Before coming to Melbourne, I spent a few months studying Chinese in Beijing because of the gap between the Hong Kong school calendar, which ends in June, and the Australian one, which starts in February.
My clarinet teacher in Beijing used to use a phrase called 'tou qi' （偷气） a lot when referring to breathing techniques. Roughly translated, it means to 'steal air', and it refers to what you do when you realise that some silly composer has forgotten that you, being a human being and not some impossibly large-lunged clarinet playing machine, actually need to breathe. What you would do in this case is to find a small gap somewhere in the phrasing, and quickly and discreetly snatch a breath of air in a way that doesn't disturb the overall shape of the music.
I've been doing that a lot with my time recently.
Because in between the big things, like practise, and orchestra rehearsal, and that mountain of reading from law, and all the clubs and stuff, and assignments, and new friends, you tend to forget a lot of little things. I'm not talking about the obvious ones, like having a social life, or procrastinating, or calling your parents, or writing in this blog. Nope. The little thing that always gets overlooked is doing your laundry. In other words, I'm out of clean socks because I haven't really made the time to do any laundry in a while. Which happens to suck. I knew I should have packed more.
But anyway, socks aside, it feels like university life is one of those big long chunky musical phrases where you have to figure out where the appropriate places to cut the length of a note or insert a little bit of airspace without disturbing the rhythm of the work. In fact, it's one of those orchestral excerpts where there's lots of little tiny rests, or staccato rhythm, where there's a gap just long enough that it looks like you can take a breath, but just short enough where if you actually do take a breath you'll come in late on the next beat. And after you've messed up the rhythm, and died from asphyxiation, and are just about used to the pace, there's half a page of rests where you can take a nice long break (I have three day weekends because of no classes on Friday), except that you kind of forget you have another passage of the same kind of stuff on the next page and then end up not being prepared to come in at the right time in the next passage.
But hey, it's still a damn cool piece of music.
Anyway, for those of you who had absolutely no idea what I was talking about up there, I'm just taking a little break from anything and everything productive right now. Call it a sanity break or something. It's been kind of busy this week... I have my first ever law assignment due Monday (luckily, it's a really easy one - all you have to do is read a case and then answer a few basic questions about the facts and judgement), orchestra's started, the readings for law are getting gradually longer and more dense, the music side of things are starting to put on more pressure (although I admit that a lot of that is self-inflicted), and I kind of realised that I signed up for more clubs and activities than I could commit to at orientation week. I don't want to give anything up, though -- it's all so much fun! I kind of like the faster pace and the pressure too, except that I know that if I don't ease it off now, sometime right before swotvac when it gets really intense there might be the possibility of me exploding.
I really really need to make more practise time. I don't have a clue what's going on at orchestra -- being the only first year clarinetist in the orchestra (possibly the only first year woodwind full stop, but I don't really know the flautists and oboeists and bassoonists so I can't say for sure), I didn't realise that I was supposed to learn my part before the first rehearsal. Practise rooms are generally in short supply though, even if you have both the faculty rooms and separate ones in college -- too many musicians, not enough space. Gotta go fight the pianists for rooms.
But first, I think I will go eat lunch. Food makes me happy.
I really dunno how to answer that question coz I have no idea how I got used to uni life! To start with, the Orientation was extremely helpful. So, if there's any future students reading this (hopefully), then pls read my advice: I would classify Orientation as a 'must-attend' coz that's when u have a full on contact with the uni ppl and get to know how life works there. The main thing I liked was that u get to make friends before classes began! So u don't need to worry abt sitting in the first class all alone...Secondly, u get to meet ur future lecturers and tutors, etc. (and predict who's nice and who's strict!) Thirdly, u get to join clubs. This is the best way to meet someone just like ya, whether based on interest or nationality. So, when I came home after all those, I didn't have those usual butterflies in my stomach on those 'first days'. I just went with the flow..
