Hello? Hello hello? I’m elisa or as my username states elifont. This is my very first blog post and I’m thrilled to be one of your first-year bloggers!
Aside, from the fresh new air that smells different with a twinge of cold picking at my nose hairs and drinkable tap water that rattles my skull to figure out whether the pipes are separated and cleaned, I’m excited.
Before I arrived in Melbourne for the first time on official business (that doesn’t involve stuffing myself and indulging at every shop I can see in a 20km radius) I was shaken. I hadn't even begun packing the morning of the day I was meant to leave AND I only had 20kgs. Can you imagine having to fit your entire life into a suitcase with the weight of an undernourished child? (Real, 2023)
It was 5 in the morning, my hair ran through by my hands for the 20th time that hour and I had just opened the sweetest goodbye letter from one of my friends, did I stop and noticed that this wouldn’t be my room anymore. This box painted blue wouldn’t be where I’d spend my moments of serenity, bewilderment or agony. (can you tell I’m dramatic?) It was a sudden wave that shook through me, manipulating my vibrations and leaving me unsteady. But my friends’ obnoxious voice rang through my head and he was screaming “POSITIVE ENERGY”. It was always something we said to each other that reminded us to push, to aim further to (as cheesy as it sounds) try. So I channelled more ‘positive energy’ than I did during my IGCSEs and flew here from Michelle Yeoh Land.
I'm currently undecided on my major but I am a Bachelor of science student, like the 4000 other students on campus. I'm not the most out outgoing person and I listen to sad music religiously. Probably will on graduation day too--however, ironically upbeat music only for my funeral. My guilty pleasure is book-to-screen adaptation although, insert every book-to-screen reader's catchphrase "the book was better" and I mean it (looking at you Shadow and Bone).
So I guess what I’m saying is I know it’s different and I know it’s going to be hard but just try. Campus is lovely and the freedom that suffuses the air is unparalleled. Behind on assignments? So is everyone else. Didn’t do as well as you expected on your first test? I bet a lot of people didn’t as well too. Overwhelmed and watching Netflix on your bed? same. Also, stay hydrated because the tears lost crying over assignments need to be replenished one way or another and sadly we can't photosynthesise.
X,elisa
image description: you flying off to uni. (or out of your house if you're a domestic student)
FYI, I just said sup to be different from the other bloggers who said a boring ‘hi’ or ‘hey.’ I reckoned that the trade-off between uniqueness and cringe was worth it.
So sup! I’m David. I’ll be honest with you straight off the bat…I’m definitely not the most extroverted, outgoing person out there. I guess I would class myself as a ‘conservatively outgoing’ (to be generous). So you’re probably not going to find me writing about how I’ve been spending all my waking hours and nights partying drunk and hanging out with my best mates. That’s also kind of because I actually just moved to Melbourne from New Zealand about a month ago…
But that doesn’t have to mean my first year, or this blog, is going to be a bore! I’ve already got plenty of hilarious, gut-wrenching, cringeworthy experiences…and I’m only a month into this new life. I’ve actually got my stuff together too…you know, in terms of time management, productivity, studying well. I read up on a bunch of that stuff the last couple of years, so you’ll be hearing about how some of these techniques and tools play out in first year (Jordan Peterson is the GOAT).
So what am I studying? A Bachelor of Science, and potentially majoring in either nutrition or food science. Yes, I like to cook and make desserts! I am proud to say I ate cake (almost) every day last year! But almost exclusively ‘healthier’ versions of stuff like chocolate cakes/brownies, since I’m a bit of a nutrition nerd. Healthy baking can taste good, trust me! If you want a taste, and you somehow find me on campus eating something that looks like baking, I don’t mind sharing!
