Me, myself and I (Yuan)

As much as I would like to open up my first post with a brilliant introduction that entertains as well as informs, I must say that sadly, I do not have the skills. So instead, this will pretty much be just the obligatory pompous post all about me, what I’m studying, me, where I’m from, me, my interests and oh, did I mention me? Lol, hopefully you guys won’t be too bored. Please bear with me as I chug my way through the basics. Warning: I’m been known for my inability to keep things concise.

Hi! I’m Yuan and I’m currently studying medicine or if I use its full impressive title – Bachelor of Medicine/Surgery/Medical Science. There’s roughly 260 of us first year med students which doens’t sound very large compared to the (I think) 600 students who do commerce but thanks to our structured course, we are pretty much one giant blob of students that move from point A to B in unison. And since the dental and physiotherapy students are also with us for PBS (Principles of Biomedical Science), we have to use either the Copland or Carrillo Gantner Theatre, which due to the high demands by all other faculties, results in regular 8 o’clock lectures from Tuesday to Thursday. On Monday and Friday, we get a reprieve in the form of 9 o’clock sessions. But more complaints about my early schedule later.

As my newly-made friends could tell you, there’s no way I can say where I’m from in one simple sentence. So here goes my best attempt in keeping it short. I was born in China but spent the last decade of my life and grew up in Brisbane but last November, after my high school graduation, my family and I moved over to Glasgow, Scotland because of my dad’s job and we were thinking that I’ll study university over there. Little did I know that Melbourne University was going to offer me a scholarship to come here but because they did and so here I am, back on this side (and hemisphere) of the earth. After having gotten all my results, university offers, enrolment information (several days late) via electronic, scanned files and then having to complete everything either online or via the fax machine (and pray that they would arrive on time), my best advice for any high school students in their final year is that, don’t, no matter what you do, migrate overseas straight after graduation. I’ve learnt that the hard way.

My parents are still in Glasgow. I’m currently living in a shared house that I found via the university student housing services. Forgoing college was probably not a very good idea for a person who never had to cook, clean and look after herself. Independent living is not all that people make it up to be. I was rudely awoken to that fact on the second day and had a nervous breakdown plus a crying fest right in front of one of my housemates. I think he was scared to death. But after awhile, things do get better and now I’m pretty much cruising through my third week, content with my decision of not going to college. However, I’m still envious of my college friends who only have to wake up at 7:30 whereas by then, I was already in the trams, getting my personal space violated in the morning rush.

I have to confess, I am a procrastinator. I have lost count the number of times I tell myself I’ll get an early start and finish my assignments a couple of days before it’s due but end up, staying up the night before, furiously typing out an assignment from scratch. While I know the method has worked for me before, I really don’t want to chance it at university. So I’m turning over a new leaf and planning to become efficient and organized, which explains why my desk (and room) is an utter mess and I’ve only completed one-sixth of my revision plan for the weekend. Lol, I guess old habits die hard.

Other than my procrastination, which as other fellow procrastinators know, dominates most of my time, I have other interests including:

• Music: I play the flute and piccolo but unfortunately, don’t have my instruments with me here in Melbourne. I listen to a variety of music, anything from classical to Celine Dion to Linkin Park to Kelly Clarkson
• Politics: my friends absolutely hates me whenever there’s a US primary happening because I go fanatical over it
• Television: recently, I’ve developed a taste in crime series and have wasted quite a large chunk of my time watching CSI, Law & Order etc. I also enjoy shows like the Chasers, which is absolutely awesome by the way!
• Reading: I am a book junkie, I can burn through 4 or 5 decent-sized to thick novels a day.

Uh, I think I’ve ticked off all the things I have to cover in my introduction all about myself. I’ll recount my journey through O week and the first week of uni next time before I bore you guys into tears. Once again, I’m terribly sorry this is all very dry and boring. To all the current uni students out there, good luck and hope we’ll have a great year this year and to the high school students in their final year, hope you guys do brilliantly (don’t procrastinate like I did) and all the best for your future (bah, I sound teacher-like)!

Till next time!