Pretty much 3 quarters of 'First Year' has passed for me, and things are gradually becoming more stable. From locating lecture/tutorial spots to awkward hours on-campus and sleeping time, life in uni gradually becomes... normal, though some of it not in the way I want to. Continue reading "Routines"
We're half way through semester two! And while many of us may very well be "living on a prayer" that we won't be swamped with assignments, I think us first years should be congratulated on making it this far, it's certainly not a walk in the park!
I'm feeling particularly tired at the end of this week, having been on rehearsal Bandcamp for the Engineering Music Society (EMS) last weekend (a load of fun and great music practice) and having stayed at Uni late yesterday because the electing the new committee at the club's Annual General Meeting (AGM) took almost 4 hours! Plus I had three assignments to submit today, and have just finished the last one (yay!)
Clubs are often spruiked to be a fantastic way to connect with like minded people on campus, but they are also a great way to develop your professional skills as a member of their committees. The committee is responsible for managing the club, organising their events and securing funding from the student union. There's a lot that goes into planning every club activity, and if you're interested in becoming a part of the organisation of your favourite club, you can attend their AGM where any member can run for a place! Remember, clubs are run by students for students, and one of those students can be you!
I was already on the general committee of EMS, and retained my position for the next year which I'm thrilled about! There are heaps of AGMs coming up this semester, and I've got my eye on the Italian Club's next! 
Even higher than club elections, the student union itself is holding their elections next week, where every student has the ability to vote for positions such as the president, office-bearers, and committee of UMSU (University of Melbourne Student Union). All the candidates run in their own political parties called tickets, and I've have been told things can get quite intense around Union House for the week, with how-to-vote pamphlets being shoved in your face whenever you get too close to the polling booths!
I know we've already had a federal election this year (the first time many of us school leavers voted) but hang in there for one more ballot paper, because this one's important. Those elected will be your student voice for the next year, and with only a 5% student voter turnout over the past few years, it's even more important to have your say of the running of the union!
So vote for who you think will represent you best, and good luck avoiding eye contact and dodging numerous flyers over the week!!
I hope it gives everyone a bit of motivation to know that the semester's half done, have a good weekend!
Raph 
First of all, welcome back online everybody! We have been having a few technical difficulties here at First_Year@UniMelb but we're glad to be back in functioning order. Hope to have more great posts for you soon! (Semester two has started, I'm sure there will be)
I wanted to write a quick post today to acknowledge what happened on this day last year.
Open Day 2015 for me was a defining moment. I'd been weighing up the myriad of University options all vying for my first course preference, unsure which I would pick. It was pretty overwhelming, and for every detail that looked great in course brochures (of which I had over 10) there was another that made me second-guess myself.
Course content, structure and length as well as campus location, environment and student life all make up the University experience and I was realising that realistically, not every box could get a tick.
But stepping through the gates of UniMelb on this day last year made me forget all my doubts. Having been to a few open days in the weeks prior which left me with more questions than answers, I remember just waking through Parkville and thinking how clear, open and exciting the path ahead would be for me here at Melbourne.
Open Day 2015 made me imagine all the opportunities I would have. It made me love and appreciate the campus like I hadn't before. And even though I missed the Bachelor of Science information session 3 separate times due to it being too full, there really was no question after that August day that my first (and only) VTAC preference would be the B-Sci at Melbourne. I can say now that I definitely made the right choice and am so glad I ran with my feelings.
So today is especially sentimental for me; it's the day that started it all for me, and it's also the day that will kick start things for the next cohort of soon-to-be school leavers, like I'm passing the baton down to the next generation.
To all of you who are now in the same position that I was in a year ago, I hope you get the same feeling at Open Day, and that you get excited for the years that are ahead of you once you finish school; there certainly is so much to look forward to! Be true to yourself, go with your gut and you will make the right choice with whatever course you end up choosing.
Happy Open Day everyone 
Raph
Apologies for the post vacuum as vacation period went by. Hopefully, like myself, you all are coming back into the semester refreshed and ready to tackle on new challenges and subjects (also, "warm" winter welcome to the mid-years!). I myself would like to talk about one such challenge, and some advice on how you can overcome it. Continue reading "The Issue on the (time)Table"
Hi everyone, and welcome to semester two! The second half of the University year starts today, and we're all revving up for a new timetable and new subjects that we will study for the next 12 weeks.
