Reflecting Back in the Past Part 1

When I was waiting for my examiners to call me into the examination room, I was focused on giving myself one motivating speech then there was this question I asked myself, “HOW THE HECK DID I GET THIS FAR?”.

“You can do this Nicole. You’ve worked so hard for this.”
“YES I CAN DO THIS! Oh my god. How on Earth did we get here? Wait, no. How the heck did I get this far? What is the meaning of life? What is the meaning of my purpose?”
“Okay, you’re getting a little crazy”
“We’re a whacky bunch, aren’t we?”
“FOCUS NICOLE!”

Looking back from Week 1 was like yesterday. Semester One finished like a click. All the assignments and work made the days, and weeks go by quicker than I expected to be. All the friends I made, turned out to be one of my best mates I had in a while, but the past friendships will always hang on tight with me like a they were my long, lost siblings. I remember that I was going to burn out at any day during my first half of Semester one, because of my late, busy schedules. I remember that one friend made me realise that I should relax, and give myself a break. I remember all the downs that made me realise how I grew stronger, and that all the bad became a blur at one stage. But what I mostly do remember is what I achieved, and what made me grow a little.

Summary of what I faced in uni so far

• Organising schedules
• Assignments
• Massive workload
• Following expectations
• Having two different piano teachers

How I solved my problems

• Talking about my problems/issues/worries
• Making choices/decisions on what’s right for me – listening to my instincts and making a logical decision for myself
• Getting help from my friends and tutor
• Listening/playing music
• Organisation in my schedules/studying
• Pushing myself to finish something

Things that I haven’t explained fully in my past blog posts

My reasons why I had two piano teachers?

• I studied my AMEB Grade 7 pieces since the start of Year Twelve, until end of April
• Switching teacher’s feedback on my AMEB studies from my past piano teacher to my current piano teacher would be a disaster (in my perspective)
• Feedback from my current piano teacher would make me confused, as I had extensive feedback from my past piano teacher
• My current piano teacher only works on our technical/recital exams from Uni, not AMEB. However, in your end of year exam, you can work continue on your AMEB studies, but not the technical side to it. There’s no time with that in a forty-five minute lesson.
• I split AMEB studies towards my past piano teacher, and technical pieces from Uni towards my current piano teacher
• Even though, I was frustrated at one point, following two different expectations from two different piano teachers, I knew it was the best for me.

Destination Melbourne

• As explained by one of our bloggers, Destination Melbourne is one helpful first year camp that goes for three days! They give out helpful information about services that’s out there for struggling students, coping with all sorts of things you can list of (in a nutshell), advice about uni in general, student exchange programs, and plenty more.
• This is suitable for those who doesn’t want to mingle around with booze, or 100% frat in your face everywhere you go. So, it’s a chill, friendly first year camp! I heard some crazy things from majority first year camps which makes me think, “I don’t think my parents would not be proud me, if I went to one of those camps. DM is more than enough for me.”
• There will be fun events that includes scavenger hunt around the city and uni, singstar all night long, tunnel ball with watermelons and oranges, and more!
• My experience overall was pretty good, even though I accidentally fell asleep at one stage in one of the seminars we had; many of us stayed up late until midnight, or even worse – had an all nighter for kicks. Hahaha.
• THERE WERE NOT MANY MUSOS IN DM, WHICH MADE ME SAD A LITTLE. No music reps, just one student who was doing the same course as me. That’s what I get for being in music. Hahahahaha. I was hoping for a first year music camp, but there wasn’t one, which made me disappointed. Hahahahaha. However, I met lots of people from other faculties from DM that made me glad that I’m friends with them. Having many connections from various of faculties is a great thing to have in the future. 🙂
• There will be fun events that includes scavenger hunt around the city and uni, singstar all night long, tunnel ball with watermelons and oranges, and more! One of the events that I weirdly enjoyed (when I look back from now), was the orange challenge. Even though it was VERY UNCOMFORTABLE, breaking the frat rule 100%, we all felt a sense of comfort towards each other after we did that horrid, most embarrassing activities of all. Hahaha. The most fun that I ever had in DM was doing the scavenger hunts!
• Accommodation was at one of the colleges at uni, which was great to experience if you’re thinking of staying in college!

VCESS

• One of the things I never regret doing in Year 12. It’s a summer school, where you get to learn all of your VCE Subjects with passionate, great tutors, while you get to have fun at the same time!
• Great for those who wants a balance in studying, and having fun with new friends, or who find other lectures expensive.
• Things you should do when you’re in VCESS: play french snap and VCESS Uno, play card games at one point, taking advantage of helping tutors in your study break! But most importantly, PLAY FRENCH SNAP AND VCESS UNO. It’s a must to do things in VCESS that holds on with you forever.

