#10: Get really involved in a club

Friends of the interweb,

I have totally slacked off since finishing school last Tuesday (read: I caught up on sleep), so I failed to upload my latest completed task! Well it's not actually fully completed but let me explain...

I feel like a huge part of university life is finding "your" community, your niche if you will. I really admire students who come into university, know exactly where they want to get involved, and quickly rise to the top of their club/service. It's impressive. But obviously, this wasn't my story.

My arrival at McGill was like a giant wake-up slap, and for the first couple of years, my full-time job was to try and find my footing. Even now, I still struggle with the perfect life-school-sleep balance. (Most students actually joke you can only have two of the three.) Then last year, I finally felt like I had things semi-under control, so I went searching for my extracurricular calling.

It was actually really easy to zone in on what I wanted to do: help girls in engineering. Not help like suicide prevention, but help like build a community, a kind of sisterhood... Totally not bra-burning crazies, just more like support for trying times (venting about the lack of hygiene in engineering) and social activities to make new friends (talk about clothes instead of science for once?).
So I joined POWE (Promoting Opportunities for Women in Engineering). I threw myself in a position where I had zero experience (VP University Affairs) and we rebuilt the committee from the ground up, since a lot (almost all) of the members had graduated and left.

I feel like this post is already too long and chicken-soup-for-the-soul-esque, so I will end it, but I will say that going into next year as POWE's co-president, I totally found my niche. And girls just like me who can talk makeup/clothes/boys/pop culture with the same intent and depth as any engineering topic.
Oh the joys of well-rounded women.

#29: Pull an All-Nighter

Ok lemme clarify and say it's not like it's my *dream* to be up all night and sleep-deprived. But I'd never completed a full all-nighter up to this point in university, and if that doesn't belong on a university bucket list I don't know what does.

I embarked on this journey with my friend Sarah, and we prepared thorough documentation of the night. Before I take you through our night of love, tears, and a little bit of work, first look at this obviously scientifically-correct diagram of an all-nighter. I feel it defines flawlessly what we were about to attempt.

I'm sorry it's written so tiny and you had to pull out your glasses (or really a magnifying glass) for this. But I'm not technologically-inclined enough to fix this.

SO.

Based on the above diagram, to which I will refer a ton, our journey through the night begins.

10:00pm: Official start of documentation.

Here you can see our specimen is feeling upbeat, relatively well-groomed, and clearly it's dark out but these windows have a lot of glare.

12:00am: Coffee Run

I think the key to survival is to drink caffeine before you feel tired. So you never get tired. Makes sense right? Anyways, notice the patient still retains perky attitude.

2:00am: Nap

You should have had coffee Sarah. I feel that, as the patient was experiencing a sore throat, the experiment wasn't entirely conducive. Cause sucka got tea instead of coffee and it all led to this. Perched on some sort of cabinet. passed out. I think the chair is a cautionary measure in case she falls off.

3:00am-6:00am: "The Zone"

Things got serious here. Here we see the patient full immersed in the learning process, which apparently involves a lot of paper for Sarah. Look beyond the look of despair in her eyes, she was trying to break my heart and perhaps go home. NO SARAH. SLEEP IS FOR THE WEAK. and the dead.

7:00am: The End

I think one more minute and she was throwing a chair through the window to escape. But then, my dear readers, THEN.

Then we stepped outside. And much like the diagram suggests, we were filled with calm and a complete (but brief) understanding of the world. Is that how everyone feels at 7am? I should further investigate. But right now I'm still recuperating from this obviously giant mistake in my sleep schedule.

I'd like to extend a special thanks to Sarah who brought us to 7am alive.
And I'd like to give myself a slap in the face. Because I accomplished so little, too busy "living" my all-nighter, I had to pull 2 subsequent all-nighters.

Sleep schedule....? What's that?

#3: Go to a Sugar Shack

Literally the morning after Blues Pub, I had organized a lovely outing to a SUGAR SHACK!

For those not familiar with the term, no it is unfortunately not a house made of sugar. We all read Hansel and Gretel, we know how that one ends.
Actually, a sugar shack is usually located on a maple tree plantation, where the owners make their own maple syrup from the trees. The few I've seen are always nice and rustic. How cozy. But sugar shacks are not plantation visits, my friends. Oh no. They make your stomach expand at the thought of it. They make your brain scream: "WEAR THANKSGIVING PANTS."

