Apologies for my absence of late, I recently got another job, and what with the impending doom of exams and all, haven't had much spare time. Thanks to good old coles group, I now have two jobs to support the social life I so desire, and a car of course (remember I do live in the burbs :P).
Anyways, after finishing semester 1 on friday, I'm feeling quite befuddled (if thats a word) as to how the first half of the year has gone so fast. It feels like I've only completed 1 term in highschool, not 1/6th of my degree already! I got my first H1 the other day, (this isn't as bad as it sounds, being a science student, I've only had 2 pieces of work assessed in this format, hence 50% of my work is H1 standard, hehe i wish) and was sufficiently wrapped at my ability to write a half-decent essay. Studying is currently non-existent, its taken me ages to learn things the first time around, let alone re-learn and remember stuff from the start of semester. My timetable is pretty good though, finish on the second thursday, leaving 5 weeks to earn some cash, get my license (finally), and party!
Oh, one last thing: I have a question. Can anyone tell me if things like the beaurepaire centre, union house and the libraries are open the usual hours during swot vac and exams, or do they go onto a special timetable. I tried to look it up, but didn't have much luck. Because I think its probably a good idea if, even though it takes ages to get to uni, that I would be better off studying at uni, where there are far less distractions!
Sorry folks, it's a short blog from me today, but good luck to everyone studying for exams, be that for uni or vce! Don't forget get to chill, and go to an eox (end of exams :P) party or two!! Bye!
Note on the title: i borrowed happyfeet from the rowdy the other day, and have since been singing continuously (more than usual). For those who live under a rock, it's about a tapdancing penguin misfit, who can't sing. It's really cute, and is surprisingly pretty good at delivering a strong environmental message. Therefore: Rent Happyfeet!
So the semester is finally over...well for me that is (having Fridays off is pretty awesome) :P
I've been reflecting on the events and I've realised that time has gone a lot more faster than it did back in high school. Back in high school there was actually drama and time spent doing nothing, whilst at Uni I've been rushing back and forth between classes and the library and orchestra rehearsals - nevertheless to say it has been a fairly good (but not the best) start to the year.
I only have one more assignment to turn in which is due on Monday and I have a fairly easy exam schedule (apart from my Psych Exam and Cello Technical Recital being on the same day) which leaves me with about a month's break before Semester 2 starts.
One of the things that has been on my mind lately is the Farrago newspaper and the extreme left-wing opinions of the people with regards to the recent proposed second round of cuts to the Arts Faculty of the University - and that some Arts students are having it tough because of their already limited subject selection. As for my opinion, I do understand the resistance against the change since it's making life harder in general for most Arts students, but at the same time, the implementation of the Melbourne Model would probably benefit more people in the long run (of course, look at it this way - how often do Universities change their education system? :P).
Because I'm too considerate of both sides (and henceforth can't be bothered to have an opinion), I'm just going to leave a warning for any budding Arts student planning to study here at Melbourne Uni - please do your research, and that's not just looking up the course and the subjects. Talk to people.
I also find it interesting that there a range of job opportunities within the University itself which allow for a fairly decent income on a casual/part time basis: notetaking or being a personal assistant to disabled students or doing administration and routine work at various departments (not that I'm doing either!). It really alleviates having to look for a job outside of the University and makes life easier for a lot of people. Of course my Access Scholarship pretty much covers all my course fees, but I do need to make ends meet for my extra expenses (not to mention that I had to pay off my second installment of the Telstra T3 shares - there goes half the money in my bank account).
Oh, and to save up for a laptop too *sighs*
*Sigh of relief*
Update on my 12-page analysis: it's over with and submitted as of 3:15pm today
The problem? It's a day late because my body finally gave in to a very persistent little virus during the exact same day I was supposed to hand in my assignment.
