Ian, First-year International Development

 

IanWhy St. Paul's?


First, the residence is absolutely perfect for me as an International Development student. It is close to all of my classes and professors' offices and due to the ENV Living-Learning Community, I had the opportunity to be around a lot of students with similar passions and interests as myself. The second reason is I love the room layout of the double rooms. The bookcase divider really helps maintain a sense of privacy for each roommate and is so useful if someone needs to stay up working while the other wants to head to bed. Personally, I feel that the room layout is one of the best available for double rooms on campus.


The people…


Both the students and staff at St. Paul's are amazing! There is such a huge variety of students at the residence, from all different programs (though primarily environment), all different places across Canada and around the world and with all different interests so that it’s almost impossible not to find a bunch of people who you get along with and become friends with. The staff, including the Dons, Residence Staff and Kitchen Staff, are always extremely helpful and a ton of fun. 


I'll never forget…


The experiences that I won't forget are the late-night trips to the university plaza for pizza or bubble tea. It would start with one person at midnight saying that they were hungry and would turn into a residence trip at 1 am with about 20 people from all different floors. None of the trips really stand out, but together they exemplify the amazing fun community feel in St. Paul's. While most residences have to rely on Dons to plan events, we just did it on our own because we loved hanging out. 


Best moment…


One of the best moments was decorating my floor for a Halloween residence contest. At first no one was really into it but slowly people started helping until almost everyone on the floor were out of their rooms contributing. It was a great time for everyone to relax and joke around and by the end, our entire floor was completely decorated and was completely terrifying. Needless to say, we won the competition and greatly enjoyed our free pizza party.


Best thing about St. Paul's…


I love the close-knit community feel of the residence. It is easy to feel a little intimidated by the size of Waterloo but at St. Paul's there is just such an amazing small-community feel that everyone can feel comfortable and at home. I have grown to be close friends with most of the people on my floor and throughout the residence. All of my friends from other residences who visit have told me how jealous they are of the sense of community at St. Paul's.