However, there were lots and lots of information that u get...it was quite overhwhemling for me..got confusing later..but yeh, I took my time and processed all the info in my little brain when I had time. The first 2 weeks were a little bit rocky, but now it's smooth. It was mainly regarding following the timetable and finding the right building. Oh yeh, need to tell u this. My first and foremost class was chem at the copland theatre, ec & comm building. And guess where I went? The babel buidling coz it had 'ec & comm' written outside. I got up the lift and I think I reached the third floor. I looked around, couldn't find my theatre, so I ask the reception, she gave me a map of lec venues and then I realized it the opposite building!! I had just 10 mins left...I got so worried and tensed - I didn't want to be late for my first class!! So, I rushed from one building to the other, but I couldn't find the entrance (I went to the other side, not the main one), so I decided to ask someone. This girl was coming in my direction and I said - Excuse me. No response. Again - Excuse me. No response. She just passed by me!! She wasn't ignoring me but she had these headphones blaring in her ears that she didn't know I was trying to talk to her. So, anyone reading this, pls don't do this!! Someone might need ur help, and u neva know when. Use headphones when u r alone or something..Poor me had to find the entrance all by myself. (Came on time, phew!)
Another incident was at the System Garden, where my friend and I were just relaxing. After some time, we decided to head to our lec theatre, but we needed to know if that lec theatre was in the chem building. I had this map with me and we decided to ask a nice lady sitting and having lunch near us, I went up to her and said, "Excuse me. I need ur help, are u busy? And she goes, " Yes, I'd rather not be disturbed." And she just continues eating. No offence, but is that the way u talk to other ppl? I was truly offended, I understand she's eating and I was ready to wait for her to finish, but she doesn't want to talk! My mom's friend once told me that diff ppl have diff personalities, so u cannot change unless they don't want to. So just don't care abt it...That's what I did...
I had had little probs like that, but now, on track. Making friends was easy coz everyone's on the same boat. So, not a worry at all. Getting used to lecs and tutes took some time - 50 mins of continous listening, but when I review the notes later, it's all good. But the main matter here is that u need to come out of your comfort zone and talk more. I'm a bit of a shy person but I'm trying to learn to speak in front of ppl..it's quite nerve-wrecking, but it's worth it once u get the hang of it.
Till next time,
L.S.
My O-Week began on Saturday, the 17th of February when I packed up my life at home in Shepparton and embarked on the two hour drive to Ormond College. I thought I'd be a lot sadder when I left home, but I wasn't, which probably had something to do with the fact that I had a completely unrelated Tripod song stuck in my head, which gave the whole thing a surreal aspect.
College O-Week:
Basically, college O-Week was about finding as many ways as possible to humiliate the freshers. All in good nature, of course. We had buckets of ice water tipped over us early in the mornings, we had moustaches and monobrows drawn on our faces for the scav hunt through the city, we got to walk through the city holding hands in a long line, and we got to revisit the bane of my high school existance - the Beep Test. May I never, ever have to be subjected to you again, Beep Test. We had a toga party, a trivia night, we all watched Zoolander one night, we had a fresher exam, we got to run around Lygon street and do stupid activities like playing Twister on a board covered in baby oil. So it was fun, but exhausting. I actually found it very challenging, because I'm naturally shy and anti-social. But I was prepared for that. Also, I don't drink, and so the activities that centered around alcohol did nothing to excite me. But again, I was prepared for that.
The best part of college O-Week was the night I wasn't there, ironically enough. My sister and I went to see Damien Rice at the Palais in St Kilda, which was unbelievably awesome. This is the sort of thing that you can never do when you live in Shepparton, so it was an exciting way to begin my life in Melbourne. I'm really looking forward to being able to attend more events like this now that I live where the action is, like the Comedy Festival.
And that's all I have to say about college O-Week.
University Orientation Week:
I actually really enjoyed my host group. Everyone in it was really nice, and I've seen a lot of them around campus since, which surprised me. My host was really helpful too, giving out such handy tips like avoiding the lifts in the Redmond Barry building. I ended up leaving my group in order to go and see some of my other friends. But I saw my group later in the afternoon, and it was still mostly intact, which made me feel guilty. Oops.
The academic orientation sessions on Wednesday were fairly useful, particularly for my science subjects, because they let me know exactly what I needed to buy (dissection kit, lab coat, microscope slides, safety glasses and etc). There was a morning tea for HPS, which was really nice, although it clashed with my Cinema Studies one. I showed up just as the woman finished talking, so that was slightly poor timing, but I think we were all there for the free food anyway. I tried to go to both morning teas to maximise the amount of free food I got, but I missed the Cinema one.
