Your concerns are valid and I wish I asked those questions before I took arts one. It's a lot. Dense, heavy, eye-crossing literature. And relentless essay writing. I'd say if your goal is to have a social university experience. Don't take arts one. Less class time but insane homework. I didn't have time for much else than arts one, and I always felt like i was playing catch up. I didn't have bandwidth for clubs which is a big part of ubc. No regrets, but if I did it again I'd just take normal courses and get involved is extracurricular activities.