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March 29, 2024, 09:22:08 am

Author Topic: Never Give Up - a university journey journal  (Read 22703 times)

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KatherineGale

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Re: Never Give Up - a university journey journal
« Reply #30 on: February 29, 2020, 06:51:39 pm »
+8
Hey,

I have never heard a fridge do that either - would definitely panic me a lot too. I can so clearly imagine the relief and bewilderment of realising it was the fridge. (I really like your writing style btw)

Sleepless-ness sucks :( I hope you're able to get more rest soon.

Nice to hear about the sunburn fading & the family visit!  Hope you have a great day together :)

Nothing wrong with catching the shuttle bus being exciting it's new & having that link connecting campus is cool and useful imo.

I hope this week you have less issues with your health & although it can be very frustrating to manage your behaviour around it I'm glad you've had improvement from the past.

Glad to hear that the disability community at Deakin has been great so far!

Hi Bri MT :)

Thanks for the reply!

Haha, I wish I knew how to upload a recording of it onto this forum, it's so strange. It was one of those moments when you're so worked up and panicked that you're ready to cry, but then you can't because you're uncontrollably laughing in just pure relief.
Thank you :)

Family visited today. It was great to see them. My niece isn't well but as she is non-verbal we don't know what's wrong. She's just not acting like herself which is the usual way we know she's unwell but the GP said she wasn't sick. So considering she wasn't feeling well, was stuck in the car for a few hours, and was in an unfamiliar place, she was incredibly well behaved (though I don't think my neighbours would agree haha), but she was a bit upset at one point and so they only stayed for a little while. It was so great to see them though.

Yes, having a free way to travel to classes is a godsend! Particularly because I can use it as a free trip to Geelong and walk to places close by if I need to.

Thank you :) I really appreciate your support.




Just another quick update:

The spider launched another attack this afternoon. I was on my bed, leaning against the wall. I had sprayed spider spray to make sure it didn't come out but I think it backfired and was the cause of it attacking :/ Anyway, I'm about 58% sure I killed it, but I don't know. So now I feel like I'm crawling again :) I spent about ten minutes wondering if spraying the room down entirely with spider spray, possibly setting off the fire alarm and owing the uni $1500 was worth killing that bloody spider. I decided against it, but have left the option open if it decides to make a return :) if it is alive, I feel like because I've tried to kill it, it will come for me when I'm least expecting it again and that makes me nervous, haha (sorry, whilst I am mostly joking here, the best jokes come from truth and this is closer to the truth than I'd like to admit! As I said, genuinely paranoid arachnophobia here - I'm the kind of person who is so terrified of them that I can't even look them up to see which ones I should be most afraid of because pictures will come up and I just can't look at them) :)




KatherineGale

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Re: Never Give Up - a university journey journal
« Reply #31 on: March 07, 2020, 08:51:21 pm »
+8
Sorry the update is a day late. I was so tired yesterday :)

On Wednesday I went to the Waterfront campus - they had a few OT sessions that I had to attend. I had to wake up at about 5:30 to get ready and catch the shuttle bus in order there in time for the first session - which was not exactly fun, particularly as that's the time I normally get to sleep haha. I'm actually hoping to get into a better sleeping routine, which has always been difficult with the fibromyalgia, but all I can do is keep persisting :)

There was about a three hour gap between sessions, so I hung around, went to a study tips session and had a lovely orientation worker offer to show me where the rooms for my classes would be. I also ended up getting a library tour and sitting down at a cafe for a little while. It was actually really great to see how quickly time passed, as every Wednesday I have a two hour gap between classes (I did this intentionally so that I could go to the library and do a bit of study between classes).

The sessions about my course we're pretty basic, but generally informative. It looks like the Thursday class won't actually run from 9-5, but we'll be divided into groups and given a 2.5hr block alternating weeks, which was fantastic news!

The study tips session was great. I met a couple of people from study support, who I can contact if I want to improve on my assessment scores or if I'm struggling to understand something. Great to know that resource is available.

