Chapter 1 — Freshman Year at UBC: Dreams Take Flight (Autumn 2026)
Meeting on Orientation Day
September in Vancouver. Sunlight filters through UBC's maple leaves, casting dappled light on the orientation plaza. In 2026 the campus feels different: floating holographic signs and delivery robots blend technology with nature. New students from around the world wear expressions of expectation and nervousness.
Li Mingxuan stands in the crowd, surveying the scene with confidence. At 6'1" and athletic from years of basketball, he is hard to miss. His well-defined jaw and deep brown eyes give him a commanding presence. Born and raised in Vancouver, Li comes from a wealthy family — his father emigrated from Hong Kong and built a property business.
“Remember,” his father told him, “true success is not inheriting a fortune but creating your own story.” That idea motivates Li to study at the Faculty of Science rather than immediately go into the family business.
“Hello—are you a Science student?” a gentle voice asks.
Li turns and sees Chen Siyu: tall, graceful from years of ballet, with a natural and intelligent warmth about her. She moved to Vancouver from Toronto, and her parents are prominent in medicine and biomedical research.
“I’m Li Mingxuan. Nice to meet you,” he says. Siyu smiles and explains she arrived a week early to familiarize herself with campus resources—academic advising, mental health services, the career center—and how important these are.
Nearby, two other freshmen pull their luggage toward them. One is Wang Xiaojie, a slender but upright 5'10" student from Beijing, wearing fashionable glasses and carrying the latest smart terminal. His friend Liu Xiaomei, from Shandong, is practical and warm — a hardworking, down-to-earth student whose family sacrificed to send her abroad.
Another student approaches: Zhang Haoran, 6'0" with a confident, honest smile and a polished business-casual look. Haoran comes from a well-off family in Vancouver and has natural leadership charisma.
So the five meet on Orientation Day 2026. Their personal AI assistants quietly log the encounter—perhaps a destined convergence.
Backgrounds and Aspirations
Over coffee, they exchange backgrounds and dreams while watching delivery robots and students interacting with personal AI assistants outside the large windows.
Li Mingxuan: his parents want him to join the family real estate business, but he is drawn to AI and quantum computing. He plans to build a foundation in the Faculty of Science and later switch to Computer Science, aspiring to start an agentic AI company with social responsibility.
Wang Xiaojie: raised in an academic Beijing family, he loves technology and plans to study agentic AI decision algorithms, especially AI moral reasoning. He’s earnest and focused.
Chen Siyu: from an academic medical family, she’s interested in biomedical AI and wants to apply AI to improve diagnosis and patient care.
Liu Xiaomei: coming from a working-class family, she’s practical and organized but unsure of her major; she wants to honor her parents’ sacrifices.
Zhang Haoran: interested in management and human-centered AI, he aims to lead responsibly and bridge technology with people.
Campus Resources and Romance Sparks
They attend a campus resources fair and see how integrated AI is across education: hologram speakers, AI-driven translation, and personal AI assistants.
Academic support includes Academic Advising, the Learning Commons (with neural-interface enhanced study tools), Writing Center with AI-assisted feedback, and peer tutoring.
Career and life support features include the Career Centre, Co-op programs with AI job matching, alumni networks, entrepreneurial incubators like Hatch, international student services, mental health counseling with neural-feedback techniques, and smart housing with physical AI assistants.
The group discovers they complement each other academically and personally. Siyu and Xiaojie share an instant intellectual chemistry over AI and ethics; Li feels a complex attraction to Siyu; Haoran notices Liu Xiaomei’s organizational strengths and feels protective.
Forming Friendships and Early Challenges
They form study groups and help each other adapt. Li’s leadership emerges in organizing study sessions; Siyu and Xiaojie bond over research topics; Liu Xiaomei worries about calculus while Haoran encourages her to use career advising.
Midterms bring setbacks—Xiaomei struggles with calculus—but the group’s emotional support helps her persevere. Siyu’s AI assistant even notes physiological signals when Xiaojie is especially engaged.
They make plans: short-term roadmap for the freshman year (complete Science credits, use resources), mid-term goals (transfer majors, co-op experience), and long-term visions (entrepreneurship, research, meaningful careers).
Closing: Commitment and Meaning
By autumn’s end, the five have bonded. They promise to support each other academically and emotionally. As falling leaves mark the season, their AI assistants record the moments, but they know real human connection cannot be fully captured in data.