Hello people
The object of the heading is the source of problem for the majority of students. Uni is so hectic. A 13 or 14 weeks semester is too short to cover contents of 4 subjects.Under this time constraint, many fellow first yr students including myself are struggling. The school term doesn't serve the ultimate purpose of uni, learning. We want a change!!
First hand experience
.Right now my brain is clouded with negativeness. I am not upbeat, dont have the driving force to study. Probably this is stress AND It is the result of the hectic activities. I feel rushed during these weeks at uni. The amount of studying for each lecture accumulate higher, even though i am doing my best, spending so much time on study already. My situation is really good, considering i live at home only 50 mins away and i dont have to do any house work, all i need to do is to study. I dont waste time much, watch tv for like 30 mins per day, only go to societies for about 3 hours per week. The point is I HAVE PLENTY OF TIME LEFT TO STUDY. Yet i still can't get on top of things! I am behind in maths. (one thing positive about uni is that there are so many help available, only the time is crap. ) I am ok with my law and philophy subjects. Though i am feeling depress because of the pressure put on me by the time. THis is common to many other first year students. My friend, Elisa told me she did not sleep for about 2 nights to finish her creative art assignment. The stories go on and go.
why is uni like this?
Extend the school term to make it easier for the students. With the current setting, we cant fully study the subject. For me i am just going to focus on my law subject (it is my major), and do the bare minimum for maths and philosphy because i dont have enough time for them. Even worst, some students may just give up. I understand that shorter terms mean a longer holiday. Students can earn money or go home during that period. but this will compromise the learning. Shorter school term=difficult, stressful study.
i want to study and hf in uni. But the time is not allowing me to do that. How about a policy change for future, longer school terms like high school?
Anyway, i am addressing my mental problem now, lol i talked to my relative, friends and my teachers as well as writing about it on the blog. Soon i will find a solution.
Just writing to say that i reached a point of my life here where i feel stuck....my boyfriend/best friend and i broke up last friday...which has been a massive shock to me because i well...love him so much? Our relationship was the thing that drove me and motivated me to move to Melbourne. My mum has come down to help me through stuff and as funny as it sounds he is helping me too. life is confusing. sorry to sound so emo...i just feel really lost...i went back to uni yesterday after not going on friday or monday. Have to get special consideration now for assignments and the like. i guess last week is a week i don't want to remember in a way, what with the death of my friend...the loss of a cherished relationship, and the shock that i moved to melbourne seeing only good things ahead. i'm confused about my course...i have to do a whole extra year now before i can move into vet science because of the non-equivalence between my NSW maths and Victorian maths. i was happy to do that because i was so happy to stay an extra year even if i didn't want to academic-wise, but happy to stay for the wonderful time i was having here, aka- the relationship between me and nick which holds such an intimate bond.
i guess i just have a lot of decisions to make about my life- uni, college, sports, relationships, everything.
on a slightly better note, the whitley ball is tomorrow night, which my boyfriend is still coming with me to, and i'm going with him and his family to his sister's musical.
i just realised i called him my boyfriend.
wowwww. seems like cloud nine has suddenly let the rain fall. i just hope i come back to the earth as i fall with it someday soon.'
'til next time,
Lara.
What on earth am I going to eat tonight?
I kept meaning to update last week but the days have been rushing by so fast. Uni life is crazy in the sense that things are so incredible fast-paced. You really have to be so organised or everything will collapse beneath your feet.
Since my last post I went through a few days where I started to doubt my ability to manage everything but soon enough I realised that despite how challenging I've been finding Uni life, I wouldn't change it for anything. My whole life I hated the structure of primary and high school, and the only place I ever wanted to be was university; where I could be my own person and completely in control and responsible for everything. It's a great feeling to finally on the path to where I want to be.
So with that said, I handed in my first Accounting assignment last week which was incredibly nerve-racking, handed in my first lot Quantitative Methods homework the other day and did my first piece of assessment (and online multiple choice test) for Microeconomics. I have received positive feedback on my QM1 homework and Microeconomics online test, so fingers crossed all goes well with the Accounting assignment!
This week I have to hand in an assignment for Microeconomics and the three 800 words essays for Management. I must admit, I have been writing the Management essays during the weekend. I think by now anyone reading this knows that Management is my least favourite subject at this point. HOWEVER! Last week we had the first of a series of guest lecturers. His name is Dr Adam Barsky and he is a great speaker with the cutest American accent (please note: I am very partial to American accents!). So with that said, he has managed to grab my attention and keep me focused. His specialty is human resource management and I am looking forward to hearing him speak over the next few weeks. I don’t know what it is, but perhaps because he is obviously not Australian, he works just a little bit harder to keep the attention of the class?
So what else have my days been filled with? Despite the fact I only have 12 contact hours of Commerce a week, I have found I have been spending 5 days a week on campus so far; usually from about 9am or 11am in the morning til about 1 or 2pm in the afternoon….so it definitely feels like I am there a lot more than I expected.
Mainly this has been due to my committal to some of the free first year programs/events they have been running on campus. I have been on library tours, information lectures on facilities available and academic writing classes being run through the Teaching and Learning Unit of the Commerce department. Some people might ignore the idea of attending any of these things, thinking that they can’t be bothered or that they’ll figure it out themselves, but I feel for the small amount of personal time I have sacrificed, it has given me great value in return. For a start I now know where everything in the Ballieu Library is and I have my friends (who didn’t go on the tour) asking ME for help to find things! I felt confident enough the other day to easily find a series of books in the library to use as references for my management essays, where as a lot of my friends have just turned to the internet for information (a source that is not always as highly regarded as published books). The academic writing class I have attended over the last few weeks has been the most invaluable so far. Even if you received a great score in VCE English, this is definitely worth attending for a number of reasons. Firstly it helped me brush up on my writing skills after the massive break between high school and the commencement of Uni. This gave me a great confidence boost when it came to writing my first essays for assessment. Secondly the quality and style of writing expected at a university level can be a bit different to what is expected in VCE level writing. This class helps you understand the different expectations. Thirdly, it’s another way to meet people and make new friends. I met a lovely girl here who later happened to be in my QM1 tute class, so it was great when attending my first QM1 tute where I thought I knew no one, to see a friendly face. Lastly, it helped me truly understand what help is available with your writing when you are having trouble – knowledge that I know will be useful for years to come.
Surrounding these activities, my schedule is still constantly full of meetings with friends and catching up with people I met at one place or another. I really feel so privileged to have met so many great people so far. I continually find people to be so openly friendly in behaviour.
This is quite different to my experience of high school where there was a very strong competitive element to do with academic scores that placed great pressure on the ability for people to feel relaxed and comfortable in their environment. I tried to avoid falling prey to this pressure as much as possible and did make some life-long friends at my school, but it seemed someone was always trying to out-do you in something….kind of like Survivor but High School style- “Outwit, outplay and outlast”!
In comparison, I feel university is much more of a relaxed environment where people are much more comfortable in their own skin, and there is much more of a “We’re in this together” attitude- one where people help each other out, rather than the individualistic attitude of high school (which I feel can be very much attributed to the fact you are ranked against other students for your VCE scores).
So overall, the last week has been quite enjoyable. I have particularly enjoyed the company of my friend J whom I met through the Melbourne University Liberal Club (I insist I am NOT and NEVER will be a member no matter how much they try to convince me to join!). J and I saw the film “Crash” together last week at the Nova on Lygon Street and I must say it was truly breath-taking. There was a reason it won an Oscar!!!! If you enjoy a deeply thought-provoking movie that makes you go “WOW” then see it!
Another reason why I mentioned this experience, (that some may term trivial), is to make a case in point. I’d never been to Lygon St in my whole life despite attending a city based high school! I love how University gives you this opportunity to meet so many different people from so many different places who can teach you about things you don’t know, or take you places you haven’t been before. With that said, I would have probably never gone to Lygon St if J hadn’t taken me!
Anyhow,
I must end this chit-chat for now.
There is work to be done!
Have a great week everyone!
Sophie
I’m just starting to feel things are calming down at Uni.
The workload at university is intense, but somehow, you seem to get used to it. In the second week I was able to catch up on some reading I missed out on. (Due to looking out for second hand text books) It must be noted that Maths A (Adv) uses a different Calculus book, unlike a number of people were telling me (Who are doing the standard stream). I got my second hand text books off a fellow college member, and are in quite good condition. (Chances are I’ll spill something on them anyway!)
I’ve now had two college tutes for Introduction to Computer Programming, which have proved very valuable and have made it easier to understand what is happening in this subject. I’ve had to go over to Janet Clarke Hall as Medley is a very small college, and thus there are very few tutes held at Medley Hall. My tutor helped to explain some of the concepts learnt in the lectures, and what was to come but also added some other aspects that were not relevant to the course, but made me feel like I had a good understanding of things.
I had a chance to go home after three weeks in Melbourne. It was nice to see my mum, brother, dad and my duck again. There was naturally a heap to talk about. I spent a bit of time finding things that I had forgotten, but fortunately I’d remembered all the really important things the first time anyway.
When I got back we played our second game of cricket, this time against St. Mary’s College. This is nothing like our last game at all. Before long our opponents had well over 100, and they totalled their score at about 150. Our fight was dismal. Straight away our three best players went out for ducks. In the end, our total score was less than twenty. Unfortunately this meant that at Medley there was more drinking than usual for a Sunday. Also, this meant that our principal was not happy that the games room was thus left in such a mess. (As it meant that a student on duty to have to clean it all up.)
Also on the topic of sport I managed to get in touch with the lacrosse club. So far been to two Lacrosse training sessions, but missed the earlier ones, and am behind a number of people. They are scheduled for an hour and a half (but always go for longer) and also involved some rather intense training, much more than I ever did for basketball! At first I could hardly catch the ball in the nets, but now my rate of success is at least fairly decent. Throws still need some work though.
At uni, catching up with old friends is fun. As my only close friend at the university is doing arts, I don’t get to see much of her unless it is arranged. This day we met up on a Thursday afternoon, and saw the music playing, but left earlier. I took her round to see Medley Hall where I was staying, and we had lunch there. I gave a complete tour of Medley Hall and it was nice to be able to just catch up and talk about what had been going on in general. I’m still yet to find a time when it suits us both so I can see inside where she is living.
One guy I have met so far is ironically doing all the same subjects this semester and next semester. I find it surprising just because I’m doing Science, Philosophy and History next semester, in contrast to Maths B (Adv), Applied Maths (Adv) and Physics B (Adv). As we are involved with the same lectures and many of the same tutes and labs, we will quite often walk from each place to the next together.
Tutes, both in college and university tutes have been great for meeting new people. Even if you don’t know them that well you can talk after a lecture or just say hi outside of it. Usually discussions are focused around the class or of previous experience of it.
A few weeks ago I went to a ‘Groove Dance’ breaking class. I found it at times difficult to follow and hard to remember all the dance moves in order at the speed we were going. (I kept mixing things up later on.) I happened to be wearing a blue t-shirt that had printed “Melbourne Uni Experience 2004”. Another guy saw me with this on saying that they’d also been to that, also as I’d been to ‘The Melbourne Rural Uni Experience’, which I stayed overnight, (his was a one day thing) that what we’d been to was something different.
When going to a Scientific Programming and Simulation lecture on Wednesday week, a guy I didn’t know said hi ‘Rick Trunkard’. (Obviously this wasn’t my name, and was just due to him forgetting.) He told me that he saw me in the ‘Groove Dance’ class, then one day in a Scientific Programming and Simulation lab class saw my programs on a computer (because we like to put our names on programs we write), and thought that they were quite smartly done. (of course I’d had a while to write them, although he would still have been thinking about them). Then finally he saw an advertisement for this blog at the university, checked it out and ironically saw me, my name, my subjects, and my photo. It all fell into place and was a little surprised by the irony. Now I’m friends with Yang. (at a distant level still)
That’s it for today.
Next time – Hear all about Ash Grunwald, housewarmings, clubs, big rallys, and being kept awake by those who like to party long and hard!
I’m not sure whether to say a lot has happened the past week, or not too much. On Wednesday last week not too much happened, just a normal uni day (my longest out of the 5, 8am-4pm), followed by dinner at college which I remembered at the last minute was a hall night so I ran down the stairs putting my gown on as I went..
On Thursday I had my second animals in society lecture which was very interesting, our discussion session that day was also quite amusing in some ways. The topic was an ad for a car in which a cat is looking through the sunroof then it closes, and the cat’s head falls off. It’s always cool seeing things like this spark up a hugely animal-passionate debate. After this I went to one of the libraries to read over my maths stuff once more for an hour, then I went to the maths building to do my exam, which went for 3 hours and 15 minutes, or so.
When I got back to college, I found out on the intranet system thingy we have here what was for dinner that night, which turned me off eating so I skipped dinner that night. After everyone finished dinner we had our first corridor activities. My corridor lower yellow/green stuck everything and anything to our walls, and now it looks great. Maybe I’ll post some pictures up when my camera isn’t so dead.
That night was also really funny because at one point I had at least 20 people crowded into my room dancing to this funny song/video which someone bought up on my computer….come to think of it that Thursday night was one night where everyone seemed to get on and work together really well, it’s always like that here, but you could really notice it that night.
After everyone had slapped as much stuff as they could onto the walls, we all went back to our rooms. I lay in bed till a ridiculous time watching an episode of Grey’s Anatomy…I’ve only just discovered the college network where you can watch other people’s movies, listen to their music, share photos etc. only halfway into the episode I had a knock at my door by this guy across from me telling me how he knew exactly what I was watching, which freaked me out for a second then I realised he was in the guy’s room who I was accessing the show from.
Anyway, on Friday I went to uni again at 8am till 3pm, then I rushed home and grabbed my stuff and caught a tram then a taxi to Spencer St. Station, to catch the skybus to the airport. I went to Sydney for the weekend and only got back yesterday. On the Friday night I went to one of my best friend’s 18th which was heaps of fun and it was great to finally catch up with all my friends, my parents and to see my puppy, Floyd! I didn’t end up getting to sleep until 6am the next day, because we went out to the city after the party at Misty’s house, then when I got back I spent hours catching up with my mum!
The next night I went to a 21st which also resulted in another late night of partying and clubbing. I got 4 hours sleep then flew back to Melbourne, only to realise I should have booked a later flight back because I didn’t really get time to catch up with my parents as much as I wanted to, and I didn’t get to go into my old work at the pet shop and see everyone.
I think I sound really boring in this entry… I didn’t go to uni today because I’m so tired and when I got to Sydney I found out one of my friends I’ve known 11 years died in a freak accident from being impaled on a fence. It hit me hard when I found out, but I didn’t realise how hard it hit me until I got back to Melbourne. Last night my boyfriend came around here to see me, it cheered me up but by the end I was in tears. I’m so grateful for him though, we’ve been really close friends for over 2 years and together for just under 4 months and everyone tells me how much we fit together, which makes me so happy :D.
I found out the funeral is on Thursday in Sydney at the church which we always went to for school, but I don’t think I’ll go back, funerals really hit me hard.
So yeah, today I didn’t wake up till 1pm anyway. I’m spending the rest of today learning what I would have learnt today anyway, and I have tomorrow off which I’m going to keep going on my animals in society essay so that I can get it finished before my college ball, which is next Thursday, I can’t wait for that!
Tonight is an event for water polo, the AGM where the new exec. gets voted in, then we all go out, I’m not sure if I’ll go though, it seems like another huge night which would be 3 in 4 days and I think I need a break! Haha.
I hope everyone else is enjoying all the different aspects of their new uni life, I know I am!
Lara
Hello everyone, Sorry for the late entry. The past 2 weeks have been super busy. I have plenty to share on topics of my study and social life.
So let's begin with my favourite subject Legal method reasoning,
(law subject). My reflection on the past 3 weeks is wonderful. My lecturer, Ian is so great, he prepared for his class with dedication and passion. I am really enjoying listening to his funny and vibrant lectures. Do u know any lecturer who will stay behind an hour after the original 2 hour lecture to help students. well i am lucky to have one of them. ALso everyone is friendly. I am kind of settled in now. In class i still need to be more confident and respect myself more, i tend to not participate in discussion (it is good to share ideas and pratice speaking) because i hesitate on whether i can say my point clearly. Well, i am a fighter, it is improving already, so i just need to be keep focusing on the positive, and pretty soon, i will get on top of the nerves.
So far i haven't encountered any obstacle, The reading is ok, interesting in terms of the issues we discuss.
principles of public law
The content is less exciting, (though some people who love history, love this subject) but my lecturer Simonia is doing a great job to help us to acqure knowledge of the legal system. She is very dedicated too. So i am very lucky to have good law lecturers.
Again, the reading is ok. I am behind on the reading schedule even though i try very hard. Got to catch up on the weekend.
Maths 141
I picked it as my non law elective, thinking it is fun. Well it is kind of boring at the start, but once i understand the concept it is quite interesting. I just love the feeling of solving a problem smoothly. My tip for this subj is to ask lecturer for help outside class.
Philosophy (reasons, responsiblity and religion) i actually changed into this subject after i found logic really different from what i expected it to be. IT is too technical from real life application. So i am now in this new subj, It is ok, the content is very easy as the lecturer taught me. but the reading for the concept is really hard to understand, right now i just rely on asking lecturer for help outside class. I have to say it is stupid the way it is written, making it really confusing. I talked to a few classmates, and they said it is crap as well.
I think old philosophers tried to use verbosity to embellish their simple concepts. Lucky my lecturer Doug is willing ot help.
So study is going smoothly, even though it is really busy (reading takes so much time).
Law camp
Went to the camp last weekend. It was mostly playing on the beach during day time and at night sculling beer and dancing. I met lots of ppl.
Well now let me focus on my fav part, personal/social life.
I neglected this part for the past 2 weeks, feeling kind of empty in my head, the feeling of trying to rush to complete things while feeling unsatisfied and grumpy. Well maybe i lacked some sleep.
I'll talk about it next week, gtg, sorry. It is assignment time currently. Bye!
The Saturday before, we went to the beach at Anglesea. We played beach cricket. I was one of the first to jump in the water as I find it hard to watch the water at the beach and not go for a swim in fairly cold water. One of the guys in our group was throwing sand from a distance at the cricket game, but I was luckily well away. We had lunch at a local takeaway, but almost everyone got too many chips, and so there was a fair amount of waste. The moment I got back to the beach it started raining, and we had to quickly clean up the area and take our stuff. The box (with apples and bananas) that I was carrying broke from the moisture, (luckily close to the bus we took), and there was another mess for us to clean up. Later that night we played a word game in the ‘Games Room’.
Sunday wasn’t at all exciting. Mostly just sat around, finding out what text books I needed and just generally getting ready.
For my first week, being in a Science Degree I only had lectures for the first week.
My very first impressions (these will and have changed) of the subject lecturers were:
- 620-121 Maths A (Advanced) – Found him hard to hear, but obviously interested in the subject and liked his learning style
- 620-131 Scientific Programming and Simulation – He liked to ‘umm’, and ‘arr’ a lot, and was finding it harder to stay completely engaged.
- 433-151 Introduction to Programming (Advanced) – This lecturer was easy to listen to and seemed to understand her stuff quite well.
- 640-121 Physics A (Advanced) – What a brilliant lecturer. Engaging, and interesting, and usually starts the lecture off in a relaxed manner. (either a demonstration or discussing something like a NASA launch)
During that first week my lecturer for Scientific Programming and Simulation was not able to come to several lectures due to the birth his baby (starting on our second lecture on Wednesday). Our first session with the new lecturer was shocking. He wasn’t fully competent with what was happening, and kept missing things when demonstrating stuff on the computer. This made for quite a talkative and frustrated class. I most forgive him since he only found out that morning he had to do it. The Friday lecture he gave was heaps better, as he gave was much more structured and with a sense of moving on.
In Maths A (Advanced) there was one guy who, on several occasions, ran suddenly out of the room for some strange reason. The lecturer made a joke stating that ‘Maths is a scary subject.’
Several times during the week I went into the book store – it was packed with what I would guess would be 20 minute lines. It was hard to move around, and find what you wanted. Huge piles of books towered above you, and over the week quickly diminished. I couldn’t be bothered waiting to get my books at this stage, plus I was still establishing if I could find some second hand books.
The Tuesday of that week brought Paul Mac, and his fantastic band. His grooves are catching and fun, and puts on quite a performance. At the end he encouraged people to dance for the last two songs, and a large crowd quickly gathered, including myself. I enjoyed being part of the crowd of people having fun, jumping and dancing to Paul Mac. I also saw my host from Orientation week there.
I got to go to my grandmothers one night for dinner this week, as she lives in Melbourne. I quite enjoyed going there, and that it wasn’t ages away. I stayed there overnight and thus I had to wake up earlier than usual so I could have time to return to college to save myself bringing all my uni stuff with me.
Finally, on the Saturday, I slept in and missed breakfast – darn. I had my mum over and we went out that night to see some music. It was a benefit gig for a local musician called Andy Baylor who is currently suffering from cancer. There was some good music but it lacked the atmosphere of the benefit gig that we had gone to in December.
On Sunday, we went to the Queen Victoria Market. I found a nice outfit and mum got some cacti. Later our college played cricket against another one of the uni colleges. After what was a dismal innings for them with 27 runs, we didn’t have too much trouble overcoming them, although it did take a while. Myself and another guy name Phillip started off, neither of us being serious cricket players. Phillip went out almost straight away, while I lasted for quite an ironically large amount of time, seeing four other players go out while I stayed. When I was batting, I almost never hit the ball, and was lucky no balls were going for the stumps. Since I almost never hit the ball the other team found it both frustrating that they couldn’t get me out and amusing of how bad I was. (I don’t blame them). After I went out, we had a great batter go out who quickly put our score over 27 and thus we won. Unfortunately I’d forgotten to replenish my wallet with money from the market this morning, and so didn’t go to the pub after for drinks. (I was planning to go back to the hall to get some money and go back, but when I got to the hall I figured it wasn’t worth it. Didn’t think to ask to borrow.)
Anyway this Tuesday 21st of March brings Ash Grunwald to the stage at Union House. Definitely looking greatly forward to seeing this fantastic one man band. (I know he’s good because I’ve heard him before). Chances are I’ll be there. (I intend to be, and hope there’s no reason why I can’t!)
Days have been flying by with their usual eventful tendencies; rushing from one class to another, sharing a joke here and there with a friend and then worrying that you're behind on reading and nearly putting yourself to sleep by doing 3 hours of management study at once!
Currently I am in the computer lab and am about to attempt printing my first document ever using a university computer. I will no doubt end up making fool of myself as I have no clue how to do this.
I have already embarassed myself within the last 10 minutes by being somehow unable to open the door to the lab with my keycard. I suspect I simply didn't push hard enough on the door. I ended up creating a queue of 3 people behind me! (Of whom I tried to placate with my "Sorry I'm a first year" line)
Just previous to this I had yet another embarassment in my accounting tute where my accounting tutor exclaimed to me in front of the class (in a friendly impressed way) "YOU KNOW EVERYTHING!"
Little did he know that last night I was almost in tears because I couldn't understand my accounting tutorial homework. I have just been lucky in class so far because I have been able to answer most of the questions he has presented through my large degree of general knowledge.
So with that said I must make it clear that this doesn't mean I actually 'get' accounting yet. I didn't do it in year 12 and am struggling at the moment to get my head around everything. I don't want my tutor to think I find it easy and then feel foolish when asking for help.
Mind you, I am actually feeling better about the whole thing now. Last night I think I was just exhausted and unable to think logically. When he went through the homework in class today everything clicked like a lightbulb going off in my head and I UNDERSTOOD!
I hope however, I really do, that it won't be that I just THINK I understand only to face next week with the same dilemmas.
I have a plan though. I'm going to go through all of this week's accouting tute prep work again to ensure I DO know it, then I will do next week's tute prep work this weekend. If I don't understand that, then I will go to a pitstop tutorial next week before my Friday accounting tute.
Therefore problem will be solved.
As far as I understand, Accounting is not hard, it is simply something that requires a lot of practice.
All my other subjects are going well right now. Funnily enough, Quantitative Methods, which I thought I would hate...has become a subject I enjoy for it's pure logic and direct thought-streams. The lecturer (whom I only know as 'Vance') cracks the most lame/amusing jokes which I very much appreciate. He definitely has a bit of a personality and I think many of the students who orginally took him to be some boring maths guy, are warming to him and seeing value in taking QM1.
On the other hand Management, which I thought I would love, has become a subject I am currently finding a bit too 'wishy-washy' -full of theory and not many hard solid facts. With my ever-changing interests and opinions however, I'm sure this will all change soon enough!
Microeconomics is also a subject I am very much enjoying. There is such a sequential follow-on from Year 12 Economics and I love how we are slowly starting to examine concepts learnt in Year 12 with greater depth and analysis.
As for some non-subject related discussion.
I am currently upset that the mentor I was meant to have through the mentor program somehow gave out an incorrect contact email address....after 2 weeks of waiting for her to email me I contacted the person in charge of the program who proceeded to give me this girl's cellphone number. Last night I left a message and have had no reply yet.
I hope she does contact me back. I will be disappointed if she doesn't.
Socially wise- I am enjoying the company of all my new friends. It has been hard to find the time and energy to spend much time socialising though as all my study and uni work has been taking up so much time.
Wednesday I managed to escape off to the Political Interest Society meeting again which was nothing but pure escapist fun! I find it impossible to stay quiet there as there is just so much to talk about and so much I want to say. I love hearing all the other opinions of the other fascinating group members too! The format of discussion is so flexible which is great because when you have something you want to talk about, it's easy (even as a first year!) to grab hold of the talk and lead it into new territory. This week I encouraged a contemplation of the parallels between communism of the 1950s and terrorism of today. Is it all a media beat up I asked (thinking back to the concept of the domino theory)?
