Couches

I'm going to make the assumption, dear reader, that having read the title of this post, you're understandably skeptical of the the quality of the forthcoming article. “Couches?” I can hear you saying, “I came to this blog to read about 'The Redeemer Student Experience' and this guy is going to tell me about couches?” If you're asking that, you're asking the right questions. And the answer, my friend, is yes, I am going to tell you about couches.

Humber College doesn't have any couches. I have fond, positive memories about my time at that institution, and nothing I say here should be considered negative towards Humber, but they don't have any couches. Actually, I don't know for certain that this is still true, but when I went there in 2006, there were no couches. They have a pub and an arcade, but as far as I can remember, no couches. McMaster University, as far as I know, doesn't have any couches. I don't know this for a fact, but I used to work as a contractor there with relative frequency, and never did I see a single couch on that campus. (This was back in the days when I was an arborist. In retrospect it's entirely possible that Mac does have couches and concealed them from me so as to avoid having them dirtied up by some filthy tree worker.)

Redeemer has tons of couches. There's couches in the front commons, couches in the commuter lounge, outside the lecture halls, in the cafeteria, in the rec centre, in the lobby of the athletic centre, and the library. I'm probably forgetting a few. Suffice to say, Redeemer has a lot of couches.

I didn't really think about why there were couches when I first came here. They tend to be in otherwise empty areas, which I figured was probably why they were there: to fill space in otherwise empty sections of the school. I was probably wrong. As the weeks wore on, and I started going to class and studying and all that stuff you're supposed to do when you're a student, it kind of clicked. I found myself going to class early to hang out with my friends on the couches outside. Between classes I'd go to the commuter lounge and sit on the couch to study. I never actually end up studying, somebody always ends up joining me and we talk until it's time to go to class. If nobody I know comes, I usually end up meeting somebody new who's also sitting around pretending to try and study. That's one of the great things about Redeemer; it's small enough that nobody looks at you funny if you just sit down next to them and say hi. Redeemer's couches sometimes feature impromptu prayer meetings. Sometimes there's huge life advice discussions. Sometimes, usually in the minutes before a test, there's studying. With the possible exception of the Launch Olympics, I've probably met more people that I've ended up becoming friends with while sitting on Redeemer's couches than during any other situation in the school. Those couches provide a relaxed sense of socialization and community that's hard to duplicate.

So, to answer the previous question, yes, this is a post about couches. Yes, I'm comfortable with that. It's not that there's midterms this week and I've been busy studying, or that I simply just couldn't think of anything to write about. Those might be valid excuses if I felt like I needed to excuse spending 500 words talking about sitting on a couch, but I don't. I wanted to write about the couches because the interaction that happens on them is an important part of what makes the Redeemer experience different from other institutions. So, really, this post isn't about sitting on couches. It's about a rich, warm, welcoming community, one that materializes in places far from the dimly lit, sticky-floored pub of Humber College.

Dorm Life

Living in a dorm with 7-8 other students can be slightly frightening. Thousands of questions fly through your head: Will you get along with your dorm mates and roommate?Can anyone in the dorm cook? What if I live with party animals!? These are perfectly reasonable questions, in fact, I asked myself these questions a million times, and I want to address these anxieties and make you excited to experience dorm life at Redeemer.

First, let's discuss the topic of dorm mates and roommates. Redeemer's Student Life department carefully reads through your dorm application forms in order to figure out who will make a good dorm. Some of the things you'll find in common with your dorm mates are hobbies, majors and minors, future career goals, etc. For example, everyone in my dorm is involved with music one way or another, and most of us want to become teachers. Also, if you know someone who is going to attend Redeemer, you can ask to be in that person's dorm or be their roommate. My cousin and I decided to be roommates once we found out that we were both coming to RUC.

