Life & Style. Have a fitness tip or recipe to share? Contact the editor at lifeandstyle@theotherpress.ca Fuck love: a modern romance By Jacey Gibb, Assistant Editor even months ago, I took a co- worker’s phone number off of the staff schedule and sent her some dumb text message saying that her dry cleaning was ready for pickup. Four months later, while sitting in a vehicle in front of her apartment building, I told her that I loved her. Whenever a couple decides to take the committal plunge and send their first couple of “1 love you’s back and forth, it’s usually seen as a milestone. As if to say, “This is it. This is the first checkpoint (out of many) along the way towards us having a healthy and lasting relationship.” So why is it that I cannot comfortably use that word? I’m not some Dexter-esque serial killer who's unable to psychologically develop A world of information Workshops for international students By Glauce Fleury, Contributor A an international student, you want to apply fora work permit, but you don’t know if you're eligible. You’re stressed with your classes because you don’t know how to organize your time. You're applying for a job, but don’t know how to write a résumé and a cover letter the way Canadians do. If you have doubts about any of these topics, you can find some answers by attending the ongoing workshops held by the Douglas College International Office. “The workshops are important to provide information sessions for students so they are able to transition and do well while studying at Douglas College,” says Mehrnaz Kobari, one of the International Student Advisors in charge of the workshops. The goal is to answer students’ questions and to provide resources and strategies to cope with college life and, ultimately, be successful. 14 emotional relationships with anyone around me. And I’m not a serial womanizer either, who after years of one night stands has learned to detach himself from the idea of trust and intimacy. In fact, I like to think that my aversion to the word doesn’t come from a deficiency in humanity, but rather that I simply don’t agree to the world that comes with it. Love has acquired so much tertiary baggage for me over the years that I find the word doesn’t carry as much meaning as people think it does. Stupendously terrible ballads by Taylor Swift, an assembly line of romantic comedies forcing Jennifer Aniston to somehow remain relevant, and even that upcoming holiday that people love to fucking hate, Valentine’s Day. The whole subculture of love is such an over- romanticization that | find it To understand what the students want the workshops to focus on, the International Office held forums to listen to the students. Kobari says these forums are also used to get feedback from students who have attended the sessions. “We go over what we have done previously and how we can improve it in the future,” she says. Additionally, the workshops have some topics addressed by the staff — basically, something that hard to see how any of it relates to me or the way I feel towards people I care about. I’m not known in any of my social circles as a guy who's bubbling with emotions, like a pot of feelings that’s been left on the stove for too long, unattended. Chalk it up to stereotypical male gender roles, but I’m not a hugely expressive person when it comes to the emotion department. I love my family, my girlfriend, my friends, and my cat, but I don’t feel the need to tell them this on a daily basis—except for maybe the latter of those. I care about all of these people and hope that my interactions with them is enough that they don’t require constant reassurances on whether I still love them or not. I guess what I’m getting at is that love is a dated term for an otherwise indescribable feeling. No two relationships will ever says the International Student Advisor. They are scheduled to take place on Monday mornings and Friday afternoons. “Each workshop is created with a certain goal in mind, such as improving academic performance, helping with stress management, or assisting international students with renewing or completing necessary permits, so all international students should go,” Kobari says. That means they are useful not only to the Fuck love! | Photo illustration by Joel McCarthy be exactly the same, so it’s impossible for the same word to accurately encompass what two people are feeling. Love has multiple interpretations for everyone and it always will. For you, it might mean romantic getaways together and Student Advisor. As you're not required to attend the workshops, you could simply skip them. However, you will be more successful if you go. “T have friends who had troubles with a lot of things because they weren't aware of some procedures,” says Rodrigo Meirelles, who studies Commerce & Business Administration in the University Transfer Program. “They would’ve known if they’d gone to the workshops.” Fach workshop is created with a certain goal in mind, such as improving academic performance, helping with stress management, or assisting international students with renewing or completing necessary permits... international students need to be aware of and that would be beneficial to them. If you couldn't go toa workshop in the past because you were in class, don’t worry. This semester the sessions are scheduled during the college’s non-teaching blocks. “We want to make sure that everyone is able to attend without having to worry about any class conflicts,” new students, but to returning ones as well. The Off-Campus Work Permit workshop is the only session students must go to, unless they do not want to apply for their work permit. “There are many regulations by CIC (Citizenship and Immigration Canada) that students need to know in order to qualify for the permit,” says the International The Brazilian student believes most of the workshops address important information that students need to know to be successful in their studies and in their life in Canada. His favourite workshop was about résumé and cover letter writing. “T didn’t know how to do it for the Canadian business,” he says, explaining that cover letters are not used in Brazil. “It’s also saying “I love you” anytime one of you leaves the room. To me, love means being able to puke in front of her after a night at the Biltmore before we walk to get chicken nuggets, striding hand in hand. important to remember that we have rights and obligations that we don’t know when we arrive,” Meirelles says. “That's why the workshops are useful.” AGENDA Theme: “But, Nobody Told Me...” When: Friday, January 25, 3:30 p-m.—4:30 p.m. Where: Room 3820 (New Westminster) Theme: Off-Campus Work Permit When: Monday, January 28, 10:30 a.m.—11:30 a.m. Where: Room 1222 (New Westminster) Theme: Time Management When: Friday, February 1, 3:30 p-m.—4:30 p.m. Where: Room 3820 (New Westminster) Theme: Managing Test Anxiety When: Friday, February 8, 3:30 p-m.—4:30 p.m. Where: Room 3820 (New Westminster) To read the complete agenda and the updated information, visit http://www.douglas. be.ca/services/international- education/services-for- success /international-student- workshops.html.