I also signed up for a program where another student a couple of years ahead of me and a group of my peers will meet weekly so that if there's anything we want to ask, we've got the chance to.

I got access to my unit sites, so I've spent the last couple of days combing through those and my unit guides to familiarise myself before I get started. I will need to make another timetable as I have a few online sessions to put in, but I'm not too concerned about that right now. In the unit site for one of my units, it said that I'd also get to learn a little Auslan, which I'm really excited about. I know a little bit from using a modified version with my niece, but I've always wanted to learn more and eventually be fluent (considering I'm going to be working with people with disabilities, I've always felt like this is something I should do to better communicate with my future patients/clients, I've just never been able to afford a course to learn), so going through a little bit will be fun.

I have to get a blood test to see how well the vaccinations I've had have worked and may possibly need to get a couple more if they haven't worked well. Little concerned about that as if you don't get them your placement opportunities reduce significantly, and there's certain vaccinations I can't get while I'm on methotrexate. Will need to contact my rheumatologist about this also, but I am due to have a phone appointment with her later next week for her to up my dosages, so I figure I'll just ask her then. No point asking until I know which, if any, vaccines I'll need. (I'm completely pro-vaccination by the way, it's just that with the medication I'm on, my GP told me some vaccines won't mix well)

I also have ordered a shirt for placements, which I'll pick up on Tuesday or Wednesday. I thankfully have some black pants, but I've ordered another pair (they won't come for another two weeks or so). I apparently have to wear this every Thursday, so I had to sort of rush to get things organised haha.

I did a police check and started my working with children's check, which I need to have done this Thursday.

Not much else to say really. I have an extremely busy week ahead of me. Not only study wise and class wise, but I have to go to Centrelink to sort out a number of issues, have to go to the dr's, call my rheumatologist, have a phone appointment with my rheumatologist, go to the post office to finish my working with children's check, pick up my shirt, try to figure out when my textbooks will get here, attend a compulsory residential meeting on Monday, etc.

I'm just looking forward to finally being able to start and begin making some progress with study :)

---------------------------

Oh, and because I've already mentioned it, the spider was not dead haha. It came for me again and now my bed is covered in spider spray and I've got a dead, curled up spider somewhere under my bed because I couldn't bare to pick it up with anything :)

This may become an ongoing saga throughout this journal of any terrifying spider incidences, particularly this year whilst I'm living alone and actually have to get rid of them myself haha.

KatherineGale

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Re: Never Give Up - a university journey journal
« Reply #32 on: March 13, 2020, 07:35:58 pm »
+6
Week 1

Hey guys, I've just finished my first week of uni :)

Monday:
I got up early and spent about six hours in a study room within my building going through the basics of two of my units - the anatomy and the communication units. It was really great to make a lot of progress early in the week (by the end of the day I was about three quarters through both), particularly as I knew I was going to have a busy week.

Tuesday:
I finished off the modules, picked up my placement shirt and went to the doctors so they could give me a slip to get a blood test.
At 3, I had an online class for the anatomy unit. It went for two hours, and although it took a bit to figure out how to get into the class, once I did, I found the class really engaging. I did online lessons in year 12, so I had a bit of experience with how that sort of thing tends to run and it was fairly similar, which was great. Apparently I used to wrong browser to open it though, because in the last twenty minutes sound cut off for me and me only. I had to download Firefox for it to work but by then I'd missed the rest of it, so I ended up watching the last bit of the recording instead.

Wednesday:
I had my first in-person class at 10 on the waterfront campus, so I took the shuttle bus. I knew where my room was, so it was fairly easy to get to. The class was quite full. I don't think there were many empty seats, if any.

The class was for my occupational therapy unit, and it was great to get a better outline for this unit as not much had been uploaded onto the site at that time.

I had a seminar at 1, and there were a lot less people, thankfully! Going through more basics - I think all my units really wanted to ease us into their content, which I appreciated, but it was almost like too easy, because I know it'll only get harder from here on out haha.

