Last time I checked, I wasn’t an Arts student (Gianina)
… so how come my readings consist of German dialectology, The Republic by Plato and some stuff by Aristotle? Not that I’m complaining. The particular part of The Republic that I have to read was surprisingly easy to understand, unlike, say, 90% of my past readings. That aside, I just discovered yesterday how I hate going to Uni during Labour Day (not to mention, the last day of the Moomba festival). Don’t even get me started with the trams at about 10am. Needless to say, I was late for my first class and got home later than usual too as the trains were full of people (even more packed than a weekday 5pm train going out of the city), who I assume are Moomba revellers.
Moving on to non-public transport matters: I had my first ever lecture yesterday for German, and strangely enough there were actually 1st year students there (as that lecture is for both 100 and 200 level German students). The same is true for my Burnley classes too but in a different way – we are a mix of undergrad and postgrad students – which has its advantages and disadvantages. For one, the postgrad students use some terminology that makes me just go ‘huh?’ during discussions. I can’t think of an advantage just now, but maybe I will in the next week or so.
On the whole work/study front, I managed to get shifts for both last Saturday and Sunday leaving me absolutely tired after just week 1. So now I’m actually quite happy that I’ve just gotten one shift a week for the next two weeks (less money, I know) as I don’t know how I could manage to be in Uni for 5 days and be at work for two days for the next 11 weeks and still be able to properly study(not to mention walk). I keep on telling myself during the last few days that I’ve got the rest of my life to work and that I should just enjoy the whole student life for now. Truth be told, this mantra seems to be working, especially during the times that I find myself being greedy. Anyways, my time-management skills will really be put to the test if I decide to go ahead with applying for the Student Ambassador Leadership Program (SALP) and be accepted into it (for past SALPers, are the coordinators quite picky with who they select for the program? Because the SALP website makes it seem so…). I’ll be attending one of the information sessions, and the applications are supposed to be due in less than a couple of weeks’ time. So that’s less than a couple of weeks’ time to decide whether or not SALP is for me…
Last but not the least, apparently I didn’t really missed out much for the Melbourne University Choral Society (MUCS), even though I wasn’t able to attend a couple of rehearsals during the holidays. The music we have to perform is quite technically complicated (to say the least) – Mozart’s Requiem no less. The Dies Irae (I reckon that’s the 3rd piece in the Requiem) is alright but singing the Requiem Aeternam (Introitus + Kyrie) is just out of my league – or at least, the Kyrie bit is. At first try, I got lost halfway through the music sheet and felt really overwhelmed as I completely lost track which bar, nay, which page (!) we were singing. That being said, I sort of redeemed myself on my second try and was able to follow which bar, or at least, which system we were on. This, in itself, is some kind of achievement for me as I have no musical training whatsoever. Heck, I can’t even read notes.
Well, that’s all for now. Coming soon next week: a tute field trip to the cemetery. I wonder how that would turn out…
Re SALP: I think it’s fairly selective in a course like commerce or arts. In my faculty, though, they took anyone with a pulse because no music students ever apply for anything that vaguely resembles leadership (I know, I’ve run student society elections where every position goes uncontested, and then only after begging someone to be Treasurer). In my pre-Melbourne Model year, architecture, land and food resources, vet science, and music took first years, which is probably a sign that it’s relatively easy to get into for students of those faculties, but now that Environments includes lots of other disciplines that would previously have been Arts or Science I think it may be more selective.
Thanks for that, Suzanne. SALP actually takes 1st year Environments students… so I’m guessing that’s a sign that it won’t be so selective. Also, in the application form, the faculties menu doesn’t include ‘Melbourne School of Design’ and since all my subjects save for breadth are under the ABP, I’ll most probably apply under Architecture if ever I do decide to apply… it’s such a shame that the SALP Welcome Day falls on the same weekend as the MUCS camp – I’m really hoping that this would be the only time that there’s a conflict between the two’s activities though.