A day in the life of an Environment student

8 a.m.

Breakfast at United College

There is no better way to start your day on campus than by sitting with friends, enjoying a fantastic meal at United College, the Living Learning Community for Environment students. From bacon and eggs to fresh fruit and toast, United has the perfect breakfast to prepare you to take on your day in Waterloo.

A tasty breakfast from St Paul's University College, incuding fruit, bacon, and toast

9:10 a.m.

Walk to class

As you’re eating breakfast, you check your phone and realize that you have class in twenty minutes!

No need to rush away: Environment 3 is only a quick walk across Laurel Creek from United College. You gather your friends, and walk to your Environmental Ethics class, where you are captivated by your lecture on deep ecology — an idea that all living beings possess inherent worth, regardless of their utility to human needs.

Four friends cross the pedestrian bridge from St Paul's University College to main campus.

11 a.m.

Field Ecology lab

After class, you head into the forest for your lab in your Field Ecology class where you will be identifying plant species. The University of Waterloo campus is home to many green spaces that serve as a habitat for a variety of plants and animals. After successfully identifying four different species of edible plants, you head to the Ecology Lab in Environment 1 to debrief your discoveries.

A student examines a sample leaf collected during a winter field ecology lab.

12:15 p.m.

Lunch and a team meeting

With your lab completed, you grab a nutritious lunch from EV3rgreen Café in Environment 3 before heading to the design studio to meet with your program’s student association. Together, you brainstorm ideas for an upcoming event to celebrate your accomplishments throughout the term.

Five students work on a project together in the Planning Design Studio, located in the Environment 3 building

4 p.m.

Get a quick workout in at Columbia Icefield (CIF)

Because living a healthy, active lifestyle is important to you, you head over to Columbia Icefield for a quick workout. It’s great to have fully-equipped athletic facilities right at your fingertips! At the gym, you run into some of your friends from residence and decide to meet later to explore Uptown Waterloo.

A student uses a dumbbell to complete a bicep row at the Columbia Icefields

6:30 p.m.

Dinner in Uptown Waterloo

You take a short bus ride to UpTown Waterloo to meet your friends and enjoy dinner at one of Waterloo’s many amazing restaurants. You all agree that if your group decided to try two new restaurants a month for the rest of your undergraduate career, you still couldn’t tackle them all (but want to try anyway!)

After dinner, there are so many options to fill the rest of your evening: checking out the events at Waterloo City Square, catching a show at the Princess Cinema, window-shopping at local boutiques, or discovering the night-life — who knows where the evening will take you.

Two students eat dinner together in front of the glass window in the storefront of an Uptown Waterloo restuarant