Well it seems as if my last post came up as if I said it all in one huge breath!
Really tired, but just leaving a note to say how much more I am enjoying second year...so to all you first years out there..it really is true that second year can be much better than first year. Just LEARN from past experiences!!!
I now have uni friends as well as college friends, always find time to exercise, study, have fun and socialise.
The balance in life I want is still slowly creeping towards me, and I am loving it every step of the way.
Will write a proper entry when I am more awake!
Lara.
PS- Bring on water polo at FINA 2007!!!!! And good luck to all the Killer Whales and Lions players who made the teams, represent!
The last few days have been a whirl of activities, too much healthy food, assignments, networking, tests, not sleeping and negotiating [arguing] with companies.
Absolute fun!
It is kind of difficult at times though...I can't wait for the day I get a P.A. who can handle my schedule!
Highlights of the week have been:
*Credit Suisse information session - I have to say I was really impressed with their firm representatives, and a lovely lady [with a gorgeous Louis Vuitton handbag!] spent a great deal of her time talking with me which I really appreciated. The company as a whole really seemed like a place I could imagine myself working at....but of course we'll just have to see what happens.
*Negotiating with my computer company. They did a very minor screw up on my new computer and so after a wonderful discussion [easier to break than Motorola] I am getting some free stuff from them :-)
*Talking to friends -shoutouts to PXW and his lovely friends I chatted with outside the Ballieu the other day, along with my gorgeous friends S. and JS....I have also made a really nice new friend this semester, JL, who is really friendly which is cool. We talk over our notes for PBL together and actually HELP each other. Uni is so competitive that it is very rare you find someone who will be willing to speak honestly with you about a subject.
*Receiving an invitation to PXW's 21st Birthday Party at one of the most exclusive and sophisticated clubs in town....Moral Decay it will definitely be darling!!!!!!! Have to figure out my outfit; the theme is 1930s/mafia style/cocktail!!!! Wonderful, just wonderful!
Of course amongst all these fun things there have been a few tougher elements. Namely being my high levels of energy which are preventing me from sleeping. On holidays I am fine, but when I am at uni I have major issues sleeping because I just have so much to think about! I plan on sleeping as much as I can before my life of IB starts thank you very much!!! So have been working on that with some more exercise; namely swimming and walking.
I also had a major assignment issue last night. To cut it short, I submitted [the physical copy] of an assignment a day early for Organisational Behaviour then had super big issues in regards to submitting it for plagiarism analysis online yesterday [despite having submitted a test draft online the day before] consequently I feared I would lose 5% of my total mark for the subject as a whole which had me in majorrrr stress out last night. However I emailed my tutor and spoke to my lecturer this morning and supposedly I'll know on Monday what is going to happen, but the worst case scenario as told by lecturer Scott Seibert is that I supposedly will lose half a mark on the assignment.
Now when you're trying to achieve an H1 average that could still mean a lot but I'm not stressing right now. You just have to move on and focus [had a test for law 9am this morning so couldn't afford to wake up this morning worrying]. The fact of the matter is that no matter what, this assignment will not determine the final outcome; proof being that last semester I received a crap mark on a group assignment for BPA.....[I've ranted on group assignments before], but anyways - the fact of the matter was that I came out of that subject in the end being one of the top students due to my exam mark. So I think the main thing is to never give up in yourself or your abilities. Sometimes circumstances will force you into less than perfect situations....but the best thing to do is to make some lemonade.
Perhaps I am getting a bit too philosophical here....but...I really think the key to life is to expect reality, but to never give up on your dreams.
My Father taught me from a young age that the biggest failure one can make in life is to be too afraid to try.
The concept of 'impossibility' is merely a human-created idea; its purpose being to control and constrain...
If you think about it, 500 years ago the computers, internet, mobile phones - they would have seemed impossible, and yet they were not.
So to anyone reading this, I hope you make the most of everything - your comfort zone is your worst enemy! Don't be afraid to follow your dreams. Just imagine how cool it would be to achieve what someone else may have deemed impossible?
-Sophie
Here are some chicken soup for the souls of the 2nd yrs.
I ask not for a lighter burden, but for broader shoulders. __ Jewish Proverb
>>We must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey. _ Kenji Miyazawa
>Smooth sea do not make skillful sailors _ African Proverb
>We find comfort among those who agree with us - growth among those who don't. _ Frank A. Clark
>May you get what you wish for. _ Old Chinese Curse
Sorry, due to poor time managment and a busy workload, i was not able to blog.
