Hey guys!
How are we all going? Sorry I’ve been away for a bit, I’ve been in the process of trying to improve my study techniques. Whilst they aren’t perfect, they are certainly better than what they were, which I am happy about. Things are beginning to click which is good, but there is still much work to be done.
Over the last few weeks, it’s been busy but we’ve still managed to have a bit of fun. Such as entertainment in chemistry: (‘Why did the white bear dissolve in water? Because he was polar.’), fun Biology practicals and Chemistry lectures which have been interrupted by some eager college students and lecture bashers who obviously aren’t too well acquainted with the mute button. :P
Since I last blogged, I talked about cutting out distractions. That I have mostly done, with the exception of watching Melbourne lose to St. Kilda. Seriously boys, start playing better! You’re adversely affecting my studies (life).
Here are three things that I have noticed recently:
- Firstly, in Yu-Gi-Oh, when characters duel (that is to say, challenge each other to a children’s card game), why do they need to use such excessive hand motions in order to put their card on the table. I mean seriously! That’s like playing a game of chess and instead of taking a piece off the board when you capture it, knocking it flying into your opponent’s face (this actually happened once. And no, it wasn’t me).
- When good food (chocolate) shows it’s RDI content on the side of the wrapper, it’s always hidden away underneath a fold in the wrapping so that you don’t become depressed at how much exercise it’s gonna take to burn it off until after you have eaten it. Well today, I had an iced coffee that only had 20% of my sugar needs. Isn’t that great!? On closer inspection, I found that this iced coffee had labelled on it ‘serves 2’ just underneath the ingredients Vitamins A to K (Kryptonite). So I basically had 40% of my sugar needs in one drink. Okay I’m over exaggerating; it’s probably more like 70%. Seriously though, that is such a low form of advertising. It’s like saying ‘Sale 100% off’ and then having in Size 2 font a tiny little decimal point before the 1. Got to love honest marketing techniques!
- When it comes to dancing, I really regret not having watched Video Hits/Rage/Pop Asia when I was younger. But it doesn’t really matter. Although I am no closer to my dream of becoming a Korean pop star or having ‘the moves like Jagger’ (and no, Jagger is NOT a chess player), I can still have a good time :D
Like my fellow bloggers, and indeed, all other students, exams are well and truly creeping up on us. So I thought that I’d share some useful study techniques that have come in handy over the years. You’re welcome.
The following hints are either observations on my own or other people’s study behaviour. No cupboards were damaged during the following. Much.
1. Use your textbook as a pillow so that the knowledge ‘flows’ into your head: A technique tried by many, particularly popular amongst those studying fluid mechanics (Get it? ‘Flows’ and ‘fluid’? Okay, never mind). Does make sleeping rather difficult. For those who want to work ‘flat’ out, switching the book for a thin iPad should suffice.
2. Compete in a staring contest with your revision notes: Generally the notes win. This is a well know method of absorbing the entire page contents into your brain. (Upon looking upon past year blogs, I have found that I am not the only one to have used this trick! :P) Complement this with gazing out the window and making out a light sabre cloud formation for more stressful results. It is at this time when one begins swearing profusely under their breath, which perhaps counts as revision for Linguistics. If not, it counts as practise for speaking like a pirate, which is invariably a good thing.
3. Boost your confidence: Make puns relate to science.
4. Further boost your confidence: Make science relate to puns.
5. Listen to music when you study: This will ensure you stay awake whilst studying. You know something’s wrong though when you start writing in time to the music/the lyrics of the song. It so happens that ‘starships flying’ and ‘call me maybe’ are thoroughly unrelated to French intransitive verbs. Perhaps physics (linear motion and propagation of sound waves).
6. Do not pull an all-nighter: Nights do not appreciate being pushed, no less being pulled. Also, yes, whilst maybe it will help scrape a pass and get you through first year, there are subjects that we will study in the future that use first year subjects as prerequisites. Studying isn’t the most invigorating thing in the world, but it must be done. Just like your teeth. Imagine brushing your teeth. A lot.
7. Organise a study timetable: Make sure you include all the essentials including meals, work, breaks, facebook stalking research and etcetera. Even if it’s only basic, planning out your time helps you visualise that which you wish to do. It also gives you a realistic idea about how much work you can expect to get done.