Mentoring Program for First Years

• It’s a program where mentors guide first years surviving their first semester of uni! It’s great program to do, and they give out great advice and direction in your studies, and university life.
• Unfortunately, there wasn’t any mentors who were studying music, which was slightly unhelpful when I talked about what I’m going through in my music course with my mentor. However, my mentor gave me reviews on some of the subjects my mentor did for music, which was useful. Throughout my experiences with my mentor, I really wished I had a mentor who studies music, which makes me want to apply DM, and UoM’s Mentoring Program as a music representative leader. THERE NEEDS TO BE MORE MUSIC STUDENTS APPLYING TO THESE PROGRAMS.
• There’s also fun events that the Mentoring Program presidents organised, which I couldn’t go because of studying reasons.
• With my mentor, we went though these questions from transition, to how I’m liking university so far, and problems with studying and etc. It was sure great to go through these questions again when we meet up. It’s like evaluating yourself with someone. Haha.

My sprained ankle?

• So, remember how I told you guys I sprained my ankle in my first week of uni? It has made a tremendous recovery that I don’t need to go to any more physio appointments anymore. Woohoo!

 O’Week Macaques and Shenanigans 

• O’Week is where you sign up all the clubs/societies you want, you get free things, watch some awesome events, and meet new people!
• First day of O’Week is when you meet you with your faculty, and play those classic ice breaker games. But not in our facility! All we did was playing a game of ninja, and bang! after we introduced ourselves. Hahaha. A family that plays together, stays together. Hahaha. After that, we had a tour around campus that is important to us, music students.
  I seriously remember meeting my friends from my faculty. Oh how we were all awkward on the first day, and look at us now! We’re all one big, happy family. Haha!
• Second day was orientation day. For us music students, it was mandatory to go to our orientation classes. We were given an explanation on our syllabus for Semester 1 Music Performance, curriculum for our core subjects, and a nice free BBQ from our music society. So, second day of O’Week is pretty important for us.
• Third and forth day was clubs/societies. Mind you, it was PACKED, because who doesn’t want free stuff? I remember one of the billboards said, “brace yourselves, FIRST YEARS ARE RAIDING UNI NOW.” Oh how that cracked me up laughing. Hahahaha.
  My advice for applying clubs/societies is think about which clubs you have time for in your first semester, don’t get pressured into joining a club/society, know which clubs you REALLY want to join, and don’t join because they a free BBQ and booze going on. I spent $30 on clubs/societies, and I only went to events in two clubs/societies, which was Flare and Music Student Society. I tried going to other events that my chosen club/societies organised, but they were out of my schedule unfortunately. Studying comes first, fun comes later.
• There will be ‘historical walks’ aka pub crawls, but I didn’t really go because I’m not a drinker.
• There will be parties (which I didn’t go), and there will be a one huge event (where I did go, which was ‘Night at Luna Park’ – TOTALLY WORTH IT).

Did I burn out in my first Semester of Uni by my 12 hour, full on schedule each day?

• I almost did, until a friend came into my life and said, “I think you need a break. Seriously.” After hanging out, living my life a little, I was totally refreshed after I had a break when things get tough. I wish I told them how much they changed my life after that.
• Sometimes, there’s days when I can’t take uni anymore, and I go to one of the cubicles in the toilets, sobbing silently, or just needed time to be alone and take a deep breath. This was during that time when I was frustrated and stressed about uni one time, which was mentioned in one of my blog posts.
  Releasing your tears in public, is what I fear the most now when I’m in Uni. Crying in school was one of the safest places you can do. But now, it’s not the best place to release your inner emotions in uni, or in public. Hahaha.
• What helped me get through my full on schedule was having instant hot drinks. It was one of my nice, small rewards throughout my day. Next semester, I have Teh Tarik (Milk Tea), good quality hot chocolates, lattes, you name it! I have them all stocked up in my kitchen, and I’ll be feeling satisfied next semester every day. Haha!
• There are some days when I totally smashed it with a blitz; I went through the day like a champ! It was the most greatest feeling ever. Hahaha

Did I go out partying?

• Oh yes, I did, and only one actually. Hahaha. Music Students Society (MSS) organised a disco at the end of Semester 1, which made me SUPER excited to attend to. I didn’t regret going to this event. Hahaha! We had about 30 people there, which made the dance floor have more space to go crazy. Haha! There were glow sticks, 80s, 90s and 2000s music that everybody loves hearing, and good drinks. Best part of that night is when Macarena and the Nutbush went on the dance floor. Gotta love Nutbush and Macarena. <3
• Partying isn’t everything if you fear of missing out. Sure you miss the fun, and all, but studying comes first. Seriously, there’s better things to do than to drink and partying every week. My mum always remind me that my siblings didn’t go to parties all the time during uni, because they didn’t really need to, or didn’t feel like it. So, it made me think that it’s okay to not go to parties. You is you. Them is them. Besides, you don’t miss out on what they did anyways.

I think I should leave it there for now. I’ll be covering my experience with exams, and how I studied for my subjects, and a mini review of each of my subjects throughout our Semester Break. Ciao for later!

– Nicole

Music suggestion for this post, for dealing with stress?
I should really put this song on my iPod when I have known this song for many years. Haha!
Don’t Dream It’s Over – Crowded House

Music suggestion for remembering the fun days?
Best Days of My Life by American Authors
During VCESS 2014, this song was played on the last day of VCE Summer School. There were many good times hold behind this song. <3