Category Archives: Spots

The Canadian National Exhibition

Arts, Events, Food & Drink, General, Spots, ,

The Canadian national Exhibition (also known as the CNE and The Ex) is an annual event in Toronto. Although ticket prices tend to rise a bit each year, it’s something that I’ve enjoyed since childhood, and has become a tradition in my family. Since The Ex always takes place just before school starts, it’s a great way to mark the end of the summer holidays. Everyone should make an effort to go, whether it’s just once (to say that you’ve had the experience), or every year.

When is the Ex happening this year?

August 19th to September 5th.

What is there to do at The Ex?

There’s tons of stuff to see and do at the CNE, including:

  • A variety of shows featuring cowboy trick riding, figure skating, and cultural song and dance
  • The World Market, which features booths that showcase cool stuff from all around the world
  • The Home Living Market – you can buy a sauna!
  • The Arts and Crafts Market – browse (and buy!) cool jewellery, dips and jams, wind chimes, and tons of unique trinkets
  • Carnival rides
  • Carnival food – the usual corn dogs, cotton candy, and Tiny Tom doughnuts are always available (but why not try a Krispy Kreme Cheeseburger instead?)
  • A kids playcentre
  • A horticultural contest and gardening market – look at some spectacular blooms and gardens, and check out the annual flower competition
  • Parades
  • Last, but not least, the Labour Day air show!

Where can I get tickets to The Ex?

You can get tickets at the door but, if you want to avoid the lines and save a little money, some retailers such as Shoppers Drug Mart and Loblaws usually have discounted tickets. You can also buy discounted tickets online before opening day here.

How do I get to the The Ex via public transit?

Take the 509 Exhibition streetcar from Bathurst or Union Station and it will take you right to the entrance of the Ex. Or, you can take the GO train to Exhibition station.

Let’s go to the Ex!

Some Fun Facts About Toronto

Entertainment, General, Spots, Whimsical, Wish You Were Here,

Toronto is a city full of history and interesting stories. So, to both longtime residents of our lovely city and newcomers that have come to study at U of T, did you know that:

  • Front Street got its name because that’s where the waterfront used to be. The shoreline got moved down to Queen’s Quay because we filled the inner harbour for industrial development purposes.
  • Yorkville wasn’t always the posh, high-end neighbourhood it is now. In fact, it used to be the place for hippies to hang out. A lot of artists got their start in Yorkville, and the first line in Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi” (‘They paved paradise and put up a parking lot’) refers to a spot in Yorkville. That particular parking lot has since been transformed into the Village of Yorkville Park (the ‘park’ with the giant artificial rocks).
  • The King Edward Hotel at King and Yonge is supposedly the most haunted building in Toronto, since it was built on a hanging yard.
  • In the past, you could discern a person’s social class by the way they said, ‘Spadina’. If someone said ‘Spa-dee-nah’, they were of the upper class, while people of the lower class said, ‘Spa-die-nah’. Since there were more people in the lower class than the upper class, the latter pronunciation is the one used today.
  • When the ROM’s crystal was in its final stages of construction, staff members signed one of the beams that forms the structure, immortalizing themselves forever within the museum. And yes, Daniel Libeskind designed the crystal on a napkin which is now in one of a ROM’s storage facility.
  • The glass facade of the AGO is supposed to looked like a tipped canoe. Why Frank Gehry chose such an inauspicious symbol is beyond me.
  • Chinatown used to be a little bit east of where it is now. Streets like Elizabeth Street and Chestnut Street used to be part of Chinatown. The Lee Benevolent Association at Dundas and Chestnut is a vestige of Chinatown’s previous location.
  • Even though it’s one of the official languages of Canada, French is only the 12th most spoken language in Toronto.
  • The Distillery District features some of most well-preserved examples of Victorian industrial architecture in North America.
  • The CN Tower no longer holds the record for being the highest free-standing building in the world, but it still holds the record for having the world’s highest wine cellar.

Feel free to add these tidbits to your Repository of Completely Useless Information (aka ROCUI, which is a lot more fun than ROSI).

Architecture Rant: The Medical Sciences Building

General, On Campus, Opinion, Review, Spots, We've Got Issues, , , ,

Life Science students spend a lot of time in the Medical Sciences building. You know which one it is – that sprawling concrete menace at the southeast corner of King’s College Circle. It is a horrible place.
First, the exterior. What were they thinking back in the late 1960s? Since pre-fabricated concrete slabs were the newest and hottest constructional material, the architects went hoop-la with it. The material seems painful to look at and even more painful to touch. I feel that, if for some reason I fell and grazed the wall, it would cut into my skin. Lucky for me, Medical students would see my suffering and come help.