I've been looking forward to this new start for a while now, ever since I got a bit overwhelmed mid-way into semester one, and I'm looking forward to putting into practice some of the lessons I learned back then. Here are my five promises for the new semester:
Finally and most importantly, have fun and just don't fall behind!!
Have a great semester everybody,
Raph
Edit: I just thought of two more things! First, I promise to blog more frequently, and secondly to not play too much Pokémon Go! I played on the train this morning and used half my phone's battery D: but there are plenty of Pokéstops on campus...
So you're sitting at home, half way through Year 12 (well done by the way) and reading this blog to see what awaits you in the light at the end of the tunnel which is next year. But what's a tutorial, you may ask? Why are we talking about so many letters like "LMS" and "H2A"? What is it that I even have to look forward to, how does Uni work??? Well, you've come to the right place! Welcome to UNIV10001: Intro to University (ie. UNI101, but Melbourne insists on putting an extra two 0s between the 101) where I will do my best to explain how things work here at the University of Melbourne! Note that things vary between subjects and courses, but you'll get the general gist.
One sunny Monday after you finish VCE, you get an email from VTAC (who process all University applications) saying you got your first preference of UniMelb, and shortly after that you'll get an email from the University Vice-Chancellor Glyn Davis (a bit of a celebrity around campus) congratulating you and instructing you on how to enrol.
You then get a unimelb account with an email address, and can login to "my.unimelb", the place you go to manage your enrolment, check your timetable, read notices and find out your results when you finish a subject.
You will also be using the LMS (Learning Management System) a lot! Every subject has a page, and your lecturers and tutors can upload resources, post announcements and results, and hold quizzes. You will also (for most subjects) get lecture notes from all your subjects and access to recordings of every lecture so you can rewatch them and catch up on anything you missed.
At UniMelb, the academic year is essentially divided into two halves; semester one and semester two. These two 12-week terms are when you do (basically) all your study. That means full-time students study less than half of the year! Check out specific dates at the University Dates website.
There’s also a smaller eight-week period at the start of the year called summer semester, where you can do subjects in a more intensive manner before semester one starts, either to complete a prerequisite, repeat a failed subject or get your degree done quicker. There are also other intensive subjects that you can take that go for shorter periods of time, like a week-long field trip for example.
During these weeks of semester, you'll follow a timetable as to which classes you take. The best part, at least in comparison to school, is that you are in absolute control of when in the day you study! A few weeks before the start of semester, you log on to my.unimelb to enrol in subjects for the semester and fill out your timetable by picking from a number of different class times. Everyone is online at once when timetable registration opens, so it can be a chaotic few minutes of virtual fighting to get into your preferred classes.
Some of the types of classes you will have are:
Lectures: Take place in a large hall full of students where you are taught, as one big group all at once, the content of the subject you are all taking. This is delivered by a "lecturer" who stands out the front of the hall and talks, sometimes with the aid of demonstrations. There is a PowerPoint on projector screens during the lecture which is referred to extensively, and you can download the slides from the LMS, print them out and take notes on them if you’d like. Since it's such a big class, there is limited opportunity for asking individual questions, but this - like the general delivery of the class - varies significantly between lecturers. There's also often the opportunity to ask questions after lectures. Lectures from most subjects are recorded which lets you catch up or watch them later. In Science, you'll usually have three one-hour lectures per week, but there can be a smaller amount of longer lectures in other subjects.
Tutorials: These are smaller classes of around 20 students which are taught by a "tutor" who works though discussion, questions or other content related to the course. Sometimes there are "readings", texts which you need to read before class, or problem sheets which you can download and attempt before the tutorial. These classes are on a much smaller scale to lectures, and are much more flexible, allowing you to work with others, have discussions about the subject and make friends. You can also get more one-on-one attention from the tutor, who can get to know you more than the lecturer can. Tutorials are found mainly in arts subjects but in science some subjects have problem solving tutorials where you complete worksheets. You will usually have one tutorial per week.
Practicals: In Science, practicals (or labs) are when you get to put into practice what you have learned in lectures. There are some impressive labs which you work in, pairing up with other students to follow the steps of some hands-on activities, with a "demonstrator" who you can see for clarification about the procedure. You will usually have one practical per week, and they're often not on every week.