Second, I want to say that the dorm setup at Redeemer is truly amazing. Redeemer is the only university that I know of that has town-house style dorm with 8 girls/guys living together. Because of this setup, you begin to feel like a family. You also get to cook your own meals. Now for some people that may not be a good thing. But usually there is at least one or two people in the dorm, aside from the RAs, who know how to cook. How do you choose who's cooking? Your RAs will choose cooking partners based on class schedules. (I cook with two other girls on Monday nights.) Dinner is a great time to chat with your dorm mates and catch up on each other's days. Sometimes, you even get to have dinner with another dorm during a Dorm Dinner.

Lastly, I want to talk about the social life of a dorm. Once you get to know people on campus you tend to have a lot of visitors, which is a good thing. Friends give you a break from all the studying and writing you've been doing. However, you need to be aware of the temptation to hang out with friends instead of writing that History essay that's due in two days. Also, bring ear plugs. My roomie and I tend to go to bed 2 hours before everyone else, which means there's always talking and laughing going on downstairs. Fortunately, the sound is muffled pretty good, but for those of you who are light sleepers, I advise bringing ear plugs. Also, your dorm mates will be pretty understanding if you ask them to tone it down a bit.

Yep, Redeemer dorm life is pretty awesome. It's one of the things that really made me want to go to Redeemer. Once again I say come and visit Redeemer but make sure you stay over night in a dorm or take a dorm tour. Trust me. You won't regret it.

French Worship

This week’s chapel was in the form of the French Taizé style of worship. It is a very monastic and reverent form of singing. I personally enjoyed it; it really speaks to your soul, and also allows you to speak to God from your soul. The idea behind it is that we need to be still and know. Every now and then we need to slow down; at least I know that I have to. At times there can be a lot going on here at Redeemer, dedications to too many things can lead to an exhaustion physically, but more mentally. I know that I need to have a time where I can just be quiet and sit with God. I found this with the Taizé style of worship. Right in the middle of the service there was a time of silence. During this period of silence I sat as still as I possibly could, closed my eyes, and attempted to rid myself of all the distractions in my head. It was almost like I was meditating, my mind was stilled, my thoughts trained on God. It was a new experience for me, this Taizé worship. The music was great, the focus not on instruments, but on the voice. The words were repetitive, but not in a bad way. They got stuck in my head, and I couldn’t help but think about them. Being on the chapel team, I get a different angle on things, on the choice of music and how it connects to the message. The way this Taize style so closely connects to the idea of the worship is uncanny. The music relays the feeling that I really can’t express in words. I guess that’s how it can be with worship in any setting, but what can I do? This experience has broadened my view of worship, realizing that there are many, many different ways that people worship God. None of us can say that one is better than the other, because I’m pretty sure God doesn’t pick out his top five songs of the year. Anyways I’m running out of words, until next time, I’m Greg Hoekstra, stay handsome Redeemer.

Hardcore

First year students, prospective students- This one is for you!

So, as you probably know, Redeemer has a little thing known as “core courses.” Queue the dramatic music, gnashing of teeth, and various other forms of protest. Ah, core courses. How we love them, how we dread them.

As an arts student, my greatest fear was the darkly looming Science courses on the horizon. Visions of high school labs and incorrect labelling of the periodic table filled my mind... Wait, did I read that right? I have to take TWO Science courses? TWO?! All I wanted to do was take my English and Theatre courses.

However, upon actually getting into my classes, I was pleasantly surprised. This core thing wasn’t half bad! All my courses were far more interesting than I had thought they would be, and I found myself applying things I had learned in one course to another. The greatest part? One of my Science cores turned out to be awesome. (I say one because I foolishly put off taking Biology, and will now be taking it in my third year. Bad idea. Take Biology as soon as you can! Don’t follow my bad example!) Computer Science-101, who would have guessed you would become one of my favourite courses? A hilarious Prof, useful knowledge, fun assignments... this Science thing ain’t so dreadful after all.