The new first yr blog did cheer me up, there are so many entries it seems they have so much time.
A warning: try to keep up to date with everything.
Ok, I just remembered about this today, a little later than planned. Keep it short so I can do my assignments. Also note I'm really lacking sleep at this moment. (Also why I want to keep this quick.)
Next week is 'Green Week', I'm supposed to be helping out next Thursday as now I'm part of the Climate Change Collective. There's gonna be workshops, talks by people in the know, movie screenings and other various activities. (See appendix below). My problem is that I've got to try to get the second hand laptop in for repairs under the warranty that came with it, and that Thursday is a very suitable day for me to try to get it picked up. (It was refurbished.) (EDIT): The Climate Change Collectives main aim is to convince the university to switch to 100% clean energy rather than the 5% of which they have at the moment. It's just a very sensible bit of foresight for an institution that should be making decisions to benefit mankind in the long run.
I've also joined attended two sessions for the students playing go, and although I've only lost so far, I'm starting to get a little addicted. Too bad I can only go to one of the four hours they play for per week.
Not surprisingly, I'm feeling a little cramped for time after going home in the country for the weekend to bring some stuff to Melbourne from home, such as my bike. While I was down there I went to the local market and got quite a variety of vegies and fruit, and unexpectedly bumped into a friend from highschool. (But also at Melb Uni). We had a short chat but both had things to do so planned to catch up another time in Melbourne.
Still gotta put that bike together and get a lock as well.
Looking very, very foward to seeing Symbiosis, a 'Gyp-Hop Reggae-Rock' group at the Corner Hotel this Saturday 17th! Haven't seen them for ages and they are releasing their new single as well. Symbiosis has one of the best vibes I've ever seen for a live band, and once there can't help but dance like crazy. Yey!
Man do I need some sleep! Get some after the homework. Saturday morning sounds like a good sleeping time, darn, three more nights to go!
Appendix
GREEN WEEK - a week of sustainable living at uni
MONDAY 19TH MARCH
CONSERVATION PRESENTATION
Presentation by Ray Thomas about the award-winning conservation work in
the Box-Ironbark district of Lurg near Benalla. Come and find out
about how you can be directly involved in helping endangered species
such as the Regent Honeyeater and Sugar and Squirrel Gliders.
1-2pm – Engineering E2 Theatre
SCREENING OF Al GORE’S ‘AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH’
North Court 2-4pm (Also screening Thursday and Friday 12-4pm in North
Court)
TUESDAY 20TH MARCH
SUSTAINABLE LIVING WORKSHOPS AND DISPLAYS
Concrete Lawns 1-3pm.
Displays and workshops on:
-Paper making -Worm farms/Compost
-Green cleaning -DIY Clothing and maintenance
DR. GRANT BLASHKI PRESENTS THE AUSTRALIAN VERSION OF 'AN INCONVENIENT
TRUTH'
Dr. Blashki was trained by Al Gore last year to give a presentation on
climate change.
4pm, Theatre 103 (eZone) in the Architecture Building.
WEDNESDAY 21ST MARCH
1day campaign – make your carbon footprint as small as you can for this
one day—avoid hot water and cooking, the computer, TV, lighting etc.
RIDE TO UNI DAY
Free fresh ’Ride to Uni’ breakfast for anyone who walks, rides or
catches public transport to uni. 8am-10am North Court
MOVIE SCREENING
Postgraduate Environment Network film screening of Princess Mononoke
6.00pm, Gryphon gallery in 1888 building. Free including drinks and nibbles.
THURSDAY 22ND MARCH
CLIMATE CHANGE – WHAT YOU CAN DO
Philip Sutton founder and Director-Strategy for Green Innovations, a
non-profit environmental strategy think tank and advisory organization,
gives a talk about what we, as students, and the university as an
institution can do about climate change.
1-2pm Microbiology Harold Woodruff Theatre
After the talk - do you want Melbourne Uni to switch to green energy?
Show your support by signing the petition and picking up your free badge
and information.
FRIDAY 23RD MARCH
FREE GREEN MARKET
Bring your unwanted clothes, seedlings, shoes, random household items,
cookies…and swap them for something else: NO $$ allowed!