The main idea is that your day isn't 9-3:30 anymore; you get to move your classes around however you like. You can have a long lunch break to catch up with friends in the city, put all your classes close together so that you can have one or more days off, or put all your classes in the afternoon so you can sleep in! The choices are yours.
Melbourne's undergraduate (meaning your first higher education degree) program is different from a lot of other Unis; called the "Melbourne Model" or "Melbourne Curriculum", it is structured in such a way that you choose a broad study area for your course (e.g.. arts, science, commerce) and then choose a more specific "major" area of study inside that (e.g.. Chemistry, Italian, Accounting). The courses are structured so that you can wait until almost your final year before deciding on your major, and keep your options open with the subjects you choose. In Arts, you can choose more than one major, and in music things work a little differently again, so check the specifics of your degree. You will get help on how to choose subjects from the "Stop 1" student centre course advice staff, who you can drop in to see anytime.
Most subjects are worth 12.5 “credit points” at UniMelb. In order to graduate, you have to earn an amount of credit; Bachelor of Science is 300 points for example. You normally take 4 subjects per semester (50 points) which is 100 points per year, making a three year degree.
Most results are reported as percentages in the "my grades" section of each subject on the LMS, but are converted to a range grade as well. The grades you’ll hear people talking about are H1 (80-100%), H2A (75-80%), H2B (70-75%) and H3 (60-70%). A pass is 50% and up, and you have to pass your subject overall to get credit points for it! There are also often hurdle tasks that you have to complete as you progress which contribute to your final grade, like worksheets or practice questions.
As I've talked about before, there's plenty of fun stuff that you get as a Uni student. This includes joining clubs and attending all kinds of student-only events, borrowing from University libraries (of which there are many), downloading heaps of free software with a student licence, getting student discounts on everything from public transport to The Age to Apple Music, using your free 1GB per week of Wi-fi anywhere on campus and contributing to publications like the Farrago student magazine or this blog! UMSU (The University of Melbourne Student Union, pronounced um-sue) organises many free services for students like Clubs & Societies, the Rowden White "fun" library where you can borrow novels, magazines and DVDs, and student media, including the Fodder radio station and Farrago. There's so much out there other than classes that will fill your week, you'll never be bored on campus.
So I hope I've given you a bit to look forward to, or at least a better image of what you're looking forward to at Uni! Good luck for the rest of year 12, remember that you're not alone and we've all been through it, so just keep pushing on! And enjoy it; you only get to be in year 12 - at the head of your school - once. Look to the future, but live in the present! See you next year!
Raph
Hello everyone, do you still remember me? I'm very sorry that I haven't posted for aggeeesssss but semester started to get crazy towards the end and things started to feel like the end of VCE all over again. Assignments were due, exams were looming (and happened) and I didn't feel like I had the time to sit down and write a nice post with so many boxes yet to be ticked on my educational to-do list!
My intention with this blog was to keep you up to date on how my semester was going as I was navigating the transition of Uni, because that's what I found most interesting reading myself last year as a year 12 student, so that's why I'm disappointed my blogging dropped off in the last few weeks. But I can report that I managed to pass (as far as I can tell) all my exams and finish the biggest, most insane, most full-of-learning 3 month period in my life! Hello from the other side of it!
So, how was it? There probably aren't enough adjectives to describe the nature of these past months going to Parkville every day. I've entered a brand new environment, made so many new friends, learned how to work in a new educational system and started my journey into the rest of my life. I got a little bit (read: a lot) overwhelmed with all the work back there for a bit, and was hating things during the exam period, but the feeling now is unbelievable! It really feels like life is happening, I'm on the right track, and I can have such a more balanced life now in comparison to the past years.
Just consider this, all of you stuck at school every day; I'm done for now. I have no study to do this holidays. And the holidays last 5 weeks. Uni really does feel like a pathway to adulthood to a more professional, flexible and balanced way of life. I'm hoping to find a part-time job this break and start saving for the future (including a potential exchange opportunity?)
I now understand (a bit better) how Uni works, that for 12 weeks you have to buckle down, get organised and ready and prepared for the wild ride. I promise myself to be more on top of everything next semester, in order to have more time to explore the campus, sit down and write blogs for you all, and to just stand back and realise what a good place I'm in at the moment.
