out to help with an affordable housing build on Howe Drive in Kitchener.

We left from St. Jerome's at 7:45am in two cabs, headed for site. We were the first to arrive (there was another group of people who helped), and we were immediately greeted by a woman who gave us name tags, work boots, hard hats and refreshments. Yes, refreshments. I'll admit that I was pretty surprised to see that there was coffee, cookies, granola bars and candies all laid out at 8:00am. Little did we know, they were going to feed us as well as the St. Jerome's cafeteria all day! I'm serious -- our first coffee break consisted of cheese, muffins, grapes and yogurt, and when lunch time rolled around we were bombarded with home-cooked hamburgers, vegetables, potatoes and apple crisp. I still can't believe how accommodating they were!

The accommodations made us feel so appreciated and welcomed, but it was the build that was most exciting. We were split up into groups, and I instantly became part of the "window crew". We spent the entire time installing windows, and I actually learned a lot more than I thought I would. The windows were extremely heavy, but we started with the biggest ones so the job got easier as the day went on. As our little team got more comfortable with each other, we became more and more efficient. When all was said and done, we had installed eleven windows, both upstairs and downstairs in the complexes. It was hard manual labour because of how heavy the windows were, but it was incredibly rewarding.

I think the most memorable part of the whole experience happened right before we left. As we were waiting for the cabs to come and pick us up, I looked at the completed houses and compared them to the ones we had been working on all day. In particular, I looked at the windows and realized that they were installed by people just like me… people who don't know anything about construction, but were willing to invest a fraction of their time and energy to helping improve the community. It's amazing to think that something so complicated as a house can be build by average people who master simple tasks and combine their efforts.

I didn't feel like we even did that much to help, especially when you factor in all the coffee and lunch breaks, but looking back at the houses I realized that the little role that we played did make a difference. It was a really worthwhile experience, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. Great food, great people and a great cause!

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The Old and the New

About a week ago nostalgia collided with new beginnings. In the same night I attended two events that, in combination, reminded me of how much I have changed since my first year at St. Jerome's. The first was a reunion organized by my Don from first year, and the second was a floor trip that I organized myself, for the girls on my very own floor as a residence Don. Going from one event to the other was like some strange, unplanned, circle of life moment. (I feel compelled here to address the irony of my floor's theme: The Lion King).

I've actually attended a floor reunion hosted my by first Don every year since our group spread its wings and we all flew off into our upper years. It's not really an SJ tradition or anything to plan reunions after the academic year, and as far as I know no one bugged my Don to do it… she just genuinely wanted to get together with everyone and catch up. Out of thirty five people, roughly ten showed up. I guess that doesn't seem like a lot, but when you consider those who couldn't make it due to their location or class schedule, it was definitely a success.

It was nice to see familiar faces, though they were strange in a way; everyone, myself included, has grown up to be quite different than when we were terrified little freshman.

My floor trip took place less than two hours after the reunion ended. We went to Menchies to get frozen yogurt, and I couldn't help but think about the girls who came along and wonder how their lives will change over the next two, three, four years. Will they still keep in touch after they move out of residence? Will they enjoy their time here as much as I did? Will they hold onto their St. Jerome's roots in the same way I and so many others have?

St. Jerome's is such a strong community, and it ties together generations of people in extremely unique ways. Floor trips and floor reunions are just the tip of the iceberg, and its an iceberg can't really be understood unless you are a part of it.

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Allow Me to Introduce Myself...

Hello everyone! My name is Tatianna Benning, and I am a third year student at the University of Waterloo enrolled through St. Jerome's University. I am in a Joint Honours program for English and Fine Arts, and I absolutely love it.

St. Jerome's University is more than my school, it is my home. I have lived in St. Jerome's for my first and second year, and this year I am a Residence Don.

I am extremely excited to start sharing my St. Jerome's experience through this blog. University is so much more than lectures and exams. It's opportunity. It's friendship. It's triumphs, and it's downfalls. It's never perfect and almost always messy... but it's beautiful chaos that can completely change your life in a positive way. Until next time, Tatianna