Introduction :) (Monique)

Hi! I’m Monique and I’m going to be blogging here! I’m a mid-semester transfer 😛

So first I believe a little introduction is in order. I’m doing an arts degree, I’m taking History, Ancient History, Power (Arts foundation subject) and Biology as my breath. I haven’t decided yet but I think I want to major in one of the histories. I’m from the western suburbs so it takes me about forty minutes to get here by train and bus or tram (actually tram takes 30 minutes extra). I never really used public transport before, and never really got why it was so hated, until I met peak hour -,-. The bane of my existence! I have never been more aphephobic (fear of touch) in my life! And the recycled air in such a small space, I shudder at the thought. Add to this, the fact that I am not a morning person and I have a 9:00 lecture three times a week. In fact I am such a night owl that I literally wake up and my first thought is “I hate everything and everyone” (charming aren’t I ;)) Okay… I’ll stop my disturbing rant about public transport. Last year I took, Psychology, Biology, English, Literature and Maths Methods, and the year before Year 12 Revolutions.

I love reading, and when I mean I love it, I mean it’s like my air, you take it away and I die. I love fantasy, historical fiction, autobiography’s and romance, but really, if you recommend it to me I’m open to any kind of book. I love broadening my horizons. On a geeky side note, I’m happy to announce that I have nearly no room in my bookshelf left, that’s right nerds! I have almost filled two bookshelves with fantastical journeys, childhood dreams and knowledge.

Moving on 🙂 I also love music, again although I have my favourite genres (country, pop, classical, top 40 😉 ) I’m open to most anything, except techno, that will never change! I also love musicals, like Wicked, Rent, musical movies and Disney! That’s right, I admit it, I love Disney! Although I suppose I can’t call them musicals per say. I love the songs, the movies and the Broadway musicals! I can burst into any Disney music song you name! Go on try me 😉 In fact if you see someone burst randomly into song it may be me, of course no one joins me like they do in the movies… yet. On that note, I also love to sing! I’m terrible of course but I love it, I’m always singing, everywhere, all the time.

And lastly, before I talk about something other than me… which is what I should be doing really, is that I’m kind of oddly shy. So if I ever meet any of you watch out! I will ask you a million questions about yourself, to direct the focus away from me and then when I find something we have in common I will bombard you with questions and anecdotes about it until you left wondering who this maniac is and how she trapped you. It may go something like “oh you also like Harry Potter, Hunger Games and LOTHR? What’s your favourite character, oh my god do you remember this part? How funny was that part? So how awesome is the bromance between Gimli and Legolas! Did you cry in this part? How do you feel about the adaption of…, I loved it but I wish they put in the bread scene from Rue’s district” and so on and so forth, I tell myself not to do it time and time again but I think it’s almost like a nervous reflex.

Okay onto the important stuff! So, to be honest my first six weeks here has been a blur of new experiences and to be honest a lot of sadness. I’m not a big fan of change, I like routine and I didn’t cope very well with the transition.

First of all, I’m from a very small school, years 10 to 12, with about 200 in years 10/11 and 100 in year 12. So the sheer amount of people at Melbourne overwhelmed me and as I said I’m shy so I found it hard to make friends. I miss knowing everyone’s names and who they hung out with and what kind of person they were. I always thought of myself as an introvert, and never realised how much I needed my friends until I didn’t have them.

Secondly the work and independence put me off balance. Before this it was safe to say I was a teacher’s pet, I was a workaholic who loved school and writing essays, but once I got to uni it was as if that drive had left me stranded on the side of the road with no car or map to find my way back. I lost all will to get good results or to do my best. I felt so lost. Before I was manic about getting my work checked over, highlighting my mistakes, that’s how I learned, and finding out that wasn’t how things worked here made me want to give up completely. I felt so overwhelmed, everyone else seemed to know what to do and I was here floundering, not knowing how to get help or who from. I know now that of course other people were struggling as much as I was but at the time I was a wreck. Unlike Ben, I was doing the bare minimum, I couldn’t see the point, and I too feel guilty and a strong sense of disappointment, if the past me could see me then, she would be horrified. But don’t worry, things got better for me!

Slowly I made friends, I don’t have heaps but to be honest I only need a few good ones. Slowly, I began to adjust; my advice for this is finding a place on campus that you can sit and relax, that you love! For me it’s the little courtyard in the Elizabeth Murdoch building. I love sitting there when things get overwhelming for me, and it already feels so familiar, it’s comforting. I began to get used to tutorial and lecture structures and the campus. Although I’m still struggling with work I’m getting there. The mid semester break did me a world of good. I took a step back from all the hurt and sadness and actually looked at what I was doing, which was sadly not much. I made a promise to myself that these next six weeks I would begin to try again, I wouldn’t be as slack as I was before and I wouldn’t let myself down again.  And even if I didn’t get the marks I wanted at least I would have tried my utmost hardest, and known I had given it everything I could. And as for the guilt I sometimes still feel, I have realised that this first year of uni is a learning process, and as much as it pains me when I get marks I’m not happy with, I know that I can learn from them, from here hopefully I can only get better. So in a way I’ve lowered my expectations for this year , I still want good marks but if I don’t get them I’m not going to let them bring me down, I’m going to try even harder!

So after this long long post (for those who stuck around, I thank you), what is it I want people to take away the most? I want perspective students, or even current students struggling, to know that yes uni is hard and yes it is so different from high school, but it gets better, you adjust, you cope and at the end of the day, the feeling you get when you’ve made an improvement or achieved the marks you wanted, is so worth all the hard work.

So I leave you with the immortal words of Albus Dumbledore “I like acid pops” … wait wrong one “It is important to fight and fight again, and keep fighting, for only then can evil be kept at bay though never quite eradicated”… if the evil was procrastination then this definitely applies! But no, really, keep fighting; don’t give up because one day it’s going to pay off 🙂

So if you guys have any questions or comments I’d love to read them!

Byes! (Sorry for the length, I’m terrible at short essays as you may be able to tell)

P.s Hi Ben! I love the secret seven books. But I feel that I would be terrible at solving mysteries, so I may have to be excused from that secret not so secret activity