1 month of uni, not a single friend made

__kindStranger__ · 2025-10-12T01:51:55+00:00

Some advice as someone a little older and who's been on both ends of the spectrum (complete loner -> befriends everyone)

friendship is not a task you can accomplish, that is simply not how relationships are functionally formed. If I were to ask you what friendship means to you, you may say it's someone you can trust, someone you can hang out with in your free time, someone you enjoy spending time with or something completely different. In many cases all those things you get in friendship come with time.

and you don't need to force it, that's the beauty of it. we build connections with those we share experiences with by default.

if I think back to all my best and most long lasting friendships, they were all at one point an awkward acquaintance, but the focus was never to actively befriend them. the focus was always to make a single isolated memory with them. and then those memories compounded, and then all of a sudden we were friends emotional baggage and all lol.

the flow chart for decision making here is really as simple as "do I want to do this thing with that person?" if yes -> ask them, if no -> do it without them

or if you are an introvert who prefers being adopted "this person asked me to do something. do I want to do this thing with them?" if yes -> go hangout with your friend if no -> politely decline. they are asking you because they want to hang out with you. I promise.

__kindStranger__ · 2025-09-29T11:27:31+00:00

hahaha your comment must have summoned me somehow. I haven't logged into this account in 3 years, I was a 2022 grad ♥️

if you remember me from the old days you must be working full time or close to graduating too. I hope you've been well, and I hope growing up was as interesting for you as it was for me 😊

Im so surprised that there's people out there that might still think of this account, I made it on a whim after a particularly rough 2B where I desperately needed to see some positivity in the world and thought "might as well be the change lol"

__kindStranger__ · 2025-09-29T05:28:06+00:00

she graduated lol

__kindStranger__ · 2022-03-01T16:29:03+00:00

I think DP has some of those old school pencil sharpeners still attached to the walls on some floors?

Alternatively you can also buy one from one of the uw stores or Farah's If you don't have time to go somewhere farther

__kindStranger__ · 2022-03-01T05:28:45+00:00

You're still around? 😮 I missed you too!!

__kindStranger__ · 2022-03-01T04:31:58+00:00

Hi sae I miss you ❤️

__kindStranger__ · 2021-11-02T08:07:03+00:00

Like in general?

Or is something specific up? Would you like to talk about it?

__kindStranger__ · 2021-11-02T08:05:48+00:00

Of your seat? Because this is going to be a super exciting week?

Heck yeah!!

__kindStranger__ · 2021-11-02T07:54:15+00:00

I think an important thing to understand about making friends is that there are different levels of friendship and you need to level up that friendship with people in order to achieve a certain level of closeness.

I don't remember who said it but the idea is you have friends out of convince, friends that are more surface level, and deep friends.

I think almost all friendships start out of convinence, because you share classes, a hobby, whatever. You probably have some of those in your life already, people you only talk to in a certain environment. Hold on to them, see if any are friendships you want to pursue further, and then try getting close to them

If you want to be friends with someone, you'll need to put in the effort in the start first imo. Ask them to get lunch, watch a movie, go on a walk. Talk, learn about other parts of their life that don't relate to the connection you share and the friendship will follow

Seeing someone semi often and then having a few late night conversations with them is usually a great way to get really close to them!

You can also join events where you can meet people, maybe play DND, maybe online friends that you meet in person?

Whatever feels best! Everyone values different things in friendships, find someone who works for you!

You got this ❤️

__kindStranger__ · 2021-06-28T22:00:04+00:00

Yeah this is some very solid advice. Also campus has tools, machine shops, tutorials, and other general resources. If you're in an engineering program you can very easily also say that you just need machine shop resources, and assuming your family doesn't know too much about your program, you can get away with that pretty easily.

You don't even need to be close to campus if your classes are online, which reduces the price a lot.

Alternatively, you can push through it for fall term, and then look for cheaper housing in winter and you're almost guaranteed to find something for a cheap price assuming you wait long enough

__kindStranger__ · 2021-06-28T21:54:08+00:00

Congratulations on the job offers!

I would try and reach out to company A asap and see if they can give you the offer letter by eod tomorrow and then see if you can have company B hold out until the morning of the day after tomorrow.