I also really like to read and write. If you’ve stumbled upon Amy’s blog already, then you might know that her best subject was English Literature in high school. Well, so was mine! I could analyse poems and Shakespeare in my sleep! I liked English and writing so much that I was tossing and turning between a Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing and a Bachelor of Science! But I’m sticking with science for now (I’m low key soldiering through 3 hour bio and Chem practicals right now…but that’s a story for another time). I’ll typically read crime, mystery, adventure/thriller, and every now and then read some deep, existential, philosophical classic that makes me question my life…
I also play the clarinet. If you don’t know what it is, it’s the thing that squidward plays in SpongeBob (I swear the clarinet sounds better when it’s not squidward playing though). I’ll also go gym, go to some event every now and then, too.
Anyway, that’s all from me. If you’re wondering why you would want to stick around to read my blog…well, for one… entertainment?! I hope you’ll get a kick out of the dry jokes I like to make, and the experiences I’ll be sharing throughout the year. But remember I’ll also be sharing with you some EXCLUSIVE tips and tricks related to uni life, productivity, time management, and general first-year stuff.
Hello everyone, I'm Steph, a local Melbourne girlie. Despite living here my whole life, I still don't know my way around the city (even with the assistance of Google Maps) or my own neighbourhood for that matter, so I doubt I'll ever know my way around the uni campus. I am the last person you want to ask for directions when you're lost. My only advice to my fellow poor navigators is to download Lost on Campus. That app has seriously been my lifesaver these past couple of weeks.
Anyways, getting a little sidetracked (typical me). I'm one of the many Bachelor of Science students taking BIO10008 and CHEM10003 on top of the science compulsory. My breadth for this semester is Business Law (don't worry, it's not as intense as it sounds). No one prepares you for how fast the content is taught, my brain is running in circles from the difference in the functions of DNA ligase, polymerase and synthase or how electrons behave like WAVES. It requires a lot of self-discipline (which I lack) to stay on top of all your work and maintain a social life. (kudos if you already inferred that I'm already behind on my work)
I would say my personality likes to flip back and forth between introverted and extroverted. I'm someone who likes to enjoy Melbourne's nightlife with some menace behaviour (which we won't elaborate on). In order to recharge my social battery, I'm an avid reader of a wide range of genres. If I were to pick a favourite, it would be fantasy. Gonna wrap this post up with some book recs:
Greetings from Hogwarts! This is from one of the Ravenclaw recruits this year. Well, not really. The Hat told me that I should be at Hufflepuff because my best quality is clearly being compassionate towards others. Should I listen to The Hat or follow my own heart? Isn't that the reoccurring question we ask ourselves every day, trying to find our way through this chaos we call life?
All jokes aside, I am happy to be here, where I can trim my skills and make mistakes as many as needed. Being a student after so many years of full-time working is not only a change of lifestyle, but also a chance to take pause and look at my life from a different angel. It’s not a choice many would make, and I am both terrified and excited to find out what will happen next.
So, a little more about myself (I’m trying to not over-share here). I was born and raised in China and I used to have my life painted for me. I was told to be a good student, to find a steady job, to marry a decent man and to float through life. It’s not a terrible way to live, but it always feels wrong to me. Then I heard this saying from a movie, “Floating is for boats, not people.” And it resonated with me on every level. Life should be lived with passion and enlightenment, not just earthly tasks to kill our precious time.
Then, here I am! Learning arts! This is probably the first time for me to listen to my heart instead of my head, and the joy it brought is quite surprising. Come share this joy with me on campus one day, but be very careful! Because this is only the beginning and still could be full of twists. Is your heart beating as fast as mine? I can’t wait!
Phew, that’s a lot of information, even for a blabber like me. Let’s take a deep breath and let me just calm down. Slowly but surely: all shall be revealed!
Hi !! My first blog post of the semester and I'm writing it because I don't want to work on my actual assignments- haha. Anyone who said doing an Arts degree is easy was probably right but it sure doesn't feel like it sometimes.
Not really sure how to start introducing myself. I'm sure if we run into each other you'll recognize me since I've never met another Amity, and I have a very strong American accent. (It's really awful, I'm sorry) I went to high-school in New York so now I sound like I was born & raised there. For better or for worse. I'm staying at one of the colleges on campus right now since my family lives back in New York, which has been a really great experience so far. I've been doing my best to explore Melbourne in my free time, which has mostly just been late night snack runs in the CBD, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. My friends and I are paying each other in soft serves and fries from McDonald's.
