There's sNOw way to get to campus

Every Nipissing student should recognize this picture. It’s the upper gate of the Monastery Trail that we all know and love. It looks a little different in this picture though (thank you Google Maps) because it is one of the few months in North Bay when there is no snow. Believe it or not, this trail plays a huge role in our lives, and holds a special place in our hearts. Unfortunately we only have access to this trail for about 3 of the 8 months we’re here (Sept-April).

As we drift in to the depths of a North Bay winter so does the Monastery Trail. Oh, and by “Trail” I mean the section of walkway from one orange gate to the other. Understandably the Monastery Road does receive adequate snow removal so students can get from Main campus to the Monastery. But that’s not the issue at hand. The issue is that: the TRAIL section does not receive any snow removal during the winter months, none.

As you can see above, I've outlined the residences (blue=Nipissing, red=Canadore), the gates (orange=upper and lower gates), and the section of the trail that doesn’t receive snow removal (white=waist high snow). The unplowed region is roughly 500-600m which is just enough to freeze your toes and ruin your day on campus. To see a picture of my toes from the walk today please click here.

You're probably wondering right now “why does it matter if we can’t walk to school, there are busses every 15 minutes?” The reality is that the busses only come every 3 days, and that I should be able to walk to campus. I’m not really sure why Nipissing was built on top of a hill, or why residences were built on the bottom, but I do know that somewhere in between we need snow removal.

Whether you’re walking to your 8:30AM class, or walking home from the bar at 2:30AM, we should all have access to a safe, walkable (not a real word) trail. With the snowplows nowhere in sight, I managed to purchase my own snow-shoes which allow me to walk to campus with ease. So right now, the problem is solved for me, please stay tuned for my Monastery Trail “Bear Sighting” blog post coming soon!

***Please take a moment to check out the rest of my fully updated blog pages!

Nipissing University Blog Contest!

I have never really been much of a blogger, but I thought now would be a good time to document my exploits. So I made a Blogger account and I’m going to use it to share stories with you! But currently the cyberspace we used to know is changing. What do all of these new social-networking mediums do and how do I choose one? I personally grew up on Myspace, it was a really cool way to communicate with friends and was/is great for listening to music. But now there’s thousands of ways to share information and communicate: Friendster, Bebo, Blogster, Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter, and Plenty of fish (lolz), just to name a few. And we’ve all heard the horror stories of people not getting hired for jobs because of the “OMG DRUNK IN FLORIDA” album they uploaded to Facebook. So how do we make the right decisions online?

                          
           Well, if you’re having trouble deciding what website to use for your social endeavours... you’ll have to do a little research! There are all kinds of sites out there that offer a variety of services that can suit your needs. Facebook being a clear choice for most people (500 million users and counting), and Twitter is a close second (because those who tweet, are sweet!). Maybe do a little research within your group of friends because there’s no point in ‘tumbling’ your latest blog if you don’t know anyone with a Tumblr to share with!

      So here’s a quick guide to making the right decisions:

1.       Only pick a couple of social networking mediums, it’s easier for you to manage and for your friends to follow

2.       Privacy! No matter what site you go with, read the privacy settings/agreement to make sure you’re not screwing yourself over.

3.       Be relevant. Remember the time you tweeted “eating an apple”? Or you checked in at McDonalds? Let’s try and stick to posting stuff that’s worth reading! ... I really hope this was worth reading ha ha ha!

4.       If you want to see where society is heading with social networking check out this video “Flutter: The new Twitter”