First Week at uWaterloo

I’m originally from Vancouver, Canada, and have never actually been to Ontario before this. To prep myself for this change, I’d done hours of research online, trying to find anecdotes of others’ experience, especially in ECE.

However, no matter how much research you do, reality always seems a little bit different.

So, I hope by documenting my thoughts and journey, I can help others paint a bit of a picture of what it’s like to attend the University of Waterloo, specifically as an EE major.

Btw, obligatory plug - you should be able to subscribe to my mailing list and should follow me on Instagram at @noahsamuelw.

Orientation

Big shoutout to the upper years for hosting a fun orientation week. I had a blast at Wat it Takes, Earn your hard hat, and the Purpling (As you may be able to tell from the image below) and have to credit team Light brown for keeping the energy up at 9am on a Monday morning.

After all the fun orientation had to offer, I remembered that I am here to learn.

The classes

My schedule for first week was a bit of a shock compared to what I had done in high school - as expected.

Classes started on Wednesday, and we immediately jumped into content in MATH117 (Calculus) and ECE150 (Intro to Programming). Although I’m only 3 days into classes, I can tell that this workload will be immense. So, this may be the last time I’m writing to this blog, as my ENGL 192 prof (Dr. Chris Martin, the GOAT) says, “Bushy-Tailed and Bright-Eyed”.

Most of my time has been spent in PSE 5353, the lecture hall (pictured below in an ECE150 lecture), and I’m getting a feeling that I’ll get tired of that room soon enough. However, it is convenient to be in one cohort where everyone has the same classes, assignments, profs, and we don’t have to move between rooms at all. The only downside is that the chairs are a little uncomfortable.

Now, I’m sitting in the basement of the DC library procrastinating getting started on MATH115 (Linear Algebra) and MATH117 (Calculus) homework. There’s lots to do and so far, simply keeping track of it has been the most difficult part (probably because I haven’t started studying, haha)!

I hope to keep this updated every time I have an update, and will probably be posting tutorials and technical things along the way. But either way, this is my first post, and I hope you’ve enjoyed!

I always welcome feedback at my email.