Biology Graduate Student Society
UBC – Okanagan Campus
3333 University Way • Kelowna • British Columbia www.bgss-ubco.com
Guide to new graduate students at UBC-O
On behalf of the BGSS - Welcome to UBC-O!
Are you new to this campus? Maybe even new to Kelowna? Is this your first time in Canada? Are you
lost?
You are in luck. We have all been there and in this document we’ll try to share some of our collective
knowledge with you to help with you transition to Kelowna and UBCO.
Important: First things first……
In order to receive any information from the BGSS, you must join our created Google Group.
This gives us the authorization to send you information regarding the graduate student society
and our upcoming events. Go ahead. Do it now. We can wait…..
http://groups.google.com/group/bgss_ubco
P.S. You can check out the academic calendar in our Google Group. We will update it with
important events, seminars, and BGSS events!
1. Biology Graduate Students Society (BGSS)
The BGSS is intended to unite all biology graduate students under a single voice. We are a
Society that is fully recognized by the Biology Department and UBCO.
This year’s executives are:
Zahra Ahmadi – Secretary (ahmadivandz@hotmail.com)
Cameron Egan – VP Academics (cameron.egan@ubc.ca)
Mehrbod Estaki – President (mestaki@gmail.com
Taylor Holland – VP Social (taylorcholland@gmail.com)
Stephanie Schindler – Treasurer (schindler.steph@gmail.com)
Feel free to contact any of us! We are here to help you.
BGSS Mission Statement
The Biology Graduate Student Society exists to enrich the academic and personal lives of all UBC
Okanagan Campus biology graduate students by establishing a community of research
excellence, scientific collaboration, philanthropy, and student advocacy.
Important Contact Info
To directly contact the five members of the BGSS you can either use the individual emails above
or, use this email: bgss.ubco@gmail.com
To contact all BGSS members, use this email: bgss.ubco@gmail.com
2. Finding Your Way Around Campus:
The Biology department is a little spread out on campus, but most biology offices are found in:
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The Science building (SCI)
Arts and Science II (ASC)
Fipke centre (FIP)
Our wonderful Unit Assistant is Barb Lucente (Barb.Lucente@ubc.ca). She can be found in
SCI317 (3rd floor of the Science building). She’s the one who will deal with all the details of your
employment, tax papers etc. Lavish her with smiles. She will save your graduate student life one
day.
The Office of the College of Graduate Studies is on the 2nd floor of the EME Building.
The Financial Aid Office (for student loan & tuition questions), the Student Union Office (where
you pick up your bus pass-sticker and health insurance card), and the Registration Desk (where
you issue your student ID) are all in the University Student Centre.
The Grad Student Collegium is on the 4th floor of the ASC building. Here you can heat up your
lunch, brew coffee, relax on the sofa, prepare for your upcoming TA-session, and socialize with
other grad students (all while enjoying the spectacular view of the campus and the
mountains).The collegium has a refrigerator and dishes for you to use. When you are finished,
just put the dishes in the dishwasher. You will need to contact the College of Graduate Studies
office and fill out a form in order to receive salto access to this room.
Food
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At the University center there’s a cafeteria with several options surrounding it such as sushi,
soup, burgers, salads etc.
On the first floor of the Arts Building there’s a pita/falafel place and Booster Juice.
In the Administration Building, you can have a stir fry made for you, buy a burger or have a
salad buffet at the Sunshine Food court.
The Well is the only pub on campus. It is on the bottom floor of the University Student
Centre. The acoustics are not great but sometimes you need a beer after a hard day.
Attn: Very Important - Coffee
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The Green Bean (has an espresso machine and brewed coffee) *best campus coffee
Location: University Student Centre
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Green Thread Market (brewed coffee, serve yourself)
Location: University Student Centre
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Sunshine Food Court (has brewed Starbucks coffee, serve yourself)
Location: First Floor Administration Building
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Starbucks
Location: First Floor Fipke Building
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Tim Horton’s
Location: Library
3. Weekly Bio-Events on Campus
Coffee Time
Once a week the BGSS will arrange a coffee time where we all get together and drink some
coffee & tea and philosophize about life as a biology grad student in the Collegium. Details
about time and date for this event will be informed at the start of the semester.
Brown Bag Lunch Talks
These seminars are arranged by BGSS and are intended to highlight your graduate student /
post-doctoral research at UBC-O. Talks will be restricted to 35 minutes in length. This will allow
time for questions and feedback regarding your research. Coffee will be provided courtesy of
BGSS!
