You’d think by now that a few weeks have passed, a routine would have been established, and I would have at least sorted my life out…Even though I’m not qualified to let you guys know how things work in the weird and wonderful world of Uni, I’m going to go ahead anyway. It’s that time of the year where you start sleeping in a little longer…skipping a few readings here and there…the idea of uni is no longer this scary and ‘unknowable’ thing, it’s just a part of your life now.
Another sunset, another day.
How Uni worked was honestly a mystery to me when I was in high school – my naive self had imagined days with just one lecture, blessed with the freedom of choosing how to spend the rest of your day. But this was far from the truth…So let me lay out the basics for y’all.
In Semester One (the first half of the year), we take four papers – basically like the subjects you take at school. For each paper, we have 3 lectures a week. So 12 lectures a week in total = 12 hours of uni-ing. Adding in labs and tutorials, we’re looking at around 18 hours a week altogether. In comparison to the 30 hours of high school a week we had to endure, this is great! Also all biomedders & health sci’ers get Fridays off for Semester 1 which is sweet (3 day weekend, yay!). And I’ve chosen to spend my well-deserved Friday off taking part in a team at the Auckland Uni Metrogaine (For more deets: https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/on-campus/life-on-campus/whats-on/metrogaine.html). As a gal who did Orienteering as a sport in high school, I’m looking forward to it 🙂
What Fridays are for 😉
Also, these first few weeks have included my first few labs of uni ever! Labs seemed daunting to me, as you’re technically being assessed, but they’re actually v chill and so much fun!. Don’t stress and just embrace the inner mad scientist that you are; wearing a labcoat and glasses and doing cool stuff like making aspirin, denaturing enzymes and looking at rat insides under a microscope! Although, your lab supervisors are studying PHDs and post-grad studies…they are students just like yourselves so it’s not as scary as it can seem. You also have a lab partner which sticks with ya for the rest of the semester (shout out to my lab partners who are absolutely lovely) who’s always there to help you out.
Fancy.
The best AND worst part of uni is that everything is flexible and up to you. I just came back from a 5 day mini-holiday down to Wellington. And yes, I have a LOT of recordings to catch up on…but in saying that, you have the freedom with how you spend your time. However, the fact that you’re in control, means it is entirely up to you to stay on top of your readings, quizzes and online homework you have to do (the worst feeling is going to attempt an online quiz to find that it has already closed – been there, done that.)
Windy Welly!
The facade of being the perfect motivated student for the first few weeks is unraveling…kind of like how you start the year with complete set of stationery and end the year with a single lone pen that may or may not work.
If there’s anything you want me to clarify, or even just say hi, comment because I’ll try to reply! (rhyme game strong.)
Until next time (in 2 weeks!)
Sonna