I somehow just feel like writing something, and this don't always happen. Because if it does I'll probably be doing arts now instead of calculating the dielectric constant of capacitors which I am so totally interested in, not.
I realise that I haven't been talking much about the university I go to - University of Melbourne much in my blog. So here it is, some basic housekeeping info:
The University of Melbourne, founded in 1853, Australia's 2nd oldest university, 2nd highest ranked in Australia, Motto : "Postera Crescam Laude" lol, yes i wiki-ed that up. I don't love my uni that much by repeating the motto at least three times before I sleep every night don't worry.
So being a first-year going on second-year biomedicine undergraduate (hopefully i pass all my exams this semester, fingers crossed), I would like to share some of my thoughts and opinions here!
I shall start from the teaching and learning aspect, which is a crucial component of the whole university experience.
Teaching and Learning
Firstly, like what we were told to expect beforehand, learning and studying in university is really up to YOU, the lecturers and tutors really take the whole independent learning concept seriously. If you don't turn up for lectures or tutes, no one's going to care about you, whether you do extremely well, pass or fail that subject, it's really up to your own initiative. Well, weekly lectures and tutorials for all the subjects are really important of course, but what I realise is the actual 'learning' bit only starts when you sit down and go through the material on your own. If you want to make your presence known, you've got to speak up, which I don't do so ( so A-S-I-A-N, haha!), and well if you talk too much, not only everyone will know you, but they'll probably hate you as well. So these are some of the pros & cons i've thought of :
Pros :
1. We get good lecturers. Being in Biomed, the uni has a pretty high ranking in terms of Life Sciences & Biomedicine in the world (13th ranking). We get different lecturers from their own specialised areas of research or study ex. physiology, genetics & cell biology teaching us in first year biology subjects and most of them are pretty good. Most of the lecturers are willing to help and they reply to your emails pretty quickly. (even those old uncles/aunties are IT literate! +1 point!)
2. Material taught are cutting-edge knowledge and information. With the uni being the 2nd largest research organization in Australia (just below CSIRO, a government scientific research body), the lecturers are largely involved in research and thus the information they obtain and pass on to us are the latest development in the respective fields. So we actually get to know what's exactly happening in the world today, and not learning some old technology from some 10-15 years back.
Cons :
1. Too much to do, too little time. A standard science subject has 3 x 1 hour lectures, 1 x 1 hour tutorial and 1 x 3 hours lab per week. And we have four subjects per semester. So an average science student, taking account of the new melbourne model would get around 20 contact hours per week (without self-study time and assignments/homework completion time). The amount of work we have to cover is actually quite a lot, especially if you're a lazy person like me who leaves everything to the last 2 weeks of the exam, mati-lah. Malaysia Tak Boleh already. Well this is actually highly-dependent on different individuals, but since i'm talking about myself, this is the case happening. And yes I admit I am not at all a hardworking student!
2. Mixing around. It's kind of hard to get to know or mix around well with Caucasians, especially if you're Asian Asian. Asian Asian = people like me, who don't attend high school here. Those who go to high school here can mix around fairly better with the Caucasians. Oh well, we don't even really mix around with the AAs - Australasians (?). Well it's kind of hard to actually pinpoint the exact reason, I believe there are many reasons combined together. And in biomed, the ratio of Caucasians + AAs : Asian Asians is probably like 75:25!?? But in general, Australians and Australasians are fine, they're pretty friendly and harmless. We still work together in group work and labs when assigned to.
University Facilities
Well to be fair, the range of facilities Melbourne University provide isn't too shabby. The buildings are constantly being looked after, and there are always new developments or redevelopments going on from time to time. The one under renovation now is the biomed library, study space and student centre opening in February next year! Union House (The place we can get almost everything) is pretty cool actually, we have different ranges of food here from chinese, italian, japanese, vietnamese,indian (the one grace's working at) to bubble tea...etc. I think its fair enough, although being a loyal EK fan, I shall remain faithful to dear ol' EK at all times. LOL. EASTERN KITCHEN $6.00 HONEY CHICKEN + MAPO TOFU/EGGPLANT takeaway! I shall take a picture of it the next time I have it in case I don't get to eat it next time.
Pros :
1. Uni Wireless is FAST! Within the uni area, downloading stuff or surfing the web is very convenient, and I can youtube to my heart's content (ok, there's a weekly limit actually, but so far I haven't exceeded the limit)! I am so going to start a new drama series after this exam! Any joiners??
2. Distance. Buildings are relatively near to each other. As in, compared to Monash Clayton, we have to be really grateful and happy with the distance between buildings in Melbourne Uni. And oh yeah, the distance really matter when you have a 8 a.m lecture, which I'm going to have again next year in Sem 1. fml.
Cons :
1. INSUFFICIENT LIBRARY SPACE. To be exact, quiet, conducive study spaces. Ballieu library (the main library) and ERC/ Frank Tate is horribly overpopulated with very inconsiderate, noisy, CBF @BCD#F! people!!!! Furthermore, ballieu is so 破烂 already lor. So tak enak rupanya.
2. The $$$ issue. We need to pay to use the gym, pay to join student union, borrow storybooks (not academic books), print our own notes or buy our own lecture notes from the library. The amount we pay should entitle us to free lecture notes! >:(
Okay, as you can see I am getting lazier in my descriptions so I shall stop here, and I'll continue this another day when the 'mood' is here again!
=)