Also—DIY clothes fixing workshop
McFarlane Court (opposite Wilson Hall) 10am to 4pm.
‘AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH’ SCREENING
Screening of Al Gore’s ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ in Undergrad A room (2nd
floor, Union House) 5pm.
Ah!!!!!! I am actually not going to elaborate on the effusive title of this post, as she may be reading this as she goes to this uni. She is always one step ahead and totally undeserving.. gah! But she really is the bane of my existence, and I just had to get that little fact off my chest.
On to happier things.
My Dad and I seem to be having major disagreements currently about what is important in my life (funny that it is in fact MINE rather than HIS). Every time I mention an audition or a meeting with an agent or a drama class, he pulls a face and makes some comment about me wasting my time or having messed up priorities. Finishing this Arts degree and doing well are big priorities, especially now that I'm in a clearer head-space to actually get work done. But acting is what I love and what I will eventually do for the rest of my life - the groundwork I put in now simply determines the scope and 'big-ness' of my career. So, balancing everything.. it pretty much follows that mediocrity is the outcome of listening to my parents. The only outcome. If I don't listen to my parents and do exactly as I see fit, there is still a chance of mediocrity but there is also a chance of something wonderful. It's kind of like Pascal's Wager for actors. So the obvious choice is to listen to myself and what I want.
But this is a very big task, because it practically entails telling my parents in nicer language to "leave me alone and find someone else to boss around, I can handle myself dammit, I'm 19 years old, go away, I believe in myself even if you don't, grrr, et cetera!!!". Much nicer language, but you understand the sentiments and the overwhelming underlying frustration. On Saturday, I have an audition for The Importance of Being Earnest.. one of my favourite plays. It wouldn't kill my parents to cheer me on for once, rather than carry on about all the 'normal' things that I'm not doing. No, I don't particularly want my license right now, but I do want an agent.
Enough ranting, I've just had a rather rubbishy day.
Or not. My academic year has heralded by a few false starts - during first week, I got the idea that I wanted to take leave for a semester to get my head straight. No such luck. I'm not exactly sure what the technicality was, but I wasn't allowed. Then I had to change my subjects no less than three times to avoid major clashes. Then came the fun part - me realising I couldn't access the LMS because I had a student loan outstanding that I had completely forgotten about. Oops. Nothing really has gone to plan, and in times gone by I would be sobbing to my boyfriend/teddy bear/a bar of chocolate, telling them how nothing was fair and the world is against me, et cetera. But strangely enough, not being able to take a semester off to clear my head is actually making me work harder to make myself feel alright enough to survive this.
I moved house! Getting out of the hell-hole was bliss beyond bliss - I now own a fridge that actually keeps food cold! I also have a bedroom big enough to swing a cat in, a balcony with flowers and every herb you could think of, a window that I can open (!) and many other cool things. And there is the huge bonus of living with one person I actually like, as opposed to 9 people who could otherwise be referred to as the scum of the universe. There is a possum that lives in the trees outside my balcony, and she comes and taps on the window around 11pm every night. She is so adorable; I feed her weetbix and apricots every night, and she eats them right out of my hand.
So, the subjects for this semester, finalised for the final time: The Philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein, Introduction to Hollywood and Art Cinema, Literary Classics and Shakespearean Worlds. It is a little less than interesting studying Shakespeare in two subjects at the moment, having studied him and his works for the last 5 or so years of my life. The big downside to having previously been an English, Literature, Drama and Theatre Studies student is that you simply get Bard-Overload. It's inescapable, but I suppose there could be worse things to have crammed into your skull ad nauseum.
One bad thing: UNEMPLOYED! Ahhhhhhh..! 'Tis tragedy itself! When Myer hired me, they promised me wholeheartedly that 80% of Christmas casuals stayed on throughout the following year. But with the change of management, it was not to be - my department was only allowed to hire 1 person for the rest of the year, and out of the 20 or so people who were new to my department, it was simply not me. So I'm on the prowl once more, pounding pavement, spamming resumes and being oh-so-smiley and oh-so-polite, enthusiastic, outgoing and all those other things they want me to be. Luckily, I have two interviews - one for a new parenting department store, one for a luggage shop. What joy. What I am really looking for is a job in a cinema, an art gallery or a theatre... words could not express how much I would enjoy that. I'll just keep my fingers crossed and my cynicism firmly in my pocket!
