Welcome to UBC!

My name is Anabella and I’m the coordinating editor of The Ubyssey, your campus newspaper. I’m here to give you some unsolicited advice that I should’ve listened to in first year.

You’re going to hear this a lot, but you don’t need to have everything figured out. There’s no possible way to make a perfect choice at every turn, so give yourself the space to try new things. I had to learn this the hard way.

Exhibit A: I had a major bout of self-doubt in wanting to do political science in my first year since I wasn’t that inspired by my intro to political science classes.

If you love POLI 101, as a nerd I’m happy for you! But turns out, those general studies classes were just not for me. I could’ve taken that time worrying about my major to do literally anything else. But despite the worry, I’m happily in the last year of my political science degree, having taken a ton of cool POLI and non-POLI classes along the way.

Exhibit B: I had big plans of graduating in four years. Then I found out about co-op, so those four years became five. Then in third year, I started writing The Ubyssey — I planned on becoming an editor for a year, then going back to co-op.

Then I abandoned all those plans — I wanted to be an editor again.

All along, I worried about making the perfect career move or felt bad abandoning what past me wanted. But now, in my third year at The Ubyssey, I can’t imagine having gone through with my original plan.

I’m sure the version of me who graduated in four years would be doing great at law school, but that version of me has no idea how much she loves to write. Neither is a worse version of the other — they’re both me.

So don’t stress out — things happen and plans change. And if that means you end up writing for The Ubyssey (not-so-subtle plug) that’s great! In my totally unbiased opinion, we’re the best student organization on campus. I’ve been able to make amazing friends, push myself personally and professionally and use our toaster oven for countless lunches.

At UBC, you’ll discover so much about yourself and the world around you. So chill out and enjoy!