Birthday Cakes & Best Friends

Author: Lucy Poole
Posted on July 9, 2020

When you first start university, there’s no way of knowing how you’ll meet people & which ones will become your closest friends. For most, it’s hard to remember a single moment when you ‘officially’ became friends with someone - usually you can remember being thrown together in some intense orientation activity and then sitting together at Jennings later that day. Admittedly, that’s how most of your MTA friendships will begin; one minute you feel like you don’t know a single person and the next you have 15 new best friends! 

The first couple months of school can definitely pass by in a bit of a blur, but there are some distinct moments that stick out to me as memories that have changed my university experience for the better. One of these moments, for me, is deciding to apply for a position on my residence’s House Council. Before arriving on campus I didn’t even know house council existed, but it’s a great way to get involved as a new student without having to commit to a huge role. And I’m really not exaggerating the low-commitment part… as a house “birthday rep,” my single job was buying a birthday cake from the Sackville Foodland each month and setting up a few streamers and balloons in a lounge! 

What I wasn’t expecting from this role was that it would introduce me to the person who would quickly become my closest friend at MtA. Looking back, it’s so funny to remember being nervous to work with a complete stranger, because it took all of ten minutes of birthday party poster-making before I felt like I’d known Amy forever! Ever since, we’ve gone through all the ups and downs of university together and I can’t imagine Mount A without her.

This story might seem a little out of the ordinary, but at Mount A, it really isn’t. Ask almost anyone, and you’ll hear a million different versions of this same story. No matter what you decide to get involved with on campus, it’s likely that you’ll meet people who will become a huge part of your time here. Amy and I always talk about how different our first years would have been had we not both (unknowingly) applied for that same position on house council… it’s crazy to think that one small decision has had such a big impact on the both of us!

Photo: Lucy and Amy at their first Campbell Hall birthday party just a few days after they met, and a year later volunteering at University Orientation 2019