Things I Learnt in First Year, that I Employed in 2nd Year, to Have a Great Start to the Semester! (Bella)

So, that title felt longer than a 2-hour tute.
HOWEVER, it is really what I wanted to get across!
So, without further ado, here are 3 things I’ve learnt that hopefully you can learn from too…

1. Those people that look like they’ve been friends for ages… might have actually only just met

At uni, it can be quite daunting to just approach people and start chatting to them. As a somewhat shy person, I find myself overthinking it, assuming these people have probably been friends for ages, it might be awkward, etc…

One thing I remember thinking in first year is how much I wanted a ‘group’ of friends! I think that was some high school nostalgia coming through in my thinking. Anyway, throughout my social life (which I am pleased to say is going really well!), I’ve learnt that often these ‘groups’ of friends are just a couple of people that know each other, and who have brought their friends along. So, moral of the story – you can always feel comfortable approaching new people! We’re super lucky at Melbourne to have such a friendly atmosphere. In my whole first year-and-a-bit here, I have only met friendly, happy people.

I’ve been in this situation so many times now – heaps of my uni memories are making friends with random people after class. Sometimes I never see them again immediately, but I have run into them months down the track!

2. Don’t put classes between 12 and 2 on Tuesdays/Thursdays

Last year, I had to say no to so many events, like free BBQs, bands (don’t even get me started on missing BABBA) and club meetings. 12-2 on Tuesdays and Thursdays seems to be THE time all these things are organised!

Even when nothing’s on, it’s great to have a break to study during the day! It’s like bonus time to get ahead catch up on those readings and assignments.

3. Play to your strengths when picking subjects, and don’t be afraid to swap

So, despite being an Arts student, after a semester of struggling through a political science subject, I decided that that kind of learning/researching style wasn’t for me, I really need to look at the assessment details when picking my subjects. I can write a lab report with a formula, but when given a broad topic, I get stuck!

It can be really helpful to think of what your strengths are and then pick subjects from that. One of my strengths is definitely anything to do with Psychology. I just love it so much that studying is actually fun – you should have seen how excited I got the other day when my highlighted notes looked so perfect. What a sad life I live during semester, hahaha.

So, two Psych subjects each semester, but four left to choose!

I picked a French subject each semester to put towards a Dip Lang, so that was pretty easy. I wouldn’t say French itself is easy though 😛 good old French 7! It’s very enjoyable however, and I’d love to be fluent. French (I’ve done level 5 and 6 so far) is a good subject to complement other Arts subjects as the assessment is a bit different. It’s quite similar to a high school class in that most of the assessment is a combination of in-class presentations and tests with a project or in-class exam of some sort.

So, I needed one breadth class and one Arts class. For my breadth, I searched up if there were any dance classes, as I’ve enjoyed dancing my whole life. Lo and behold, there’s one at VCA! I’m excited to take that next semester.

For my Arts class, I was actually inspired by the blogging I’ve done, and my dad! I’m taking ‘Creative Nonfiction’ – so basically learning how to write great, creative journalism! I love the blogging style of creatively reporting what’s been happening at uni. My dad was also a journalist and I look up to his work.

As for the swapping subjects part… man, I was changing my enrolment so often during the break. It waas settled by the time semester starts though, after a visit to Stop 1. However, for some of my friends, they have changed subjects a couple of weeks into uni (before the census date, remember!). I thought it was a really good idea my friends had – they actually sat in on a couple of lectures for the subject they were thinking of changing into and then made the change. Uni life hack!

I hope everyone had a great Easter!

Signing off,

Bella