Sydney Life

To most, Lidcombe train station is known as the stop where you change trains to get to the Olympic Park. Life outside the turnstiles is not thought about, not glanced at, not even considered. For a certain group of students, however, this is the last stop before university.

When I tell people that I study health sciences I nearly always get the response "Oh, so you're way over at the other campus then, aren't you?". Always said with a downward inflection, a tone of commiseration and sometimes, if you find someone really negative, a sideways head tilt. The perception that they feel so sorry that you're missing out on the incredibleness that is Camperdown and Darlington.

But Cumberland isn't like Camperdown campus and it seems wrong to compare the two. Camperdown is amazing because of its constant state of liveliness, its culture and its flair. Cumberland is more down to earth, more together and like a pleasant day at the park. Like being at a dinner with close friends rather than a massive rave where you lose your only other contact within the first minute. And because we are all health science students, we're more like-minded - we hang out together, we eat together, we complain about the difficulty of anatomy together and there is always someone near by who knows the answer to your question.

But don’t for a second think that we are quiet, studious and exactly the kind of spouse-in-law every mother would want all the time. Every few weeks there is always some sort of cruise, some sort of ball or some kind of party that makes all the Cumbo kids forget that they are training to be health professionals. These are events that could arguably make Snowball look like a children’s birthday party, the king of which is the annual Lab Coat Pub Crawl, an event that starts somewhere in Kings Cross and ends wherever you find a soft spot to rest your head. We get kicked out of places (it’s not good) (but it is).

So the next time you meet someone from the 'other' campus, remember that we all love it. We may miss out on the hustle and bustle that is the city, but we get the peace and tranquility that lies just outside. We get the livelihood when we want it.

As we approach the pointy end of semester when major assessments, exams and all that other good stuff is due, there’s one thing we all have to learn to master; good self-control. And as this just happens to be my thesis area, I’ve been reading up quite a bit about this tricky skill.

Self-control basically involves overriding one behaviour (usually an impulse or urge) in favour of another. Poor self-control; choosing to go to the pub the night before an assessment. Good self-control; going home to study instead.

Some researchers have shown that self-control behaves a lot like a muscle that depletes in energy. When you use self-control in one task, you have less of this energy available for the next task.

This means that after exhausting your self-control throughout the day – when you choose the healthier option at lunch, when you go to your stats lecture instead of taking a self-awarded early mark – by the time it gets to deciding between going home to study for your assessment or going to the pub, you’re much more likely to say, “Bring on Hermann’s!” than “Bring on the books!”

The good news is there are ways to increase your self-control. Practicing self-control regularly makes the muscle stronger. Increasing your motivation and using if-then statements (for example, “If I study first, then I can go to Hermann’s”) also works. But your best option is probably to boost your blood glucose levels with a good glucose containing food, as this actually restores your self-control to all its muscular glory.

So, before deciding whether or not to blow off this evening’s study for the pub, have a good hearty meal. You’ll be better equipped to show self-control and nail that distinction average that all good little uni students dream about.

Meanwhile, here's some Uni resources to help with self-control and other student life challenges.

After three months of fast food, partisan politics and unsustainable shopping sprees, I recently returned to Sydney from exchange in Washington DC. However, I didn’t feel like I had come home - if anything, I felt like a foreigner. It is very strange to think that you would associate the word, ‘home’, with a place that you had only spent three months in.

I’ve since realized this is what they call ‘exchange withdrawal’, and it isn’t as bad as it sounds. It gave me the refreshing opportunity to experience Sydney as if I had just moved here – everything seemed new again.

Now I’m not going to lie, it has been a good two months since I’ve returned, but I still haven’t fully completed the transition. Sure, I’ve returned to the usual daily grind and routine of standing on crowded buses and sitting in less-crowded lecture theatres, but something is still missing. I think going on exchange has created an extra home for me, one that I will always be homesick for. But don’t get me wrong; it’s the type of homesick that will always make me smile whenever I reminisce about my time there.

Read more about my time in DC.

