I wrote this article for MathNews a while back, link to the article.

Once you become a student at the University of Waterloo and take up the honour of being a Mathie you realize:

1. That the world becomes a much uglier place. Pretty blue eyed blonds are simply an urban legend. However, the world becomes so much nicer, and peaceful place, you can relate and talk to everyone.
2. You realize that the smartest person from your high school now seems really dumb. However, the not so smart people have no chance whatsoever.
3. You realize that high school teachers actually care about you, or at least try to, and now you really appreciate them. However, you realize that university profs don’t give a jack s##t about you.
4. You should have really appreciated the small things in life before university, like “self cleaning” shirts, “self changing” bed sheet, and homemade meals. However, now it’s too late, you got to do your own laundries, change your own sheets, and eat cafeteria s##t or your own cooked s##t. Also that your mother’s pot pie seems like a delicacy rather than something you would avoid.
5. You realize that no one else gives a s##t about being cool, or being in the “cool” gang. However, being nerdy is normal, and widely accepted by everyone. And grades/coop jobs are better than someone’s boyfriend’s Porsche.
6. You realize that talking to yourself has become much more interesting, it’s like you are talking to a smart person. However, you catch yourself singing “the bus goes round and round” for hours nonstop.
7. You realize that calculators are evil, now you can’t use them on tests, you will have to be careful with your additions. However, you can now do advanced multivariable integration calculus in your sleep, while dreaming on the toilet in space backwards and tied upside down. [I dare you try to figure out that image]
8. You realize that TV is not a desire, rather a distraction. However, without a TV, chat rooms become your best friend.
9. You realize that having a credit card, driver’s license or anything else doesn’t matter, because all you need is your university ID. However, you tried to pay for a bottle of water at the airport with your ID card and trying to get into a public library with your ID card.
10. You realize that time and sleep doesn’t work so well; you will have to do both things everywhere. For instance, you are crunching LDEs while on the loo, or taking a nap, which don’t usually work so well. However, you will master the use of caffeine, that you can stay awake for hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours.
11. You realize that the money you spend in a weekend while in high school for that video game or that shoes wouldn’t even cover a text book full of weird Greek symbols. However, you realized that shoes and video games can only take you so far, while weird Greek symbols can make you lots of money.
12. Skipping and not get caught was an honor. However, not so anymore.
13. Realize that university of Waterloo is as hard as hell, and you wonder why the f##k you came to this place in the first place. However, now it’s too late to go back, as number theories are much more interesting when discussed with a similar intelligent being.
14. Realize how lucky you should feel as there are tons of people who want to go to university but can’t. However…

[After investigating why this article suddenly had a series of random characters at the end of it, it was determined that Bill suddenly fell asleep, banging his head on the keyboard. — InsidED]

[No, f##k you, I didn't - Bill]

Bill Li

The whole idea of this post is that now school have started I have realized there are things that does not come freely and easily, such as home cooked meals, clean clothes, and nice things. We should be more appreciative of things that we normally take for granted. Especially our education.