Are you homesick?
I've gotten that question a lot recently. Don't really know why.
It could be because the after showers of O week are over, and that what is supposedly our everyday life has finally begun to sink in. People get it now. I get it now. We're here.
I thought uni life would be structured. That it would give me the decency of an everyday life. But no, there is no such thing. At least not yet. Maybe later.
So far, no day's been the same at uni. That's what I love about it. You mind your own business. Not like year 12, where you had your teacher breathing down your neck (if I remember it correctly, it was a while ago...).
To get back to the question, I am not homesick. People find that hard to believe. Don't you miss your friends, your family, your life?
Sure, I miss them. I miss them all. I've just reached a point in my life where we can no longer stick together. You have to go on and "do your own thing". I know it sounds rough, but it really isn't. Not once you learn how to appreciate it.
Suddenly, you feel proud to have a friend in Chicago, another in London, and another in York.
Will it ever be the same? Well, if same means different, then yes. I usually go with the key phrase:
Nothing is permanent but change.
Once you get that into your head, you realise change isn't too bad after all. That change is a blessing rather than a curse. And that home will always be home. And that friends will always be friends.
Yay posting....
And now I've forgotten what to say. So I will describe my busy day.
I woke up, found some clean pants, went out, bought presents, went to a friends place on the other side of the city, picked my little sister up and had saxaphone practice.
Yay descriptive......... I need to work at this some more. Meby with a bit of opinionated commentary about how things are really unfair at uni ...... except they aren't really. The only thing I can really complain about is that a lot of old friends will ambush you suddenly inbetween lectures or tutes leading to either lateness or estrangement of new uni friends. Not that I mind catching up it just seems like everyones getting a loneliness bug and so they wanna hold onto familiar faces or friends. I can't absolve myself of this hinderance either, but I think it hinders the whole "Uni life" experience, how else are you going to meet new people.
Also going on with my earlier line of "things are really unfair at uni," the reality is that with us so far into the term, and with our extensive university experience (sarcasm high) there's no way we can really compare how well things are at Melb to other places, especially in terms of the academic. University's not like highschool at all, so of course things are going to be different, mostly around the point of how to go about your academia studies. It's self motivated! So don't be slack, or if you are don't complain. Now I apologise to Level12 for a seeming attack on her blog, but honestly it's just an opinion. I'm getting to be dangerous to my personage.
Also this is a note for myself to get some work done in Japanese, it's the only subject which I feel threatened to not do well and so by pretending it's the subjects fault appeases any guilty concious. Not that I'm horrible at Japanese, I just need to work at it.
Ok something heavy out of the way, now for some light entertainment, self achievement.
I wrote a poem for a creative writing tute tomorrow, which should be good, but then again I might be appraising my own poetic skill(zszs) too much. Oh well it's only a slight crucifiction to my peers who didn't want to write a poem to bring into the tute, I'll have the higher (moral) ground in knowing I was courageous. Or foolhardy. Shrug* either way I've done something I'm proud of.
We (the bloggers) had a trivia night, and won because of default (on our parts of leaving early, we all thought we won and since nobody disagreed I think we deserved the prize of self satisfaction). So yay for that.
And it's my little sister's b'day today, she's 10, hoorah!
Now what................. (hitting button expectantly as if it'll create a sentence, relieves stress or anxiety instead)............... nup, all done. Finnished my quota for the day. Oh wait a worry! It is, "If I were to update this post is it because of a responsibility or simply our of want?" Something really for myself to figure out, it gives a small ego boost per 100 words I think, but the essence of the aforementioned question lies within the realms of "How natural does this come across?" and "Why is it that I do, what I do?"
Oh well some philosphical or purely pure questions to wonder about.
Enjoy the night
Dan/ Yoddeuss
P.S Feeling kinda guilty for 1st major paragraph, don't kill me for it.
I reckon its insane that there are 493 Pokemon. Back "in my day", there were only 150 - and it was huge when 151 (Mew) came out.
I reckon the lifestyle of university is so different to school - and I love it. But the choice to skip lectures is like offering free money, its so hard to resist.
I reckon Melbourne weather is so damn confusing. Do I dress for rain or 27 degree weather? Howabout both.
I reckon living 1 hour 20 minutes away from Uni is, quite frankly, an ass.
I reckon it can be pretty daunting to go into a room and not know a single person, but you've got to remember that everyone is feeling the same way! And everyone has come into uni expecting to make new friends, so make the first move! Then you'll meet friends of friends and then suddenly know like a bajillion people.