Or would they? Another problem with the Med Sci building is that it lacks windows. You know, those glass portals that allow sunlight in and make you happy? If you are unfortunate enough to find yourself on the upper floors where the research labs are, you will be bathed in artificial fluorescent light. The hallways are confusing with many twists and turns. With no windows, you have no idea which direction you’re headed. I guess in the 60s people didn’t have to get to class on time so they could afford to spend ten minutes lost in a painted white cinderblock labyrinth.

Back to the exterior – it’s awful. Since there’s plenty of wasted open space on the outside, Med Sci is a magnet for smokers. Does anyone else see the irony in this?

The interior is barren and feels like a high school (complete with orange lockers and a feeling of hopelessness). One day I was walking to an office on the fourth floor and a some professors were having a conversation in the hallway. There were four of them and they occupied the entire width of the corridor. Now, there’s nothing wrong with professors talking to each other and I’m not complaining about the width of the hallways. What I find deplorable is that they had to converse in the hallway. In Med Sci, there are no lounges, no casual conference rooms, and there’s no free space. Everything is locked behind a door, out of the public realm. Every space has a rigidly defined purpose and must be booked ahead of time to be used. This leaves nowhere for impromptu conversations or places to eat lunch. Life in Med Sci is lonely and oppressive – certainly not the environment to promote creative thinking or forge interdisciplinary projects.

Thankfully, there are alternatives. The Terrence Donnelley Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research is a perfect example of how a research institute should be designed (it’s the new tower which is attached to Med Sci and has a main entrance that faces College). There, the exterior walls are completely glass! There’s plenty of communal space with plant life to spur the creative juices. I bet the researchers in the Donnelley building would report that they have a higher quality of life than those in Med Sci.

Med Sci can be saved. To bring it into the twenty first century, tear down walls. Literally make open spaces for people to have lunch. Drill holes into the ceiling and allow sunlight to filter into its cavernous depths.

That, or tear the whole building down and start fresh. Perhaps a glass and steel phoenix will rise from the concrete and rebar mess.

Skating in the City

Athletics & Health, Entertainment, On Campus, Spots, Wish You Were Here, , , , , ,

So Winter Break is sort of half over and so far, all you’ve done is vegetate at home or at your friend’s house. Toronto is a bit quiet during the Winter but this is Canada and apparently skating is in our blood, so there are tons of places to skate! It’s fun and it’s exercise! So rather than grumble about it, take advantage of the cold weather and skate! All of the venues listed here are free, though not all of them will have skate rentals. If you plan on going skating several times a year in your undergrad years, I highly recommend that you make a long-term investment (your feet probably won’t grow anymore anyways) in a pair of skates. Canadian Tire tends to sell skates for a fair price.

City Hall

The experience of living in Toronto is not complete until you’ve skated at least once at Nathan Phillips Square. The lights at City Hall turn on at 6:00PM and it’s absolutely beautiful. I suggest going during a weekday and non-peak hours because the rink can get pretty crowded. As in really, really crowded. Skates can be rented for $10 for 2 hours. You will need a piece of government issued I.D. (such as a driver’s license) so that the skate rentals can ensure that you will return their skates.

Harbourfront Centre

The Natrel Pond at Harbourfront turns into an ice skating rink in the winter. There are skate rentals and adult rentals are $7. A driver’s licence, credit card, passport, birth certificate or citizenship card is required to rent skates and/or helmets.

Toronto Parks

If there’s a park nearby with an outdoor rink, you can skate there for most of the winter! The downside is that there probably aren’t any skate rentals and they’re open for specific hours for free skating (other time is set aside for hockey) but these rinks tend to be less crowded. For their hours of operation, search for your local park at the Toronto Parks, Forestry & Recreation site.

Evergreen Brick Works

The final renovations for Evergreen Brickworks have been completed and the winter has come, so they have opened their skating trail. This is probably one of the newest outdoor rinks in the city and it sounds absolutely fantastic. There are no skate rentals but the rink is extremely environmentally friendly: heat from the refrigeration system warms the Café building next door! Isn’t that cool!? Click here for hours of operation and more information.

Varsity Arena

Varsity Arena on campus (you might have written an exam here before) is an Olympic-sized rink that will be open to the public once term restarts on January 3rd and it will remain open until April 8th. The rink is open for recreational skating in the times listed here.

Happy skating!

Going Abroad: Part II

Spots, Survival Tips, UT Life, Wish You Were Here, , , ,

So, you’ve read Going Abroad: Part I, you’ve thought about it and you’ve decided that you want to go abroad. So, how do you go about doing it?

