Each AU student believes they are unique—and That’s probably true. However, there are some traits that many of us share. Traits which bind us together while separating us from the herd of “ordinary” university students. It’s not just the isolation that binds us. There’s a whole basketful of quirks all our own. Here are a few:

You know You’re an AU student when…
– you feel a frisson of excitement when you receive a box of AU course materials in the mail. “Oooh! Textbooks!”
– you can’t wait for the first of the month to begin studying and, what’s more, you don’t have to,
– your study attire places comfort over fashion; clothing is comfortable, optional, and pyjamas are preferred,
– you have strong views on e-texts—there is no middle ground,
– you sincerely believe you will have time to study on your vacation,
– your study buddy is furry, four-legged, and sleeps on top of your textbook, keyboard, or lap, depending on which is more inconvenient,
– you feel compelled to post photos of your furry study buddy sitting on your keyboard/textbook on social media,
– you stalk the social media profiles of other AU students, desperately hoping to spot someone from your own community,
– you prefer to post study questions on Facebook instead of contacting your tutor,
– you spend more time avoiding an essay than writing it,
– you spend more time compulsively checking for marks than you did writing the essay/studying for the exam,
– your butt cheeks don’t automatically clench when you see the term ProctorU,
– you can recite your student number from memory,
– you’ve shouted “Not now, Mommy/Daddy is STUDYING!” to keep the kids out of your hair while you binge on Netflix,
– technical glitches and wifi outages prompt you to go into shrieking meltdown mode,
– you believe yourself when you swear you’ll never leave an assignment to the last week of the contract ever again,
– you’ve gotten tired of explaining that Athabasca University is located in the place It’s named for and started answering the question “And where is Athabasca University?” with random locations like Vulcan, Punkeydoodles Corners, or Dildo (but aren’t you glad It’s not really in Dildo?),
– you think “I don’t know” is a perfectly reasonable answer to the question “When will you graduate?”
– you get teary-eyed if you happen to meet another AU human,
– you thought of at least two traits missing from this list, and
– you think you’ll e-mail your thoughts on the missing traits to The Voice Magazine but will forget as soon as you leave this page.

What did we miss? Share your quirky AU traits with The Voice Magazine at voice@voicemagazine.org. Do it now.

Barbara Lehtiniemi is a writer, photographer, and AU student. She lives on a windswept rural road in Eastern Ontario.