Okay, so I’m being a bit silly. But it is worth trying to make a study timetable, revision notes and doing questions from past papers. Maybe forming a study group will help as well! Just grab a few mates and get studying!
Although the exams are approaching, take heart and keep your chins up. To quote a serious, thought promoting film of the 21st Century; “We’re all in this together!” *Cue rehearsed choreography and autotuned voice*
Ben xox
P.S. Hello Monique! I know! The books are indeed great and bring back memories of nostalgia. I'm not too good at solving mysteries either, but I've improved from all my years of watching Scoobie Doo! :D
P.P.S Yay! Emily! Now Adeshola and Jess can't gang up on us mwahaha :D
"I set fire to the rain"
(in hopes that it would somehow stop it)
(insert: semi relevant cartoon)
Side note (idea borrowed from Emily)
Why did no one ever tell me that Uni becomes a
flood zone when it rains???!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?
Hel-lo everybody (I read that in the tone of Dr. Nick from the Simpsons)
Hope the Easter break was swell for you all and you've come back refreshed and ready for the rest of the semester! I know I sure haven't....so no clue how this second half of the semester is going to go but I hope there is some improvement.
I'm currently in a state of what I have labelled "uni blues", just feeling really down about Uni academic wise.
I had a bit of a philosophical think about it all the other day and concluded that I prefer a different style of teaching than what Uni has to offer. I miss school in the sense that I could develop a really great rapport with all my teachers. I miss the involved classroom discussions in comparison to the dull monotone lectures, I miss the varied ways in which teachers would present information in comparison to the slides of endless information on a screen - the list goes on and on.....
Stuck in this weird place at the moment, where I don't know what to do. Should I just toughen up because Uni is meant to be independent and I'm just struggling to come to terms with that? Or maybe Uni just isn't for me? So many questions and no one to ask...
On a better note, I went to a lecture about going on Exchange the other day and am kind of excited about that. I really do want to do exchange, so it's just a matter of doing all the planning and hopefully getting accepted! If all goes to plan, in Semester 2 - 2013, I could be writing from the big old U.S of A!
(suppose I have to get there first, haha!)
Anyway, I better jump off and finish the assignments I have to do!
Write again soon.
Jess
P.s - Welcome to all the newbies on the blog, I think everyone has introduced themselves now except for Mark. What an elusive character he is!
Apologies for having not posted in the blog in awhile. Despite promising myself I'd be up to date with my blog posts, uni life is just flying by! We've well and truly passed the transition stage, just passed the half way mark and the word 'exam' is starting to feature more and more in tutorials, lectures and even conversations with friends. Fair to say, the semester has gone ridiculously quick and the thought of exams is quite terrifying!
I definitely feel as if the excitement of uni has worn off, for most people, we're more or less in a steady routine. Yet, the end of semester is just that bit too far ahead to beginning planning what I intend to do on my mid-semester break. It's an odd time and is lacking in M-ASS parties! so I've mainly be focusing on my assignments which are all due around this time! At the end of the week, I can tick off Criminology and Psychology and then they'll be just one more to go!
On another note, is anyone else finding this rainy weather just horrible? It's come so quickly, with the sunny days of autumn feeling well and truly gone. Personally, the only time I enjoy rainy weather is when I'm at home with the heating on and nowhere to be (although these occurrences are extremely rare). Maybe it's just me, but when I wake up in the morning and hear the rain, the only thing I feel like doing is watching re-runs of Friends in bed for the rest of the day. So today, I could already tell was not going to be fun. It involved trudging to the train station in the rain, waiting for a delayed train and then standing on a tram with my broken umbrella as we moved at a snail's pace down Royal Parade. So not fun! I'm missing Summer already and it's not even Winter yet....
One thing I did enjoy today though was releasing my inner nerd and spending my break at a (warm) Academic Skills Unit workshop and Careers session. Despite what you may think, I highly recommend them to everyone! The Academic skills workshops give you some great tips and info for studying and research because let's face it, to go from high school where you have one library to Melbourne Uni where it feels like they're are countless libraries with thousands of books is a tad intimidating! The Careers session today went through 10 things Arts students should know about careers in first year. I found it incredibly valuable to gain some more information, plus the presenter busted the myth that an Arts degree is pointless. Turns out, us Arts graduates are 'highly valued' in the workplace these days. So, take that people who joke about Arts students and comment on 'actually wanting a job' after their degree. This made me feel a lot better and cheered me up on such a miserable rainy day!