Day: Wednesdays
Time: 3:00-4:00 p.m
Room: ART 276
If you’re interested in giving a talk, contact Cam Egan: cameron.egan@ubc.ca
Biology Seminar Series
Guest lectures by visiting professors, post-docs or graduate students. We are still figuring out
the details for this semester, there may be pizza lunches involved. Look for flyers on campus.
Fridays at the Well
This has become a tradition where Biology faculty and grad students get together over a friendly
beer to finish off the week.
Day: Fridays
Time: People normally start dropping in at 4PM and leave around 6-7PM but it’s flexible.
Place: The Well in the University Student Centre
4. Healthcare
Students Union Health and Dental Insurance
As part of tuition you pay into a health insurance program, BUT you can opt out of this in
September if you already have insurance and fill out a form and drop it off to the Students
Union desk in UNC.
Visit this website for more information about the insurance and opting out
http://ubcsuo.ca/services/health-and-dental/
Health Clinic on Campus
The clinic is open from September – April, Monday-Friday from 9 am-4pm. The primary health
and clinic nurses are available by appointment or on a walk-in basis. They can assist with a
variety of things, but if you need a prescription you will have to see a physician. The physician’s
hours vary, so it’s best to call ahead and book an appointment (phone number: 250 -807-9270);
it is often possible to make same-day appointments. There is also counseling available through
the clinic. The clinic is on the third floor of UNC, room 303. See the website for more
information.
http://www.ubc.ca/okanagan/students/health-wellness/clinicservices.html
Walk-in Clinics
5. Choosing Where to Live
Buses
As a UBC-O student, you pay for a bus pass with your student fees. It is a dramatically reduced
rate. Take advantage of the pass if you can. The pass is only valid during the Fall / Winter
Semester. If you want a summer pass, it is cheap. You purchase it at the Used Book Store in the
University Student Center at the end of the winter semester. Every new school year, you need a
new sticker from the Student Union in the University Student Center.
Commuting
If you want a parking pass, you need to go online or see the people at the Parking Office. Get
your pass as soon as the parking passes go on sale. THEY SELL OUT FAST!
For details check out the Parking Services website:
http://www.ubc.ca/okanagan/parking/welcome.html
Transportation
Transit System: www.transitbc.com/regions/kel/
Taxi: www.kelownataxi.com/
Bike lanes: www.kelowna.ca/CM/page633.aspx
Housing
There are options available to you other than living on campus. The nice thing about Kelowna is that no
matter where you live you will be able to access amenities such as groceries and other services relatively
easy. Each area comes with its pros and cons which are listed below.
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The Downtown area is close to beaches, cafés and restaurants and pubs and has an express
bus to UBC-O (bus 97) that takes 25 minutes. Prices can be a bit more expensive than in
surrounding areas and there are not really any cheap grocery stores downtown.
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Capri is south of Highway 97 and east of main downtown. There are a lot of houses that rent
out basements or walk outs. The Capri mall is not super charming but has a big Extra foods
with cheap groceries. It is about a 20 min bus ride.
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The Pandosy Region, sometimes also referred to as “the hospital area” is closer to
downtown and a nice neighborhood. It is near several bus stops and shopping is
conveniently close. It is about 35-45 min bus ride from this area (Not bad for Kelowna).
Also, it seems to be an affordable area. Lake Okanagan is really close and about a 20 min
walk to the downtown area.
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The Rutland region is not as picturesque as other parts and further from the city center but
closer to campus (kind of in between both). There are bus stops throughout the Rutland
region, big grocery stores and lots of thrift stores in the area.
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Some grad students live in Winfield (South part of Lake Country). Winfield is north of
campus. It is a quiet region, fairly isolated from downtown and other activities. You can find
lakefront rentals here from Sept-June, but that is the main reason to live in this area. Bus
service takes about 35- 45 min to campus and can be spotty, making it best suited for those
driving.
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Lower Mission - Far away (lacking convenient bus connections) and more costly but would
give you good access to the beaches.
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Upper Mission – Even more inconvenient for transport to and from UBC-O
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Glenmore - Good location but more costly. A bit of a fancy neighbourhood. Bus times are
more spread out. Not a bad choice if you find a good deal. Note that there is a downtown
part of Glenmore and then North Glenmore that is up the hill in between Downtown and
UBC-O.
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Black Mountain - Far away from everything.
Where to Look
Here are the most frequently used sites for finding housing options:
http://classifieds.castanet.net/index.php/cat/88
http://kelowna.kijiji.ca/
http://kelowna.en.craigslist.ca/
Housing Prices
A one bedroom place is going to be between $700 and $900. A studio apartment (called a
bachelor apartment) will run about $600-$750. A room in a shared house will cost
approximately $450-600.
Good luck house hunting!!