I’m writing this blog post from London, where I'm training for the next three weeks. I’m a first-year student at Sydney and I’m also an elite athlete in canoe/kayak slalom. And I've just been selected to compete at the 2012 Olympics.

Here's a quick video of my training. For those of you who don’t know what canoe slalom is (most people don't!), it might give you a better idea.

So my trip didn’t start all that smoothly. I’m only at uni two days a week, and the past few weeks before uni break were really busy, so I can’t say I was 100% focussed on uni. This became obvious when, on the last day before uni break, I actually realised the break was that week and not the next! Living under a rock, I thought I had plenty of time to let my tutors know and email some letters about my absence. But no. I had a huge panic, but thankfully all my tutors and coordinators were really helpful and we were able to find solutions for my missing a few weeks of uni and some assessments.

I definitely have my head screwed on for the next few weeks – it’s time to get down to business and stay on top of uni by correspondence (this could be tricky...), train twice a day, gym and recovery and maybe, just maybe, if I get time, I’ll get some sightseeing into the program as well!

Training here is so exciting, especially with the "100 days to go" celebrations yesterday. The whitewater is big and bouncy - really powerful and I know I’ll need to build up my strength before the Olympics roll around. I’ll be based here for three weeks in Lee Valley - Waltham Cross about 30 mins from central London.

London has put on the best of UK weather - a lot of rain, wind, cloud, bit of hail and sometimes you might even spot the sun. Here’s hoping it clears up as it is absolutely freezing on the water! On the plus side, the cold and rain means more time indoors, and more uni work completed... in theory.

For more news on my adventure to the Olympics
check out my blog or Facebook page.

From the perspective of a current student, the upcoming Alumni Awards can seem rather distant from our sphere of university life. However the Graduate Medals awarded are for students who have only just graduated ... people we’re likely to know! The different categories, each of which has a short list of nominees who also receive recognition, include Indigenous, Sporting, International, PhD and Undergraduate achievement, and are a reminder of the many ways students and alumni contribute to the community. Find out more. Nominations close Friday 27 April.

As President of the Student Alumni Association, I have had the opportunity to interact with alumni on a meaningful level when fundraising for various philanthropic causes and as such, appreciate the width of applicable recognitions and congratulations that our university can bestow on deserving nominees. The nominations and the awards themselves are a salient marker of the spreading alumni community, deeply rooted in the tradition of individual excellence and community contribution.

You may have noticed that the Uni website has taken on a slight shade of blue in recent days. This, dear students, is in response to the ‘What Matters’ community outreach project, which aims to gauge public opinion on some of the work done by Sydney staff, students and alumni.

It's an opportunity to realise that we're part of a university that has a significant impact on how our society works, and also allows us to have our say on what we think is important.

You can vote on issues that matter to you. Cancer research? Improving children’s literacy? The environment? Expanding the arts? The introduction of plain packaging for cigarettes? Each of these issues is vastly important and the university wants to know what YOU think is important.

Personally? I voted for increased funding for cancer research. Yes, no doubt, reducing our environmental footprint and ensuring our children grow up more than competent is of great importance, but for me (maybe because I am a health sciences student) we are still mountains away from developing an effective and consistent treatment for cancer. The arts will always strive wherever there is a right brain, and packaging for cigarettes won’t cure an addiction (although surely will reduce the number of new smokers) but we cannot dismiss the fact that all of these matters must be addressed.

It’s up to us to help them decide.

One of the upsides of uni is that you know your syllabus schedule from the beginning; the due date of every assessment, how much they’re all worth, and exactly how long you have to stress about them. But that can also be a major downside.

As census date approaches – your last opportunity to change a unit of study or *gasp!* drop one altogether – it’s very easy to feel like you should jump ship before the whole vessel inevitably sinks. I mean, all those assessments – there’s no way you’ll manage! And maybe you don’t really like the subject… It’s nothing like you’d imagined, after all.

And sometimes you’re right. Sometimes you should listen to your gut and run. Other times, you’re at risk of abandoning the Queen Mary II (which would be a darn shame).