I took the shuttle bus home and then did some more reading before I had an online class for the commutation class from 5-7.

Before that though, between the seminar and class, I had a couple of hours to kill. I actually ended up at Deakins study abroad office. I've never considered myself one for travel, I've never been out of Victoria after all, but it had been on my mind what it would be like to study for a couple of weeks in some place like Scotland or Ireland. They didn't have anything specifically like that, particularly for health degrees, but they had a couple for business related units. As I want to eventually open my own clinic, I thought maybe for my two electives next year, I could take a couple of business units overseas instead. Still not too sure. Money is obviously an issue, but I'd have a year and a half to prep, so it might be an option if I'm careful, and they said there were plenty of grants available to help.

Whilst I was there, the person I spoke with also mentioned a program called Hacker. I don't know much about it, but apparently it's over in Singapore and they give a bit of guidance to entrepreneurs wanting to start small businesses. It's overly priced, but again, there are possible grants that can cover up to more than half of the costs. I'm a little torn, as on one hand, I don't exactly consider myself an entrepreneur and by no means have any grand visionary ideas but on the other hand, I'd really love the opportunity to learn more about running a business so I can transfer that experience to when I open a clinic of my own.

Don't know what I'll do, or if I'll be able to do either (certainly won't be happening any time soon anyway), but its been great to consider it as I hadn't previously given much thought to going overseas, let alone going overseas in a constructive way.

Thursday:
Wednesday had left me feeling sore and very tired, but Thursday was crazy.

I had a practical at 8 (which I had only been notified of on Wednesday evening). Previously, they had said to block out times between 9 and 5, so I wasn't expecting an 8am prac.

So, after around two hours sleep, I woke up at 4:30. It took a bit longer than normal to do my normal stretches that I have to do to get out of bed when my arthritis is playing up, and by the time I'd hobbled around, gotten dressed, packed the last of my things and made it down to the bus stop, the sun still hadn't risen.

I caught the 6:45 bus, as the next bus would've only given me five minutes to get to class otherwise, and the room was in the far corner up the very top, so that wasn't going to happen. And I was not getting up that early only to be late :)

And, this is very pathetic, I saw my first sunrise on a bus. Lmao.

The practical went for 2.5 hours, and I yawned through most of it. The tutor made us do YMCA in a circle because we were too quiet. That was mortifying, but it worked because everyone starting responding to her questions from then on.

Then I went to the bathroom to chang (I had to wear my Deakin polo shirt to the practical) because it was 30 degrees and those tops are really uncomfortable.

I walked to the post office to finish off my working with children's check, then I got the blood test and then headed to centrelink and waited there for two hours. Called a taxi to take me back to campus because I physically wouldn't have made it there, my back and ankles were killing me, and I didn't fancy hanging around Centrelink until my flare up backed off.

Got back on the shuttle bus, walked ten minutes back to my room and promptly died. I'm kidding, I still had work to do as my third unit had finally released their week 1 content.

My Rheumatologist called and she put me up to 20mg. Need another blood test in a month and then she will decide if I need to go on anything else as well. The script wasn't going to get here in time for my next dose, so mum picked it up and express posted it to me, thankfully.

Spent 2.5 hours cooking because I was so tired that everything that I did took much longer than normal. Didn't get to sleep until 2am because no matter how tired I was, I couldn't sleep. I don't know if it was the pain, or I got overtired or both, but I didn't appreciate whatever it was. Sorry to complain, it wasn't a very good day for my haha.

Friday:
Had to wake up early for a seminar at 9am. Yay! After the lack of sleep I've had the last couple of days, I'm sorry if this makes no sense haha.

After that, I finished off a couple of small things that I still hadn't done. I tidied up my room and started three folders for each of my units, picked up my shopping (just small easy things to keep my body moving so it wouldn't seize up entirely).