6. Shopping
Grocery stores
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Superstore (cheap and ginormous)
Save on Foods (big selection and some good deals)
Safeway (convenient but expensive)
Extra Foods (cheap but not great quality produce)
Nesters (local produce and some great deals on meat and fish)
Coopers (a subdivision, smaller version of Save on Foods with less selection)
Mediterranean Market (if you’re a sucker for European food you can even find some Dutch,
Swedish, German food here & a large cheese selection)
Valoroso foods (Italian specialty store)
Quality Greens (best prices on produce in town)
Wal-Mart (cheap and sells pretty much everything)
Kelowna Farmer’s and Crafter’s market
Every Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday you can buy local vegetables, baked goods, dairy,
meat, jams, honey, crafts and other things at the farmers market.
http://www.kelownafarmersandcraftersmarket.com/
Malls
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Orchard Park Mall (the biggest one with a large selection of clothing stores)
Capri Centre (small one with poor selection of stores but you can find cheap stuff)
There are lots of strip malls all along Highway 97 (Harvey). You can find almost anything there.
That’s also where stores like Wal-Mart and Canadian tire are situated.
Finding furniture and appliances for your new home
There are several good second hand/thrift stores in Kelowna where you can furnish your house
for cheap. Here is a selection of them:
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Share (a whole storage room full of furniture for cheap $20-100)
Value Village (mostly kitchen supplies and clothes, only a few odds and ends for furniture)
MCC (some dressers, chairs etc. + kitchen supplies, cheap)
Bibles for Missions (a bunch of furniture + other things) Look out for their half off specials!
Helping Hands (Some furniture, not super cheap but quite nice stuff)
Salvation Army (Some furniture and kitchen things, a bit more expensive)
Kelowna Women’s Shelter (No furniture, cheap kitchenware)
OK Estates (Lots of second hand furniture, if you look hard there are serious deals in there!)
You can also find a lot of good deals at www.castanet.net or in yard sales:
http://www.castanet.net/events/garage_sales/
7. Popular Activities in the Area
University Sports Teams
If you’d like to join a varsity team or play intramurals at the university you should check this site
out: http://www.ubc.ca/okanagan/athrec/welcome.html. There are teams of many different
sports and skill levels.
The graduate students usually put together an intermural team each semester. These start
early in the semester so look for emails and updates from the BGSS! Walk-ons are always
invited, but we do need some commitment for these to work!
Hiking
There are tons of hiking trails around Kelowna, and the fact that it seldom rains makes hiking
wonderful. Closest to town is the Knox mountain park where you can hike up and get a view of
the lake and the city. For more ideas on where to hike, visit:
http://www.trailpeak.com/widgets?location=Kelowna,%20BC
Climbing
Several of the biology grad students climb at the climbing gym:
http://www.beyondthecrux.info/btchomeflash.html and there are several walls around
Kelowna where you can go climbing outdoors. Our very own Brian Ohsowski is one of them.
Contact him for details.
Swimming
If you like to go swimming, check out the surrounding lakes or the pools at these places:
The H2O Centre (nice pool but expensive): http://www.h2okelowna.com/
The Parkinson Recreation Centre (small pool but reasonable – also has full gym facilities):
http://www.city.kelowna.bc.ca/CM/Page636.aspx
Kelowna Family Y: http://www.kfy.ca/
Skiing/Snowboarding
There are two ski hills in the vicinities of Kelowna: Big White and Silver Star. They have season
passes and special deals ($10 for a lift ticket!!) for night skiing on Fridays (Big White) and
Saturdays (Silver Star)
http://www.bigwhite.com/
http://www.skisilverstar.com/
Yoga
There are several places in Kelowna offering Yoga classes. Some of them are:
http://www.kelownayogahouse.org/
http://www.trinityyogacenter.com/
http://www.anjaliyoga.ca/
http://www.bikramyogakelowna.com/
http://www.kelownahotyogastudio.com/
Mountain Biking
There are several mountain biking trails around Kelowna.
Check these guys out for more info: http://mtbco.ca/ or read this review:
http://www.trailpeak.com/index.jsp?con=article&val=613*art
Water Sports
The surrounding lakes are popular for water skiing and wake boarding as well as kayaking and
canoeing. For rentals check out:
http://www.welcometokelowna.com/directoryListings.php?categoryID=59
Cultural Activities and Clubs
To find book clubs, knitting workshops, dance classes etc. check out these sites:
http://www.rotarycentreforthearts.com/courses.html
http://www.orl.bc.ca/branches/kelowna
http://classifieds.castanet.net/showcat.php/cat/648
We hope all this information (or at least some of it) can be of use for you while making yourself at home
in Kelowna and at UBC-O.
If you have any questions, contact us at bgss.ubco@gmail.com