Now of course, this dread of core courses goes both ways. I know there are tons of students who loathe the idea of having to sit through a Music class, dance in a Theatre class, and think poems are the most terrible thing to ever have been created. Never fear, fellow students. While dancing in front of your peers may seem awful and completely inapplicable to your future, I promise you won’t regret it. (A fun story- I once fell over in the middle of a Theatre dance circle. Apparently everyone else thought it was some fancy new dance move I had developed. Excellent.)

Yes, core seems like a bummer. But if you go into it with an open mind, you never know what you’ll find. (Nice rhyming skills, eh? You’ll learn that in your English classes!) It makes sense to only want to take courses in your field, but in the end the broad spectrum of learning will only benefit you.

The Unwritten Rules of Redeemer

You've probably think that you've heard all the reasons why you should come to Redeemer. Reasons like good student-faculty ratios, amazing dorm life, exciting off-campus studies. Now these are perfectly good reasons why people should choose Redeemer, but I think there's more to Redeemer than what you're told during a question-and-answer period.

What I'm talking about is the Redeemer atmosphere. When I first visited Redeemer, I remember feeling that there was something different, but I didn't exactly know what it was. Now, I know that this feeling has to do with student-to-student relationships. I see 1^st and 4^th year students mingling in the classrooms; guys and girls hanging out in the cafe; people excitedly chatting in the halls. I like to call this “The Buzz”. The buzz of the thriving Redeemer community.

And just like in every community there are understood rules. (Don't worry. These are all positive rules.) The first rule is “No Stealing”. For example during chapel, students leave their backpacks in the hall outside the auditorium. And after chapel their backpacks are still there with everything still inside. Another example is umbrellas. Umbrellas are a staple survival tool at Redeemer, but no one wants to carry a wet umbrella around the school, so people leave their umbrellas in the entrance way. And at the end of the day, those umbrellas are waiting for them.

The second rule has to do with “Dorm Dinners”. A dorm dinner means your dorm invites (or gets invited to) another dorm for dinner. The hosting dorm will cook the meal and the guest dorm will supply dessert and wash dishes. The tradition of a Dorm Diner is to play “The Name Game”. This game includes going around the circle and telling everyone your name, where you're from, your major and minor, and answering a random question. Some of the random questions I've had to answer are “What Disney character would you marry?” and “If you could be a road sign, what you be?” Dorm dinners are a great way to get to meet your fellow students and are just an all-around fun time.

The third rule is “Praying Before Each Class”. Professors begin each class with a prayer. I love the fact that God is integrated into every class, even classes like French and math. Another amazing thing about Redeemer has to do with the faith of the students. It is not uncommon to walk down the halls and hear someone talking about God, church doctrine, or worship. I love it that students at Redeemer are sincere in their walk with God.

There are so many other things I could say about why Redeemer is an amazing university, but the best way to experience Redeemer is to visit. I encourage any prospective students to come to a Campus Visit Day or book a private tour. I promise that once you experience the Redeemer buzz, you'll keep coming back for more.

Academia in a Different Light

I began university coming straight out of a public high school. It was like coming to Canada from Mexico, the cultures are just so different. I'd come from an environment where the mention of God subjected you to ridicule from anyone and everyone. You became the easy target for atheist bullies. I became somewhat of a chicken so I avoided theological discussions at all costs.
It was no wonder I was in such shock when I arrived at Redeemer. Never before had I heard a teacher pray before a class started, nor had them randomly refer to a Bible verse in the middle of a class discussion. It just wasn't done! But now every class or lecture you went to, it was the norm and I loved it!
In the hallways during high school you could not go anywhere without people uttering fowl language. After a while you become desensitized to it and don't even notice it happen anymore. It shook me to the core to come to Redeemer and happen to eavesdrop on people praying together in the hall. Not to mention the time a friend came to me in the hall, pulled me to the side and asked if I could pray for her. I didn't think she meant right them and there! I said ok, thinking that was it but she waited. I almost panicked, what will people think? Nonetheless I didn't want to disappoint my friend and not do it, so I bowed my head and said a prayer for her. We both went on our way to continue the day, but that moment stayed with me. I realized that this too was a norm in this community.
In high school I had very few friends, we just had nothing in common. Another shock. At Redeemer you have something in common with nearly everyone, if not a Dutch background, its your faith and love for Jesus Christ. You can meet anyone for the first time and feel like you've known each other for decades just because of that connection. It's because of this connection that I was now less afraid to actually go out of my way to talk to someone. Also, people in high school were just mean, not so here. People care and aren't afraid to show it. You are never turned away from someone's lunch table like in high school. Instead people invite you to join them. It's incredible what happens when Christ is the foundation of academia.