What do you reckon? =P (I feel so .. like .. cheesy for writing that. Like this has become some sort of corny B-grade promotional advertisement on SBS for an unknown pet store that was shot with a digital camera and edited in Windows Movie Maker.)
I reckon I should go now.
ASHC
Part 1.
Another week has flown by. And soon we'll be in Week 3. Phhhbbbbttt. Time flies.
Anyway.. Does this happen to you guys? When you're running late for a lecture/tute/ prac somehow everything comes in the way to make you even more late?..Like today morning..
1. I got outta bed at 9:30 for a 10:00 lecture.
2. Just as I was about to hit the shower.. One of my neighbours had already occupied/reserved it by leaving her clothes inside.. (I'd like to believe that this is not allowed but I have done this twice.. So I'm not really complaining)..
3. When I thought of going back to my room I realised I had left my key inside. ( A very common happening in College.. But first time with me)
4. So I ran down (no not really..) to the reception got a spare key...
5. Came back to my room.. And my neighbour was still in the shower.
6. When I got in it was 9:46..And I realised I had to wash my hair. =)
7. Anyway.. When I got ready to leave (when it was almost past 10 my neighbour knocked on my door same one who occupied the shower.. to ask if she could go through my balcony door to her room since she had also left her keys inside).. that caused a 5 second delay. But still delay.
8. While walking towards the Asia Centre my feet started getting wet and the Uni melb. flip-flops/slippers (as I'd like to call it.. and 'thongs' as most others would like) got wet and started making a squeaky noise with every step I took. And if I tried to walk any faster they would irritatingly keep slipping. Argh.
9. Finally, I didn't end up going for my lecture (because I'd missed almost 15 mins and would miss another 5 mins by the time I got to the lecture theatre from gate 3).. And got really depressed about it (BIG confession.. I don't think anybody else gets depressed because they've missed a lecture.. But I did :S :( )
NOTE: I was seriousy depressed(??) till noon when I realised that I attend the 5:00 repeat lecture. Yay!
So thats my silly story.
------------------------------
Part 2
I've realised I like my other subjects (other subjects meaning.. one's not related to my major which is Psychology) more interesting than my major related subject for eg. Psych and Bio. My other subject criminology (henceforth goign to be referred to as G2T) and Natural Environments (Nat Env.) are sooo much more interesting. No seriosuly.. I am soo lost in Bio. I don't even know how to go about studying it.. Should I read the text? Should I re-listen to the lectures? The slides? :S .. And its not like I haven't done Bio before... I've been studying Bio forever .. Why am I typing Bio with a capital B..) .. Anyway. And with Psych.. I love Psych.. Psych is my LOVE. But the lectures are a bit dry.. Maybe cause we're doing the Neuroscience bit.. I don't know.. I wanna learn soem real stuff in Psych. Like therapies, dysfunctions... blah blah. So the point is my non-science (kinda)-non-major-related-subjects are much much much more fun.. And I actually feel like studying them. Maybe cause I haven't done them before. Phhbbbbttt.. I really DON'T KNOW.
In other things I've noticed.. More people-wearing-trackies-in-uni and less fancy clothes compared to Week 1. =)=). So in school you hear about kewl-uni-kids wearing kewl-comfortable-trackies to lectures... But I was disillusionised (spelling?).. Everyone (Ok.. not everyone most people.. 85% according to me) were really well dressed. Now more and more peopel are wearing trackies. Yay to that. I think it's only me who thinks that some people dress well to Uni. I really don't know. The second thing I've noticed.. (in me atleast) is that the-new-to-uni-excitement is dying out... And the seriosuness and anxiety(word choice?) of stuyding/reading/catchingup/assessments slowly sinking in.The third thing... the more people I meet now.. the less and less enthusiastic they are about starting a random/friendly convo (self included). Hmm.
In discoveries...
The AirBlade at the Bailieu (spelling?)... Hahaha.. It dries your hand in like 5 seconds... I don't know if it's in the male toilet as well.. But gotta try using it.
Best Hot Chocolate on campus at the cafe outside the Ec&Com building.. Atleast I think so.
The Vogue at the Rowden and really comfy seats. Hmmm..
In questions/doubts...
1. Why are the disabled toilets always located next to the female toilets? Is it a rule or something.. Cause thats how it is everywhere..
2. If I wanna go diagonally across campus (for ex. Arts Centre to Land, food, resources building) Should I walk the perimeter of the campus or walk diagonally across?
Au revoir tout le monde.
-X-
P.S.- If you're wondering why I named my post 'Paper planes' its just cause I couldn't think of anything (quite obviously) and I was listening to this song today. Therefore. This is lame.
this may sound like a silly question, but hey - if they've taught you one thing in school its "if you've got a question chances are many other people have that same querie" or something along those lines..
Is there any place around Parkville where one can fill up on a little free liquid (ie water)? I've come across no drinking taps & i'm starting to feel that my quest is pointless.
Does anyone know where the drinking taps are, or indeed if there are any at all?
Do you know what this means:
Izindza zisiza umpeki?
Of course you don't. Unless you also happen to be a Secret Life of Languages student. Or maybe you're a speaker of this specific South African language. If this is the case (and I do realise the chances are very small) please get back to me!
This is what we do: we hunt and we gather. We hunt down the expressions - to even the smallest part - then we put the pieces together to form an enormous puzzle. Like any other discipline we add fancy pansy words to it, so no one understands. That makes sense, right..?
That's why I walked away from the lecture today with words like 'derivational morphology' and 'morphemes' on my mind. Try to squeeze those two words into everyday conversation! It's proven itself difficult so far, but I won't give up that easily.
But there is something about languages that make me care. I don't care about complicated equations or the periodic table (luckily others do). Strangely, I do care what Izindza zisiza umpeki? means. I think it's curiousity, the fact you might miss out on something. I could just have insulted you, you know that right? It could mean... your mama's mama, your mama's mama... loose!
See, it's interesting! I'm telling you!
Then again, I like random words. This helps.
Obamasising sounds quite hilarious, if you ask me. There's more of them. Check them out on the web. We could even make up one now. Let's see what we've got here. My day has been cilliterifying. To cilliter obviously means 'to have a nice social day with plenty of surprises'. There you go, that's how a new word is formed. Maybe it'll prove to be a goldmorpheme (a made-up word which is only used once!). Tolkien must have had a blast!
Oh well, time for dinner.
By the way, since you've read this far, I'll tell you what the above phrase means.
It means: the dogs are helping the cook.
Okay, so this is the game plan: I had my tutes today. Sorry, short for "tutorial" (which no one ever uses).
Sometimes, they [the tutes] are super fast and they [the tutors] won't let you breathe. Sometimes it's quite the opposite. Sometimes "they" represent the students... not the actual tutors. Usually consisting of 15-20 people, they often give a chance for clarification which, after a lecture or two, is needed.
In my vague attempt to describe them, I realise tutes are very different. There is no one way I could explain them to you. At least not in a manner that would make sense. Let's stick to that.
So, what's up? Or down - depending on how you look at it.
Right now it's pretty uphill. Not that I'm complaining. Simply putting it out there - that some uni days are better than others. It hasn't been a specifically bad day, it's only been a LONG ONE. I'll get used to it.
Just came from a wonderful floor party though, and got my body all worked up on sugar. It's what made me write this post. I think sugar is underestimated. I mean seriously, junk food in general makes people go nuts.
So go nuts!
In case you're allergic - go sugar!
I'm off to bed. Another LONG (but EXCITING and EVENTFUL) day tomorrow.
Carpe diem should be Carpe night.
Yours,
Olle
Ok. So I know we’re technically meant to put our real names in brackets in the title but I really don’t want to. There’s only one of me (as in my name) that goes to my college and given my proneness to vicious and bitter rants, I’d rather not.
Just think of me as the mysterious Level12 (unless you’re a fellow blogger and then you probably know my real name). I mean, if I wanted to use my real name I would’ve made it my username right? So for the ease of the reader I’ve actually used the tagging system and tagged all my posts ‘Leve12’ this means that instead of scrolling down you can just get all posts tagged Level12 and hurrah! - there I am.
Actually it’s very efficient. *Sigh* - what a clever little bunny I am.
So this week has been good. I caught a small bout of what is cheerfully named ‘Fresher Flu’ at Canterbury which involves incredibly swollen glands and feeling as though I just swallowed a porcupine with a lighter fluid chaser. Hence I’ve been a little behind with my work, but I did a mammoth effort this morning, so it’s all good now.
Now granted I haven’t posted as much as my delightfully enthusiastic peers (yeah, I know. Where DO they get the energy?) but I know what you’re thinking already because I’m nothing if not wretchedly predictable.
You’re thinking:
“Go on Level12. We know you want to whine about something. It’s ok, we love and accept you and may we just say that man, that skirt-overall thing you’re wearing offset with the gray singlet was risky but you pulled it off!”
To which I’ll blushingly reply:
“REALLY? I SO wasn’t sure about it when I walked out today! But then I looked outside and it was that weird kinda muggy-but-not-so-muggy and I thought: hell, just go for it! What about the shoes? I mean thongs are fine but I thought the flats with the -”
“Uh... Level12?”
“Oh yeah... sorry. Where were we?”
Now, as an Arts student I have the fantastic requirement of an Interdisciplinary Foundation Subject, or IDF. “What’s an IDF?” I hear you ask? Well dear reader, just ask the Melbourne University website:
Interdisciplinary Foundation Subjects will expose you to core ideas across our vast range of disciplines in your first year, assisting you in making an informed decision regarding your specialization or study major at second and third year level. Imagine that.
God bless ‘em, they wanted to sound pretentious and by gum they sure nailed it… but enough sarcasm. Truth be told the subjects aren’t that bad for forced subjects, and the one I do is called ‘Homer to Hollywood’ (that’s Odyssey Homer people, not the Simpsons), which basically goes through some major literary works throughout history paying particular attention to the shifts and consistencies in the portrayal of war.
It’s heavy on reading, but that’s not really my gripe with it (although forking out for those books hurt! This was the only subject I was obliged to do and I paid more for it than all of my others combined!), no, my main gripe with it happens to be that so far THEY EXPECT US TO HAVE PRINTED OUT OVER 125 PAGES WORTH OF MATERIAL! And that doesn’t even include the handbook (another 100), and that has so far cost me $13.35 and angry students behind me waiting in queue, and approx 2 hours of my time trying to format this abomination.
And that’s not even the worst part! Those 120 pages is only the material for the FIRST TWO WEEKS! There’s presumably hundreds more where that came from!
I know what you’re thinking (aside from “holy crap! She's a mind-reader!”) you’re thinking “Oh, but Level12, there was a reader for Homer to Hollywood last year, they should be getting one soon!”
Wrong.
Turns out that they’re considering not even doing that, because of how expensive the reader would be. Well, prepare to be thwarted by my superior brain (in matters of finance and pain-in-the-asses, not Homeric literature)
- My printing place charges me 11cents per page. They’re making a profit. For me to print everything out each week is going to cost me heaps more than the one-off cost of the reader and potentially hours of my time (which I need to actually READ the damn things).
- FACT: you can’t read a 34 page document off the screen. It’s impossible.
- Not everyone has a printer at home, and you try printing of 100+ pages with a queue of students behind you, some potentially environmental activists. Eep.
- If there’s too much course material to BIND, then maybe consider for a second that perhaps you have too much material? Admittedly going from the Iliad to Hollywood was ambitious, but if you’re expecting us to read novels and the reading I have a startling news flash:
- Some people who do your subject do so because it was the best choice out of the IDFs, but still aren’t as interested in it as the rest of their subjects. For them, it’s too much effort. THEY WON’T READ IT.
- Some people LIKE having things bound in a comprehensible order rather than carrying around millions of sheets in their bags and then having to rifle through them to figure out what’s going on.
- Some people… won’t bother unless you do it for them, and that’s the honest truth (at my tutorial today I was one of 3 who actually made the effort. 3.
Actually readers, I LIKE this subject, but with this printing hassle I honestly wouldn’t recommend it if you’re thinking of switching – with the amount of reading you’d already be so far behind that it’s just not worth it.
So H2H you’re trying my patience. If I could swear on this site I’d you to get your _ _ _ _ (fill in the blank) together and print the damn reader because I think if you set that amount of reading you probably have to take on the responsibility of ensuring that the material is in an accessible format. We’re students, not the Printing Press. Most of us are first years. Give us a break. Please.
Ok… so rant over, and wishing to put a positive light on this I shall go through the plan of action.
- I have emailed the course coordinator to stress the importance of the reader (don’t complain yet, they haven’t fully decided, just write a forceful plea), and why I would like them to produce one.
- I made a fuss to my tutor, highlighting the above points.
- I’m encouraging you. If you do H2H feel free to write a comment here or attach a link to this page when you fire an email off to the coordinator (I’d love to give you the details for contacting her but look them up on LMS, I don’t want any spamming to occur as a result of my hyper linking).
Hmmmm. Would I that I had some other, more positive stories for you, but consider this the ironing out of kinks. Melbourne University’s not perfect, nowhere is, but if you’re unhappy with something you need to do something about it, because in some cases the staff may not even be aware (unlikely, but hey I’m a generous and lovely creature so I shall give them the benefit of the doubt).