I want to type up and organise my notes, but haven't had the time. I'm not in a rush, the fact that I've gotten through this week having done as much as I have, for me, is an absolute miracle.

I received my script and had to call about four different chemists to see if they had it in stock or if they would order it in for me. None of them had it and most of them refused to order it in or were confused as to what it was. The last person I called was lovely and said he could do it for me, but to be sure that I came to collect it. He understood that I wasn't able to get down there to give my script (as they normally like you to do before they order anything in) because I wasn't well. Unfortunately, this chemist wasn't in walking distance like the other chemists I called, so if I still feel like this come Monday, I'll probably have to waste money on another taxi to get it.

Oh, and I spent two hours on the phone to Centrelink this morning. The guy on the phone was great, and apparently everything the person I'd seen the previous day at Centrelink had touched on my file was coded wrong. The guy on the phone joked that the only things he didn't have to correct was my name and birthdate.

So, after sorting all that out, I've finally got rent assistance on the way, and I no longer have to report and see a job agency, which will make life easier. And also, the Centrelink guy I saw in person put on my file that I had received a 7500 scholarship - though I will go on to receive this in parts throughout the year, the way he put it on the system meant that Centrelink thought I had 7500 in my account right now, which was going to definitely affect my payments. So glad I called to double check. Some of the thing the guy on Thursday was saying just didn't add up and I just wanted to make sure that I didn't have any more issues with it.

The guy on the phone also asked if I wanted a student support scholarship and as I'm fairly low on money right now (I've been living on my measly savings as without rent assistance I've had around $25 a week each pay once I take out my rent) so that's also a major relief. It will come in well before my scholarship money - which I was trying to hold out for - so I'm less worried about getting through.

Overall, I made progress in the beginning of the week and struggled from Wednesday onwards. I know next week is going to be a lot easier even though I'll probably have more content to go through because I won't need to do as much running around. I do have to go the chemist and see the nurse for my blood test results, but I've got no prac on Thursday this week so I can spread the workload out more evenly and take some of the pressure off :)

I'm planning on taking it really easy on the weekend, but my body is flaring up so bad that I don't know if I'm even going to be able to relax. This is what I was afraid of before I started. I can only hope that now that I don't have to do as much running around, I will get to a place where I can cope.







On another note. I've almost ran out of toilet paper and I can't order any online as they no longer even have the icon for me to try to add it to my shopping order. Wish me luck.


KatherineGale

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Re: Never Give Up - a university journey journal
« Reply #33 on: March 22, 2020, 10:34:07 pm »
+7
Week 2

Okay, so everything has kind of gone to shit. Lmao

All classes were put online or on hold. I'm in a pretty reasonable place, given that two of my units are already online, but the third unit is a bit more difficult to put online as it has a practical. Given that I have an assessment in a few weeks where I have to interview someone and another where I have to physically manouvre someone from sitting to supine, I have no idea how we are supposed to practice for those, but I guess we'll see.

And now we're apparently going on lockdown. I had a bit of a feeling that we were heading that way and after speaking with my mum, we both decided it was best to go home before I got caught out. I haven't been able to order food online and can't get to the shops easily. And then there is the fact that I'm immunocompromised, so I kind of want to avoid everyone anyway. I had a few supplies and mum also had a few supplies, so it was a lot easier to put everything together, especially given that we weren't able to get anything before the shelves emptied, so we have very little food and pretty much no money and we both have health issues so going to multiple shops is fairly difficult. I'm sure there are many people in the same situation, so I wish you guys all the best!

Sorry for my rant :)

I'm glad I'm back home for the next week. I'll have to see how things go and if the lockdown lasts longer, but I'll head back to my room when things are looking a bit better and are less risky for me.

Last week was hectic. I'm late again with posting, sorry! The coursework for one of my units was a bit more heavy, and I still have about three hours left to read through the module and make notes. I probably won't do that until I'm in a good position with study next week as I don't want to fall behind with everything. I hate being behind, but I'll catch up soon I hope. Fingers crossed.

