Sydney Life

As exams finish, first semester comes to a close and the holidays begin, I wonder why, with my parents still in Europe, I am still sitting here. Is it because I have nothing better to do? Am I in shock that my first semester of university is over? Are my legs broken?

No.

No dear readers. My legs are fine, if not a little hairy. I sit here still because of my undying desire to tell all of you about my first semester at the University of Sydney, so that you might know a little of what to expect before you get here yourself. I say “might” because to be honest, I haven’t exactly been here that long.

So here are five things you should know about Sydney before your first semester.

Herein are my tips on coffee around campus. If the availability of good coffee and snack-holes near campus is important to you, Sydney Uni is the place to go. Quick Disclaimer: only one of these places are actually on campus. There are other places, like the USU-run coffee carts, but they aren’t renowned for their culinary standards. They are more about getting snack-food for studying, like Pods. Pods ....

As I write this, I am sitting in the Fisher Library ‘stacks’ (the research section), munching away on some Twix flavoured pods*, supposedly planning/writing several essays all due within a few hours of each other. First count, I had something in the realms of 11,000 words looming ahead of me. Most recent count revealed that I still have 10,990 words looming up ahead. At least I’ve got my first sentence out of the way.

Much as Patrick Suskind was moved by the oft-overlooked landscape of smell to write a novel about a serial killer, I have recently been so moved (sometimes physically) by my own olfactory surroundings, that I am compelled to rise up onto my soapbox once more. As far as I know, Jean-Baptiste Grenouille left no descendants, and so I’m fairly certain that any young virgins at Sydney Uni can sleep easy. However, bodily smells have come up in conversation so many times recently that it is obviously a topical concern.

Today in my science and statistics lecture for Psychology, we got on to the topic (as we often do) of pseudo-science. This term refers to that which is not science but pretends to be.
We were told a few interesting stories about psychics, including the well known John Edward and a woman called Sylvia Browne who, in 2003, used her supernatural powers to attempt to locate a couple’s son, who had been missing for four months.

She made some very interesting predictions.

As a musician (or, to be more specific, as a young and relatively-cheaper-to-hire musician), chances are you’ll be asked to do at least five million gigs before you hit 25. NEVER underestimate the power of a gig. A ‘bad’ gig can damage more than just your morale. In order to preserve your friendships, sanity, petrol, and bank balance, I suggest thou readest on.

Maths and Biology...oh dear God.. read on. And now that the break is over and you’ve found you still haven’t done that much work, this might help.

Also some stuff I did do and found tremendously useful.

So if you’re doing psych 1001 or 1002, listen up:

Dear Asako:
Where is Bosch?
-Paul

Thanks for all the responses. They were fantastic. Here is my first Ask Asako column:

A concept that scared me during my first year were the computers. There are heaps of computers all over uni which are connected to high speed internet and printing facilities that you can use as if they were your own.

In first semester I didn’t even know where any access labs were, how to print and I was too scared to ask anyone. In second semester I ventured out, fell head over heels in love with studying away from home, and tried out many of the access labs on campus. Read here for my verdict:

Hey guys, so your first week of uni is over.

It’s getting a bit difficult for us bloggers to figure out who’s reading this anymore, and whether we should target this to year 12s or you first years, but if you recent high school graduates / current first years are still out there, listen up...

If you’re reading this, you need to get a life.

JUST KIDDING.

Making friends at uni is harder than at high school, because there are so many people bustling around doing their own little thing. Then again, the fact that there is a bar on campus can, on occasion, lubricate the situation.

Throughout the past year, nearly every person I meet who had been through the university system told me that “first year is the worst year, and it only gets better”. I had been dubious I have to say. Unfortunately, I wasn’t dubious because I thought “how could it possibly get any better than this?” (which would have been nice), but because I thought “how could one year make such a difference?”. Well, lo and behold, I was wrong.

You may hear a term being thrown around during the first few weeks of uni... and it’s actually WebCT.

Not too sure what the CT stands for, but here’s the lowdown nonetheless.

Talk to someone. That’s the best solution. Let’s face it guys, uni can be a tough time. It’s not always going to be easy. Sometimes things will get the better of you – whether it’s paid work, academic work, friends, family, or just not being able to do what you want at times. Unless you have an abnormally sunny disposition, almost all of us go through these kinds of moments, but we don’t have to dwell on them all by ourselves. Problems can be fixed, and there are people to help. Welcome to the world of university counsellors.

One thing I was always curious about was what kind of bag I should bring to uni every day, and what people filled it with. So here goes: