Got the whole of next week off and some very pleasant surprises in this one. Does feel like a Christmas morning 🎁 session.
So, it all started with an assignment submission gone wrong and me not having any backup. Nail-biting suspense later, I was allowed to resubmit it! Like seriously, how cool is that!!! I was expecting a ✂️ of marks and judgemental 👩🏫, instead I was given another chance to redo it. Blown away, I am suddenly seeing the teaching staff in a new light 😍
Now, off to planning my week-off activities. Cooking, cleaning, reading? Can’t make up my mind. Maybe I’ll sleep it away with Cat practicing her management skills on me. She is very good at making me do things, like waking up middle of the night to fill up her half eaten bowl 😒
Restriction are eased, but still tc and stay safe.
-love
MoneyOverMen
It feels like a lifetime since I last wrote a blog post. Though, I'm sure the concept of time is slipping from us all as we stay indoors and relive each day like the last. Wake up near to the afternoon, complain about lectures, begrudgingly attend tutorials, and do the damn readings well into the night (or shall I say morning?)
Since the last blog post, I had to change laptops as my previous one failed me and sent me into a mental breakdown. This laptop (which I continue to say is a temporary fix) is no better and loves to mess up during zooms, allowing all my classmates to witness further meltdowns, or at least hear one of my many whispers of 'no not again.'
It's more than halfway through the second semester and I feel that the identity of a university student has only begun to sink in. I feel childish to ever refer back to my high school days, feeling that bringing it up means I've peaked in high school. It's strange when you feel like a child but are treated like an adult. Can you feel like an adult when you're still living with your parents?
I feel that first year of uni (or at least the first year out of high school) is a time of transition and discovery into what kind of person you want to be. For the first time you're doing something/ a course that you actually want to do, and you're gaining knowledge on things you actually want to know.
This transition into 'adulting', I guess you can say, hit me hard on the Friday morning tutorial for my Media Writing class.
I need to write a hard news story. In my Friday morning tutorial, my tutor told us to suddenly pitch a story to her and I, in my sleepy state, scrambled to find the best story possible, hoping that I wouldn't get critiqued too much for it. The opposite happened - she loved the idea. I should be ecstatic about that, but it hit me that I have to actually go and pester real and busy people to interview. I felt so adolescent and unqualified and the very real question of 'what if no one wants to be interviewed by a student? It won't get them exposure or anything.' After finishing a full Mango Tango smoothie, courtesy of Boost Juice, I braced myself for rejection and for endless pestering for at least one interview.
Somehow I didn't need to pester them as much as I thought and tomorrow I will be calling them. While I thought I was basically the master of Zoom meetings, that nagging feeling of being unqualified and childish is making me nervous again. Quarantine has reduced my social battery and I spent all of it when I emailed a number of people who gave me leads to a good interviewee.
It's like when you need to book a doctor's appointment. I don't want to do that, it's just too adult for me. I'm expected to be in charge of my life?
Back to sipping my (new) Mango Tango smoothie.
What about you? Do you feel like an adult yet? More importantly, do you have tips for me in pretending to be one?
Historically, I've associated September with sunshine, flowers and school holidays, though now, my conceptualisation has shifted to snow (!!!!), showers (from the sky, but also of the conventional kind) and NO BREAK OF ANY KIND. I'm really hanging out for mid-semester break, so that I can complete the 150 pages from W7 and -8 that I pushed aside to focus on my essays, all of which are due in the coming week, and also start working on my next two 2000-word stressors so as to reduce my stress levels in the future. It hurts, just a little.
I'm also in the exact same position as I was last year in Y12, and I'm having severe throwbacks to the month before VCE exams, and I'm only slightly triggered. But the good thing about that is that, like Year 12s, we also have four months of holidays awaiting us upon the conclusion of uni exams and assignment season in November, so that's pretty cool !! Made a little less cool by quarantine and summer's uncertainty and my 114 Learner hours and my inability to book my licence tests and also my unwillingness to even if I could, because I cannot be trusted behind a wheel all by my lonesome.
Stay warm (never thought I'd say that days before daylight savings and the beginner of OCTOBER, but 2020 likes curveballs) and safe !!
Song of the blog post (creds for the title): Spring has sprung by Skegss 🌨🌈
This week’s been a rollercoaster - emotionally, academically and of course, me being me, monetarily 🤣
Made some tough calls, quite literally 🤪 and had some setbacks but so far, no regrets. Not really my first time handling losses in life.
Withdrew from subjects that I found too tough, and that means Cat will now have to be homeschooled in management for this semester. She can get back to snuggling the laptop later. I am not letting something as stupid as Covid get in the way of my precious kitteh’s future 😤
It also means, I get to focus on the ones at hand, understand and comprehend them fully, make lesser mistakes and GET BETTER GRADES.
So putting my hard hat on and digging deeper.
-love,
MoneyOverMen
This is my first post as one of the new first year diaries authors so big hello and virtual hug to you all!
My nickname is Schnetti, I am from Germany and live in Luxembourg - but most importantly - fell in love with Australia (and an Aussie bloke) back in 2018 during my working holiday year and decided to start studying my Bachelor of Commerce mid-year entry in Melbourne in March this year. Great timing COVID wise since I had just returned to Luxembourg in order to get everything ready to move to Australia when the borders closed.
After that, I enjoyed my freedom in Europe a little bit longer (Melbourne really seemed to be anything but fun), started (like everyone else) studying online and was really hoping for Aussie borders to reopen for semester 2. Hahah, I reckon we all know how that worked out.
However, since I have been in a relationship with an Aussie for over a year, I was able to obtain an exemption to travel to Australia (notably, after 17 rejected exemption applications) and am currently on day 6 of my quarantine in Sydney! Hooray (I guess?)!
That's the good part about the last 7 weeks. The bad part about them was that due to organising my move, the exemption applications and living in a different time zone (and I'm sure all the international students here can relate), I had to put in much more effort to keep up with uni than I have to now. And to be honest, I couldn't really be bothered doing that.
Now, 7 weeks in, guess what - it's coming back and it's biting me in the ass.
So I was holding big pieces on quarantine to get sh*t done! See a summary below:
Here's the upside to quarantine - you've got loads of spare time.
Here's the downside - you rather spend it drinking and zoom calling your friends than doing uni stuff.
Oh well, I'll stop whining and better get started on my readings. (Why are there so many of them??)
To be fair, I can't say I've not been doing anything in quarantine, but definitely less than I planned on doing. Maybe my motivation comes through tomorrow - lucky day 7?!
I hope you're all healthy and safe (wherever you currently are) and I'm really looking forward to sharing my first year experiences with you, as this year will - undeniably - be very different to any other year before.
Talk soon!
Schnetti
Yes, yes, I know that there are already 8 books sitting next to my bed waiting to be read BUT *whispers* I want another one.
So I've been reading this big old book for a while, and this is not to say I didn't love it, but it took me a long time and I need to shake it up a little (cue tonight's listening).
It really got me thinking about those big questions. Fundamentally, why do people do the things they do? Is it all pre-determined? I'm not talking in a religious, God-planned-it-all-even-you-scratching-your-nose thing, but when considered in retrospect, how much free will do we actually have? This book was about war, written by someone who spent lots of time wondering how on earth these horrendous and useless things happen. A person much smarter than me but has no more answers than I do. People are complicated, who knew! They always have and always will be. Anyone who tells you otherwise obviously doesn't read enough.
Anyway
what is everyone reading?
Tonight's listening: 'On The Radio' Donna Summer (Warning: do not listen if you don't like to dance)
After last week's mayhem, this one seems pretty quiet. New week, new assignments, new deadlines and new headaches. Rang out the old ones. That's all to say about it.
Surprise! Found out that I have shrunk a size in the lockdowns and all my clothes fit the hangers better than me. Not rushing to the stores mid lockdown, nothing's open anyways. At least the PJs fit 😁 Don't care if they are oversize.
Gearing up for the big weekend, where I play the lectures on re-runs. Who needs Netflix when you have the profs on! Binge watching the week's lectures is an experience in itself. More so when it's on twice the speed and looks like a 30's video in hi-def and color. I spend more time 🤣 like a 6 yr old than actually listening to what they are saying. Cat still prefers management, sometimes switches to technical though. Sitting on the keyboard never compiled any code for me, but she doesn't give up on it. Must be some technology I don't know.
While I figure that out, tc and stay safe.
-love,
MoneyOverMen
I have more than 6,500 words to write over the next six weeks, and probably like 150,000 words to read to inform my writing, and I’ve written about 10, and read approximately 3,000 🥳 🥳 Love !!
The prospect of mid-semester break (which isn’t even mid-semester break, more like ¾-semester break, so pls, UniMelb, do stop teasing and triggering) is keeping me going. I’ll have an entire WEEK to make a dent in my currently non-existent reading list and hopefully write something half-decent and thus not have to rewrite 70% of my essay the night before submission, as has happened twice already this semester (but who’s counting? Not me). An easing of Victorian restrictions is on the cards, too!! Hopefully my cabin fever will be capable of dissipating soon, and I won’t spend all of my days thinking about my ESSAYS and buckwheat pasta and the next movie I’m going to watch (the last was The Young Offenders on Netflix ; wholesome in the most unwholesome way possible, recommend !!).
I really hope you’re looking after yourself!! Life’s a bit (ahh) hectic at the minute, and so if you’re struggling, consider reaching out to somebody! It can be difficult to voice what’s bothering you, and, as someone who doesn’t talk about their feelings oops, stumbling upon Headspace’s live chat was a fantastic way to wrap up last Friday night’s crying session (did have to wait for 2.5 hours to talk to someone virtually, which is awfully-telling about the difficulty of subsistence rn, but I did get some reading done because I was forced to face my laptop whilst waiting, so a win-win, truly). https://headspace.org.au/eheadspace/connect-with-a-clinician/ << if you need to talk :)))
Stay safe !!!
Song of the blog post: Knock you down, Keri Hilson ☄️
11:06pm, Singapore. I have just spent the past 5 minutes watching an ant crawl on my room wall... what a great use of my time.
As a Singaporean, I would frequently complain how hot the weather is due to our tropical climate. These few days, it seems to be raining non-stop. Can't understand why, but I'm loving it! I tried a hoodie on for the first time today (yes I have no idea what cave I've been living under. Don't judge me please!!) and I feel like a really comfy burrito hehe :)
Anyways, how's everyone? Rushing that assignment (or two? Yikes.) I feel you, I was in that position yesterday.
It's Week 7 of uni, I can't even imagine. It was World Suicide Prevention Day last week (September 10th), so just a reminder to check in on yourself and those around you!
After 7 weeks of Unimelb Zoom University (lol), here are some things I have learnt! Feel free to leave a comment below of what are your key takeaways these past 6/7 weeks!
- The art of waking up 10 minutes before class, and turning up to tutorial looking like a garbage can. Then again, that's where the mute and hide camera function comes in handy.
- Speaking of the mute and camera function, although Zoom clearly states that one is muted and camera's off, I can't help but overthink. What if this is all just a sham? What if this was all some April Fool's Joke, and there are secret spies spying on my every move and reporting back to the host? (yes charlene, calm your crazy.)
- Getting kicked out of the call time and again. Shoutout to my lovely home internet.
- Finding out how to share screen, as well as the reaction button. Yes, I can imagine some readers snorting with laughter at this--I'm a tech noob, I know.
- Learning to live with new-found embarrassing situations. There was this one tutorial last week where I thought my mic wasn't working as I couldn't hear anyone. I frantically texted the group chat, only to realize-- it was a class assignment and everyone was muted, including the tutor. Way to go, Charlene! But I guess it was an honest mistake to make, and I learnt to just laugh over it and move on with life. Thinking about what to have for lunch seemed like a better use of my brain space than getting embarrassed.
That's it for now! Signing off!
I have a lot of work to do. I have three assessments due in the coming days and I am nowhere near done.
Nevertheless, in my stress I decided that this is such a #UniMoment and what better way to document it for everyone to learn from than writing a blog post. But also I'm procrastinating and am pretending to be productive.
Procrastination and the lack of motivation are killers of students. I'm sitting at my dining table with my notes sprawled around me, staring at my computer screen hoping that my assessment for my law subject will do itself. Finally I let out a cry of frustration, complaining about why the law has to be so frustrating. 'It's obvious that there's a publication because it's been PUBLISHED! WHO NEEDS SOME THEORY/RULE TO BACK IT UP?' That was me, on the verge of thinking whether law is something that will treat me right (it probably won't).
My brother, who is very young and very nice, heard me yell and said, 'don't worry you will be a good lawyer one day!' Which, you know, is nice. He kept talking though, deciding to list all the careers I had considered before, prompting me to groan back, "I just want to be employed!" (Someone seriously hire me though, at least to prove to the government that Arts degrees are 'job-relevant')
That anxiety was probably heightened by the current soaring unemployment rates due to the pandemic. But I think all uni students have a time where they wonder, 'is this really worth it?' My degree seems to be doubling in cost and I'm being told it isn't 'job relevant' - hilariously, by the same people who got to where they were because of humanities and law degrees but I'll save that rant for another time.
I was hoping to give some tips and tricks for managing your workload because I used to be such a great student. But now I have three assessments that are still incomplete. I'm going to blame my procrastination and lack of motivation on the pandemic though.
How to manage your workload:
1. Invest in a weekly planner AND a monthly/ semester calendar
The key to managing your workload is meticulous planning. At the start of the year, I took a semester planner from Academic Skills and it has been a godsend in tracking my assessments. By having the entire semester laid out in front of me, it is easy to decide how much time to allocate on one assessment.
The weekly planner is to help me break smaller tasks down, particularly when my classes are. Instead of buying a leather planner like I do every year (the exact same design lol), this year I opted for a digital option like below. The example looks like I've been productive, but really I spent too much time searching for new books to read.
2. Discipline and leniency
Last year as a Year 12, I had too much discipline and did not give myself enough leniency. As a result I looked like a mess - to the point that when my principal saw me leaving the school at 5.30pm, he asked me, "Are you okay? Is everything alright? Have some rest." Mortifying. Reflecting back, I realise it was because my hair was all dishevelled, I was hunched over because of my heavy bag and was carrying around two more textbooks with a look of misery.
But this year I've been the exact opposite - I've been so lenient that I don't really stick to that colour-coordinated planner. I mean I've gotten all previous work done but I'm still in a position where MY ASSESSMENTS ARE NOT DONE.
The main lesson here is to have a balance. Have breaks, go for a walk, do a rigorous exercise, read a book, paint a picture. But when it's time to work, sit down and do it. A past teacher told me to use the Pomodoro technique where you study for 45 minutes and take a 15 minute break, but each hour/ session must be a new activity.
3. Breaks
This needs its own category. Apart from the whole 15 minute breaks and take a walk thing, I usually keep Friday afternoons and the whole weekend free of work so that I may refresh myself for the coming week. I didn't realise how much I needed this especially during the pandemic. When all you do is stay at home and study, you quickly burn out and feel hopeless, like you're wasting your life away. Those two days and a half give you the chance to spend time with your family (if possible), do your hobby, or just rejuvenate. Obviously my planner above shows I have work to do but that's because MY ASSESSMENTS ARE STILL NOT DONE. However, usually I'm very strict about those breaks.
4. Break your tasks down into smaller tasks
Again, this is not reflected in my planner above but when planning your workload, you should be very specific with the task. For example, in doing my essay I would break it into different parts and assign them for different days (usually) - breaking apart the prompt and looking through my notes for the relevant concepts; planning my response; research, finding sources and case studies; writing my draft; and editing.
Those tips work for me when I actually follow them and led to a pretty decent first semester. Hope it helps.
Now I will actually do my assessment.
Note: I wrote this last night at like 10pm, if that helps you understand my stress
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