University seems just as unfriendly as it did last year, but I suppose I am not quite so filled with the "Like me, please like me or I'll just die!" attitude I had last year. My Mum was talking to me last night and she told me why she thought I had so many issues with making friends. According to her, I am incredibly discerning and picky - it takes me a long time, and in the end I have very few friends to show for my efforts, but they are fabulously wonderful and are the type of people I will be friends with forever. Hopefully she's right.
This post is tending to be more informative than sentimental or well-written - unfortunately, everything is being filtered through a bad headache. So I'll leave it.
I hope everybody is having a great first couple of weeks and doing well, it's great to be on board for 2007!
xxxx Johanna
Dear Mr Bracks (or Steve, if we're feeling informal);
How's the state going? Still looking into things? Good to hear. I'm looking into things too right now, more specifically the armpit of the person standing next to me on the train. Look, I know you're a busy man. We all are (except, naturally, the women). But, quite frankly, things are starting to teeter a little bit for you and so I decided that despite all the things you've got going on at the moment, you would benefit from a few hundred words of my wise counsel. Yes, I know that you don't have much spare time at the moment whilst trying to stop the state from running out of water by the minute but you haven't done anything about that for the last eight years you've been in power so I guess another three minutes won't hurt.
One of the issues that I wanted to raise with you was that of the portfolio of Transport. Now, I know that Mr.Batchelor probably wasn't the best launching platform from which to pick a new candidate - he has presumably gone on to a career selling used cars, a career whose prospects were no doubt enhanced by the fact that he ran a crap public transport system - and I have no doubt that your selection process was rigorous and the candidates many and capable. (Don't you like the fact that a man with the unfortunate name of Batchelor possessed the sort of facial hair that would render most men to exactly that status for the rest of their lives?). It is, after all, a difficult and important portfolio, Transport, which involves not just building lots of new tollways and bike lanes and staring out the window but also moving hundreds of thousands of people around the state on transport that is not their own (though I think your chauffered, government-provided car comes under the jurisdiction of another portfolio). In short, whoever is in charge of transport controls the practicality and mobility of an enormous number of people in the state who are dependant upon trams, trains, buses and bicycles to move around this wonderful locality of ours. Be it far from my place to make this call, Mr.Bracks, but I think that quite possibly, when it came to Ms.Kosky, I think the monkey may have picked a rotten banana for All Victorians.
I don't know if you're really aware of some of the comments Ms.Kosky made a few weeks ago, but she did happen to mention somewhere along the line that she "didn't want to run a train system". Maybe I just misread the whole Connex thing (Suggested Slogan: Ha-Ha) as a mere blip and you really do want to piss off all the public transport users for good, but do you think that this possibly makes her a less than ideal candidate, for the TRANSPORT portfolio? Perhaps Ms.Kosky would be far better off in the water portfolio, where she could quite successfully not manage the water issue for the next three years and no-one would notice any departure from current policy. I don't know about you, Steve, but when I am dependant upon a train system, I would quite like for the person at the head of that train system, to hold at least a passing interest in running that train system. It's a bit like recruiting Andrew Bolt as the head of the Communist Party, or Alexander Downer to handle foreign affairs. (Hang on! You're telling me we've done WHAT?!!?)...
I also see that you're copping a bit of a hiding from BOTH papers, the Brain-Unfriendly-Little-Paper and Public-Transport-Unfriendly-Big-Paper over the whole agreement with the Police Association thingamy. People seem to think that it was a secret, underhand deal that was really only done in order to re-elect your government with the public backing of Victoria's police who bullied you into signing it on threat of loss of public support. Look, you and I both know what really went on. It wasn't a secret, underhand deal. It was just one of those open, honest, public and fair deals which no-one knew about and no-one got told about and no-one was very happy with, and no-one knew about it until someone blew your cover and then of course you had to tell everyone. It was one of THOSE sort of fair, open-minded deals. Let's refer to it as the John-Howard-Ron-Walker-Nuclear-Power-Style deal.
