A whole new world (Raphael)

After the stress, intensity and closed environment of Year 12, the copious amounts of FUN which are offered in all forms at Uni present a very welcome change!

As stated previously on this blog, UniMelb is a microcosm of activity, a city within a city, and a massive community to get involved in. There is always something to do on campus if you look for it, and if you find the enthusiasm to jump into the fun side of Uni, it can really transform your experience!

Here are just a few of the fun things that have happened since the start of the year:

Destination Melbourne was a 3 day orientation camp held in late January at St. Hilda’s, a residential college adjacent to the campus. I’ll do another post about this amazing program in the next few weeks, but one highlight was meeting Bella, one of last year’s First_year@UniMelb bloggers who was a group leader on camp!

I wrote an article for Farrago! The student magazine at Melbourne is the oldest in Australia, and gives any student the opportunity to be a published writer!  Just send in your article (or artwork) ideas and you might find your name in lights on the pages of the next issue!

O-Week was massive! The week before semester started was devoted to having fun, making new friends, and transitioning to a new campus and a new way of life. There was trivia, speed friending, movie screenings, campus tours, club sign-ups (more on that later) and an evening at Luna Park to wrap up the week. The latter entailed hundreds of UniMelb (and Monash) students having free roam of Luna Park, going on all the rides and having a lot of fun with some new friends!

Clubs are the best thing ever! There are over 200 clubs catering to all kinds of interests, from debating to unnatural llamas (yes, you read that right; don’t ask). I joined no less than 14 clubs during O-Week, and while that may be average for an enthusiastic Jaffy like me, I’m going to have to figure out how many of those I will actually have time for! I’ve been getting involved primarily in the Engineering Music Society (EMS). They run 5 music groups including an Orchestra which I have been playing Violin in and a Chior which I have been singing in. I’ve met so many friendly and talented musicians already, who, like me, want to keep playing for fun!

I’m also a new committee member for both the EMS and the Italian Social Club, meaning that I will be involved in their planning meetings and the management of the clubs. I love helping out and being busy, so I was thrilled to be elected into these positions – especially since I’ve only been here for a few weeks! I find they’re really happy to have fresh faces involved, so give it a go, fellow first years!

There are just so many things happening on campus all the time; from comedy on Wednesdays, bands playing on Tuesdays, BBQs just about every day (if you’re in the right clubs), and so much more, all FREE! I’ve gotten soapy at the Science “Foam Party”, tried to survive the zombie apocalypse in ZEDtown (and discovered that it was more fun to be a zombie anyway), answered plenty of trivia questions and been on a boat cruise with some Italians, and it’s only been 4 weeks! Uni definitely is a wild ride, so make sure you make the most of it by getting involved and having FUN! As long as you still have enough time left over for study…

Which brings me to next time: the serious side of Uni and the academic transition from high school.

Thanks for reading,

Raphael 😊