For someone who struggled to understand grade 7 mathemathics and barely passed the mark for high school calculus, I ended up becoming an engineer.
In Canada, high school is 3 years from grade 10-12. After grade 10, some courses become optional and some are mandatory. Your choice also ultimately influence which major you can study in university. Me, being "a keener", I took pretty much all the highly academic courses like all the sciences: biology, chemistry, and physics. Additionally, I took calculus and French.
I studied super hard all the time. I took my studies seriously. I made the Honour Roll 3 years in a row which is for students whose overall class average exceeds 80%. In my final year, I decided that I wanted to be an engineer. At first, I thought maybe mechanical engineering. The good thing is first year of engineering school is general which gives you the opportunity to try different types of engineering courses to figure out what you really like.
My choice to become an engineer was mostly based on sensibility. I was expected to pursue higher academics by my family and I didn't want to be a doctor so I saw engineering as an asset. It's a 4 year degree which gives you the potential to get a very good job with a very good salary. It's also a training ground for life and teaches you a way to think.
I did relatively OK in mathematics class but I found calculus to be exceptionaly difficult. A minimum average of 70% in high school calculus is required to qualify for engineering in university. Actually, I scored something like 67% but my Chinese teacher knew I had plans to study engineering so he rounded up my grade to 70%, letting me know discreetly. I don't remember his name now but I will always be grateful to him.
The first week of university was called "Frosh Week". All these terms were new to me. It's basically a week of parties and crazy debauchery that I did not partake in. I was mostly interested in the different school clubs and making new friends. At that time I was working my part time job at La Senza and I remember I made a new Iraqi friend who drove me to work one day after uni. I don't know why this memory is still etched in my mind since it's really not that important but somehow I associate that memory with the first week of university.
First year of engineering school was beyond demanding. Each semester I took 5 or 6 courses which included labs, quizzes, midterms, assignments, and final exams. OMG. On top of it you have to manage a social life and for me, extracurriculars are very important. I joined the inter-mural rugby team. I didn't go for the varsity team since the time commitment required to play on a team like that would require me to reduce my study load heavily.
There were people having mental breakdowns around campus and seeing people pulling all nighters at the engineering lounge area was normal. I studied like a maniac. Day and night. I skipped parties and unnecessary social gatherings. We helped each other in engineering. Very few students did it all alone.
There was one particularly difficult course called Engg 205. I think it was something like engineering mechanics. It was a seriously complicated subject and taught by a tyrannical Iraqi professor. Half of the entire cohort that year failed. 50% of about 700 people. I passed woohoo! Although he didn't explicitly say it, I could tell that the professor was proud of me.
We worked on some very interesting projects during the first year like we built a robotics arm that lifted a cup full of rice and we built a Rube Goldberg machine that was perfectly built and timed to last a 2 minute journey. When I think back on it now, it was seriously impressive. The organization, the creativity, and the level of genius.
It was crucial to succeed during the first year as your overall GPA determines which engineering discipline you get accepted into. You are given a choice of course to list your top 3 options but each faculty has their own limit. I took all required courses first year and passed everything, except C++, which technically I failed and I started crying a lot because I was worried it would bring down my overall average. Right away, I knew I didn't like electrical engineering, software, geomatics, and civil. That left me with chemical, petroleum, and mechanical. I didn't even consider biomedical as an option because that's too intense and I don't like biology.
So when I chose my top 3 options, I put them as follows: chemical, petroleum, and mechanical. And waited for the results.
As for C++, I enrolled in the spring course to retake it but the engineering department decided that way too many students had failed so they did a slight curve and with that curve, I passed. Just barely but I passed. I walked out of that spring semester course victorious, dropped the class and enjoyed my summer.
And I am so glad I ended up getting accepted into petroleum engineering and not chemical. It really was the perfect choice for me. The most difficult and competitive program to get into was chemical and petroleum was the second highest, so it was still a great achievement. I was very happy!
The second year came around and it was just as tough as the first year but this time, I let my guard come down. I was also the legal age of 18 by this point so I started partying more and paying less attention to my studies and by the end of the year, a group of us got put on academic probation or some were required to withdraw from the program.
I got called into a meeting to discuss my status as I got put on academic probation and I went into that meeting feeling quite ashamed because my studies mattered so much to me. How could I have allowed this to happen? I could tell the person I was dealing with had faith in me. They weren't too hard on me and told me they'll give me the next year as an opportunity to fix the situation and show my commitment to the program or I would be asked to withdraw. I walked out of that office determined to make a change.
The following year, I made some drastic changes to my lifestyle. I ditched my boyfriend, I ditched my group of friends and started fresh. I made new cooler more positive and focused friends. I upgraded to a better boyfriend who was shitty also but better than the previous. That year I raised my GPA average from 1.7 to 2.7 .
The university of Calgary had a huge campus like one of those North American style where you literally drive around from department to department, that's how big it was. We had a huge food court where we would always gather with our friends. My favourite meal to get was from OPA, this greek place. We also had a bar on campus that turned into a huge party night every Thursday called "Thursden" with massive line ups to get in. I had many great memories at that place.
We also had an annual end of year campus wide party. I can't even remember what it was called but everyone would dress up in ridiculous costumes and attend to dance and enjoy the day.
It was definitely a challenge to manage my university life while also facing many challenges at home. I had to deal with being a student and trying to establish my own identity when my family was trying to force me into theirs. I felt confusion and shame because I felt accepted by the Canadian society but my family didn't accept me. I was left to wonder which version of me was correct. The one projected to me from the outside or the one told about me at home.
It was also quite embarrassing for me to go through university with other people knowing I was getting abused at home. Mostly, I tried to stay mum about it but I constantly had to run away from the house and call friends to help me so people did know.
When the third year came around, there was a buzz around internships. Everyone was eager to get their hands on an internship. We were all pretty much required to get a 16 month internship which meant we would be taking a year off school to work. Some people opted out but the majority enrolled. That year I also went to Mexico on a school volunteer trip to build a home for a disadvantaged family.
I secured an internship at a mid sized oil and gas company in downtown Calgary and this job allowed me to get my first car. However, within the first couple of months I could tell that this company wasn't very serious and my manager wasn't either. He would make passes at me calling me "The cute Intern" and never followed through on his word. So I found another internship and stayed mum. After 4 months when the time to start my new internship came, I quit and moved on.
My second internship was much better. They paid me more and they had a program set up for me which was followed through. I started out by doing basic work and after some time I slowly progressed to getting more responsibility. Even going on a trip to northern Alberta to see the site.
There were many students in the company and even at other companies from the east coast and I found them to be quite pretentious. They come to Alberta and talk shit about Alberta and Calgary. I was like ok...if you had something better going on in Toronto, you wouldn't be here in the first place. Losers.
I don't like negative ungrateful complainers.
The year of the internship passed and I enjoyed the working life making good money, having a car, and just doing regular life things. I saved some money from my work for future travel plans and I paid back the line of credit for my car within 8 months. That year, I also became a dedicated samba dancer.
The final year of university was relatively calm. The partying had died down a bit and now my school work was mostly focused on petroleum engineering. My classes became very specialized and our professors started to get to know us and build a better relationship with us. We also had a final year capstone project. We were supposed to work in a team of 4 but we ended up being a team of 3 which meant more work for each of us and I was group leader but it's okay, we managed.
My project was quite interesting. It was a reservoir evaluation and extraction project and it really required so much extra work. I had to prepare, plan, execute, take responsibility for issues, and deal with people management in general.
I had quite an eventful year. I joined a trip to go to a conference in Halifax which was my first time visiting Nova Scotia so that was interesting. I had some friction with the group leader as I always do since I am very rebellious and resistant to being controlled. I also joined a cool program called the Troitsky Bridge Building competition where we were required to build a bridge according to some specifications made up of popsicle sticks and glue. We then had to take it with us to Montreal where we were required to compete with 49 other teams from across Canada. My team theme was Fanta and we each wore a different coloured shirt and printed Fanta logos on them and we scored 25/50 which is really not bad.
I also joined a civil engineering trip going to Sao Paulo, Brazil as they had some extra spaces for other students to join. That trip was very funny and interesting. I spent the majority of time fighting with the group leader since he was honestly very weird. We had much friction until we had a full blown fight. He was slightly racist, controlling, and condescending so I called him out on his behaviours and was able to show him his own hypocrisies. All went well though. We survived it. The most memorable moment from that trip was when a group of us stuffed our faces with Brazilian BBQ then we decided we should go check out a strip club. So we hailed a taxi, searched strip club on google translate then clearly instructed the driver "Cluba da strip". LOL.
I finished the year and was very happy to have passed everything and went to my graduation ceremony. Actually, I can't remember which came first. The graduation ceremony or the Iron ring ceremony. The Iron ring ceremony is a tradition for all engineers to participate in and basically a calling and an oath taking ceremony. We pledge to work according to the laws of ethics and to do no harm to society. The university graduation was a bit more emotional as it's saying goodbye to the campus and the main stomping ground for so many years. Saying goodbye to many friends who we will probably never see again. And basically, saying goodbye to a version of me that was going to be left behind in the past.
Petroleum engineering was the best degree that I could have hoped to earn as a bachelor's. So rigorous, so interesting, so intellectual. It gave me a framework to think and to work. I studied hard, work hard, partied hard, fought hard, made friends, and lost friends. In the end came out on the other side alive and much different and stronger than how I went in.
Thank you to the University of Calgary for the many rich years <3
PS. If you are wondering why I chose to put the main photo of this blog post as me with a blonde girl, it's because Morgan was my only close Canadian friend during university. A fellow petroleum engineer and a very nice friend!
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