CHANGE
Saturday, October 14, 2017I know I’ve been changing
Life’s been rearranging
I’m on the train on my way home from uni, listening to “Moments” by Bliss n Eso. Can you believe that there’s only a few more weeks left in the semester? Soon, it’ll be exam time! In the meantime…
My mind’s been so jittery(?) the past few days. It’s become an itch at the small of my back that I can’t quite reach. There’s so much to write about that I don’t know where to start. My teacher once said to just start writing, anywhere, and that should kick start your essay, or in this case, blog entry.
Honestly, I’ve been putting off writing this, only because I wanted to write a “2017 in Review” section later on. Though my fingers are twitching to write about my experiences so far in university as a first year student.
Not sure if I’ve mentioned this before, I started studying B. Biotechnology at UNSW this year (2017 – for those who live under a rock). UNSW is one of the most prominent universities in Australia – maybe even in the world -, and was established in 1949 and only offered courses in engineering. Today, it has eight faculties, ranging from Art to Science to Business.
UNSW has a huge campus. It has its own postcode, for goodness’ sake! When I started high school at Moorebank, I was amazed by how big the place was, it took time to recognise the rooms I had classes in. But my high school – nor my experiences during those years – cannot compare to this institution – nor my newfound experiences from just this year.
And I'm on my way
I still remember these old country lanes
When we did not know the answers
I’m on the floor as I’m writing now, in the middle of swapping my winter clothes for my summer ones. It’s Friday and I’m listening to an Ed Sheeran playlist. I think it’s important that I tell you this because it’s true. It’s true because my life right now has been so hectic – a buzz of unfinished activities. I guess that’s common with uni students, especially the professional procrastinators – like me.
It’s not all sticks and stones – I mean, you get assignments and tests and early classes, but that’s not what uni is just all about. There are plenty of opportunities to socialise and make friends.
Earlier this year, in my first semester, I went to the Science Society camp, where I made a lot of amazing friends.
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| L to R: Melissa L, Tommy, Caroline, Alice, and I |
The days leading up to the camp filled me with a mixture of excitement and anxiety. I didn’t know anyone in the society so I didn’t know any of the people going. Though, I was really glad that I had attended. The SciSoc committee organised some team-building activities that everyone was really keen for and kept us engaged and allowed us to get to know each other. There was dancing, there was some alcohol… and subsequently a lot of colourful chunder that was cleaned up by the trusty members of the committee.
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| L to R: Tori, Alice, Mandy, C, P, Tommy, Melissa L, Steph, Caroline, Me, Melissa C |
After SciSoc camp, a lot of us first year Science students became acquainted with each other. We even realised that we were mostly in the same classes together. So we sat together during lectures and we met up for lunch after tutorials or labs.
Now it’s semester two and I have even more friends.
They’re called the “BSoc Ball Fam” because we decided to attend the Business Society’s Ball as a group (checkout my vlog for this). We have a group chat on Facebook, which is always never quiet. It’s funny cause Alice and I were hesitating to go beforehand, since we had a bad experience with going to an event with a big group of people (that’s a story for another day). Now, we’re really close with the people in the chat. We hang out a lot during our free time. Not a day goes by that we don’t talk to each other.
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| L to R: Grace, Melissa L, Me, Caroline, Alice, Victoria |
I also joined the Biotechnology and Biomolecular Society this semester with Alice. Together, we ran an online photo competition through the society’s official Facebook page. In the annual general meeting, we acquired executive positions – Alice as the Marketing and Advertising Coordinator and I as the Social Events Coordinator.
What do those titles really mean? They sound so fancy, don’t they?
Well, Alice’s role is to promote – publicise our events so our peers are aware of them. My role is to brainstorm ideas for these events and then organise and plan them. We just finished our Careers Night event, which Alice publicised by posting memes on BABSoc’s Facebook page. Currently, I’m planning a Halloween-themed bash to mark the end of another year. I won’t say more about it because it’s still on the works. Though hopefully, it will be a success.
This year, I’ve also become better friends with some of my high school peers. We spend more time now as we catch the train/bus together to and from uni. In our free time in between classes, we play card games or, when we need to, we study together.
Then there are people who we meet, but are only there temporarily… maybe they’re there to push you down so you can learn resilience, maybe they’re supposed to be the one that breaks your heart so you can meet the one, maybe they just wanted to give back the $50 note that you dropped. These people are lessons.
A lesson that teaches you the value of trust. A lesson that teaches you that falling for his face doesn’t make him more interesting, nor is he interested in you. A lesson that teaches you that there are two sides to every story and all you need to do is listen.
I’m glad for meeting these peoples. Heartaches and all.
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