Right now I'm studying a BA majoring in Creative Writing and Linguistics so if my blog posts are poorly written its extra embarrassing for me- but I've never claimed to be a good writer, I was hoping the degree would make me a little better at it :)) Although I've already had two people tell me my linguistics degree will never get me a job so we'll see how that works out. I think that means I have to thrive out of pure spite. Right now I'm taking Language, Creative Writing: Ideas and Practice, Arts Discovery and Principles of Marketing. I was NOT aware marketing was a commerce class when I enrolled, I thought it was a psych class. I'm hoping to do a masters in library sciences or screenwriting but three years is a long time and when I was a freshman in high-school I thought I wanted to be a homicide detective so things can definitely change! Maybe I'll transfer into Ag-science!
Unsurprisingly, I love reading and writing. I also adore listening to music, if anyone is a Blink-182/Set to Stun fan our wedding is next week. I have it all planned you just need to show up. I also love fashion and food, two things that obviously go hand in hand. They both start with 'f' and that's good enough for me. I do have a ton of clothes which was a pain moving into college and will be a pain moving out. If anyone wants to help me move it all out at the end of the year or the mid-sem break, I can pay you in cheap chocolate and gratitude.
I signed up to be a part of this blog because I've already embarrassed myself a million times over by being the idiot American who doesn't understand Aussie culture so I thought maybe other people would get a laugh out of it too! I'm slowly learning the slang and how nobody here can seem to finish a whole word. I mean seriously, 'arvo'?? Just say afternoon it's like a two syllable difference you aren't going to die.
That's enough from me for now. See you next time!! And recommend this blog to your friends/family, they'll enjoy it and the other first-years this semester are really lovely people. I'm sure you'll love their blog posts as much as you (obviously) loved mine. ;)
Hey everyone! My name is Amy (one of many you'll likely meet, no, seriously, there are like a million Amy's here at uni). Nice to meet you all :) This is going to be an introduction of sorts and a get to know me. Let's get all the boring (or not so boring) facts out of the way. I'm studying a Bachelor of Science with the intention of majoring in Data Science. The subjects I'm taking in my first year include Today's Science, Tomorrow's World (a compulsory subject for all first year science students), Calculus 2, Foundations of Computing, and as a breadth I'm taking Accounting Reports and Analysis. A little side note is that my best subject in high school was English literature. So you never really know where life can take you!
I'm from New Zealand, and no, I'm not your typical Auckland girl, I'm from Wellington. Shout out to all those from Wellington, we are a rare species here in Melbourne. Woop, woop!!! I have moved out of home and am currently living in a Residential College.
And now for all the fun stuff!!! As for my interests, I love playing and participating in sports. These include golf, volleyball, badminton, table tennis, basketball, to name a few. Honestly, I just love the spirit and energy of being in a team, it's a blast.
Other than sports, I love to binge K-dramas and anime. So any suggestions in the comments would be more than welcome ;) I also stan many K-pop groups with my ultimate group being Twice.
Also, I'll just quickly add that if you love cats, llamas, whales, turtles or ducks, then you have great taste in the animals that you love.
That's it from me for my first blog post, but there will be many more posts about many other topics that will hopefully either be funny or interesting or informative!
Do you want to help current & future students understand what uni is all about?
Do you want to be part of an online community, sharing advice (and getting advice) about how to settle into & succeed in first year?
The First Year Diaries blog is currently in its 18th year of giving first years the space to share their experiences of starting and surviving uni with others. Future students and fellow first years from Melbourne and around the world read the blog to find out what uni is really like, day to day.
To apply to become a blogger, write a 100-word mini-blog about why you’d be a great first year blogger and submit it via the application form by Monday 6th March, 2023.
