Last day of undergrad (hopefully)

So today, I had what should be my last proper day of undergrad uni.

And what a glorious day it was. So sunny, and full of vibrance and stuff.

I should be going back next year for post grad, but I'd just like to take this moment to reflect, think, ponder, and ruminate, amongst other things, as this kind of feels like the end of uni. We'll see where my fancy takes me.

First and foremost, I've found that uni has been an extremely rewarding and amazing experience. On many levels. I'll get to that in a second.

People often ask me, 'Did you enjoy high school more, or do you like uni more?' And I've always said that they're different. And they are. They both have pros and cons. The first example I can come up with off the top of my head is friendships. At high school, friends just happened. There wasn't really any special effort required. You usually just clicked.

This got a lot harder at uni. Especially with girls. Many of them seem to have a sort of barrier, whether conscious or subconscious, which gives off the vibe that they don't want to talk to you. It's not just girls, but happens more with girls. I guess it's a consequence of growing up into a young adult. Many just think they're too cool for other people.

In conclusion, friends are a lot harder to make at uni. But as a consequence, many of the ones that you do make there are truly fantastic people.

Which brings me nicely to the point that I said I'd discuss - why uni was so amazing.

I made great friends. Truly fantastic human beings. However, as importantly, or perhaps more so, my friendships with a lot of my good friends from high school grew stronger. While these two groups of friends are different, they're both very important to me, and lay deep within my heart. Or something like that.

Awwww.

Anyway. Next point. It's opened my eyes. I've seen a lot of people. Good people. But mostly, I've learned about really weird and downright just nasty, unpleasant people. Unreasonable people. If you've been following this blog over the years, you'll probably have an inkling of what I'm on about here.

The education side of uni was a bit meh. I just find it a little bit ridiculous how units so diverse and different can all follow the same format of a lecture and a tutorial. Sometimes, I don't think that's the best way to teach. I think it's probably the easiest, but easy isn't always good. At least not for the recipients.

I also enjoyed the opportunities to improve myself at Monash. Leaders Program, Ambassadors Program, were great. Met so many good friends through the Ambassador's Program.

Things that I enjoyed the most. Random collection of memories can come at a later date. Right now, you can have a random selection of things that I enjoyed.

I enjoyed having coffee with friends during random breaks. A token uni experience.

Random wanderings with friends.

Bumping into friends, and stopping to chat for 15 minutes, despite already being late for class.

Hanging in the Law Library for the first couple of years.

Sitting on the grass on a sunny day (such as today) with friends. Or even by myself.

Making great friends in the most random of circumstances e.g. Zara and I. Don't know how we became friends. But there you go.

Having a social life. I didn't really have one in high school. Yes, Melbourne High. We kicked out all the white people, and now the entire school lacks a social life. Or something along those lines. Look for a post about that whole kerfuffle soonish.

Three-hour long breaks. Another quintessential uni experience.

Not having to wear school uniform. I miss it occasionally, but then those thoughts get crushed after I remember how bad it was wearing that stupid blazer, or having to carry it in my bag, when it was mildly warm, and I was carrying my sax and clarinet.

I think I'll do things that I found bad in the next one. So, next up will be: bad things, random collection of momentous memories, and The Age Melbourne High School article.

Toodles for now.

Word of the Day: Undergrad

Trapped in a vortex of terror

The wind swirled around him, turning him left, right, in every direction. Turning him in directions he didn't even know existed. The howling grew louder. Louder. And still louder.

Then, suddenly, inexplicably, it stopped. And yet, he could not escape. For there he was, stuck in a vortex. A vortex of pure terror and fear. For which man can carry the burden of...

5 billion assessments in one week?! Muahahahahahahhaha.

-------------------------------------------------------

The events that occur in the story above reflect my life quite nicely at the moment (I wonder why). I, like the protagonist, have been, yet again, blasted by gale force winds at Monash, and for a change, elsewhere as well.