The apparent solution: My tutor told me to hand in a filled-in special consideration form and a medical certificate as I hand in my homework to my student centre. Ah gee... if only it were that easy. It was only after obtaining a medical certificate yesterday, that I discovered I have to have a HCAP form filled in by a professional (in this case, a medical practitioner) and NOT a medical certificate. I had to print it then bring it to the clinic where I've just been only to be told by the receptionist that my doctor won't have a chance to fill it up till this afternoon. Then this morning, the said receptionist called me up to tell me I had to see my doctor regarding the form coz there's some stuff there that I might be more familiar with than he would. And the earliest I could see that doctor is tomorrow. Bummer. The special consideration form is to be filled in online within 3 working days after the assessment date, with the HCAP form to follow within 5 working days of the application for special consideration. Add to that the days that my home faculty has to process the application itself.
Having just recovered from said illness, all this talk about forms was just too much to take in. It was just too darn annoying that the moment I was feeling a bit better, I took the train to uni to hand in the assignment just so that I'll only just cop up a 5% deduction of marks instead of the 20% if I hand it in Monday, just in case the special consideration process doesn't work out to my liking. It's hard to believe that only a week ago, I was tickled pink by the mass email by my tutor saying that the 12-page analysis is not supposed to be an "arts essay", and that writing a whole lot of paragraphs for it won't earn us the big marks. I surely am not tickled pink now.
Lesson learned? Get a flu shot. ASAP. My growing collection of medical certificates for this semester is not at all the kind of collection I would want to continue while in uni. Also, submitting assignments to the student centre rather than in tutes will test one's knowledge of the tutor's last name. Be prepared.
Is it possible to believe that yet another day is over? I find myself wondering where on earth did 11 weeks just go? 11 weeks! I could be a trained ski instructor by now! or rather, could be finishing off on what may possibly be the best (and worst) semester at uni - so far. Its a sad moment when realising that time cannot be bought, or exchanged, or in fact any way obtainable. This nostalgic feeling is probably not helped when this campus is absolutely beautiful in autumn! as it was in summer. *sigh* ... now we're all looking forward to exams.
'Exam' is a dirty word and shall not be mentioned until they are completely over. Which means I may have to stop posting for a little while until it is fully out of my system. Onwards...
So for something a little lighter, it has come to my attention that this change in weather is bringing out some rather strange clothing combinations. Not a particular fashionable young thing myself, this critique of modern winter-wear has no (insert word here)* about it.
Look no. 1: The boot. The boot comes in many shapes and sizes, just like their wearers. Wearing boots over or under jeans, no problem. But wearing it with short shorts to make the look more 'wintry' - darling, you must be freezing!
Look no. 2: The scarf. Can be skinny, thick n' chunky, long or short. Comes in handy when bag handle breaks. Downsides include it getting stuck in the zip, ruining scarf and bag.
Look no. 3: The coat. This year its pretty much the same one. in black and black. They must have been giving them away. However I've seen a purple ankle length puffa coat and a bright green cropped jacket..
There is defiantly a graduation from 'he's weird' we often hear at high school to 'he's unique/different/individual'. or she. um. thats all.
Ciao!
P.S: For those who have been following the posts, I've decided to stick with Scenario no.4 pending marks. Bad mark: change uni. Good(enough) mark: stay here. Although Scenario no.1 may still be an option, Scenario 2 and 3 is out of the question until the stress of (word I vowed not to mention) kicks in over the next couple of weeks and avoidance is sweeeet.
* a word that means: I'm no expert, therefore whatever I say has no good authority and no substantial credentials to sustain my argument. What is that word?!
(Johnny English never ceases to amuse me).
I'm sure most of us are feeling the stress of the exams creeping up, of course for me it isn't helped by the fact that I have 3-4 assignments due at the end of the semester - however I can't really complain, for the only subject I really have to study for is my Psychology breadth subject (the only other exams I have is a major Aural Exam, and a Music Theory/Composition exam in which there isn't much to revise for starters).
I find it a nice feeling that my VCE exam study habits still remain, but the social aspect of Uni really relaxes one's self to a point where exam aren't a major stress factor. The reality of it is, you'll have to sit that exam unless you plan on failing or barely passing the subject so you may as well get all those negative thoughts out of the head.