On Thursday I signed up to the one club that I joined. I wanted to join more, but a lot of them clashed with my timetable. So the lucky club was JWAS, aka the Joss Whedon Appreciation Society, which has been absolutely awesome so far. I love you, JWAS! If you don't know, Joss Whedon is the brains behind such masterpieces as Buffy, Angel, Firefly and Serenity. Thursday was also the day of my scholarship lunch, which was basically free pizza for everyone on scholarships. (I have an Access scholarship - $4000 towards my HECS and $2000 a year for the next four years - which really helps a lot.) It was nice pizza, and we played a few get-to-know-you games in the System Gardens, and I got to meet some nice people. In the afternoon I signed up to the Age subscription, which is one of the best deals I've ever seen. Someone at Ormond worked it out - I think it's about 7c per paper. Is that not insane? Everyday I feel so happy picking up my paper.
I didn't attend uni on Friday, because I went to Torquay with my college. So if anything interesting happened on Friday, I missed it.
So that was my O-Week. Frankly, I'm glad it's over. I cope much better with a stable routine than with crazy activities. However, I met a lot of nice people, even though I haven't seen most of them again, and probably never will. I got a bunch of information about my course, and bought my lab coats and prac manuals and all those things, which made me feel a bit more prepared and ready to face uni. And of course, the large amount of free stuff is always a bonus.
OMG, How do I start? Well, let's start by saying this is Unfair that labor day's a public holiday EXCEPT FOR UNI. Was that well highlighted? Yep. We have to get up early in the morning as usual whereas the rest just get to relax. Why is that? I don't get it!!
Anyway, my day started off with a shock. I was walking up to the bus stop to go to the station and my dad rings me up and goes - 'Oh, the buses don't work on labor day, u have to walk all the way to the station.' What the...? No choice but to walk. Fortunately, I reached there on time to catch the train. U might think it ended there, but, hey, more things always happen for poor Kripa. NO TRAMS. And I had like 30 mins left!! So, there I was, walking all the way from Flinders (not Melb Central; I followed the weekday timetable, didn't know that public hols have weekend timetable..) to uni. There were trams working halfway, but they were so packed, I couldn't be bothered getting on them. My chem lec starts at 10:05 am, and I can't still believe that I made it to the theatre at 10:03 am!! How close was that??
Next, I had a doubt if trams were going to Burnley campus, I was hoping I could get the day off, but no luck today...they were working. My friends and I went to the usual tram stop and we glanced at the screen and next to our tram there's a '-'. WHAT!! It said to go to some other street..and we didn't know where that street was, so we took the train to burnley and then took the tram to our campus. (heavy sigh) And the same for coming back - tram halfway and walk halfway. I actually took the long way back home, coz I was used to taking the bus everyday, that I forgot the shorter route!! (Had a nice laugh from my bro for that..)
The good things from all this that I could find were (i) good exercise and (ii) no rush of commuters on the train, I could finally sit!! So, some good stuff did happen along with that..
Um, just wanna say THANKS to Zoe and David and Q (wonder who that is) for making me feel better...A message to Zoe, I will talk abt my course and Dubai in my later blogs. This one has become quite long, so let's end it here...
it’s been three weeks since O-Week and I am still undecided about uni. I am still not sure whether I like it or not. Since uni began, my emotions have fluctuated a gzillion times per day. For example, I would feel like crap in the morning if I have to get up at 7am for a 9am start, then I would lament the fact that I didn’t go to Monash (its not far from where I live) but then I would remember its buildings and screw my face up in disgust, then I would feel even worse after missing my train and arriving late to class, then I would feel happy again when I meet someone new then I would feel fatigued after walking around uni to attend different lectures then I would feel energized again after meeting up with my friends then I would feel bored and tired after a draining lecture then I would feel ecstatic that I get to go home finally then I would feel miserable because I remembered I have to go to work instead, then my face would light up again because I get to see the hot chick at work then I would come home and feel distressed after realising I had not done my intro micro homework which was due the next day then I would feel at peace and carefree when I hop into bed because sleeping means no thinking. So yeah, that’s why I’m still undecided about uni so far. I will go into the details of my first 3 weeks at uni at another time, instead I will tell you about my day.
