The cinematic frosh week happened. So did the first 5am bedtime, the fated freshman lecture in Con Hall (a rite of passage at this point), and the first Matcha Monday & Gelato Thursday with her tightly knit friend group.
The last time you heard from Sarayu, she was eagerly anticipating a “bomb dot com” frosh week. Not only did she have a wild and fulfilling first week at the University of Toronto, going out almost every night, but she also made some life-long friendships.
“Um, I know my neighbours absolutely hate me” Sarayu jokes to The Row, referring to the hangouts with her friends in Morrison Hall, her residence, until five am — much preferring Kraft Mac & Cheese occasionally to the horrid University College dining hall food.
An Academic Social Butterfly With Exceptions
While a social butterfly, at heart, she prefers to take meals back up to her room or plans to eat with friends, rather than alone. It’s a chaotic Rory Gilmore autumn for sure, pulling all nighters to study for a midterm and switching three whole courses, (her Tuesday now has four back to backs). She most definitely does not have time for a leisurely lunch.
“I had a chicken caesar salad wrap and ate it within, like, 0.5 seconds.”
No amount of surprisingly delicious but rare Morrison food will get any student through their dreaded credit in Con Hall. Preferring to sit on the second floor balcony on the front row, she enjoys the extra leg room and ledge, a luxury in such a nightmare of a lecture room.
While everybody else also has the very same idea, making it quite competitive, it’s understandably the most perfect spot to learn about the makeup of our solar system in none other than the incredible AST101 lecture.
Though a committed political science major, she does enjoy hearing about AI and data in POL106, which she didn’t think she’d enjoy not being a STEM person, but does nonetheless.
Finding Friendships
Truly, what can’t this girl do? Sarayu’s established her dislike for awkward icebreakers during orientation, but she made finding a sense of belonging in such a massive university seem effortless — and to her, it was.
“I was so worried,” Sarayu remembers, but “it was just like an instant connection and it worked out.”
First introductions quickly evolved into weekly “Matcha Mondays” and “Gelato Thursdays,” her friend group always open to trying trendy new places together.
A bunch of students crossing the road on St. George Street from either direction can seem daunting, the massive population actually is an advantage to meeting your people.
Whether that be similar to Sarayu teaming up with her friend in UofT Run Club, everyone has your back anyway, never leaving someone behind — or trying to convince your reluctant friend group to join the Cheese Club, everyone is ultimately in the same place.
Find comfort in knowing that it’s normal to juggle with a million errands, long readings and current midterms and still making time to try a new dumpling place with your friends downtown.
Thoughts on Greek Life
Ultimately choosing to skip formal sorority recruitment in the end in favor of focusing on school, Sarayu looks forward to Current Open Bidding (COB).
“I think it’s like a missing puzzle piece right now to be completely honest.”
Despite having that social aspect locked down, she looks forward to the philanthropy events and hanging out with the future sisters she is sure to find.
People show up to other’s events just to express support, or stop each other on the sidewalk to catch up and make plans. Sarayu hopes to have that same support and structure to support her academic life rather than have it become overwhelming.
We’ll be happy to have you Sarayu!
Old Passions, New City
“When my friends were reading my article, they were like ‘hey, where’s your electric guitar that you were gonna bring,’” Sarayu tells The Row, “actually! Not here guys.”
Choosing to send her beloved guitar back home with her parents to Richmond Hill due to the small size of her room, and therefore being unable to practice, she still makes time for other passions — planning to stop by Montreal in November to see her old Irish dance classmates perform at regionals.
Despite Sarayu leading a busy UofT life here downtown, she doesn’t forget her younger friends, not quite at that stage yet to move away for University.
Still very involved in music, her hobby now takes place in Sir Daniel’s Music Room at UC, showing a unique kind of love for the out of tune piano.
Hey, what works works.
Also aiming for a 3.5 GPA, she is sure to be busy dedicating herself to a year full of academics, hoping to also put herself in good standing for second year with a potential sorority.
The Girl She’s Always Been
Last time we checked in, she thoughtfully decided that a complete reinvention was necessary to fit in at university — and that is still very much the case.
There’s something so special about meeting people that make you feel welcomed and loved from the second they first speak to you.
“It made it very easy for me to not change my personality, or my clothes” Sarayu says, “nothing had to change for me to make friends.”
Her goals of leading a dreamlike frosh week, trying new things and becoming an academic weapon might not have turned out exactly how she expected (nobody can predict 3am study nights).
The reality somehow ended up going even better than expected.