Talk of the American government and "Are they evil?" was most amusing and highly contentious! It's something I don't think anyone will ever come to a conclusive opinion on until the thousands of conspiracy theories cease to exist (which of course they never will!).
Anyhow,
I must get onto that printing...
So wish me luck.
I'll attempt to figure it out.
And if I don't know what to do...maybe I'll just ask someone.
Hehe. Problem solved! My friend is meeting me to show me how to do it!
This is uni life :-)
This is a summary of the events that occurred during the university O-Week.
Tuesday
On Tuesday morning I managed to just be there on time to see my host, having been delayed by the signing of a petition to call for our government to call off the war. (or something along those lines.) The tour group of which I was assigned was obviously arranged for people doing similar subjects, with our group in general having people who were doing the advanced streams of Maths A and Physics A. We were shown around the university and the tour was tailored to suit students doing science. (as to keep it short but informative.)
This year the logo for the orientation was a camel, and so they decided to include some camels for rides, which looked very out of place in the university. I happened to run into quite a few people that I knew, including some from my school, my college (quite a number of times), some from Melbourne, and even one girl I knew from the Northern Territory. (As I only distantly knew this girl, it was the first time I knew that she was in Melbourne)
We then attended a forty minute ‘Deans Welcome’ with what was not a conservative presenter. He was trying to talk about things that we would be thinking about rather than just telling us to spend heaps of time per week at home study, and to take the whole experience of university in, including a social life and participate in other activities. He was quite elaborate with what he talked about in the ‘social life’. (It’s a bit of a distant memory now)
After that I lined for a free BBQ. While I was there I got chatting to the people around me. BBQ lines are surprisingly a great way to meet people – you’re all standing there hungry, and everyone is doing the same thing, and isn’t going to be moving off everywhere. At the start some people I was speaking to gave up on the line, including a guy that was from Monash University who for some bizarre reason decided to check out The University of Melbourne’s orientation program. I don’t blame them for leaving the cue though.
I happened to run into a few people from my college as I was heading back there. I checked out my timetable, and found that I have 24 contact hours, and have a 9 o’clock start each morning, which I like for consistency. I practiced my double bass, then onto the piano at the hall. One of the other students here ‘caught’ me playing, and asked if I would like to play for the choir, and I accepted. There was a rehearsal later that afternoon.
That night I caught up with my mum over the phone, and then later was trivia night. As usual I was not a useful team member for the trivia in four teams that we will be in throughout the year. (I’m just waiting to be asked how to spell ‘borborygmus’ again!) Special rounds included the singing of words from a book to a well known song, similar to ‘Spicks and Specks’. The first group had an easy song, which was guessed quite easily and straight away. Ours, along with the other three teams’ songs proved much harder, also due to the fact our singers found it more difficult to sing and read words that were different from the original song. Later there was an eating competition to see who could eat all of a slice of butter, salmon, a whole onion, wasabi, a raw egg (already prepared in a glass) and one Weetbix. The raw egg was rather easy to take, as it went down quite easily. When eating the butter the onion proved to taste quite good. Unfortunately I ate the wasabi too fast and felt sick, and chucked up in about thirty seconds. I felt sick for quite a while after.
To end the night we watched the movie Pulp Fiction.
Wednesday
Today I had to be at Uni at 10am for a physics information session, as to know more about my chosen subject. We learnt what we needed including our books, what we would be doing, when we would be able to see some of the administrators and a bit of help of where to go.
I later realised that I’d left the timetable I had for the week at college, but luckily I was able to get the information off someone else’s. I went to attend the ‘Information Systems’ information session, but found when I got there it was not for Introduction to Programming. There was no other information session for that subject shown, and unfortunately it meant I missed out on the maths information session, which would’ve meant I could leave the uni sooner.
Later I went to attend the free physics BBQ. After standing in line for a while and talking to a few people, I realised I had lined up at the free BBQ for psychology students. I decided to stay in line anyway as I’d been waiting for a while. I then went to see where the physics BBQ was as I wanted to talk to some people doing physics! I started to chat to some guy there who was doing physics, and was much easier to start that conversation and keep it going. I then lined up for the maths and statistics societies BBQ, and once again chatted to people in the line.
Because I’d missed the maths lecture earlier, I had to attend the one later in the afternoon. This meant I had to wait around for a while. I was lucky enough to find some people from my college, and also with one of their friends. The people from my college had to be someone else, so I talked to the guy I’d just met for about fifteen minutes, and then went to the maths information session, which was similar to the physics version.