Happy mid-year break,
Raph
Next time: I've got a few great posts planned for the break, including How Uni works, what it's like, my experiences on the Destination Melbourne camp in January and details about some specific subjects I took in semester one.
Hi there, dear reader! How are you doing on this fine (oh, who am I kidding!) blizzard-like (!) winter morning?
All good? Excellent! Shall we proceed?
Since the day I was born... (I know this sounds like the start of a snore-inducing nostalgia rant, but bear with me!!) Ahem! Since the day I was born, my parents and teachers have endlessly showered me with (not to mention lathered, rinsed and repeated!) the same three words : "Do your best". Being a self-proclaimed, to-infinity-and-beyond perfectionist, I've applied them to my studies in the same way that I apply vegemite to my morning toast - with two tablespoons worth of enthusiasm! (What??? It tastes good!)
Sure, the whole "you can only do your best" thing is a bit clichéd, but when you're about to do a big scary exam or submit a 2500 word assignment (which can be even bigger and scarier!) it's comforting to know that you've done all that you can do. No questions asked. Story - end of.
Unless of course, you do your best and it doesn't work.
A few weeks ago, this exact thing happened to me. I had an Italian test on prepositions (the most evil grammatical constructions known to mankind!!) and boy, did I try hard! I rewrote all my notes (twice!), I did all the practice exercises in my book and on the LMS. When this didn't work, I even went to my professor, screaming 'AIUTO!', and borrowed his book on prepositions so that I could become the biggest crammer in all of cram history. Without a doubt, I did the best that I knew how. Surely then, I smashed the test and got H1s all round?
Well, not quite. In fact, not nearly quite!
The fact is: I stuffed up. Big time. It was probably the worst mark I've ever got in my life. The kind of mark that would make any self-respecting uni student want to build a tent out of their bed-covers and live there permanently with a torch, their favourite stuffed-toys and a box-set of 'Gilmore Girls'. (You've never built a tent out of bed-clothes before?? Disgraceful!!! Finish this blog and start constructing one at once!!) To be perfectly frank, I didn't give a baboon's bottom about the fact that I'd done my best. All that mattered was that I'd made a complete monkey of myself.
Ah me, what a sob story! So, where to from here?
It took me a long time (not to mention several boxes of Kleenex) for me to get to where I am on this issue. And the conclusion I've come to is this: it's not what you do that matters, but how you do it. Sure, it's great to do your best. Yet, if you want to succeed, you have to do your best in the right way. Example: instead of re-writing all those notes and reading my teacher's book, I really should have been doing more exercises. Not only this, but instead of just doing the exercises, I should have reviewed my mistakes and done the exercises again until the mistakes were no more. By doing my best in the right way and studying smart, instead of hard, I got to redeem myself in the final exam and nailed it. (Take THAT you position-indicating grammatical pains-in-the-backside!!)
But, heck - I hear you all protesting - Aimee, you didn't know any of this before you did the test! How could you possibly have prevented this?
Well, that brings me to my next inspirational reflection.
People so often think that learning, if you plotted it on a graph, would look like a nice steep diagonal ascent. You know - kind of like Superman in tights-wearing aerodynamic flight?
Actually, as a wise person once told me, learning does not happen in perfectly straight ascending lines. (I wish!) Most of the time, it's more like a huge whacky bonkers zig-zag which, most of the time, is turning upward. Though it can go down, left, right or side-ways, depending on the mood you're in and how much attention you paid in yesterday's lecture. If, like me, you utterly and irrevocably mess something up, it doesn't mean that you're a failure at life. (No, seriously!!) All it means is that, right now, you're in one of those whoopsy-daisy downward curvy bits. These spiky little down-turns are not blips on an otherwise perfect graph - they are where most of your learning occurs. If you make the most of them, you won't "prevent" another stuff-up, but you will prevent yourself from stuffing up in the same way twice. What I'm trying to say is: don't just do your best and be done with it. Do your best to learn from your mistakes. This will make your zig-zag graph turn sunny-side up! (At least, for a bit... until the next hell-sent preposition-equivalent comes along to terrorise - I mean, improve! - your learning experience.)