Hi everyone, I am the hidden character that is the last to be revealed. My pseudonym (which is my English name) is Thomas. My classmates back when I was in school used to call me tank engine. I must admit that I randomly chose the name around 8 years old when I saw a steam engine with a smiley face printed on the cover of a rip off notebook. What can this little me do when my foreign English teacher kept telling me from time to time to get an English name? All the kids in my primary school had it and I was the odd one out. To be honest, I hardly met any person of my age that didn’t have one. Thinking back, I don’t understand why those people really stress on that. Everyday folks there (including me back then) rarely speak English anyway. Well, this is Hong Kong, a place that I grew up during my childhood years. When I came to Australia, I noticed there’s a lot of Thomas’ around, especially in rural towns. And that’s pretty much it. People no longer care whether or not I named myself after the tank engine.
I kind of feel like I am still in my first year because the university is constantly upgrading the campus. It gives a feeling that there’s always something new. I am not certain whether this is an upside or a downside, but at least I can write some new content for this blog.
A few months back on a weekday evening, I was wandering around the Parkville campus like a tourist. For all these years of studies, I still hadn’t had a chance to explore the north of Tin Alley. As I walked further north, the gothic castle went into my eyes. A thin orange glow from the evening sun smoothed out the stone fortress. The tall bark tree next to the walkway waved gracefully at me. I took a picture from my phone to capture the moment. Unfortunately, the quality was not good enough.
These small moments really give the fulfillment that sometimes cannot be sought through endless pursuits. The things that we have at the present moment can as well be satisfactory. I cannot fully describe them in words, but if you have time during this mid semester break, try it yourselves by feeling it to refresh yourselves from the stresses. Hope you all will have a great break!
I’m feeling beyond ecstatic knowing that mid-sem break is just round the corner! It has been an eventful week for me, filled with finishing assessments, connecting with family, awkward times on campus…where shall we begin?
My week started off slightly rough – my sugar-fuelled brain mixed up the time of my Monday practical, so I ended up at the anatomy lab at 9:30am instead of 1pm (big ick). It got better from there though - I managed to somehow meet a classmate I knew in first year in the very same class! It did not click until we saw each other’s names during the classic social media add (post-acquainting ofc), and I know it doesn’t sound like much but it really did feel like this spiderman meme at the time!!
After writing about the Mooncake Festival in my last entry, I was thrilled to discover that there would be a celebration at the university on the same day! I had celebrated the festival with family over the weekend but there can never be too much celebrating (●’◡’●)! This was probably the highlight of my week – it felt somewhat heart-warming yet nostalgic to see so many people immersed in the blend of cultures, music, food and company~ The mooncakes were perfect and so were the activities, with Vietnamese face-painting being my personal favourite!!
I finished a number of assessments by Thursday, and really enjoyed my Psychology prac on Friday! The focus of the class was young adulthood, where we discussed Havighurt’s Developmental Tasks for Young Adults (idk why, but it kind of sounds like Hogwarts textbook). I thought it was super interesting, particularly how a large majority of tasks remain applicable to young adults in this day and age, despite the vast differences in time and context. It also got me wondering if and how might the pandemic may have changed these standards for us nowadays - have we started living with a greater sense of urgency and appreciation due to the recent influx of changes, or have we collectively lowered our expectations for the future as a result?
AAAnywho~ with break coming up, I thought my challenge for Week 9/break could be slightly relaxing – picking up a new hobby!! It would be a great pause from uni, and fun to try out things I have never attempted before – looking forward to it!
That’s it from me so far – all the best for Week 9 as we get ready to kick into (our MUCH-deserved) break period!!
I've joined so many clubs at university and it's literally saved my post-covid loneliness!
So many clubs plan weekly meetups (sometimes even involving free food!!! Who could say no to that?) and it's such an amazing way to meet likeminded people and friends! I've joined a couple of club committees it's been so nice to just talk to people again!!
It's also an amazing way to find new opportunities! It's so important to network and chat with people over lunch! I know a lot of us undergraduates find the task of finding internships and job opportunities extremely daunting, but so many of these opportunities actually travel by word of mouth. Besides, it never hurts to make a new friend over a couple of coffee!
Joining a club has been the best thing ever! Making friends is the best part of uni life and I highly recommend this to everyone!!