Hope everyone has a great week and enjoys having ANZAC Day off!
Until next time, stay warm!
Adeshola
Well hi there! Apologies for me just slipping in here at the last minute. Not so unusual for me though...I often find myself running too early for something...and then I relax and slow down and end up being amazingly late...which is frustrating to say the least, especially with this whole new responsibility of getting to classes on time.
Hi! :) I'm Emily :)
And as you may have noticed I'm a little late to this party here...sorry about that. I actually expressed my interest in participating in this blog a few months ago, before Uni even started, and then Uni life began to distract me and such thoughts of writing (or typing) up something that wasn't for an assignment were blown right out of my head.
But I'm here now :) so yay for that! And I'm really excited to talk about my experiences so far at Melbourne Uni.
But first things first, a little more self-indulgent talk about me :) I'm a first year (obviously) science student...(so Ben, don't worry you now have an ally...) and my subjects this term are biology, chemistry, physics (fundamentals) and creative writing as my breadth.
As a side note, lots of people I've talked to seem to hate the idea of a breadth subject while, for me, it's one of the reasons why I picked melbourne...I was actually seriously planning on doing a double arts/science degree for most of last year but the option of taking creative writing as breadth seemed more practical...although practicality isn't always my top priority.
Now back to me! :P I also love disney, Harry Potter, and musicals Monique! In fact, I'm in the ensemble for UMMTA's (the University of Melbourne Theatre Association's) production of 'Tommy' which starts next week! So forgive me the shameless promoting and come along! :) It is amazing!
As another sidenote, I can seriously recommend nothing better than joining clubs, societies or other uni groups as a way of making new friends. Even for shy, little me it is practically impossible to not to get to know at least a couple of people who participate in the same activity you do. And also, take some risks! I had convinced myself I wasn't going to audition for this production because I was too intimidated by the idea of singing alone in front of a group of strangers, but I can honestly say that I am so so so glad I did! 'Tommy' has definately made my first semester one to remember.
I'm slowly realising the sidenotes are becoming longer, and probably more worthwhile, than the other parts of this blog but no matter, let us move on...
Now onto uni life...a couple of weeks ago I was definately in the aforementioned 'honeymoon phase' and absolutely loving uni. To be fair, I am still enjoying it...I've just finally realised some actual work is required to stay on top of your subjects! :P In previous years, I haven't necessarily been a manic A+++ student, but I've definately been in a department often labelled as 'nerdy'. I feel like I've let my studies drop a bit this year, which I guess is a common thing in first year, but I'm trying to work it back up before exams...eek.
I'm the kind of person who wants to do as much as they possibly can, in an amount of time that it is impossible to do it all in...and uni has presented me with even more opportunities (such as 'Tommy') than school did, and believe me, opportunities were not thin on the ground there. (For example, last year I participated in rowing, choir, the school musical, athletics, cross country...and I may be forgetting something else...) So anyway...studying has, unfortunately, have dropped back further than it should in my list of priorities.
I will, therefore, be trying in the next few weeks to prove myself still a worthy member of the land of nerd-dom...and I will let you know how that goes.
Apologies for the bizarre structuring and lack of content in this post, I just really wanted to get my first one out there. The next one will be thoroughly more entertaining and informative...I promise. :)
Hi! I’m Monique and I’m going to be blogging here! I’m a mid-semester transfer :P
So first I believe a little introduction is in order. I’m doing an arts degree, I’m taking History, Ancient History, Power (Arts foundation subject) and Biology as my breath. I haven’t decided yet but I think I want to major in one of the histories. I’m from the western suburbs so it takes me about forty minutes to get here by train and bus or tram (actually tram takes 30 minutes extra). I never really used public transport before, and never really got why it was so hated, until I met peak hour -,-. The bane of my existence! I have never been more aphephobic (fear of touch) in my life! And the recycled air in such a small space, I shudder at the thought. Add to this, the fact that I am not a morning person and I have a 9:00 lecture three times a week. In fact I am such a night owl that I literally wake up and my first thought is “I hate everything and everyone” (charming aren’t I ;)) Okay… I’ll stop my disturbing rant about public transport. Last year I took, Psychology, Biology, English, Literature and Maths Methods, and the year before Year 12 Revolutions.
