EMILIA AMIAMA, Undergraduate, PSYC366 Student
JS: Okay, let’s warm up with something easy. Tell me about a plant that played a significant role in your life.
EA: This is pretty tough because there are so many, but if I had to narrow it down I would go with a Douglas fir tree I got at school in grade five for national tree day. I very creatively named mine Doug. Doug is currently residing in Abbotsford and is still alive and well.
JS: How do you like Vancouver? Where did you live before coming to Vancouver? Vancouver’s better, right? KIDDING! There are no wrong answers here! Please, go ahead.
EA: I love Vancouver! I already knew before moving here for school though since I mostly grew up in Abbotsford, about an hour away from here. Before that I lived in St. Mary’s, Ontario and before that in La Plata, Argentina.
JS: Classic fun interview question: What’s your worst feature?
EA: Currently in my life as an undergrad at UBC, there are so many options and opportunities for different experiences and I want to see and do everything so while it’s not actually a terrible feature, I am struggling to prioritize all the experiences I do want to have while trying to excel at the commitments I make. Since it is unrealistic to have every experience available, I am trying to be better about accepting this and trying to not overwhelm myself with my schedule!
JS: Tell me about your first experiment. Not from your first lab experience, school etc, but your REAL FIRST experiment.
EA: I can remember that when I was around 5 or 6 years old I was wondering what my fingernails were made of and for some reason I decided to test this using a stapler and seeing if it was strong enough to go through my nail (I was more curious than smart apparently). Anyway, this obviously went horribly wrong. I actually held the stapler upside down and the staple went through the meaty part of my thumb. SCIENCE!
JS: What are you up to when you’re not in the lab? WHAT? YOU’RE NOT ALWAYS IN THE LAB? Just kidding, do tell!
EA: Probably in class, studying, volunteering, or working (so sad). BUT if all those things are done you can find me either exploring Vancouver and the North Shore, hiking with my family, going for runs down to the beach, catching up with friends, or if exhaustion levels are high, snuggled in bed with coffee catching up on my Netflix.
JS: Classic interview question #2, really sorry: If you were stuck on a deserted island and you had to choose one type of animal that would invade the island and completely overpopulate it and be around you day in and day out until your life’s end, what would that animal be?
EA: I guess pigs?? Since they’re smart you could train them to help with various survival tasks, they would be great companions, and you could live quite well from the variety of delicious meat products they could provide.
JS: If you were to come into the lab one morning (it’s ok to leave the lab to sleep at night, sometimes) and find that someone had brought in your favourite edible treat to share with the lab, what would that favourite edible treat be?
EA: Anything chocolate related, or coffee flavoured, or Nutella filled!