Students hug dogs to cope Other colleges offer more counselling options to mitigate stress and anxi- ety than Langara does By TYLER HOOPER hile other colleges appear to be Wiis: on more initiatives to help stressed-out students dur- ing exam time, Langara’s counselling services appear to be falling short. Institutions such as Douglas College and SFU are offering additional assis- tance, on top of their regular counsel- ling options, including specialized workshops and puppies for students to play with. “The dog therapy is very popular,” said Erika Horwitz, associate director of counselling services at SFU. Although Langara counselling ser- vices held a workshop this past Mon- day that included tips for writing ex- ams and dealing with stress, there are no further initiatives to help students combat exam-time stress. “There’s the normal resources, there’s not a specific thing,” said Tim Charters, department chair of the Lan- gara counselling department. Sandi Strate, a counsellor at Douglas College, said Douglas is offering addi- tional services for students, including an event called Exam Jam that features study groups, workshops and peer tu- toring for students. Many of the Exam Jam events dis- cuss how students can cope with exam stress and anxiety. The events will run until Dec. 10. There’s also a “puppy room” at Douglas in which students can visit and play with puppies to cut stress and anxiety levels. SFU’s Horwitz added that the univer- sity’s puppies would be back next Mon- day for SFU students. Horwitz said SFU also has down- loadable relaxation tapes available on- line for students, in addition to drop-in meditative yoga on Wednesdays. Langara does have a Healthy Minds Initiative, featuring a variety of work- shops and presentations, however, the initiative is aimed at employees, rather than students. The initiative ends this Friday. VANESSA SZPURKO photo Sweater saleswoman Jenny Hopkins says men, in partiular, enjoy the ugly Christmas sweater trend, buying several sweaters at a time. What a f*ckin' ugly thing Poor taste in outerwear is a seasonal staple here in Vancouver 66 It’s all the craze in Vancouver because everyone is having ugly sweater parties. Jenny Hopkins By VANESSA SZPURKO old on to your Santa hats and reindeer antlers — there’s a new Christmas trend in town that’s sure to catch your eye. Previously seen mainly on TV and on a few brave souls, now ugly Christ- mas sweaters are now must-have items for the holidays. “Tt’s all the craze at the moment in Vancouver because everyone’s having ugly sweater parties,” said Jenny Hop- kins of the Ugly Christmas Sweaters stand. The stand is at the corner of West Georgia and Granville streets, with an- other one just down the road. Hopkins said people are also buying the sweaters just because they find the idea hilarious and when it comes to choosing, the uglier the better. Any- thing with giant pictures of reindeer, snowmen or Santa, or 3D items featur- ing tassels or bells, “goes like hot- cakes,” she said. F as in Frank is a vintage-clothing retailer with locations in Vancouver and Toronto, and they have plenty of vintage sweaters for sale in store and online. “We're buying up as many as we can possibly get our hands on and we’re selling out every year,” said Adam Ichi- iwa, wholesale account manager. “[At] the retail level we probably sell any- where from 2,800 to about 4,200 pieces.” Both the Ugly Christmas Sweater stand’s and F as in Frank’s Christmas sweaters are vintage knits. However, the demand is getting so strong that some retailers are doing new manufac- turing direct from China, said Ichiiwa. In an effort to keep the vintage sweater market going, F as in Frank is running a return program for those who tire of their gaudy knitwear. Any- one who’s bought a sweater from the store may return it in January or Feb- ruary and receive a $10 store credit. At the Ugly Christmas Sweater stand, numerous bystanders stopped to take photos, laughing at the sign. Lord Byng Secondary School student Ever- ett Mingie declared the stand “the best thing I’ve ever seen.” Among all that turkey and mashed potatoes, looks like you better make room for some festive wool monstrosi- ties at the dinner table. BILL EVERITT photo Veronika Ziros and her friend said winter weather doesn’t dampen their moods, although they understand it might be an issue for others. It's not so bad, really Seasonal blues not a prob- lem for Langara students By BILL EVERITT the blues, Langara’s counselling department says the key to holi- day cheer is getting out and connecting with people. Langara counselling chair Tim Char- ters said a lot of issues come up for stu- dents in the winter season. “When people get really busy, there can be a natural tendency to isolate themselves,” Charters said. “When someone is feeling down, it’s important to recognize that’s a time to not be alone, and spend time with people.” Christmas in particular can be a stressful time for students, he said. “Maybe a person is having difficul- ties with their family or social life, that can be particularly painful,” said Char- Aer winter is known to cause ters. “Expectations around gift-giving, that can contribute to difficult feel- ( ») ie ings.” Tod These struggles do not seem to af- iam > fect all people though. K oe | Faye Bodenschatz, a volunteer at the Oakridge Senior Centre, said they don’t really notice their members re- porting more loneliness during the winter. “We have a lot of seasonal events and birthday parties,” Bodenschatz said. “But if it snows or rains, the num- bers go down.” Members don’t report feelings of in- creased loneliness during the winter, she said. Langara family studies stu- dent Veronika Ziros said she feels pret- ty good most of the time, gloomy weather or not. “Maybe if you live further to the north, where it’s like 12 hours of sun, then 12 hours of darkness, that would definitely affect [people],” she said. TIM CHARTERS Counselling chair with advice 66 Expec- tations around gift-giving can con- tribute to difficult feelings.