I love reading, and when I mean I love it, I mean it’s like my air, you take it away and I die. I love fantasy, historical fiction, autobiography’s and romance, but really, if you recommend it to me I’m open to any kind of book. I love broadening my horizons. On a geeky side note, I’m happy to announce that I have nearly no room in my bookshelf left, that’s right nerds! I have almost filled two bookshelves with fantastical journeys, childhood dreams and knowledge.
Moving on :) I also love music, again although I have my favourite genres (country, pop, classical, top 40 ;) ) I’m open to most anything, except techno, that will never change! I also love musicals, like Wicked, Rent, musical movies and Disney! That’s right, I admit it, I love Disney! Although I suppose I can’t call them musicals per say. I love the songs, the movies and the Broadway musicals! I can burst into any Disney music song you name! Go on try me ;) In fact if you see someone burst randomly into song it may be me, of course no one joins me like they do in the movies… yet. On that note, I also love to sing! I’m terrible of course but I love it, I’m always singing, everywhere, all the time.
And lastly, before I talk about something other than me… which is what I should be doing really, is that I’m kind of oddly shy. So if I ever meet any of you watch out! I will ask you a million questions about yourself, to direct the focus away from me and then when I find something we have in common I will bombard you with questions and anecdotes about it until you left wondering who this maniac is and how she trapped you. It may go something like “oh you also like Harry Potter, Hunger Games and LOTHR? What’s your favourite character, oh my god do you remember this part? How funny was that part? So how awesome is the bromance between Gimli and Legolas! Did you cry in this part? How do you feel about the adaption of…, I loved it but I wish they put in the bread scene from Rue’s district” and so on and so forth, I tell myself not to do it time and time again but I think it’s almost like a nervous reflex.
Okay onto the important stuff! So, to be honest my first six weeks here has been a blur of new experiences and to be honest a lot of sadness. I’m not a big fan of change, I like routine and I didn’t cope very well with the transition.
First of all, I’m from a very small school, years 10 to 12, with about 200 in years 10/11 and 100 in year 12. So the sheer amount of people at Melbourne overwhelmed me and as I said I’m shy so I found it hard to make friends. I miss knowing everyone’s names and who they hung out with and what kind of person they were. I always thought of myself as an introvert, and never realised how much I needed my friends until I didn’t have them.
Secondly the work and independence put me off balance. Before this it was safe to say I was a teacher’s pet, I was a workaholic who loved school and writing essays, but once I got to uni it was as if that drive had left me stranded on the side of the road with no car or map to find my way back. I lost all will to get good results or to do my best. I felt so lost. Before I was manic about getting my work checked over, highlighting my mistakes, that’s how I learned, and finding out that wasn’t how things worked here made me want to give up completely. I felt so overwhelmed, everyone else seemed to know what to do and I was here floundering, not knowing how to get help or who from. I know now that of course other people were struggling as much as I was but at the time I was a wreck. Unlike Ben, I was doing the bare minimum, I couldn’t see the point, and I too feel guilty and a strong sense of disappointment, if the past me could see me then, she would be horrified. But don’t worry, things got better for me!
Slowly I made friends, I don’t have heaps but to be honest I only need a few good ones. Slowly, I began to adjust; my advice for this is finding a place on campus that you can sit and relax, that you love! For me it’s the little courtyard in the Elizabeth Murdoch building. I love sitting there when things get overwhelming for me, and it already feels so familiar, it’s comforting. I began to get used to tutorial and lecture structures and the campus. Although I’m still struggling with work I’m getting there. The mid semester break did me a world of good. I took a step back from all the hurt and sadness and actually looked at what I was doing, which was sadly not much. I made a promise to myself that these next six weeks I would begin to try again, I wouldn’t be as slack as I was before and I wouldn’t let myself down again. And even if I didn’t get the marks I wanted at least I would have tried my utmost hardest, and known I had given it everything I could. And as for the guilt I sometimes still feel, I have realised that this first year of uni is a learning process, and as much as it pains me when I get marks I’m not happy with, I know that I can learn from them, from here hopefully I can only get better. So in a way I’ve lowered my expectations for this year , I still want good marks but if I don’t get them I’m not going to let them bring me down, I’m going to try even harder!
