To the Recent Events at Waterloo…

I don’t want to forget. I don’t want to look back at my years at the University of Waterloo and act as if these were the most wonderful days of my life. I try to keep all sort my negative emotions to myself. But considering the recent event in Waterloo, I think it is important to at least let a part of those enclosed feelings fly away.

Waterloo gave me my first real taste of adulthood. It is a bitter, crude, and infinitely empowering taste. For the first time, the whole world was my playground. Waterloo took my chin in its hand and directed it to the South. I stared at the “world-to-be-in-20-years” and heard: “This is where we are going. This is what we are building”. Like men during war time, we all picked up new tools, accepted new challenges, and tried to fight the right war. It made us bound, it made us more passionate.

Until the beginning of 2017, I was 100% sure Waterloo was the best decision in my life. Things were making sense. My life was good. And I were genuinely glad. I felt great about almost everything in life… But none of my friends and I really knew how tired we were. When you live in Waterloo, you breathe Waterloo. You eat Waterloo. Everything you do is connected to this big ecosystem.

Talking to my friends at less intense universities, learning the experience of alumni from Ivy Leagues school, it made me realize how hard we are really pushing ourselves. One writer on Quora said, “You don’t experience Harvard, you survive Harvard”. Her memories are stained by all the hard work and the competition. Considering the level of involvement and academic accomplishment at the university, I believe this is also true for Waterloo. I am not blaming the university for this “toxic” environment. On the opposite, I want to thank it for creating an educational greenhouse which allowed me exponential growth.

I love the challenges and the opportunities Waterloo offers. And hell yeah, I still think this is one of the best decisions of my life. However, in light of the recent events encountered on campus, it is important for the students to understand this: the level of stress we experience is not normal. It is something unique about this place and it is something we should learn to control.

I only have one word of advice to all first year students struggling: you have to learn how to be happy. It is not the university’s job. Be yourself, explore your passions, meet the good people, and most importantly: take your time. Take your mind away from the game and you will realize you are worth so much more.