One of my friends (who's a 4th year Science/Engineering student - and is only 18 years of age...) invited me to a SEE (that, is, the Society of Electronic Entertainment) session and I have to say the environment was very different than expected. Of course, not having played games seriously for a while, I suppose it was fairly unexpected to start with. But 20 or so people talking and eating food whilst watching four people battle it out on Super Smash Bros.: Brawl on the Wii, I just sat back and thought 'Awesome'. Diverse community wise as well!
Today, I revisited the Chess Club after not having attended for three or so weeks and it felt nostalgic. I suppose this comes from having played chess when I was young, but nothing beats a mental workout especially when you're lacking an hour or sleep or so. I drew one person and then lost to him in speed/rapid chess, and spoke to him afterwards as we headed off to class, which brings me to my next point in this post.
I'm fairly surprised at the large amount of students that are attending from overseas, mainly because the composition of overseas students in my high school were mainly Chinese who usually distanced themselves from the general crowd. The University really is that culturally diverse, and it's always a nice feeling to be meeting new people ever week (although remembering their names is another thing!). I also admire the number of disabled people who manage to attend classes, and regularly speak with one who's confined to a wheelchair (I'm not aware of what she suffers from, but it seems impolite to ask!) who attends one of my music classes as a breadth subject.
Good luck for exams, even to you Year 11s and 12s who are silently reading this blog and have mid-years =P.
If you're an Arts student then you probably spent the last week desperately trying to cram in time to write up the four-or-so essays that you had ample to time to do over the semester but left until the last minute. I'm not exempt from this observation one bit. I know I definitely didn't come into first year Uni with the intention of slacking off for the first eight weeks, only to realise that, 'oh crap, I've got all these essays to do and hardly any time left to do them in.' The thing was that in high school, I could have written an essay in one night and still have gotten a decent mark for it. But the reality is - as one of the earlier posts pointed out - that this isn't high school and we've all got to up our standards, I guess.
It's so easy - far too easy - to fall into the habit of not doing things or not handing things in on time, or going 'hey, I'll only lose 10% of my mark if I don't hand this in today' and then suddenly one day becomes five and you're thinking 'P's get degrees, yo.'
Guess it's time to get my head screwed back on properly and work hard for those upcoming exams. :) Hope everybody had a great week. Chin up, keep smiling (or at least surround yourself with the ones who are worth it) and dance naked in the streets at least once. :)
It's the end of the uni week for me tomorrow, and boy am I feeling good.
That's probably thanks to the 2-flavour cup of gelati* I've had in Lygon St. after my last class. It was there and then, while savouring that creamy goodness that I realised I like uni after all (connection..?). Anyways, this served as a treat for me for surviving my lone mid-sem for German (should I have treated myself to a bratwurst instead? meh). It's really quite nice to take a walk in the streets near the campus... just to see what's there. I passed by a Koko Black chocolate shop too in Lygon St., but heck, I was too broke (almost-penniless, unemployed student that I am) to even buy a dark chocolate bar. Anyways, I might have already exceeded the recommended daily intake of sugar for an adult by 1000% with that gelati, so it's just as well that I didn't indulge in chocolate.
Speaking of chocolate, I went to that cafe outside copland a while ago to try out that hot white chocolate but it was already packed (the cafe not the hot chocolate) after my 10am class. Is there any time in the morning where it's not so busy? Coz I'm really curious about that hot white choc(and they have a hot dark choc too!)
Moving on, it's only last week that I realised that "Eyeball" (that org/clubs events publication) is actually worth looking at. If it wasn't for it, I wouldn't have known about the Photography worshop that was on early in the week. Well... now that I think about it... I actually I saw a poster about it in Arts Centre (during one of those rare times when I actually read what's on the walls/bulletin boards) before I saw its ad in Eyeball. Oh well. Just another case of me contradicting myself.
Oh, and I've read this article yesterday (while procrastinating to do some decent studying) in one landscape magazine about the need for landscape architects in Germany. I wonder if that's true... Although since it was published circa 2006, it may no longer be applicable anymore. Anyways... I thought it was a weird coincidence coz, well, I was planning to major in Landscape Architecture or Architecture or Urban Design next year and I'm currently taking German as breadth. Ok, ok, I might be thinking too far ahead here considering that I am not even enrolled in German for next semester anymore (although I might just change that...) and that I'm not even doing so well in my Enviroments subjects(read: i don't really know how and what i'm doing). But still...