So after this long long post (for those who stuck around, I thank you), what is it I want people to take away the most? I want perspective students, or even current students struggling, to know that yes uni is hard and yes it is so different from high school, but it gets better, you adjust, you cope and at the end of the day, the feeling you get when you’ve made an improvement or achieved the marks you wanted, is so worth all the hard work.
So I leave you with the immortal words of Albus Dumbledore “I like acid pops” … wait wrong one “It is important to fight and fight again, and keep fighting, for only then can evil be kept at bay though never quite eradicated”… if the evil was procrastination then this definitely applies! But no, really, keep fighting; don’t give up because one day it’s going to pay off :)
So if you guys have any questions or comments I'd love to read them!
Byes! (Sorry for the length, I’m terrible at short essays as you may be able to tell)
P.s Hi Ben! I love the secret seven books. But I feel that I would be terrible at solving mysteries, so I may have to be excused from that secret not so secret activity
Hey everyone!
I hope that everyone’s had a good break and have put the letters ‘relax’ in ‘chill’ (a difficult task, I know).
Firstly welcome to Emily, Jane, longeeman and Monique! The ‘Three Amigos’ have now become the ‘Secret Seven’, with the emphasis not particularly being on the secret.
I think that I am going to be blogging a lot less this semester. I’m not stopping altogether or anything, but I’ve just been finding that I’ve sort of been cruising a bit at uni and I’m wanting to pick up my marks a bit :) This means cutting down distractions (e.g. the cat, facebook, chocolate, food in general) Once I’m feeling a bit more confident in that respect, to quote Arnold Schwarzenegger with a slightly mitigated accent: “I’ll be back!”
Actually, it’s occurred to me that I’ve never really talked much about my uni life. I mean, it’s really just been an emphasis on me more so than anything. So here’s a little bit of a bigger insight into my uni life thus far.
As you’ve probably picked out, I’m really enjoying university, but that’s not to say that it’s easy. It seems to be that the general consensus is that once you’re out of school, life’s a lot easier. Well, yes it is, with respect to the fact that you have a much greater degree of liberty and control over your own work. However, the content and degree of difficulty of your work/what is expected of you, is far, far higher. This is complemented by the fact that unlike school, you aren’t told to do ‘Questions 7-9 LHS on p.78’ for your maths assignment. You aren’t told ‘If you’re having trouble, see me’. That sort of maturity is expected and the onus is put on you.
I personally believe that because I have already covered a fair amount of my course (excluding Physics) in Year 12, I have succumbed to my own arrogance and hence not put in as much work as I should have been. Indeed, whilst a fair portion of material has already been learnt in high school, this is not an excuse to assume one can get away with doing the bare minimum. I haven’t been doing the bare minimum, but I certainly haven’t been working as hard as I know I can. Heretofore, I have been blinded by this fault of my character, which has turned out to be my own shortcoming. Now this isn’t to say that I’m doing absolutely terribly/failing, I’m doing fairly well academically. Fairly well, but not excellently. When I reflect upon my past work ethic from years prior, I cannot help but feel a twinge of guilt and self-disappointment.
So now, I am turning over a fresh leaf, and I encourage others to do the same, no matter what degree or subjects you’re studying. I encourage you to ask more questions in tutorials. I encourage you to go up to your lecturer at the end of the session, and get help with some of the concepts that you’re struggling with. I encourage you to put in more effort today, to reap the benefits tomorrow.
Well there you go! I feel glad to have gotten that out of my system and to have painted a more accurate representation of my university life, without getting distracted by my slap stick comedy tendencies. Whilst they do happen a lot, they don’t encompass my entire life! :P
OH YEAH! I have not mentioned the results of my Chocolate/Easter/Mass-chocolate-eating-extravaganza/majig thing! Well, it saddens me to say that I failed. Why? Well, because I sort of didn’t use a control in the experiment. Further to that, I had no ‘control’ over my own voracious appetite :P How did you guys go?