Today was Labour Day, which meant everyone in my household got to sleep in while I had to wake up early for uni. Labour Day also means that the public transport system runs on a Sunday timetable. Like any disorganized student, I rocked up to class late. I had Chinese in the morning, one hour break then a quantitative methods tutorial. After that, I met up with my friend and spent the next two hours talking to her. We had a very intriguing and interesting conversation, stuff that will never make it on this blog. My friend left and I decided to go to the Giblin Library (commerce library) to catch up on some work. My concentration level was high and I was indeed very proud of the amount of work I had completed (however I doubt every study session in the future will be this productive). At 6pm, it was off to lacrosse training. I had missed the first two training sessions so I was very nervous and did not know what to expect. Upon arriving at the hockey pitch, I was very intimidated by all the big beefy guys. I thought lacrosse was going to be a huge mistake (I am pretty small in stature). But as I got into the groove, it occurred to me that the group of guys was very friendly, welcoming and had a large contingent of Americans naturally (since lacrosse is an American sport. I also realised that a lot of the guys in the team used to go to my high school but were in the levels above me. Another thing I realised was how incredibly unfit I am. The session really took it out of me but even though I was sore to my bone, it felt great. Lacrosse is a fast paced game and a really fun game. I felt rejuvenated and high-spirited, especially after meeting a fellow first year lacrosse player. His name was Tim and he was doing Com/Eng. We chatted on the tram to Melbourne Central and he seemed like a very nice fella. When we arrived at MC, it struck me again that it was Labour Day, and this was proven when I had to wait almost half an hour for my next train! But this time, frustration did not overwhelm me; instead I managed to let out a small smile because I was feeling good, real good. Things were getting better, I was slowly getting used to the routine and uni life was beginning to shine.
There is still so much I want to write about but this post is already to long. I promise I will blog about O-week and my first 2 weeks at uni. Probably tomorrow morning since my first class at uni starts at 4pm. YAY! Sleep in!
I think I will break tradition and not end my blog by saying goodbye in another language but by a simple bye. So sorry about the length of this blog.
Bye,
David
Well, I guess everyone's introduced themselves by now and I'm the one way behind. Sorry abt that, guys, had a hectic week. Anyway, u know my name by now and I don't have any specific nicknames ( 'cept for one that my friend accidentally said "Krispa"; I just cannot stand hearing it)
I'm too excited to start, I can't believe I'm doing this..(Ok, calm down, Kripa). Let's cut to the chase: I'm a Food Science undergrad and been living and enjoying in Aus for 2 yrs. I was born and brought up in Dubai (for those who dunno where that is, it's in the Middle East, Arab country), so coming here was a dramatic change in my life. I'll turn 18 this year (Yes!), not tall (dunno the exact measurement, been a loong time..), and probably, by glancing at my name, u can guess my nationality...or probably not. Ok, I'm Indian!! I'm not sure if any Indian has been a First year blogger, and if not, I'm greatly honoured to be the first! That's an achievement, right?
Got a small sweet family - dad, mom n bro. We live together in our house, so not a trace of homesickness, or financial stress (thanks to my dad!) or even food-related probs - I get to eat my mom's scrumptious traditional food everyday, so I was all settled before entering uni.
My blog structure is gonna be the same as any other blog, however, I'll talk abt my stuff at the start and at the end, I'll try to put 1 advice per blog for future students, so that the blog-writing caters to both my needs and the readers' needs. Let me end my 'blog premiere' by sharing my interests. I love watching TV & films, listening to music (all types), reading mystery novels and currently growing an interest in cricket. Let's see where that goes!
I don't wanna go on and on..hope it hasn't got boring. Just want to thank Kathryn Boin for giving me this opportunity and also, since I began this blog on a pessimisstic note (disappointment of being the late one), I shall end it on an optimistic note :
" The best is kept for last.."
Nah, just joking....trying to reassure myself, that's all folks!!
Kia ora,
I’m kiwi Steph! Otherwise known as “stiff” by my lovely peers at Janet Clark Hall where I am currently residing. More on my “accent” later…
So this is my first blog here, which means I have to put you through the pain of learning some new things about me.
I am indeed from New Zealand, a born and bred JAFA from the North Shore (Auckland). I’m 18-years-old, a fresher at college (yes I came out of O-week unscathed), and a first year meddie.