Assessment schedules are always intimidating. But they’re also great for helping you plan your time. The first few weeks of a subject are usually a bit different to how you’d imagined (especially if it’s a first year subject). But you generally settle into it by about week 5 (which just happens to be right after census date in 2012).

Before deciding to jump or stay, get the facts. If there’s still time, talk to the subject coordinator, lecturers, tutors, past students. Check out some of the really useful info on the Sydney Uni website. But also remember that at the end of the day it’s your decision and you’re the one who has to make it. After all, you’re the one who’ll have to write the 2500 word essay and sit the 3 hour exam at the end of semester.

Census information

Help with making your decision

One of the best pieces of advice I've come across is always try for things. You never know what you can accomplish if you don't put your hat into the ring.

My name is Dominick, and I'm a PhD student in the School of Information Technologies. Seven months ago I submitted an application for a scholarship - almost on a whim. There wasn't much planning involved - my supervisor had suggested it as a good idea, and I thought, why not? The bulk of the application only took a week to write.

Fast forward. Just last week, I was named as one of 25 Fulbright Scholars from Australia for 2012. Fulbright is up there with Rhodes as one of the most prestigious international scholarship programs, awarding 6,000 scholarships a year for exchange to and from the United States. Thanks to the scholarship I'm about to embark on a new adventure to the University of California at Berkeley for eight months. I'll get to interact with some of the brightest and most motivated people in the world in the heartland of technology. I'll get to see and live in a new country, broadening my appreciation for the world and its diversity. It's a euphoric feeling.

Opportunities rarely fall into our laps (though it's certainly nice when they do). You have to work for them, and put your hand up. Write the applications, take advantage of the offers. Who knows - maybe you will be the next Fulbright Scholar.

I graduated from Sydney Uni two years ago and it was all pretty standard. I posed for the cheesy purely-for-the-benefit-of-Facebook photos. I shook the hands of ridiculously overqualified academics. I walked out of the university grounds and bid farewell to student life, finally ready to take on the “real world”. And then, *poof*! Just like that, everything I’d ever learned, from my very first semester to that momentous occasion, evaporated from my brain.

Now normally, this wouldn’t be too much of an issue. Normally, you can get by with foggy recollections of your studies – even score a reasonable job with a respectable salary. For me, however, that’s not the case.

You see, I’ve returned to Uni this year to study Honours in Psychology (madness!). And not only do I have no recollection of what I learned in two units of statistics, but I can’t recall how to perform a single one of those important “uni student skills” that all uni students are supposed to have – like how to borrow textbooks from the library, and how to reference textbooks from the library, and how to read textbooks from the library, or whether people even use textbooks from the library anymore.

The only upside is that whatever I now lack in book smarts, I can more than make up for with my street smarts. All I have to do is figure out a way to incorporate my wealth of “real world” knowledge into uni life. So I’m wondering, would a thesis on the topic of “101 unique excuses to get out of work” count…?

Bring on semester 1!

There is nothing worse than that rush through the tiny door into the Eastern Avenue Auditorium on the first day of semester. What seems like thousands of people aiming for the same seat, each saving an extra three for their late running friends. Why do they all sit on the ends of the rows, forcing us to play hopscotch to the seats in the centre of the theatre? They sit in their groups, but individually at the ready with paper pre-margined and dated already prepared to write the minutes of the lecture. It’s amazing how these people are so intimidating before you even know their names.

It’s the anxiety of knowing that this is university, every day for the next thirteen weeks. Just a battle to avoid sitting on the floor in a lecture theatre.

But what people forget is that students live up to their stereotypes. We sleep in, we are lazy and we don’t like things that are difficult. Anything that can be missed will be missed and so inevitably the number of people in the lecture will dramatically fall within the first week as we return to our natural nocturnal lifestyle entirely confined to our bedrooms. So, dear student, do not panic if you are compressed between an extra full pencil case and a pile of neatly ruled paper on Monday morning. You’ll probably get some room to put your feet up next week.