Nevertheless, I am in struggle town and cannot finish my chocolate. If anyone would like to lighten my burden, I will happily share lest I myself gain the semblance of an Easter egg :)
You know, one of the greatest things about university I have found, apart from the exciting and fascinating things we learn in class, is the friendships we form. No man is an island, because that is physically impossible. Unless it is Isle of Man. In which case it wouldn't be…
Your mates are there for you, and you are there for them. Whether this be simply helping a mate or being helped with some challenging concept, or playing a thoroughly exciting game of hide-and-seek in the Baillieu Library, friendships are strong bonds that cannot be broken. Like stronger than covalent bonds and stuff. Which is pretty strong.
So, in closing, what I aim to achieve is balance. Just to reiterate, I am not abandoning this blog, but the frequency of my posting will be less probably until the end of semester. I hope that everyone has a great rest of semester and a rollickingly good time, actually.
Toodles!
Ben xx
First of all - Welcome First_year@UniMelb readers!
It's taken a bit of time for me to get up and running and start writing in this blog - but I hope you will all learn a little something about the 'First Year - fresher' experience.
A little about myself...
My name is Jane and I am a first year Bachelor of Biomedicine student. I'm from North -West of Melbourne, born and raised here and came from an all girls school in city. Living at home and the eldest of 2 children (I have a younger brother). Striving for greater independence and all, I'm now a self-employed private tutor for VCE HHD and primary school - middle school English & Math.
I'll make a sort of LEGEND to help you find what you're looking for.
* - Any sentence beginning with this sign will signal a tiny bit of advice for when you get up to this stage in Uni
__________________________________________________________________
6 weeks into uni, I have a lot of say about a heap of things, so maybe a list will help me organise this post a little better.
Some things I plan to discuss include:
- O WEEK - Freebies, Living off free sausages, fanta and fairyfloss, Clubs & Societies, Host Group, Sunburn
Where are my classes?! Campus - Union House, Finding my way around,
- Lectures, Pracs, Tutes - the low down
- Breadth...What's right for you?
- JOIN JOIN JOIN - Extracurricular Overload. DM - Destination Melbourne
- BSS cAMP
- Biomedicine Students Society
- Exchange - Global Mobility
- You're third year? ASK ASK ASK ASK - GAMSAT, Interview...Med?
- Favourite places
- I miss high school T_T
I think I have much more to talk about but when they come to mind - I'll continue the list to make it
easier to find what you're looking for (:
#1- O WEEK CHAOS
This week was pretty hectic I would say. Tuesday 21st of Feb - Friday 24th Feb - and for me, I wanted to cram every single information session possible. I'll split this up into days to make it easier.
DAY 1
10AM - 2PM: Host Program
Melbourne Uni have this great program running whereby a 2nd/3rd year student of your degree takes you and a group of other first year students in your course on a tour of the school. Because they are doing the same degree, questions about 'where to go for..', 'where to ask advice' and specific questions about majors and such are really relevant to you.
* I encourage you to have LIST OF PRESSING QUESTIONS to ask during O WEEK.
Beginning Uni was unexpected, I pretty much felt like I didn't belong at uni for a few weeks before I started to feel at home. It is a great help to have all your questions answered before you begin! And even if you don't find out where you can go so you can ask later on.
* Join all relevant MELB UNI FB PAGES/GROUPS - they keep you up to date, allow you to join events (great reminders to attend sessions), ask questions.
BBiomedicine Student? - Join: EPSC (Eastern Precint Student Centre), BSS (Biomedicine Students Society), First Year at Melbourne
Anyway, getting off track, back to O week - the next session on the list was the ORIENTATION CARNIVAL
- Performances
- Food: BBQ SAUSAGES, Fairyfloss, Snowcones, Krispy Kreme (Aa), 7 Eleven Slurpees (thirst quencher on a hard, hot day's work of lining up for free things) - You get so sick of sausages, it isn't funny
- Photobooth (:
- Free pens everywhere. Line up to Officeworks for worthwhile freebies - note book, display folder, pens
It's been a long time. I've forgotten most of what went on. But it was fun!!
* Use O Week as an opportunity to GET LOST and find your way around ( You have your timetables by now - so if you get the chance, suss out where your classes are to familiarise yourself about where to go on your first day!)
WORTHWHILE SESSIONS? -
- Welcome Lunches - for your specific course
- Library Tours (They occur at various times of the year, but for Biomed students - a tour of the Brownless Library "The Brothel" is great. It gained it's infamous name from it's colour scheme and mood lighting. Black, red, rich pink, sheer curtains? Yeah. you get the picture.)