And, while we're on the subject, stop turning mistakes into the enemy!!! I'd say part of the reason that we have all these 'do your best' clichés is that society wants us to feel like failing is a bad thing. This way, we will aim to be successful all the time and keep society running smoothly. (Well, dang it, society!) This is completely the wrong attitude. Any mistake you make is not comparable to General Zod or Kryptonite Man. Mistakes are your FRIENDS. They are learning curves which are designed to turn you into a cooler underpants-on-the-inside version of Clark Kent.
Don't let a little learning curve defeat you! Don't let pesky prepositions defeat you!! Do your best in the best possible way and I promise you that you will SHINE!
Aimee
Hello there, my readery friends!
You look like a combination of bone-dead tired and euphorically-expectant. Could it be because it's nearly holidays?
How did I guess? Just call me psychic...
While you've been out there doing all the things that blog-readers usually do, I (and my poor fellow first years) have entered Swot Vac. (Seriously, which nincompoop so irresponsibly put the words 'swot' and 'vacation' together?!?) Ultimately, this unforgivable word-combo spells one big disaster waiting to happen: exams!
On that note, please excuse me while I creatively express my feelings on this subject...
*ARRGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!*
All better!
Call me crazy, but, with this exam thingymajig looming over me, I haven't had the time of my young life. It started last Monday when, after 14 days of sweat and blood spent on a major assignment, I had to sweat and bleed even more in the name of revision. Very soon, I went utterly, completely, stark-raving mad. (And that's an understatement!) By Thursday, I was falling asleep on any available surface (my desk included) and I realised that I hadn't been outside in five days. What was worse, all that studying made me pre-verbal. To sum up, the kettle became "that silvery-black thing that hot water comes out of - I've used it at least six times today". (Don't judge me - I forget the names of inanimate objects when I'm stressed!)
Let's face it: exams are the ultimate enemy of fun.
Or are they?
You see, my blog-reading chum, after four days of going bonkers, I had a revelation from the god of university students. What was this revelation? Well, I can tell it to you in two words:
STUFF THIS!
And now for the longer version... I'd been studying so hard, that a lot of important things got thrown-out with the recycling. Things like nail-painting, Star Trek marathons and that vital midday appointment with my bed. Why? Because I'm a grown-up and studying is what grown-up people do. (At least, if they want a decent start in life...)
Well, here's a spanner in the works: I don't want to grow up! If growing up means working myself to the point of insanity, so that I can enjoy myself when I'm old, frankly, I want no part of it! I want to feel young and free. Free to jump on my bed until the springs break. Free to swing on the washing line. Free to write nutty confessions in a blog-post and not care, because what other people think doesn't matter to me. (Hint, hint!) Free to just enjoy myself.
So, these past few days, that's exactly what I've done.
In honor of my regression to childhood, I've devised interpretive break-dances in my bedroom. I've performed flashlight-karaoke in the dark to my favourite Mika songs. I even did the geekiest thing imaginable and ate fish fingers with custard as a demonstration of love for Dr Who. (Actually, it tasted pretty good!)
Ahem... say nothing!
To top it all off, I did something which all my friends found to be absolutely scandalous. I took the weekend off. (Shocking, I know!)
Now, I feel great.
Don't misunderstand me, my reader buddies: I am no stranger to responsibility and I take my responsibility to study very seriously. But, somehow, with all this talk about growing-up, I nearly lost the one thing that made childhood the ultimate-time-to-be-alive: FUN.
So, here I am, readers, on the brink of a revolution. And I want you all behind me.
Whether you're old or young, student or teacher, parent or business executive, I dare you to reclaim your childhood. I dare you to dance and sing when you want. I dare you to sleep when you want - even if it's during your lunch-break. I dare you to eat what you want - even if it's something crazy like fish-custard or a triple-decker ice-cream sandwich. I dare you to have fun, in your own way, and forget about what other people think of you or what society thinks you should be doing. (Stressing out about exams, for example!)
In short, I dare you to never grow up. Because, I've discovered that growing-up doesn't have to mean what we think it does. It definitely does NOT have to mean the end of fun.
Thank you and good afternoon! :)
Aimee
Week 12 everybody! Back in middle/high school, I'm already kicking back in class, watching a movie as part of the last subject class of the school year, saying farewells to those moving away early. Ever since Year 12 though, I learnt that the last week of teaching is just the calm before the storm. Continue reading "Bear Down"