Here are some other things you will not have known about me:
• I once went orange. Yes that’s right, I went orange. About two years ago when I was eating at least 10 mandarins a day, along with carrots, pumpkin and oranges, I got an excess of beta-carotene and the palms of my hands went orange. Go figure. I have now cut back to only one orange a day. I have painful memories of my “no orange” diet which resulted, amongst other things, in me having to pick out all the orange bits from fruit salads.
• I was on the National NZ Karate Team for a few years before moving to Melbourne, representing NZ at Commonwealth Karate and Oceania championships where I even met some Australians who are now good friends. I used to always hassle them about “feeeesh n cheeeeps” (fish ‘n chips) and “seeeex” (six). For the past 3 weeks in College I’ve been free entertainment at the dinner table. On an average night, the average college student will ask me to say “fush n chups” at least 5 times and say “sux” at least thrice. And as for my name, my o-week leaders thought I said “Hi I’m Stiff” when I really said “Hi I’m Steph” but in my kiwi accent. So from then on my name has been “Stiff”. Karma I tell you.
• I hate peanuts. ‘Nuff said.
• I love love love pineapple. You should see me at College when I see they’ve put out pineapple slices at lunch. I’m like a kid at Christmas. For me, everyday is Christmas when there’s pineapple on the table.
• My immediate family, back home in Auckland, consists of a mummy, daddy and two younger brothers. Us kids were all born in Auckland but mummy and daddy are both from Indonesia. While English is my first language, I am also fluent in Indonesian though I speak it with a funny European accent.
• I scuba dive wherever I go. It’s one of my life missions.
Most likely there’ll be a hundred and one other things you’ll learn about me through this blog, whether you like it or not!
So, what made me apply to be a blogger?
Deciding to come to Melbourne was the hardest decision of my life (that’s 18 years and counting) but also one of the easiest in a way. (That story will be another blog in itself)
When one needs to make an important decision, one usually does one’s research. One of my sources for “researching” the pros and cons of moving, was, surprise surprise, the first year at Melb uni blog. I read through most of the blog posts posted by my predecessors in order to find out:
• What it was like moving to a new city
• What it was like living in a new city
• How uni works
• What can I expect from uni and what can uni expect from me?
• Work hard, play hard. What is there to “play” in Melbourne?
• What are some of the problems students have to face?
• What has Melbourne got that Auckland doesn’t have?
• What accommodation options do I have?
• What costs am I going to run into?
While we are all individuals with different wants and needs, I feel that this blog will definitely be beneficial to anyone wanting to know more about moving away from home for the first time, and also for first-time uni students.
I look forward to sharing my experiences in this blog and if I can help just one person with the questions they may have, I’ll be a very happy kiwi.
I actually already have a blog somewhere else, where I've already written five long rambly entries related to the first few weeks of school, all of which I'm just going to transfer over here sometime this week after a little bit of editing because I'm too lazy to write new entries.
So, this is what my orientation week was like:
February 22nd, 2007: Hello. I am here to update. I am supposed to be tidying my room. And getting books. And reading about the Australian legal system. But I don't want to do that. So I am here updating instead.
[...]
So. After arriving from Hong Kong and staying in a dingy motel for a couple of days, I moved into Janet Clarke Hall, which is basically one of the residential colleges. On arriving, I was greeted by a bunch of people dressed as pirates, because that was the theme of Orientation Week. Immediately after we got sheparded into a room, and were told to take an exam, the questions of which were things like "Draw a realistic portrait of yourself" and "Choose four (out of three) essay topics and write a 5000 word essay on them" and "Who is Glenda? Why should you never rape her?" (Glenda is the vending machine in the common room). So we all sat there, looking at the piece of paper with a WTF look on our face, and then the pirates came in, started screaming at us to scrub the decks, and squirted at us with water guns, and then we realised it was all a joke. They woke us up the next morning in the same way and got us to go jogging at 6 am. That was not fun.
There are a number of traditions related to O-week, as it is called, at JCH. One of which is the fresher dance. Basically, the upper years choreograph a dance routine for a certain song. The first years all have to learn it. Once learned, whenever said song is heard, at a bar, restaurant, mall, whatever, the whole year has to break out into the dance routine, regardless of who might be watching or what they might be doing. Every year has a different fresher dance to a different song and as long as you live at JCH you must break into dance whenever you hear the song for your year. The moves of the fresher dance are passed down from each year and each year just combines them in different orders, adding their own to mark there year and teach to the next set of freshers, and are based on people who've lived here before.
