Sad thoughts aside, here are…
5 meals I had over the weekend:
- miscellaneous Chinese style dishes (Hamilton): $13 (1/4 of bill), decent but not astounding.
- french toasts, back bacon, egg (Hamilton): $8, not bad but it took awhile and the french toasts were a bit dry.
- vietnamese (pho) noodles with beef and soup (Kitchener): $10, generous proportions of noodles and toppings (rare!) and tasty soup, well worth the money.
- chocolate danish courtesy Tim Horton’s (London): $1.50, good ol’ choco danish, you haven’t failed me yet.
- two beef shawarmas (London): just shy of $10 together, tasty but a little too tasty (i.e. salty), very filling and again, well worth the mun-muns.
Of all the vietnamese places I’ve been to, the one near Waterloo’s campus is one of the best so far. Over the weekend, I (at the last minute) decided to hop on the wagon for a road trip up to visit out-of-towners from Jaffray in the three towns/cities I mentioned above. After seeing the campuses and hearing from attendees about McMaster and Waterloo, I’ve decided to update my mental plans about where I’ll be headed to (assuming I’ll be accepted when I apply for them).
First off, Waterloo is going to be serving as my failsafe and I’ll probably be taking the math-business double degree there (with the business portion taken care of at Laurier). I’ll also be applying to McMaster for health sciences, something pretty much most everyone in my classes who might have a chance at getting in is doing. With such fierce competition, it’d be quite a miracle if my less-than-stellar Grade 12 Biology marks get me accepted. Thus, I will take it as a sign from on high and totally take McMaster over Waterloo in the case that I’m accepted to both. Visiting McMaster’s campus was a little exciting when I began thinking about “What if I did come here?” and it’d be wasteful of me to turn down acceptance to such a competitive program if I do manage to nail it.
I remember worrying that I’d be no good in the health science program since I’ve always labelled myself as supremely logical and terrible at commiting random facts to flat memory (as is needed, I thought, for Biology). But while I was at McMaster visiting, I suddenly came to the realization that I could actually (and have been slowly) making Biology work the way I like it. Memorizing “random” facts is something I’m no good at, but once I’ve understood the facts and why they’re there, I’ve a pretty good ability for explaining and reasoning them out, which, I think, puts me at an advantage over the “serious studiers” (as I call them) who really do just memorize without much processing. I figure, if I really am to study medicine, there’s no reason why a little cunning and quite a bit of serious application of my faculties couldn’t get me through with surprising success. Okay, I am sounding very arrogant in my mind right now so I will stop. Soon. It sounds a little naive, but I suppose I could do whatever I want granted I get that miraculous first step, and really apply what I’ve been given. In that light, I almost think taking math-business (things I am comfortable with) even if I got accepted at McMaster would be a bit of a wussy way to go.
Here’s the ultimatum: McMaster if I am sent there, Waterloo if I am put there. Of course, there is one other criterion I’m still considering at the moment and, depending on how things turn out, I may yet default to go to Waterloo anyway (sort of like an override for the McMaster override). And if you’re thinking I was going to say what this all-important (at the moment) criterion is, you’re seriously mistaken. To save myself from many unpleasant things, I will vouch to keep it all secret-like. I’m sure you’ll understand. And if not, that is just as well.