Above all, Mr.Bracks, I can assure you of my unconditional support at the next election. I know that I can assure you of my unconditional support because no matter what the hell you do to stuff up our state (declare public transport illegal, launch enormous mudslinging contest to try and win state elections, hand over control of state treasury to the Sicilian Mafia, run completely out of fresh drinking water etc etc) I am such a dedicated lefty that I would rather kiss every member of the Transition department (men and women, lots of tongue) than vote for any party which contains Robert Doyle. This means that no matter how conservative and indecisive you become, I will still give your party preference over the Liberals. Wasn't there meant to be a left-wing party with some hope in Hades of getting in that I could vote for? Didn't the Labor Party used to stand for fairness and openness in government? You make me so frustrated I could hit something! Much like those Siemens trains when the brakes didn't work.
Yours truly, smellily, frustratedly and lately,
Jez.
Aloha,Pretty cool that we still get to share our experiences of second year!!!O week was fun; I strongly recommend being a host to everyone. It was also extra good for me because I now know my "new peers" seeing as I am only doing my first semester of first year now. Also, there's another person at Whitley this year that does Animal Science too, so that is pretty cool!! Moving back into college and unpacking only took me 2 hours, and I’m liking my new room and neighbours :) First week back at uni was pretty smooth. I was quite nervous about starting first semester again on Sunday night, but I guess it has all worked out fine so far. The new freshers at college are awesome, met lots of them and still have 489654985694385 people left to meet!! Ahhhh!! Also, the food this year is seeming to be much better and fresher than last year: fresher food, fresher people, freshers, fresh year....fresh college!!! (Don’t you hate it how words sound so stupid when they are repeated several times.......)Water polo starts back soon, looking forward to that and have been doing plenty of exercise leading up to it so I don't die, haha. Also EXTREMELY PUMPED for the FINA World Championships this month!!! My friend who I used to play water polo with is on the women's team, and I also know a guy in the men's team....how awesome!On Thursday it was Joe's 21st Birthday, so at 6am I caught a tram to his street and wrote all over the sidewalk in front of his house with chalk...not to mention the skin off my knuckles!!! It was funny seeing all the people giving me weird looks, and how many people from college knew about it/saw it, but hey, he seemed to have been very pleased by it when he sent me a message after waking up and discovering it a few hours later!! Hehehe :DYesterday I surprised myself, well, my-Sunday-self; I just walked into my room, sat down, and buried my face in my books for about 4 hours straight! Gosh!!!!!! But it all paid off- I went to a group of ex-ressi's house for a bbq and drinks, then we all headed out to Puggs which was a pretty good night.Anyways, believe it or not I am off to do more bio and maths work, will write more next time!Lara
Well...I am back to my second week of classes.
I am finally starting to slowly settle back in. It has been difficult and the whole routine has been something of a shock to the system.
Despite the fact my vacation was anything but quiet, the atmosphere of University is so intense and the time I spend traveling from home to Uni and back is tiresome and draining.
The administration problems I had to sort out over the first week are finally settled, after numerous trips to faculty offices and determined negotiation efforts. My timetable is how I wanted it. 4 days a week, classes finished by 12 or 1pm....and then extra-curricuar/work in the afternoons.
For those who don't know, I am also starting a position with the Disability Liason Unit at the University in which I act as an Academic Support Worker. I will be doing things like taking notes for students in lectures. My first 'booking' is today and I am really really nervous. It is a 2 hour lecture in a faculty not Commerce-related so I am worried about how I will go in note-taking for an entirely different discipline. In addition to this the timing of the booking is very late in the afternoon and completely non-conducive to my morning timetable schedule. I am not sure how this will all work out but I will report back. I just hope the students I have to work with are friendly and understanding.
Over the past week I have managed to meet some new students which is great. The Political Interest Society has had some amazing turnouts at events which has been wonderful! Typically, being the type of club we are, we don't exactly attract the mainstream. Generally our weekly meetings have about 20 regulars attendees. Last week we had at least 40! Very exciting indeed. Mind you, I guess not everyone will be back.
One of our events we ran was an evening with renowned Islamic Commentator and Melbourne Lawyer, Waleed Aly. ABSOLUTELY AMAZING AND INTELLECTUALLY STIMULATING! It was so wonderful. Waleed was so down to earth and easy going, yet clearly a very deep thinker and extraordinarily intelligent. He discussed "The Clash of Civilisations" in regards to recent world events involving the Western World and the Islamic World....and national events such as the Cronulla Riots and comments made by the 'Mufti of Australia'. It made me think about so many things, and if anything, gave me a greater understanding of Muslims and Islam. The night began with his speech and thoughts, was then followed by wonderful Lebanese food we had catered in YUM, and then ended with questions and discussion. Fabulous! If you ever get the chance to hear Waleed speak, please go. I recommend it 100%!
