The First Week of Uni

........That was the most fun I've had learning in my entire life... my spare time is used for doing homework because its fun.... what is going on??

Okay so for me, Uni is awesome. That opinion might change during exams and all but for now I am really excited to get up every day at 5.45 am and get home around 8 pm. I'm currently studying at Melbourne Uni (A.K.A. Hogwarts) and I've finally worked my way out around the school and now only becoming lost very rarely. It helps that they have a Google Map sort of app for the campus.

TIPS AND TRICKS:

Make friends!

My god I cannot stress this enough. If you make a friend or two in all your classes (French tuts I have trois!) it will be all the more enjoyable, and make it easier to get back on track when you're having trouble with an assignment. It also makes those hours of waiting for your next class to be more enjoyable.

Join Clubs!

Okay, okay... I joined four, which seems like a lot... but even if you don't continue with them then at least you have an opportunity to. I've got one that I won't being doing anything with until next year because they prefer people with at least one year experience with their course. Another one is a social thing, so every other week (making more friends!), one is helping out the community and another is keeping my French Horn playing up to scratch in an orchestra. Clubs are a great way to make friends, extend your boundaries, and just have some chill out time! 

Know the Layout of the Land!

You're going to get lost, a lot. Keep up that Google Maps app, take photos of every map you see, plan out a series of directions for you to follow and ask for directions! There's no shame in that, everyone has the same problem. Give it maybe a week or so and you'll know your way around fine.

Keep up to Date!

So yeah, it's easy the first week, but after that the homework and assignments is going to start piling up. Get on top of it while you can. With my Foundations of Computing subject I'm already a week or so ahead, mainly because I enjoy it so much haha. That leaves time to do the essay thingy for Engineering, the couple of half finished questions for maths, and that journal I have to keep writing for French. You might have plenty of time in between classes, I know I do, so use that as relaxation and study, or both, depending on how much you like the topics.

READ ALL YOUR EMAILS ALL OF THE TIME! It's honestly the only way anyone will ever contact you, and they do it all of the time... 

Gear!

Grab a bag, either some cool looking big messenger bag or a backpack, you'll need it to carry the days worth of stuff you have a log around. 

Bring an exercise book per class at least, mainly for writing notes. You're more likely to look at the lexicon of notes you made in a book rather than a laptop. 

If you have a laptop, bring it. Everything is online these days, and lecturers and tutors will expect you to have access. It's extremely hard to grab a computer in the libararies, trust me on that one. Even if its some slow laptop or iPad your high school gave you as part of that education scheme, bring it! Even a phone will do but a laptop is better.

Or a sandwich grill......

And use some common sense: a computer subject will need a computer, a folio sort of subject will need a folio. 

Textbooks you may as well hold off for the first week, just to make sure the lecturer actually wants to use them rather than have them buried away and never used. My maths lecturer had all these books filled with notes for us to buy. Turns out they're his slides for his presentations, and you can get them online for free through the Uni's student portal. 

Unless you're rich, bring some food with you, and leave your spare change for that much needed coffee or hot chocolate. You will go through a great deal of money if you buy your lunch everyday. Pack a water bottle as well, but most places will have a drink tap if you need it.

Bring money, you don't want to be stuck somewhere with no cash, especially if your myki money runs out in the city.

Running late?

Some classes, mainly lectures, do not care if you don't turn up. Sometimes the lectures are recorded so you can go check them out in your own time, but don't rely on them because sometimes the quality is terrible, especially if your math teacher thinks he knows everything about computers and then uses the one projector out of two that doesn't record footage.

Other classes, e.g. tuts and workshops, will require you to be there to pass. French for example is only tuts, and you need an attendance of 75%, or 17 out of 24 classes. Some like engineering workshops will not give you a mark for the session if you are over 15 mins late, because it is all teamwork and you can not be carried by your team. It's best to be on time and show up for everything, because you don't want to fall behind. But if you reallyyyy want to miss a class, pick one you know you can skip and still gather all the information for later. 

Other:

Watch your stuff. There's so many people on campus that it's just naive to think they're all honest. Just always keep everything on you, especially if you're in a city. Hate to say it but yeah, it needs to be said. You're not just in a safe school environment anymore, you're in real life! Out in the big real world! (As scary as that is...)

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That's it for my tips gathered from my first week! Stay calm, enjoy yourself and it'll be the best 3 to 7 years of your life...maybe... I think it will be for me haha

BECAUSE YOU GET TO LEARN STUFF YOU ACTUALLY CARE ABOUT!

And my Computer programming worksheets mention Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones and cool stuff like that in it hehe

Well I hope everyone enjoyed their first week at Uni! 

- Michelle