Also, I have about 5 billion assessments due in the next week.

And I am confused. By many things. Just like the protagonist in the story.

Unlike him, however, I got eaten, chewed up, digested and spewed up by the French test today. Absolutely screwed over. Should probably study next time/learn stuff.

Word of the Day: Vortex

It's been a while

Hey friends. Long time no see. A lot has happened in the 3 months (I think) since I blogged. To put that in to perspective, that's a quarter of a year. It's a long time. Basically, this blog will just sum up all the stuff that's happened so that I can get on to some actual stuff of interest.

So after our interesting journey to Harbin, we came back to GZ. Then we took off to Macau. I'm not going to go in to much detail there, because it's Macau, and frankly, it wasn't that interesting. We went there for a day, we didn't gamble, we went to a swanky hotel, had Boost there (we met an Australian lady there) and ate some Fat Burgers. Later on, we went to a place were they sold pork burgers and were my dad claimed he and Michelle got food-poisoned. Photos will be up on my Flickr page.

So after coming back to GZ yet again, we left to return to Australia. There were many tearful farewells, due to the fact that Carmen, my cousin/aunty (caunty? ausin?) was coming with us to study in Oz. Pretty much everyone cried, due to various reasons. But, I'm a man, and everybody knows that men don't cry. They can't afford to.

So yeah, back in Australia, we realised how lucky we were to be living in somewhere clean, mostly thief-free and just generally nice.

So yeah, birthday party on the 1st of February, 2008. The big one-eight. Basically, not that much to say. Like, basically everybody who reads this blog attended, plus others who don't. Just some thank-yous to be expressed to the people who attended the small humble get-together and thank-you for the gifts. Sorry to those who couldn't come. I tried.

2nd of February was my real birthday. So me and my family, and family friend, went out to dinner. While there, who did I see but Mr. Stalker himself...I mean, Banh. Again. Twice in two days. It was good though. Actually seeing a friend on my birthday. Anyway, dinner was good, along with Banh wishing me happy birthday. An enjoyable day, all in all. Must visit the casino when I get the chance.

Then uni. I'm doing Arts/Commerce, by the way. At Monash, Clayton. Enrolment was terrible. Like, no friends, had to find my way around the freaking place, all that jazz. Orientation was pretty cool. Caught up with a lot of people that I hadn't seen in a while. Had to go in twice due to double degree.

Then it began. The first week was a bludge. all introductory stuff. I wonder why. People (namely Meng) were all pumped about first lecture, first tute, first lunch at uni, first instance of falling on the ground at uni, first visit to the toilet. I just couldn't understand that. I mean, it doesn't have the same zing as high school. Maybe because we've already been forced through that whole acclimatisation process twice now. But then again, so has Meng. So I still don't understand.

I dunno. The moment before the first lecture was exciting, because I got lost along with Stef, so I met my first friend at uni. Then the lecture was riveting. For about the first five seconds. Then I was like: "She keeps going on about coffee and chocolate." That was microeconomics. I'm doing Accounting, Micro, International Studies, and Linguistics. There's a clash between Linguistics and Accounting lecture, so I'm supposed to be in two places at once. I was going to be like "Stuff you, accounting," but the bogan of a lecturer doesn't record lectures. I don't understand that either. Like, he says it's to stop people wagging. Why does he care? I'm understanding less and less.

So yeah, met a few new people. Not that many though. Basically because everywhere I go, I meet comrades who have been through many a battle with me. Not that I go that many places. Law Library, ftw.

Easter break was dumb. Seriously, a week. I have Mondays and Fridays off anyway.

Work's ridiculous right now. That's why I'm blogging. Remember how I had that ridiculous habit, where the amount of blogging that I do has a direct positive correlation to the amount of work I have due. I'm starting to settle into uni life, and starting to feel comfortable with new friends. I'll start blogging regularly from now on. I promise.