Completely changing the topic, I just had to laugh at myself. While writing this I am starting to revert back to Microsoft Excel commands. I was up very late last night finishing off an important report that I knew I would never get time to finish during the week. I am a bit tired today consequently. But, so it goes.
My subjects are going okay.
Principles of Business Law [PBL] seems pretty good though I think I am glad I chose not to do a double degree of Law/Commerce.
Some people think I'm crazy when I say I chose straight Commerce but I chose straight Commerce for a number of different reasons; namely because I know what I want to do, I want to be able to focus on that, I don't want to spend 5 years at uni [half studying a degree i don't want to practice], I don't want to be forced to take more law than commerce subjects [particularly when i want a double accounting/finance major], and despite what 'everyone' says; i don't believe having a double degree will win me the job- ultimately I believe it will come down to who I am as a person and prior work experience AND overall, I know I will be ready to get out there and work at the end of 3 years, unlike some students I don't need an extra 2 years to 'mature'. I don't have time to elaborate more but I can easily spent 20 minutes justifying my degree choice to anyone interested! Lol.
Going off course there...Intermediate Micro is hard. I am not a Micro person. I am a Macro person. But I spoke to a few Honours students who unrecommended that Micro will help me mathematically/formula-wise....plus it helps to have a boyfriend who explains things for you in ways that make sense. No...X and Ys do not exist to me. Instead we talk about the Indifference Curve of Ice cream to JellyBellies. Works well because it keeps my attention!
Intermediate Financial Accounting - well, I am not an Accountant. Theory to me is wonderful. I am a theory person. But number crunching I hate with a passion. Thank god the first 3 weeks are theory. However I did almost die when the lecturer said he received an email of someone asking "when do we start practical exercises?!??!" NO I DON'T WANT PRACTICAL EXERCISES! Throw the theory at me, the philosophy, the rules and regulations but do not make me debit and credit. Luckily - thank god- I have joined and IFA 'PASS class' which a girl I know from 85 Broads, is running. She is a lovely girl and very smart so I am 100% sure these classes will help me conquer this subject. I had my first PASS class today and it was awesome. We discussed stuff and she gave us mini quizzes and it helped cement so much knowledge. Plus it is a great way to meet new people :-)
Last but not least, Organizational Behavior. I typically enjoy Management subjects, possibly because in my spare time I study a lot of Management theory [please don't call me a geek - i get paid to do it!]. Anyhow...I like how Management is a social science and very subjective with no easy answers. That kind of stuff works well in my mind. The Head Tutor is my tutorial leader so that is wonderful. She is a very cool, energetic Type A personality. I also have a friend in this tutorial class. Unfortunately 40% of the subject accounts for group work - hence I negotiated my way into my friends class! Group work is the one major evil of university. They set it because they think 'team work' is an important skill for business. Correct - yes. BUT....we bring in some agency theory here. Every university student has different aims and motives. More often than not, these are likely to be conflicting. Hence in the case of group work, more often than not it is very very difficult to manage a group successfully unless you all have similar aims and motives [E.g. all want H1s]. Last year I got screwed over dramatically in one of my group assignments due to a complete lack of alignment in individual values.
In complete opposition to this, typically companies try to 'best fit' individuals within their firms; hence creating teams of people with similar overall life philosophies...and of course a 'job' is different to 'uni' because the consequences of screwing up at work are much more severe than at uni.
Anyways...I could almost write an essay on this but on the whole I think group work at uni is a joke because unless you are incredibly lucky you will get stuck with a group of people who either a) don't care about their mark for the subject and are happy for an average mark b) don't want to do any work at all c) don't know how to write with proper English and grammar [and i am talking domestic students included!], or d) all of the above.
So...you can't get idealistic. What happens more often or not is that the high performing student says "Fuck you all, I refuse to let you ruin my mark for this subject so I will do all the work myself and pass it off as a 'group assignment".
So yeah...at least I have my friend in OB to help me out in the assignment if no one else does.
