Are my Parents Trying to Take Over my University Life?

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So, Canada, eh? And it does rather sound like you're in a mafia movie! Although a don at a university, well, sure, that's different, just a regular person afterall. I do, however, find it to be a colorful and fun term.

There's something I thought I'd share with you about campus groups. I have a theory that only about 1 out of 9 of them work out as far as meeting new people and that really surprised me at the beginning. And I think this is often because the leader is worried about the group eating up too much of his or her time and just wants to discharge their obligations with the minimum amount of problems, and so they don't really welcome a new person with fresh energy. And so, the approach I try and take is to light-touch a variety of groups. On the occasional time I'm asked to volunteer, matter-of-factly say I need to check my schedule which I need to do anyway and which makes for a good pause to see how I feel about the activity. And then maybe volunteer for a couple of hours, or maybe not, and either way is okay. And then a lot of people in groups and a lot of people on campus generally are busy with school, work, residence living and are already 'over-peopled' to some extent and are not really looking to meet new people. And people are friendly at the beginning of a new school year and to a lesser extent the beginning of the Spring semester.

Groups that do outside competition such as a debate team are more active. Also groups such as running or cycling which do regular activities, as opposed to a group which might do a once or twice semester kayaking outing. And perhaps later on, maybe even think about starting the occasional group on your own.