BARRHAVEN? MORE LIKE, FAR-RHAVEN!
I’ve never lived on campus. I don’t even live remotely close to campus. I live at home with my dad, uncle, and grandmother in old Nepean, which is on the west-end of Ottawa. This means I have a 40-minute commute to school, assuming the LRT is running on that given day. It would be fair to assume that I would have difficulty finding a place I belong at the University of Ottawa.
And yet, today, I find myself sitting on the University of Ottawa Students’ Union (UOSU) Board of Directors (BoD), heavily involved in one of the most prominent political events hosted by the International, Political and Policy Studies Student Association (AÉÉIPPSSA), and have found great friends. So how, one might ask, was I able to do that?
Let’s roll back to my first-year first. If you’re like me, someone who did their entire first year online because of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, you probably weren’t able to get to know many people who had just entered school alongside you, let alone get involved in anything related to RSGs, student-led programs, and activities.
Maybe you had made some friends from group projects in classes or met people through Discord servers and Facebook groups as I did. Perhaps you even joined a club or two that could operate entirely online. I had done that and was the Game Head for osu! at the University of Ottawa eSports Club during my first-year (and later on into my second-year).
But despite that, you might feel like you aren’t making all these close connections or living the university student life. That was how I saw university entering my second-year: low expectations, low esteem, and no confidence that I could make friends — all because I didn’t have that first-year campus life experience.
That, however, wasn’t the case. The turning point for me was, without a doubt, joining Model Parliament (MPSP), which is hosted by the International, politics and policy studies student association (AÉÉIPPSSA). To say that if it were not for that event I would not be where I am today would be a big, fat lie. Most of my friends at this university were made through the event, and I even got involved to a point where it felt like I’d always been there. At that point, I knew it: I had found a home away from home that I felt welcomed in.
Everything else just ended up falling into place: many of the people I met through MPSP shared classes with me, so I never felt ‘lonely,’ and before you know it, I’ve made many close friends that I’d never thought I’d have after my first year. Not to mention, I’d run for UOSU’s BOD by the end of my second term and win, bringing me to where I am today.
I hope my story can be a lesson to everyone. You don’t have to live in Sandy Hill, Golden Triangle, Lees, or quite frankly, anywhere near campus to find your community; your second home, at U of O. No, you just need to be yourself and live your best life the way you want. You will have your ups and downs as a university student, but U of O is a place for everyone.