So we went bowling/lasertagging/arcadegaming yesterday, and they played the damn song ("I don't feel like dancing" by the Scissors Sisters) four times. So we got up in the middle of the bowling alley, and started dancing. And all these people stared at us and took pictures and it was rather cool because it was a pretty difficult dance routine (we spent the first day of orientation rehearsing the dance all day) and the people who gathered around to stare all cheered at the end. And then they started playing the second year song, and so the second years who were meant to be looking after us had to start dancing too. It is absolutely hilarious to watch someone try to bowl and dance to the Black Eyed Peas' "Pump It" at the same time.
It is also apparently tradition at JCH to wear your orientation T-shirt all week. No washing allowed. Ew. But at least we don't have academic gowns like the other colleges. Long black robe 4 dinnertimes a week in dining hall with no aircon = murder.
There's also a Rubik's cube party (you wear mismatching clothes in the colours of the Rubik's cube, and every time the song "You Are A Pirate" comes on, you have to swap clothes with someone else, so that by the end of the night you're wearing everything the same colour), which was tonight (I skipped it to go watch the free concert put on by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl), a scavenger hunt, (which I skipped to could take the music faculty musicianship test), and trivia night which my team won. Yay. Oh, and a boat cruise party which you're supposed to wear bad 60's stuff to. People who are underage or don't drink go watch a Shakespeare show instead.
[...]
That was basically the college half of orientation (there were a few more parties and events, but they were basically more of the same). Before I move onto official university orientation, I would like to add that I found it really, really hard to live here the first few days because it was a huge shock to realise that there aren't air conditioners everywhere blasting cold air at 15 degrees Celsius into every single room like there are in Hong Kong. And that you actually have to walk outdoors. The population density in Hong Kong is such that you can build these cool little connecting bridges between the skyscrapers so that you never have to leave your air conditioned building and can live forever in your refrigerated little climate control zone without having to see the light of day. I mean, sometimes they don't have bridges, or they think that open air is actually a good idea, and then you actually have to walk in the heat and humidity across the road, but for the most part, you're in a climate controlled cocoon. That was pretty much my transition problems in a nutshell -- no air conditioner, forty degree weather. So I suppose it was a relatively easy transition, with not a great deal of homesickness or culture shock.
Anyway, on to university O-week, which I didn't blog about in the original post because most of the fun stuff was from college orientation.
On Thursday the 15th, I went to international student briefings for the music faculty. I didn't have to, but I thought I should. They were really helpful, since there were only about half a dozen people there (as opposed to a hundred or so for the local orientation briefing) so you could get all your questions asked and answered. Then I stayed off campus until the events in the quoted passage above.
Wednesday the 21st was academic orientation day, which was a complete waste of time for me, not because of anything wrong with the events, but because I only stayed with my host group for half an hour and then had to leave for orchestra auditions. Then I went to my law briefing, miscalculated the amount of time needed to get to the building (damn, it was far away), and missed half the talk. Most of what was left was the Law Student's Society and the International Law Student's Society and the Student Union talking. It ran late because the Student Union Rep talked for a long time, and that meant that I missed most of my music briefing which was immediately after, and ended up missing everything of importance and instead catching the end, which was -- you guessed it -- the exact same Student Union speech I just finished watching.
I never did find my host group again, and I skipped most of the other information sessions outside of the faculty briefings, like the library tour and the campus tour and the 'how to live on your own' sessions, because I'm not living on my own (I'm in college, I don't need to worry about things like cooking or utility bills) and I've always felt that you never need guided tours for anything -- read the pamphlets, sniff around, and that's enough. Host group (all 30 minutes of it) was great, though -- I met other music/law students, which I wasn't expecting to find from just picking out a random music balloon on the North Court.
Thursday and Friday were clubs and societies days, but there were also several faculty specific information sessions -- each of the core classes you were taking were introduced by the lecturers, and you got a quick rundown of what was expected. I felt immediately at home in the Music Faculty ones, and immediately out of my depth in the Law ones. I suppose it's the size of each, and the fact that I'm not really all that interested in Law except as a backup option.