Let’s hope this doesn’t end up like Troy. Or I’ll be rowing paddleless up a certain creek, and I’m all out of Dettol.
*EDIT: I just realized that this is the 500th post. Awesome.
Hi all,
I'm the last blogger to join the illustrious group that gets to blog this year. In an attempt to introduce myself in a somewhat witty and delightful fashion (i'm sure that won't be the case), i'll aim to give you the basic details about me.
The name's Nicole, but everyone calls me Nik. NOT NIKKI (sorry, but i'm really pedantic about this - when/if you see me around campus i'm sure you'll agree that i'm not quite the 'nikki' type). I'm born and raised in the lovely little suburb of Dandenong (and before you start laughing, yes, i've heard every 'you know you're from dandenong when...' joke ever made!) - okay, its not the greatest place but its what i call home.
You may be interested to know that of the many thousands of first years that flocked to Melbourne this year, surprisingly this was not my first...nor my second...nor my third preference ! I'd rather not dwell on what could've been if i'd just studied that 'extra bit harder', but i'm sure that there are many of you in the same situation...
I like writing (surprise surprise) & this year i'm attempting 'creative writing' - does anyone else find that class unbelievably intimidating?!? on a side-note is it just me that thinks everyone else in their tute is a linguistic genius, while you're work resembles some fragmented trash?! Anyway, this semester i'm also studying sociology, homer to hollywood (yet another drainer!) and PBL. Anyone in those subjects? it would be nice to meet some new people - after all, isnt that what first year's all about? "expanding your wings and creating new friends" (or something equally as lame).
Ahh, homework beckons. Stay tuned cause i'm sure there's heaps of stuff that i've forgotten, so i'll post them up sometime :)
See you all 'round campus
ooh, and to the other bloggers - i missed out on the party. you'll have to organise another one to welcome me ;]
We had our first 'bloggers night out' last night with a highly successful turnout of... four of us. Haha, we went to some union trivia night thing, it was fun :) Our team name was, 'Natty and the Nerds' or 'Nutty and the Nerds' as the sign up guy wrote it because he either a) couldn't understand my British accent or b) couldn't understand why anyone would be called 'Natty' so used his common sense and came up with the next best thing. Lol. It was really more of a 'wedges-eating-and-beer-drinking' night than a trivia night but whatevs, I had a good time :D Oh and the student union bar (U-bar??) was cool too... yet another pro union comment from me lol.
Hmm.. so we're halfway through this week and my reading is piling up while the contents of my fridge is reaching extinction because I don't have any extra money to spend on food :S I'm feeling a bit tetchy because I have just spent the past 2 hours cleaning my apartment and am now exhausted and don't feel like sitting down to 3 hours of work. Also there was an unnecessary level of annoyance when I spilt bleach all over the bathroom floor. For anyone who didn't know, lots of water + lots of bleach = lots of foam. Oh, and if you try and just wash it all down the drain it WILL just foam back up in your face. Grrr.
For anyone wondering about where to live next year I'd say stop and think about what responsibilities you'll have to take on when you live on your own first. I probably spend 1.5-2hours a day just doing the washing/ cooking/ tidying and then another 2 hours once a week having to clean the whole place. It's not so much, but it does cut into your day a bit. I love living here, but at the end of one of my longer days coming home to a pile of washing and having no dinner ready is a TOTAL killjoy. Hence the post title, after a day like that I feel far more domestic troll than domestic goddess. Hopefully this is purely a mental resemblance rather than a physical one lol... although... haha.
It's times like that that I usually end up falling into bed having only had chocolate for dinner and then feeling cross with myself the next morning lol (no-one mention this to my mum, she would have a heart attack lol). Healthy eating would be so much easier if I had a chef... perhaps I will look into this. Are there any budding chefs out there who would like to come and make me lots of fruit salad? I can pay you in smiles (urgh how sickeningly cheesy is that?! lol) and... actually that's about it. I've yet to find a job... I went for training for the first one in Union House and then never heard back. Hmmm stupid money.
Still, for anyone who wants to (make like a tree and) branch out on their own I say go for it, it's great and even the washing up can (sometimes) be fun just because it's cool doing stuff for yourself :) Yeah ok, point and laugh if you want... I never thought I'd put 'washing up' and 'fun' in the same sentence either lol.
I wanted to write about something else but can't remember what it was now, and have realised that it's already 4.22pm so I should go and do my work before it gets too late. I will write again soon
Love Natty x
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