First of all, do research. Think about what kind of courses you want to take abroad. Do the Woodsworth College Summer Abroad program suit your credit needs (you don’t need to be a Woodsworth College student to do their programs)? If so, please take a look at their application process on their website. The advantage of a Woodsworth program is that you travel with a group and there’s little paperwork to be done to get your transfer credits.

None of the courses at the Woodsworth program interest me. Does that mean I can’t go on an exchange?

No, you just have to do a little more research and paperwork but it’s all worth it.

How to proceed:

Step 1: Find a U of T exchange partner institution with programs and courses that interest you. You can do this through the ISXO website. If you’re unsure, try contacting your professors and see if they can suggest a few universities where you could study.

Step 2: Join the StudyAbroad portal group so you can get regular updates on deadlines, funding opportunities and other information.

Step 3: Get a nomination from the ISXO to study abroad. This is absolutely mandatory. You will NOT get credits from the institution if you are not nominated by the ISXO. To get a nomination, you will need 2 letters of reference (1 if you’re doing a summer exchange), a statement of interest, a resume and you will need to fill in a checklist and an online application on the ISXO website.

Just wondering, what do are they looking for in my statement of interest?

The statement of interest is just a way to find out what you want to study, why you want to study abroad and how that would complement your education. You should also show that you’re either a seasoned traveler and/or that you’re responsible and mature enough to go abroad alone. So any other experiences abroad should be mentioned here.

Step 4: Hand in your application to the ISXO. Please check the website to see which deadline applies to you.

Step 5: Wait for your application to process. You may or may not get called to do an interview.

If you’re accepted…

Step 6: You will have to register and participate in 2 mandatory meetings: a pre-departure meeting and a transfer credit info session. The ISXO will also inform you about the bit of paperwork you’re going to have to do to earn your credit during these sessions.

Enjoy studying abroad!

For more information, try going to the study abroad fair on Wednesday, November 10 from noon to 5PM at the Cumberland Room, 33 St. George St.

For people interested in going to East Asia, the East Asian Studies Student Union is holding an information session on studying in Asia on November 30th from 1PM to 4:30PM in the Cumberland Room in the Cumberland House at 33 St. George St. Drop in and out as you please. Light refreshments and snacks will be served.

Going Abroad: Part I

General, On Campus, Spots, Survival Tips, UT Life, Wish You Were Here, , ,

U of T is a big university and sometimes, you might feel like a nameless number in a mass of nameless numbers. However, being in the biggest university in Canada has its perks and one of them is the fact that we have the more exchange partners in Canada and abroad than anybody else. Since deadlines for exchanges as well as going abroad info sessions are coming up soon, I thought I would do a two part series on going abroad. The first will explore whether or not going abroad is for you while part II (which will hopefully be written in a week or so) will elaborate on the processes involved with going abroad. I did a course abroad this summer so many of the things I write will be from experience.

So, first things first, why should you go abroad?

  • If you’re learning the history of a country or doing area studies, going abroad will add a new dimension to your studies. The person who came to one of my classes to talk about studying abroad studied in France and she said that she never fully understood why the peasants were so angry at the nobility during the period of the French Revolution until she saw the extravagance of the Versailles Palace.
  • Learning a language? There is no better way of doing than by going abroad.
  • You can learn from famous professors or institutions during your stay abroad! Thinking about a university as a potential grad school? Why not try a course at the institution for a summer or a semester?
  • You can immerse yourself in a new academic environment, which can be refreshing if you’re in need of a change.
  • All courses done abroad through the ISXO are pass/fail courses on your U of T transcript, so if you want, you can do a relaxing year abroad. However, be warned that if you’re applying to grad school, they will want ALL your transcripts.
  • If you do well at the institution abroad, you can get reference letters from professors of other universities for grad school.
  • It sounds corny, but you gain lifelong friendships and contacts from all over the world.
  • Being able to survive alone in another country is a sign that you’re mature and responsible. As a result, it looks good on a resume.
  • The ISXO (International Student Exchange Office) is super nice and very helpful so planning an exchange by yourself isn’t as hard as you think it would be! Continue reading Going Abroad: Part I →

Now that I’m in Toronto, what should I do?

Entertainment, Events, Food & Drink, Spots, Wish You Were Here, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

After being away for a month, I’ve got to say, Toronto is a great city. Sure, we’ll make fun of it and the rest of the country can hate us but if you came to U of T, you might as well explore this place. It’s rather upsetting to hear from graduating students who aren’t from Toronto that they have never been on the islands or they’ve never really set foot outside of campus during their 4 year residency here. In any case, here’s a list of places and things to do while you’re stuck here:

Continue reading Now that I’m in Toronto, what should I do? →