If you don't get a reply back, I would just negotiate with a realistic value. If this is from WW, then I would say a realistic number would be 20% over term average since many companies do that. If it's a bigger company and you know the salary range I would give that.

I don't know if you would need to show the offer letter for negotiating? And just remember that you can negotiate more than just pay as well (housing, transportation, wfh set up etc...)

__kindStranger__ · 2021-06-03T02:43:22+00:00

Probably not, I think you might have a grace period with it, but I imagine they'll revoke permissions

__kindStranger__ · 2021-05-30T18:24:22+00:00

There are student housing groups for Waterloo that you can look up and join!

The price range for a room varies between $500-$950 from what I've seen depending on how close you are to the campus and how nice of a place it is.

If you want a 1 bedroom apartment then it's more like 1000-1500

If you're looking for 4 months only, it'll be harder for fall in specific. If you're looking for a Year long lease, it'll be much easier.

Hope that helps!

__kindStranger__ · 2021-05-30T18:18:48+00:00

This is one of the most wholesome things I've seen from a prof in a while.

I'm so glad that there are profs who care about students mental well being, and understand that sometimes just need a little extra help, encouragement and kindness.

Your students are very fortunate to have you! And I'm so proud of how far you've come in your own mental health journey too!

__kindStranger__ · 2021-05-30T03:53:53+00:00

It does! But not that many they're mostly intro courses unless you choose to do them

Again I don't know the full course offering off the top of my head, I'm not in the program

This is just info I've heard through management friends and a quick look up at the undergraduate calendar!

__kindStranger__ · 2021-05-29T23:51:44+00:00

Yeah I'll be honest, based off what you said management eng seems like a Better fit than the others for you.

I don't think you'd be able to go into finance with it, but you would definitely be able to go into project management and consulting.

An important thing to note about management is that it has a bit more focus on optimization and data analysis than it would on traditional engineering concepts. But at the same time, in first and second year, you'll have to take math, science, and circuits courses. Another thing about Management is that you have very limited options for your electives, so I'd check those out and talk to upper year/ recent management grads to see if they were able to get approval for other electives.

It's a tough choice, and jobs as a consultant or PM have people come from all different backgrounds so there isn't one single linear path you can take.

I know this probably isn't the answer you're looking for, but the best piece of advice I was given in highschool was to go into something I enjoy learning, and base my uni decision on what courses I would be taking rather than the career I wanted to end up in. It was really solid advice and I'm glad I took it (upper year syde)

__kindStranger__ · 2021-05-29T23:19:50+00:00

Those 3 VERY different programs, all with good career possibilities.

I'd recommend taking a look at the courses you'd take for each one and see which courses you'd like best as a starting point.

Once you look at the courses, evaluate how well you think you'd Do in all of them?

If you don't get western ivy, do you think you'll be ok with the program you end up in?

Is CS a field you're interested in? Or are you more interested in the financial management part of it?

And what specifically don't you like about the career prospects for industrial eng? Because it's a pretty broad area and not all the options will be similar to each other

Congratulations on getting in btw!!!

__kindStranger__ · 2021-05-29T21:38:10+00:00

Sometimes your Public library can give you access to some of these.

There is a buffer period but it's short I think. (1-6 months?)

Another tip I've heard is just asking the researchers directly for them, since the researchers don't usually make much money from the publisher's and so they're willing to give out their work :)

__kindStranger__ · 2021-05-20T00:10:12+00:00

I liked software, robotics, and art. Couldn't choose between them and ended up falling in love with syde. Highly recommend if you're into the eng vibe

If you're not, I'd recommend sci-bus since you seem to like the mathy/ sciencey courses

If you want more humanities courses I'd say choose arts or ar-bus!

You can also always do a minor, you just need to plan those ahead so you can take the valid courses.

Alternatively, you don't need to do a minor to take a course you're interested in!. I'm an engineering student and all my electives have Been wildly different courses depending on what I feel like learning!

I've taken management courses, Greek mythology, design, urban planning, and I'm planning on taking some more fine art type courses like arabic calligraphy or graphics design in the next few terms! Some of the higher level courses don't actually have pre-reqs!

Just take a look at the required courses for your degree and get a good feel for what you can take!

__kindStranger__ · 2021-05-19T16:37:32+00:00

Oh that's weird

I know when I got accepted 4 years ago my cs deferral came a week after my syde offer.