On the other hand, seeing my niece again has been amazing! I've missed her so much!

Things are pretty up in the air at the moment. I haven't heard from Deakin since I heard everything was going on lockdown and I am expecting an update in the next couple of days.

Even though it's frustrating that uni is being disrupted, I'm a. more concerned about the people who are getting seriously ill and dying due to this terrible virus and b. at least it's happening in my first year near the beginning, as opposed to year 12 or my final year of uni because I can't imagine how much more stressful that would be. Wish you guys luck and hope everything turns out okay :)

So sorry for these disjointed ramblings! My mind is all over the place right now haha :)

Alright, that's it from me for now. Stay healthy guys!

KatherineGale

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Re: Never Give Up - a university journey journal
« Reply #34 on: March 29, 2020, 07:08:00 pm »
+7
Week 3

It's been a bit of a tough week.

Okay, so pretty much the day after my previous post, I got an email telling me I have to vacate my room by the following Friday. I had to get all my stuff out, sign some documents and hand over my key. Some people were allowed to remain but they had really strict requirements to be allowed to do that - for example, nursing and medical students still had some classes face to face and they were therefore allowed to stay.

I didn't mind having to vacate, it sucks because I wasn't there long and we didn't have much time to get all our stuff, but it really frustrated me that we had to vacate entirely as opposed to just leaving some of our stuff there and coming back once the dust settles. It took a lot to move everything in there and not only that, but I'm not guaranteed to get another room when everything starts back up, let alone that room, that building or even a studio apartment. I have to apply again and whilst I will be given priority as a precious resident, it just feels really uncomfortable that I might not get a place.

So, late Tuesday I went back to the uni and packed up the rest of my things to bring back. And I've spent the rest of the week unable to do work because I've had a major flare up due to that. So I am now scrambling to catch up - I have two assesments due next week and more the following week that I really should have definitely started last week, so that's been fun.

And on top of that, today I have discovered that because I don't yet have my textbooks and one of my units apparently heavily used the textbook and that what I thought was just further exploration of knowledge explained in the text (as mentioned above what pages to read) was really half of the content I need to know, so I need to go back over weeks 1-3 for that unit before my first assessment is due on Tuesday, plus all of week 4s content for that unit.

Sigh. Trying not to be negative, but I'm still not feeling great and it's been a struggle.

On a brighter note, I've worked out a great note taking framework that I started using yesterday and it makes the content connect in a much simpler and cohesive way, so I'm really excited about that! It's similar to the Cornel method or whatever it's called haha, but a little different. For my anatomy unit, we are given learning objectives under each subtopic, which has made it really easy to figure out what I need to know and what I don't. So I've put those into a table and then listed questions below of all relevant points, and as I've gone through the weekly modules I've just answered those questions, then summarised each subtopic into one sentence and then out those one sentences into another table that I can fit into one page for each week. Sorry, that was a bit of a mouthful! Haha. I've been writing long sentences all day - my longest for one subtopic was over 150 words lmao.

Alright, I'll leave this here. Got a lot still to do. Hope you guys are all healthy with everything that's happening.


KatherineGale

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Re: Never Give Up - a university journey journal
« Reply #35 on: May 16, 2020, 12:00:47 am »
+6
It's been awhile. My bad  :'(

I have just finished week 9. Whew. It's been a tough couple of weeks. I am still trying to get caught back up, between my health and the assessments that have rapidly come around I haven't yet been able to, which is disappointing, but I'm actually a bit proud that I've hung in there. The last few years of high school, whenever I got into this position and I couldn't cope with my health and the workload I always dropped a subject or two. My health is nowhere near as debilitating as it was prior to getting on medication, but it's still a struggle, so I'm really happy that I've managed to get this far. Though, I suppose it helps that I have a lot of experience with online work and given that everything has gone online, it has been reasonably easier to manage.