Peer Mentoring starts tomorrow. I am quite excited. It should be fun. My Mentor Partner, G, seems like a pretty nice guy [and he has started coming to PIS events so that gives him points in my book!]. Our group is of about 10 people and we have met some of them so far as they seem like pretty cool students. I hope it all works out well.
My funny moment today was that I experienced a "Jezzy". In other words a "Jez moment"....in which one can't walk 10 metres without seeing at least, i repeat AT LEAST, 4 people one knows that one must stop to talk to, hence delaying advancement to ultimate location by 15 minutes.
And funnily enough, amongst those I saw in my Jezzy was none other than Jeremy himself, along with his girlfriend Kim!
I also ran into an old friend from High School who was 1 year younger than me. We had 3/4 Methods together and us along with another girl [also a year younger than me] would joke around and laugh a LOT while trying to learn at the extreme pace that maths at MacRob takes. They were good times. It turns out that her and my other old friend both made it into Med at Melbourne so I was thrilled for them! They worked so hard and truly deserved it.
Anyways...
I have to go now. I need to do SOME work before I head off to my note-taking class.
Things have changed so much this year, I feel older and wiser, and last year was one of the biggest [and best] years of my life. I only hope I can top it with this one. I am about to start applying for internships and that is a nerve-racking process. I am aiming for the best of the best....but all I can do is my best, and hope that maybe that will be enough.
No matter what though, some things still stay the same - I'm still the same person I ever was, with many of the same friends....and J is still there keeping me company - despite being extraordinarily busy at the fund management firm he now works at.
Best of luck everyone for the year,
I hope you follow some of your dreams, and manage to achieve at least one of them!
Sophie
The title is meant to be pronounced as "blaah-graah-gugh". I think it about sums up my last couple of weeks. Other words that may be used could include "challenging", "stressful", "stimulating" and "tear-inducing". The last one might be untrue; I can't remember if I cried (when I heard about his widowed bride, but something touched me deep inside they day the music died) or not. But it is entirely possible considering the stomach-churning pressure I was under through January.
However, I've decided not to dwell on the negatives too much. Instead of boring you all with meticulous, melodramatic descriptions of my horror month, I'll explain rather more positively where I have ended up. I am still living with two of my original housemates who I had planned to move out with months ago. This almost didn't happen. We've added an extra person to our crew and started renting a place in Parkville, only a few minutes from a tram stop and a 15 minute tram ride into the middle of the CBD. We've got a beautiful, big house (not intended to be a student house by any means) and a massive park in front of us. We've bought furniture, appliances and started to get settled into the place and each other after such a long time of living apart / getting angry / almost killing each other during our search for a property. It is a miracle that we offered the lease for ANY property, let alone something as good as what we got. Of course, now is not the time for me to mention that our agent is hardly on top of my Christmas card list and that I lived alone in the house for more than four days without power. I'm going to stick to the positives :)
Going back to Sydney was a great experience, and I can happily say that when I came back here, I felt like I was home. The first time I got back from Sydney in July 06 I was a little all over the place; things had happened in my friendship group, I wasn't feeling particularly confident about my decision and my parents and family reminded me how much I missed them. But this time, I felt like I was just on a holiday. Melbourne is really my home, and my family and friends, as much as I miss them, are only a part of who I am now. I've grown and matured so much in the last year, much like a good cheese, and yellowed a little too. Seriously though, I feel like I am taking steps to actually becoming an adult.
I had a pretty good O-Week, though to be honest, I found it a little difficult to be interested in a lot of the Law first years. People who know me well can attest to the fact that I'm often a dismissive bastard, but I felt, quite ironically, that I was perhaps also being judged by some of these 99.95 ENTER Wesley-McRob-Melbourne-Scotch kids. I think they just need a little time to realise that where they received their secondary education and what their ENTER was won't actually have any effect on how they perform at University. I was much more willing to judge on the basis of music taste and career aspirations (far too many potential corporate lawyers at our Law School if you ask me). With that said, I've also met a lot of nice, genuine people who are more interested in just money, prestige and high schools. We'll see how that pans out in a couple of months time.
I've got another few entries to splurge on soon, but for now, I'm going to go sit in the sun with my new sexy laptop and relax. Welcome back my fellow bloggers - good to see you all still writing - and I'll be writing again soon.
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