Now that I'm in my second year at Redeemer, I have become accustomed to praying in classes and hallways, and having a worship service once a week with the school. I have become so accustomed to religious discussions that when I am in the public I sometimes forget that the people I encounter may not share my faith or understand it. I catch myself witnessing without intending to do so, it's awesome! I am so glad that coming to Redeemer has made me more bold in sharing my faith with others.

A Power-Failure Bringing Students Together

As a commuter student, it’s easy to feel a little left out from time to time. It’s certainly not the fault of anybody within the institution, in fact Redeemer University College, in my view, takes exceptional steps to include commuters in activities. Hennie Schoon, through the University’s student life department, sets up commuter socials with free coffee on Wednesdays. Each commuter gets set up with a ‘buddy dorm.’, one specific residence on campus that we can go to anytime, where the introductions are all already made. It’s comforting to know that anytime I’m on campus and I feel like being utterly destroyed at any video game imaginable, I have a buddy dorm that I can go to where somebody will make that happen. In fact, if it’s any indication of how much Redeemer cares about its commuting students, I’m actually writing this in the Commuter Lounge. How many universities have a commuter lounge?

Still, though, there’s something about living on campus that can’t be duplicated. With the majority of students living on campus, there’s a tight knit community here that, while it’s been very accepting of me and my fellow commuters, I’m hesitant to believe I can ever truly be a part of. Dorm dinners, Bible studies, late night coffeehouses, games tournaments, on campus worship services and prayer meetings are all features of on-campus life. While I’m obviously not prohibited in any way from going to these things, they often take place at a time or place that are difficult for me to get to, or difficult for me to go to and then get home and be in bed by a reasonable hour. That, coupled with the fact that I’m just not around as much as an on-campus student would be, keeps me a little out of the loop. It’s not something that’s a problem, or something that’s anybody’s fault, it’s just a fact of life. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t sometimes jealous of my on-campus friends.

Yesterday, however, my enchantment with on-campus living reached its highest point. I had left campus earlier that day and was returning for a meeting with my theatre group at around 7pm. I rolled into the parking lot to see literally hundreds of students in pajamas carrying bedding and pillows into the academic building. Upon investigation, I discovered that an underground power line near Luther Court had been severed by construction equipment and that many of the dorms were without power and that students were being evacuated to the main building for the night.

Most of the people I talked to were mildly unimpressed with the power failure. Before the cause of the outage was known, one group of students jokingly planned a holy war against the campus squirrel population, who were initially suspected of causing yet another power outage. Despite all the chaos, however, most students were excited to be involved in what they characterized as ‘a giant university slumber party.’ While staff scrambled to get pizza and gym mats and direct people to their assigned sleeping areas, students laughed and joked, enjoying each both others’ company and the hilarity of the situation. I don’t think I met one person who wasn’t at least moderately happy to be there, who didn’t appreciate the situation for the community building opportunity that it was.

Crews ended up restoring the power later in the evening, and nobody slept in the school, but the experience of being there with most of the student body last night showed me something: whether they know it or not, the kids on this campus really do love each other.

Maybe I’ll apply to live in residence next year.