Anappetite: Experiences and Food from a Student

After finishing my last internship over the summer, I’ve reflected back on how much I’ve grown since my first internships, largely thanks to the great mentorship and trust afforded to me by others. I feel incredibly lucky to have had these experiences (though I did work hard at getting them!) and wanted to share them for others in case they provide any insights :). UCalgary XR Lab Researchship This one was a semi-internship I did during the summer of tenth grade; it was unpaid, part-time, and did not have many expectations attached to it. I found out about this opportunity after having participated in a UCalgary student-run hackathon - the organizers sent out an email to all the participants because they knew some labs with graduate students who were open to mentoring and having high school students do work related to their thesis projects. After filling out a short form about my interests and programming experience, I had a short on-campus interview at a mixed reality lab and was ...

The last year of uni is definitely the "oh shit!" time when you look at your academic requirements and realize you need to take five 500-level CPSC courses, three 300+ level options (the only one that fits your schedule is Analysis of Slavic Music ), and two of the most grueling courses you've ever taken because they're prerequisites for CPSC 5XX: Course you wanted to take since first year . OK, maybe it's not that bad. To this day, I've never had a computer science class in the ICT building CPSC 441 - Computer Networks This course had a great balance between theory and practicality, because while we were given (and tested on) many equations and theoretical considerations related to packet delays, protocols, checksums, etc., it was made clear what each one was useful for. I also felt that the mix of assessment types helped with learning. We had written assignments and in-class activities, many of which required looking back on prior course content and combinin...

Do you want to start a club at UCalgary? That's great! With over 200 clubs already on campus, you'd think it's a pretty straightforward process. Well, yes and no. The process is theoretically  easy and straightforward, but there are a bunch of little things the official guides  don't quite tell you that might trip you up. So, here's what I learned from starting the UCalgary Cheese Club! Start the Application Process Early... Very Early First things first: all new club requests are due once per year on May 15th. If you miss that deadline, then you're waiting until next year. The actual paperwork is very doable, you just need: A constitution (the instructions for this are very clear) At least 20 members (gather your friends!) A few executives willing to help run things The full official details are here if you want to dive deeper. Finding Your People Before you finish your application, you need to submit a list of club executives. Your executives don't need t...

In Chinese culture, the Mid-Autumn festival (falling somewhere in September/October) is a time to gather with loved ones, give thanks, and pray for good fortune and health. Of course, food is of paramount importance to these celebrations - mooncakes especially. They come in many different styles, but they are almost always round to symbolize reunion and have the bakery's name with an elaborate design printed on them. They're served in wedges and paired with tea. This year, I tried the 4 different flavours of mooncake from the T&T Bakery Assorted Mooncake Pack, which comes in a lovely box depicting the Moon Rabbit : These mooncakes are all of the Cantonese variety with rich fillings, a thin and tender pastry crust, and salted egg yolks inside (more on that later). The four different fillings here are white lotus paste, mixed nuts, dates and walnuts, and red bean. White Lotus Seed First up, the classic lotus seed paste is the most popular filling for mooncakes, despite its ra...

Subway has remained a consistently affordable and healthy option for food on (or off) campus. They recently launched "power bowls", advertised as being an even healthier and protein-packed option compared to their sandwiches. How do they really stack up in comparison? To find out, I tried their two flagship chef-crafted flavours: Piri Piri Chicken ($11) and Southwest Steak and Avocado ($13)... of course I used a 2 for $20 coupon in the app 😆. The Piri Piri Chicken Bowl has 29g of protein, comprising of rotisserie chicken, brown/red/wild rice, cheese, veggies, and topped with Piri Piri sauce and garlic aioli. It tasted pretty much like one would expect: healthy, chickeny, and ricey. There was nothing wrong with it, and it had a good mixture of textures. I chose to add a chipotle sauce on top as well, and would recommend doing so if you get one because it definitely helped to add a layer of flavour. The Southwest Steak and Avocado bowl has 26g of protein and the same rice blen...

There's something peculiar about how we've elevated books to this sacred category where every page should teach us something or contribute to our betterment. Meanwhile, we consume movies, podcasts, and YouTube videos purely for pleasure without a second thought. When did society decide that books had to earn their place through educational merit alone? For many students, this discourages them from reading at all. To be clear, I'm all for educational books and they've definitely impacted my life (technical guides, personal development, popular science...). What I don't think we give enough credit to, though, is how much learning and satisfaction we can get when we start to read fiction for the thrill of it. The Norrington Room in Blackwell's Oxford I've recently noticed how different I feel after reading a book I genuinely enjoyed versus one I felt I "should" read: the characters and themes stick with me, for months or even years afterwards.  Of cou...

Let's be honest - when someone says they LOVE Vancouver food, it's usually followed by a sushi, hot pot, dim sum, or ramen recommendation. Of course they are delicious; but what really sets the city apart are the unique and mouthwatering eats from all sorts of cultures. I've been on a (very difficult, I know...) mission to eat my way through foods that I haven't had before while I'm in Vancouver, so here are three such dishes that made an impression on me! Kywteiw Moo Toon I entered Thai Basil restaurant after seeing that they served $12 Pad Thai, but couldn't resist ordering this unpronounceable soup when I saw it labelled *New dish!* on a little blackboard hanging on the wall. It looked so good when it arrived that I was already smiling before tasting it. "Kwyteiw" refers to the vermicelli noodles in the soup, and "Moo Toon" to the stewed pork skirts. The soup also comes with pork balls, bean sprouts, gailan (Chinese broccoli), and a chili...