Nearly seven years ago, the University of Ontario Institute of Technology opened its doors in Oshawa, Ontario, about 50km from Toronto. At the site of this brand new institute there was a college and a collection of not-quite-finished buildings. The founding of a new university was the result of years of intense lobbying for funding with the provincial and the federal government. Lofty ideals were formulated, for instance that of UOIT being a university of the 21st century, where teaching is done using tablets and Wikis instead of chalk and notice boards. In this article, two of the faculty members of the first hour recount their first years at this rapidly growing institute, which expects to reach a student count of over 10,000 in the next few years.