* By the way, in what sort of circumstances do you actually use the word "gelato" instead of gelati? "Gelati" is the plural form right? How do you actually count ice cream?
I remember one of my brother's friends always being late to school on Monday because of 'Mondayitis'. It's the fresh start of the week, but one just gets used to sleeping in on weekends or having that extra hour of rest.
I can definitely say I don't fall into that category =P. Despite the fact that I'm wearing four layers today to help myself get over a cold, there are probably more important things to think about.
In reference to the previous post - I myself have also had one of those moments where one starts to wonder if what he/she doing will be worth it in the long run. Needless to say such things make me fairly depressed because I hate wasting effort. I find it's always best to go back to the roots: Why did I choose to do Music?
Whilst I realise that this advice may not work as well with people who absolutely have no idea what they want to do, I'm sure that everyone will eventually realise that they will need to prioritise something at some point.
Anyway, last weekend I went on camp as part of the SALP Activities and it really was the break I needed from University and home. It's interesting how one can apply different leadership concepts to a simple group activity. If any of you guys are planning to do SALP in the proceeding years (only Music and Architecture and some other students can do SALP in their first year), I can tell you it's definitely worth it. At first you may think that the leadership concept is a little old, but some of the things really give you food for thought
Half an hour before my first tutorial starts. I hate when I realise that I've been slacking off too much - now I have a Psychology Assignment due in today that I've barely started, and am planning to work on it in the 3 hour break and tonight. Whilst it's probably not a healthy attitude to have, I think I can afford to lose 5% of my total mark for now. Some of the older people I've spoken to all seem to say that it's generally acceptable to slack off in first year (although I don't really advocate it myself =P).
options I have in front of me right now..
Scenario 1: Stick it out with this science degree, taking one semester at a time and seeing where I end up. Who knows, I could be teaching science at my old high school, or accepting a Nobel prize?
Scenario 2: Quit uni now or after mid-year exams and become a missionary in north korea, not before fulfilling a have-to-do-this-before-I-die goal of becoming a waitress. (I'm being serious!)
Scenario 3: eat my body weight in chocolate and then run away and never return, perhaps buying that $9000 trench coat along the way.
Scenario 4: Keep going for the year and change next year for an International business course (meaning i'll have to change uni's) But Melb uni is so beautiful! Or perhaps commerce at Melb.. who knows?
So ladies and gentlemen, the choices are before you. What should go? What should stay? Tune in next week to find out which scenario was evicted...
Ciao!
P.S: This week I've gotten fired - $0. Gotten another (better) job - $2000. Realising that you don't have enough time to study and thereby failing? Priceless.
P.P.S: (is that even right? or is it P.S.S?) anywho... this is a rather self centered blog, but peoples, its just an encouragement to anyone out there thinking that they must know what they wanna do. Cause I most certainly don't. And thank you for your amazingly therapeutic listening skills.
Yes, it's been a very long time since I've last spoken of my university experience, but I'll try to write a bit more often in the future.
So far this week:
Caught a train replacement bus home that took nearly double the time because I had a back row to myself compared to possible luggage rack/floor seat on next train.
Was late for a prac, organized a make-up.
Got to a lecture very late.
Discovered the half price printing at union house computer lab and used up all spare change.
Went to a very good viewing of stargate, aka yu-gi-oh the abridged series.
Was present at the now legendary "Zumhdahl" incident.
Actually got on an earlier train Wednesday night.
Had everyone in Accounting tute laugh at me when I said physics was harder than accounting.
Successfully cut open a rat and got above 50% for my drawing (I can't draw).
Went to make-up prac.
Managed to watch half the TV series of "The hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy" before falling asleep on friday. It's easier than it sounds, it consists of 6 30-35 min episodes.
Worked a long shift today, went to birthday party after and encountered a living piece of Melbourne University history, went home, practised piano until parents begged me to stop and here I am now.
And now it's time for either more of the hitch hiker's guide to the galaxy or chem questions..
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