*SIDE NOTE - Librarians are very helpful: In your first week, set up your devices you want to use wirelessly at uni. Learn how to print and how to book computers! ( where you can find computers to use too!)
- LIVE (Leadership involvement and Volunteering and Experiences) (Run throughout the year)
- Exchange & Study Abroad (Run throughout the year, I missed mine during O week and went to one in my 2nd week)
* FOR BIOMED - In terms of subject information sessions, if you live a fair bit away (It was at like..8am ==), the one for BBiomedicine course in general - I found quite useless for those who already knew how to enrol and select their subjects, and course structure. It's all in the booklet we all read to select Biomed as a preference in the first place..
Biomolecules & Cells, Calc 1, Chemistry and Breadth introduction were all informative. Go to those (:
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ok. pause for now. that was a super long post. the rest will come another day soon!
x jane
I'm slow on the up keep but the break has finally started! Woo hoo! If you could see me now, I have whipped off my shirt and am swinging it above my head in the air.
When I reminisce on the past couple of weeks at Uni, I have only fond memories: the various camps, the Thursday night clubbing, new friends, hanging at the Aa tree, crepes during times when I should be in class, coffees at Lot 6...the list is endless. I couldn't agree more with Adeshola, unlike Year 12 I actually look foward to heading back to Uni but for now - this is a well deserved break!
So on that note, HAPPY EASTER!
(I've discovered coloured text!)
(little snapshot of me at work with my coworker Nikki Noodles)
The break isn't all fun and games though, unfortunately for me I still have an assignment due during the break! However, I will update you all on the two events that have passed and as always have made my Uni life that much better!
I had the lovely opportunity of competing in the CSS Dodgeball competition this year! Sadly, photos have not been uploaded yet so I'll have to wait till another day to show you some snapshots! But the day was filled with beer, sausages, funny costumes and lots of dodging and ball throwing. My team (Justice League) unfortunately did not make it to the Finals, or semi Finals - or even to Round 2, but still had a blast playing and holla to my makeshift team Super Mario!
I also had another chance to partake in another University camp! This time I was sped off to VSA (Vietnamese Student Association) camp, held at Lord Somers Camp site right along the beach! Once again my liver took a strong beating and my memory has only semi returned. I made lots of good friends on camp, including the lovely Tina who I don't think will read this but she gets a mention anyway! Best thing on camp was meeting new people and also the food!
Here's a little snap shot of me (obviously very sober)
In summary I had a lot of fun on camp, and cheers to VSA for a great first camp!
As Ben mentioned in his post, all the bloggers met up for a little rendezvous outside Ballieu Library. In summary: Ben is very talkative and Adeshola wears nice clothes. But it was great to finally meet everyone and I also welcome Emily to the blog family.
Anyway, that's enough for me! I'll post again once Uni starts, have a lovely break everyone and enjoy the Easter festivities!
Oh Easter Break, I really do adore you and your timing! It's 6 weeks into semester and has time has gone so fast! I know everyone keeps saying it, but to think we're half way through our first semester of Uni is actually quite scary. The last 6 weeks have been a blur of lots of new faces, Arts Camp shennanigans, sunshine on the South Lawn, wonderful new friends and of course the many assignments. So fair to say, we're all feeling like a break is well and truly deserved, or should I say needed. Half way through the semester and it's a good time to reflect on study habits, or at least I know I will be and catch up on that work we've all been saying "Oh, I'll do that in the Easter Break" (since about week 3!).
The thing I'll be looking forward to most about the break is getting to sleep in because it's the early morning starts that are a struggle (yes, 9am flute choir, I'm looking at you!). Plus, with daylight savings ended and winter quickly approaching, these early mornings are only going to get tougher. Which is why we should all enjoy this amazing weather we have today and that hopefully continues across the Easter break! Besides soaking up the sun and doing some study, I'll hopefully be able to catch up with friends, although 5 days is really not long enough to do everything I want to do....
Still, it shall be a nice break! But then again, this isn't Year 12 where you dread going back to school after the holidays. I actually really enjoy uni, from the interesting content of my subjects to the amazing people I have met and of course, the beautiful campus which I just love walking through.