Later I went to a run to Northcote, in total making it about a 15km run. I was heading for a music/computer shop, namely Mannys. I’d spoken to a person yesterday who told me this place was in Northcote, and I got the number and street from the phone book. I stupidly didn’t check the suburb in the book, as I realised when I was in Northcote the shop was no where in sight. I asked in a tattoo shop if they knew where the place was, but didn’t have much of an idea, except they thought it might be in Fitzroy. (They had no access to a phone book.) After going back I realised that I had ran straight past the shop earlier. (And almost ran past it again!)
My unnecessarily long trip caused me to be late for the choir which I am playing the piano for. I had to practice this piece again later as to try to be ready for Sunday. I knew it was going to be pushing it.
Tonight was boys night. (And girls night for the girls) We stayed at the hall while the others went somewhere. (???) There was a lot of socialising earlier, but for me things went a bit wild and much of the later part of the night is just a blur. Apparently some people were helping me for several hours, although I only remembered about ten minutes of it. Later in the night when I was in my room I decided to go out for some fresh air. I then realised, feeling both tired and very tipsy, that I did not have my keys. After swearing and panicking for a while, I realised that I was lucky enough to have left my bedroom window open, and later thought that maybe I’d planned to go back in through my window?
Thursday
I woke up, seeing a yellow spew bucket on my floor. I read an e-mail on the computer saying there was a meeting for this blog thing at 9:30! I only contacted the appropriate at 9:23 to let them know I was coming. Here I also met Chris and Jim.
After that I went talking to Jim for a while, as the study skills thing I was wanting to go to wasn’t until 11 o’clock. We talked about what we were doing, and I was also informing Jim about some of the things that I thought would be of interest to him.
The study skills session was informative, but did seem to drag on and didn’t seem as useful as yesterdays sessions.
Later I went to see the clubs and societies. After quite a long talk to the people from the Socialist Alternative I eventually joined, and after such a long time I was off to another free BBQ. I was waiting in line for about 40 minutes, then the society running it had to go, and there was a mad rush as they quickly had to get rid of the last of there sausages. I was unfortunate in that they had no vege burgers – and I was starving! I made do with sauce on bread, but accidentally tipped the bottle too much, spilling tomato sauce all over my hands, legs and a bag I had. I went straight to the toilets in Union house as to rid me of the mess.
I went back to the clubs and societies and am considering joining CHAS (Cosmic Hitchhikers Appreciation Society) and the Jugglers (who also do unicycle riding amongst others). I did join Groove Dance, an Urban dance club that teaches you to dance in those styles. I am specifically looking at locking.
After that I went to a library that was not like any you’ve probably seen – the Rowden White Library. (In Union House). There I got on a computer and played Counter Strike: Source over the internet, and also with very low latency, as low as 5 for some servers. (that’s what you get on a local area network (ie. A home network)). I missed my mouse and headset I had at home though.
That night we had a beach party. We all got dressed in beach gear, and just had a fun night of dancing and socialising. Tonight I decided to stick to Fanta and water. Later we did the limbo, and hit a piñata. And what a piñata it was! We could not break it. We broke what it was hanging by twice, and only was broken by the frustration of someone who hit it when it had fallen. Later I was on the balcony of college and had some nice chats and learning more about the people I was living with.
Friday
I went to have breakfast at 9:30 – woops! Breakfast ended at 8:45! I made do with and apple and a plum. Today I had to wash some clothes, but I didn’t have anything to wash them with, so I got some washing liquid off someone else for a small price. When I went to hang my clothes up I realised there were almost no pegs on the roof (something else I’ve had to buy), so it took a few trips for me to get all my clothes up and dried.
I went to the uni today looking for the Lacrosse club, and they were just one of a few who had packed up early. Finding information on their website is almost impossible, as the stated e-mail does not work, and the website that links to it no longer exists.
After this I went to one of the Socialist Alternative meetings, where they discussed the ‘War on Racism’, and talked about America’s military plans to go to Iran. After we went to one of the pubs on campus for a drink, and spoke to one of their members for quite a while.
Later that evening a number of people went to ‘The Night Cat’ in Fitzroy. They had some great music. (although too loud to hear the band properly, if that makes any sense). When looking from behind the band, Jesse pointed out a guy dancing with long hair, and the energy he was putting in. I noticed he looked very familiar, and went over to investigate. He happened to be someone from my Hometown, and was there with a friend whose older brother was in the band.
That was a wild week. In many ways I’m glad things have calmed down a little.
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