That's right.

Sugar Shack = Food. A LOT of food.

Basically anything to do with maple or pork, you will have here (along with a few other French Canadian classics). Crepes, eggs and bacon and ham, beans, sugar pie, pea soup, and of course maple taffy (aka tire - linked you a lil' recipe there). The food is unlimited.

So we did this little outing as members of POWE and it was lovely. I feel like I walked in, I rolled out, and I'm okay with it.

We tried to spell out POWE. I look like I'm stretching, Ashley is about to ballet jump up, Sarah is gonna clap her hands and say yipee, and Kat is gonna do a cartwheel.
I love us.

#7: Host a Blues Pub

You're definitely wondering what the heck Blues Pub is. And when I explain, you'll still wonder why I would want to host that. All in due time, friends.

Blues Pub is like this hidden McGill gem I discovered in third year. Every Friday, from 4 to 9, the McGill engineering students gather in the engineering common room, which is turned into a bar for the night. Every week, a different club or committee is in charge, and so they run the event and pick a theme. I've been to a LOT of Blues Pub. Jungle Fever, Jersey Shore, Tight & Bright, Slutty St. Patty's, Stoplight, Apocalypse (last BP of the semester every semester), Breast Cancer, and Disco are some of the themes I remember.
Originally, I thought, I'm gonna attend ALL THE BLUES PUBS this year. So I began my quest with Hawaii-Five-0 Blues Pub in September. But you see, my problem is I'll have a great time, but then I leave and it's 8 or 9pm and THEN WHAT? So I had a better idea. I'm gonna throw my own Blues Pub. Well not reallllly my own, but our own (that would be with my committee, POWE).

We missed the deadline to apply for one first semester. So when the application for second semester came out in December, we were ALL. OVER. THAT. I feel like that application was better than a lot of work I've handed in throughout my degree. That's how much we pimped it up.

After the holidays, we found out that we got it! Twas set for April 6th. After some pats on the back, we went about our daily routines, since it was so far away.

THEN. DISASTER STRUCK. Turns out April 6th = Good Friday, so the school would be closed, so no liquor license, so no BP! OH NO.

We had no choice. Our backs were against the wall. Many worried our only option was a bad one. As everyone shook their heads and gave us disappointed looks, we shook hands with the guy in charge, and decided it would be on THE THURSDAY.

A Thursday Blues Pub. Never seen one in the 3 years I've spent in that room. It was unheard of. It would break all rules and logic and elevate BP to a whole new dimension. It was kinda Amargeddon up in here.

So we planned a fantastic Blues Pub, with the theme of a murder mystery. It was pretty cute (in a manly engineering way), we had the killers be departments, and the weapons related to departments (like acid for chem or electrocution for electrical)... So cute. My favorite: the civil weapon was a falling concrete slab from an overpass.
I think this game of Clue is only valid in the province of Quebec.

So anyways the night came and went. And it was fantastic! We had a good turnout (shoutout to the arts kids who obviously realized this was the place to be instead of the Arts version of BP), we sold like a zillion cupcakes (we are a girly organization after all), and we made a good enough profit to use as the first ever POWE Leadership Award, awarded to this kickass girl in engineering who is basically superwoman in terms of involvement.

All in all, totally amazing.

Prettiest servers ever - our tips can confirm that.

#4: Attend both chem eng banquets

Ok so I actually didn't do this one. When I graduate, I will be able to say I will have been to 4 fall banquets and 0 winter ones. Oops! It so happens that this banquet coincides with an event I am organizing.. BUT I had 2 banquets this week, so it kinda counts, right?

First off, there was Volunteers' Banquet, where the people invited are those who were really involved in volunteering for the Engineering Undergrad Society this year. I have zero pictures of the event, and only one a friend took.

Then there was the AH-mazing graduation ball last night. Everyone looking their finest, good food, and fun music! I have to say I got a little teary-eyed looking at everyone dancing and laughing.. Despite all the hardship, engineering is an amazing family and I'm gonna miss (almost) everyone!