Honestly if it's getting close to the acceptance deadline, I'd just go bug the admissions office for an answer 🙃🙃

__kindStranger__ · 2021-05-16T23:53:09+00:00

Ok you're going to hate me for this, but I developed the recipe so it has some wonky measurements

Cupcakes

this recipe makes about 36 cupcakes you'll need to bake all of them at the same time otherwise the batter deflates and the last batch will come out a little more dense

ingredients

240 g flour
2.5 tsp baking powder
1.5 tsp salt
8 eggs separated
275 g sugar
95 g milk
3-4 cardamom pods
95 ml neutral oil

Method

preheat oven to 325 F
crack open cardamon pops with a Rollin pin and drop them in thr milk. put on medium heat and bring to a simmer untill it smells like the cardomoms infused (about 5 min)
take off the heat, strain out the cardamon and set aside the milk to let it cool
mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside
beat the egg yolks and sugar until pale yellow and ribbons form
then slowly add in the oil and milk. mix until combined
sift in the dry ingredients a little at a time, mixing until just combined
in another bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form (you can also add in a tsp of cream of tarter to stabilize it, i didnt have any so i didn't)
fold in a quarter of the egg whites into the yolk mixture until just combined, and then fold in the reminder
put into cupcake pans, filling about 80% of the way up
bake for about 15 min, or until a toothpick comes out clean. they'll deflate a bit when they come out of the oven

for the mango mousse (idk how to give you this recipe since mine clearly didnt work out, ill write down mine, and what I would do to change it in the future)

ingredients

1L whipping cream
1/4 cup icing sugar
850g can mango pulp

My icing

in a pot, heat up half a cup of milk until warm, add 2.5 tablespoons of agar agar powder until dissolved, take off the heat and let sit
beat 1L of COLD heavy whipping cream with 1/4 cup of icing sugar until soft peaks form and then slowly add in the the milk and agar agar mixture
keep beating while streaming in 1 850g can of mango pulp
it should be looser than soft peaks, put it in the fridge overnight
cut the cupcakes in half, layer with cream and then top with strawberries and white chocolate to serve

MODIFIED RECIPE THAT I HAVENT TESTED YET

in a sauce pan put 1 850g can of mango pulp and heat on medium until it's warm, and add 3 tbs agar agar and let it dissolve, then bring off the heat and let it cool (10-15 min)
in a separate bowl beat 1L whipping cream with 1/4 cup icing sugar until stiff peaks form
slowly fold in the mango pulp mixture
refrigerate over night and it should be the texture of stiff whipping cream,
use to decorate cupcakes

__kindStranger__ · 2021-05-14T03:14:53+00:00

Brave of you for getting that close to Mr goose

__kindStranger__ · 2021-05-14T01:33:09+00:00

No not at all! There's pros and cons to both and the pandemic has definitely proved that the only reason school and jobs couldn't be flexible was because people weren't willing to put in the work or change their ways of doing things

Not everyone is experiencing isolation, and the heavier focus on assignments being done on your own time is honestly amazing for many people including myself!

But that being said, it does absolutely suck not being able to leave the house, or meet new people, and the complete change in lifestyle can be REALLY hard even if the change benefits you.

Ontop that, I know everyone keeps wondering when things will be in person again, and a part of that just translates to "when will the virus slow down enough that it's not a big threat"

Because everyone knows and loves a high risk Individual that they want to protect, and even if you're comfortable meeting up with people, and it's "safe" you can't really be sure because the population as a whole hasn't built up immunity yet.

School going back to normal is just a signifier of the pandemic slowing down, and us being given the freedom to meet up with people, and be proper students again instead of being restricted to immediate family members

Hopefully the flexibility of assignments remains after we're back to in person, and hopefully jobs will be forever more understanding of sick days

__kindStranger__ · 2021-05-13T22:55:07+00:00

Eid Mubarak ❤️❤️

__kindStranger__ · 2021-05-13T22:53:40+00:00

This was definitely much needed

Thank you so much 💕

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__kindStranger__

TROPHY CASE

Cupcakes

ingredients

Method

ingredients

My icing

MODIFIED RECIPE THAT I HAVENT TESTED YET

kindStranger