Seasons change (Yuan)

This is meant to be autumn? Or am I just, for some bizarre reason, hallucinating and thinking this is summer? That was my thought on Monday afternoon as I trudged along like a dehydrated penguin towards the trams. Yet just when I had resignedly accepted the fact that I have to suffer in the boiling heat for the rest of eternity, today was strangely cool in comparison. What on earth is going on with the Melbourne weather? When will it make up its mind about which season we are in? I guess the moral of this rant (if indeed there was one to begin with) is to always check the weather forecast, which by the way, also has a habit of getting changed at the last minute.

Putting my weather rant to one side, oh my goodness, it’s the end of the third week already. I feel like we were all just forced to put our joggers on and have been running a non-stop marathon since day one. My daily schedule consists of waking up before the sun, rushing to catch the bus/tram on time (in the process, skipping breakfast), sitting through lectures which I just barely manage to comprehend, waiting for what seems like hours at a time for the next lecture and then going home to crash into bed – absolutely and totally exhausted. Repeat this 5 times a week and you would start wondering if there is more to uni life as well. I don’t know, maybe I, like most med students (read: nerd), just don’t have a social life. Which sort of leads to the question:

What are uni students suppose to do in their spare times?

University is totally different from high school, which is something I’m still trying to wrap my brain around. I might be doing the same course as 260 other people but before lectures, we are complete strangers. We only gather and share something in common during the lecture and afterwards, we become strangers again. Most college people go back to college during the breaks, others just seem to disappear into thin air and the rest practically lives in the library, which was probably what gave rise to the rumour that the Brownless Medical Library was dubbed Brownless because the med students all just live in there, not getting enough sun and hence brown-less (i.e. no tan). *sigh* That is such a dry joke. But seriously, in high school, because you are forced to be stuck in one area with a bunch of similar-minded students, your social life practically fell into your lap whereas in uni, you actually have to actively search for it, which is kind of hard when you are still trying to remember people’s names, keep up with the lectures and survive from day to day (i.e. grocery shopping; cooking etc.).

But then again, university is sort of the time where people truly grow up and become independent. No more teachers prodding behind your back, asking for progress checks on the assignment or handing out revision sheets for the upcoming exam. Instead, it’s all falls onto you. You have to be the one reading up the lecture notes and slides before the lecture. You have to be the one who goes to the library and look up the recommended readings for the assignments. You have to be the one who goes home and reviews your lecture notes. Nobody is going to ask you if you’ve done it. It’s all about you, taking individual responsibilities for yourself (garh, I sound like a teacher/parent). So I guess for all those fellow procrastinators out there, we’ll have to shape up. 🙂

Moving away from all this deep philosophical-like talk, this past month in Melbourne for me has had its ups and downs. I really enjoyed O week, meeting new people, attending those quite helpful (and some not so helpful) information sessios, getting freebies from sponsors and of course, that includes the food. I think I managed to get free meals every day (occassionally even getting free dinner), which is great because I can’t cook :P. Us med students had a pretty full-packed compulsory schedule for the O week – a pity because I was really looking forward to the “Crash Course to Uni” on Thursday (For anybody who attended, can you please tell me how was it?). One thing I noticed during O week is that there was a lot of alcohol and innuendos, something that didn’t bode well with me considering I’m still a minor. In the med scavenger hunt, one of the bonus activities was to see which group could drink a goon the quickest. Another bonus activity was to run once around the south lawn nude (less clothes = more points). But all in all, I had fun and looking back on it, I think that was about the most amount of socialising I’ve done this entire month because once uni started, everybody became more… serious, I guess.

The course is quite interesting. I’ve always enjoyed biology in high school so I’m enjoying the lectures. The first week was sort of a breeze because it was just a revision of year 11/12 biology and boy, was I in a surprise when second week rolled in and I was introduced to biochemistry. Okay, I did both bio and chem in high school but the combination of the two just completely befuddled me. So I guess, never underestimate the learning materials because they will always challenge you, which is good in a way. While I’m enjoying this course, my happiness is lowered from a possible 8 (out of 10) to 4 because of the early starts EVERY single day. I love sleep but have trouble falling asleep early, which means it is a nightmare trying to wake myself up at 6am 5 days a week. Usually, my sleepy mind assures myself that I can go without breakfast and have an extra 1/2hr, which I then deeply regret later on in the day when I’m wide awake. The only good thing about the early starts is that there is little chance of me being late because the trams are pretty empty.

Independent living is awesome in the sense that you are the absolute boss. There is no parents knocking on your door asking you to stop playing pc games or watching TV. There is no fixed schedule for meals like that in college which means you can get up at 11am and still get yourself some breakfast. You can live life as you want it. Living expenses are mostly low, giving you a good excuse to buy lunch every day from Union House (Well, that is my excuse but it’s mostly because I can’t cook to save my life). But like all things in life, shared housing also has its shortcomings. For one, you have to keep a close track of where you food is and how much of it there is because there is always the chance that somebody might take your food (mostly by accident but occasionally, on purpose). Another problem is the difference in schedules. There are times where everybody is in the kitchen, wanting to use the appliances, which can cause a bit of a jam (but it’s a great time to converse with one another). But there are also times where it’s midnight, you have to get up early tomorrow but your housemates won’t stop chatting on their mobile phones or worse, inviting friends over. I would mostly wake up in the morning, being all grumpy from the lack of sleep and stomp my way around the house to get back at them. Heehee, I’m evil, I know.

But it’s Easter so I’m going to put aside any negative feelings and when I finish this blog, I’m going to go and give my housemates all easter eggs. And I’m planning on relaxing over the next week and just recuperate and get some decent hours of sleep. Sadly, I can’t fully escape from study because I think I have an exam right after the Easter break. Now, exactly how much study am I going to manage to do this week? Hm… that is a very confronting question…

Happy Easter!

Till next time!

Responses:

Sebastian: It wasn’t snowing when I left but true to its Scottish self, Glasgow gave me a wet, cold, rainy farewell. Looking back, it’s surprising how much Glasgow has grown on me because I’m actually getting a little homesick even though I’ve only stayed there for 3 months. Thanks for the well wishes and keep me updated with your progress. Would love to know how everything’s going when you eventually do get to go to Oxford. How do you go about that process anyway?

Cassie: Hi! Another procrastinator, excellent. How exactly do you go about getting work done? Lol, maybe we should meet up and discuss procrastination and Isobelle Carmody, which reminds me, have you read Juliet Marillier or Jennifer Fallon? They have a similar style/genre but more mature and they always finish their series before starting a new one – a big bonus.