So here's to a week to re-charge, relax and eat lots of chocolate without any guilt. Then we move on to the second half of semester. I have a feeling it's going to be a good one!
Adeshola
Valete amici!
Has been a very full last couple of weeks due to the copious amounts of caffeine, fun and Fanta. I feel almost as supercharged as the Energiser Bunny who’s being badass by being plugged into the recharger. So yeah.
Easter break is almost here and it’s about time too! I mean seriously, how are we meant to get through the year by only having one day dedicated to food? And when I say food, I mean actual food. Chocolate is a main food group. Trust me, I read it in the MX. It’s not fair.
By the way, a quick health tip; for those worried about extra calories/dentists with their diabolic drills/pimple out breaks/starring on Man vs Food (circle the most correct), my advice to you is this; EAT AS MUCH CHOCOLATE AS POSSIBLE AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE. Then you can eat an apple or something, to compensate. And, like, it’s more healthy because you eat quickly so the food doesn’t make you as unfit*. Being a science student, this is my unofficial homework for the holidays (along with eating a custard apple and testing whether it is possible for humans to hibernate after long periods of study). Let me know your findings, I’m curious to see just how correct I am.
Last weekend was Earth Hour, so my brother and I got full on into things by having the bright idea to turn off all the lights. We got out the candles and got to learn firsthand just how much fun it is to burn thyself with paraffin wax. I decided to navigate through the murky shadows and go outside to see what the house looked like in the dark. By a happy coincidence, a chair had decided to apparate into the middle of the hallway as I walked towards the door, just in a position where it was most likely to intercept people who happened to be precariously balancing candles on their hands and desperately squinting through the inky shadows . Oh, and the cat who was perched on the chair at that very moment in time certainly wasn’t too impressed when I collided with him and tripped over, narrowly avoiding singeing his whiskers. A few bandaids and lacerated limbs later, I made it out the door, only to set off the sensor light, consequently blinding myself and blotting out all hopes of seeing the street in the dark.
Instead of spending the rest of that hour nervously avoiding the cat, I decided to spend it more productively by doing Chemistry by candlelight (To anyone who finds this mildly disconcerting thank you, I already know that I’m vey cool. Na, that's pretty bad. K, I'll stop) . It was beautiful; just me, a candle and a calculator, but not really very romantic. Because you know how you use candles to create an atmosphere yeah? Yeah. There’s just nothing like doing questions on Ideal Gas laws when you can’t even see what you’re typing into your calculator.
In other news, due to a combination of He Who Must Not Be Named (Ron :D ) and a bit of online stalking research, we bloggers finally met up! It was pretty awesome! Adeshola and Jessica are both just as kind and friendly as they appear to be in their blogs :)( Edit: My sensors indicate that there is a new blogger as well!) Unfortunately, I was a bit dead after class so my pun making ability was a bit off. We talked about uni, subjects, work, emoticon smiley faces and how people lie when they say lol when they’re typing (resorting to capitalisation to emphasise their point). Seriously, like, when I’m on my computer and someone says something funny, I don’t randomly fall of my chair and start rolling on the floor. This is because I don’t have fleas if that were really the case, I would seriously have the biggest bromance with the floor going.
Apparently, sometimes I’m a bit random, a comment about which I vehemently disagree. Also, giraffes have seven vertebrae in their neck.
Ahahaha, sorry that was pretty bad. Anyway, where was I? Ah yes. In order to test this theory, one of my mate’s asked me ‘What’s the difference between a turtle and a tortoise?’, the answer to which I didn’t really know. The answer to the question, it turns out, is not: ‘Tortoises sink.’*
Many other fun things have happened over the last week and a half; whether that be in the form of Toblerone Hot Chocolate, the Euroball, a person mistaking my beatboxing and crazy arm motions for interpretative dance, easter eggs and hot cross buns, my shoes tripping me over again, the discovery that OMEGA sound like Oh My God, affirmation that my French book is cool (SERIOUSLY IT SO IS!) and the Night Market. Lots of other things as well that are too numerous to mention.
I hope that everyone has a wonderful Easter and a great break off uni. In the words of the dictionary (you’ll find them in there), have a fun time, strike that balance between work and play and remember, GO TEAM PEETA. That is all.
Love Ben
*No conditions apply.
**’Draco’ is not an appropriate response to anything written or said in Latin. Just saying :P
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