There was lots and lots of free stuff. Thanks to VSU, there is a LOT of marketing, propaganda, and bribery going on - they know you don't have to join them, so they make it worth your time to do so. Take advantage of this, and wheedle as much chocolate as you can out of the Chocolate Lover's Society before agreeing to sign the membership form. The same goes for any corporate sponsors on campus -- don't sign up with them until they give you free stuff.
Orientation week is also pretty bad for your diet, because all the *insertfacultynamehere* Student Societies will be giving you free junk food. Take advantage of this too. Shop around before signing - there are multiple groups on campus offering the same thing (especially with some of the sports things -- there are multiple dance groups and it's considerably cheaper to sign up with the union club than the sports club or the short course. Of course, the union group then never emailed me back about when the lessons were, so that probably wasn't worth the money anyway)
Anyway, there are more details in the next four posts that I'm transferring over, so I'll leave it here for today.
Hello, everyone!
Let's keep this short because I know very few of you will actually see the end of a long entry.
My name is Lam, first year in Science. I came here about four years ago, went to Reservoir Secondary, obtained 99.55 for my ENTER and was frequently called a "freak" by my friends - well, not any more as they discovered Melbourne University houses even more freakish people. I personally have seen a few.
I like Melbourne University more and more each day - particularly today when I find the Student Portal, the all-in-one stop for everything uni-related, notably including Webmail, LMS and various other features. Just love it! (the interface needs some work, though)
Well, that's pretty much about myself.
Usually, people can read about me in my Profile, but I was specifically asked to write this entry (convention says that I should introduce myself first).
Have a good day, people.
Au revoir.
*Bow*
University, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Arts/Science student Zoë. Her five year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilisations, to boldly go where no man has gone before. Or, should that be to boldly go where millions of other university students have gone before?
Grand entrances aside, my name is Zoë, I'm 18 years old, and I come from country Victoria. I'm living at Ormond College this year, which has been exhausting, exciting, ebullient, educational, and all sorts of other interesting words that start with the letter 'e'.
I'm in for the long haul with my five year course, the combined degree of Arts/Science. Basically I chose it because I've never been very good at making choices. People often decide that they're either a maths/science person or a humanities one, but I could never distinguish between my love for both areas of study. I think it's really important to have a balance between the science and the arts, because they use such different patterns of thought and reasoning and together, they give you a really well balanced education.
This semester my four subjects are as follows (two from the Arts department and two from the Science department, in case you're wondering). Biology of Cells and Organisms, which is so far just a complete repeat of Year 12 Biology, which I did two years ago, and loved. So it's actually pretty boring, but at least I don't have to do much study. Chemistry A is my second science subject. I have a love-hate relationship with chemistry. Sometimes it's absolutely awesome and I understand everything. Sometimes I think I'd rather run up and down the stairs in the Redmond Barry building with a ton of bricks. This subject moves fast, and I'm not sure I'm understanding everything, but I'm not reading to murder it just yet.
The first of my arts subjects is Science, Philosophy and History. I was having second thoughts about this subject before I started, but it's actually been really interesting. At the moment we're talking about pseudoscience, and things like astrology and tarot cards, and how we decide whether something is science or not. How cool is that? Finally, I have Introduction to Hollywood and Art Cinema. I was the anomaly in my Year 12 media class in that I was basically the only one who liked the theory more than the prac aspect of the class. Cinema Studies has been great so far. There's been lots of reading, but it's interesting, and the films we've watched have been awesome. And next week is Psycho!
What else to say about me? I love film and television, general pop culture, literature, the internet, and all things of the geeky variety. Particularly science fiction. Particularly science fiction television, but let's not go into that today. I don't know what I want to do when I finish university (except for further study), which is why I'm keeping my options open with my course. I'm enjoying university so far, although today I'm not feeling so great, having come down with the "fresher flu".
Tonight is one of the many Ormond smokos, which is basically just a big party. I'm not sure if I'm going to attend, as I really don't want to get any sicker than I already am, and also, I have to get up tomorrow to do my student service at 9, which is basically helping out in the kitchen.
One final note - if you didn't get to the poster stall this week, you seriously missed out. I had to literally force myself to stay away to avoid spending all of my money. In the end I limited myself to three posters - a Futurama one, a Star Wars one, and a Serenity one. They make me happy every time I look at them, which might just be a little sad...
Okay, that's it for today. If you're reading this, feel free to join me on this voyage into the chaos of first year university by adding your comments and/or questions.
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