I've been considering swapping around two of my units. In trimester 2, I have two units on campus and one online. One of the on campus units, however, can be done online in trimester 3. I thought if I swap that into trimester 3 with one of my trimester 3 online units, I can get away with having all but one unit online for the rest of the year. It may be a pointless change if Deakin continues online into trimester 2, however I don't want to get caught out and be unable to travel two hours each way four days a week. And I'm hesitant to move back to the campus accommodation for eleven weeks, as moving everything took such a toll on my health. So I think it works out no matter how I look at it if I move most of my classes to online, even though I was really enjoying going to classes in person for the two weeks I was able to.

I think I might try to update here once a month from here on out, as opposed to once a week as it is just easier to manage at the moment. I may pop back in for a post or two between then if I get time, but otherwise, I think I'll stick to monthly.

So far, despite being rushed to complete weekly work, I've really enjoyed the content. It's been generally a lot more engaging that any high school subjects I did, but perhaps it's simply because I've chosen a course that really interests me. On one hand, I love exploring communication in people with disabilities and on the other anatomy and function of the human body is fascinating.

I don't regret choosing this pathway. I must admit, I thought about the fact I could have gotten into something else that was a bit shorter and that perhaps allied health wouldn't look as good as biomedicine when applying for medicine. In saying that, I've discovered the OT community is quite tight nit and supportive and I love that. I'm not the most competitive person and battling it out with hundreds of other med hopefuls in biomed where I could be directly compared to them and their performance in the same units - well, that sort of environment never appealed to me. It's just great to think that I made the right choice for me.

A few aspects of the course are a bit unlikeable - like how some of the weekly work is so basic that it stopped being so engaging, but then I realise I'm just itching to dive head first into all of the challenging stuff and the fact I'm so interested in learning more just reinforces the fact I made the right choice.

That being said, this week has probably been one of the tougher weeks of the year so far. You know those weeks that are so frustrating that all you can do is laugh? Yes, well, I'm already behind and struggling to catch up, had a major flare up early in the week and have felt off since trying to keep the pain levels down, woke up after two hours of sleep to my neighbours house on fire and thought I was hallucinating due to exhaustion because somehow despite the barring alarms no one else in my house woke up, had online site visits from 8:30-5 the following day, and then spent four hours today rushing to do an assessment that I thought was due at 12 tonight when it isn't due for another week. And now I'm coming onto atarnotes to take my mind off all of that, lmao.

Not long before I've finished this trimester and I don't know if it is just everything thats going on right now in the world, but time has gone by incredibly quickly. I've got two weeks left, then two weeks holiday, then I'm back on for another eleven weeks.

So, hope you guys are all well and keeping busy. I'll leave this here. Hope it makes sense because I can't really think straight :)


KatherineGale

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Re: Never Give Up - a university journey journal
« Reply #36 on: December 19, 2020, 04:59:56 pm »
+5

Long time, no post... Sorry guys. I sort of fell off the end of the Earth for a bit there  ;D

As I predicted in my first post on this thread, I burned out. Reading back this thread was an amazing motivator though. I've come far since making that first post. A lot has happened, good and bad.

As I'm from Melbourne, I was on Stage 4 lockdown for a while. It was a difficult period of time for many people, but it really offered me perspective. My body was telling me to slow down. Laws were forcing me to slow down. So for the first time I truly did slow down. Now, because of that, I am in the best position I have been since I can remember.

My health has gotten to a much better place. I ended up needing to get an add on to my medication, but it's working very well. I still have regular flare ups and it's still a struggle, but I'm typically feeling semi-human.

I've managed to sustain 3 units during each trimester. That's so significant to me. I graduated last year barely passing 1 year 12 unit, and I've managed a 75% uni workload. That sort of achievement was unfathomable to me last year. Now that my health is finally starting to settle, I look forward to eventually taking on a full workload. I'm enjoying studying again, which is thrilling. I don't think I can even express how that makes me feel.

Instead of merely wishing and hoping for a better future, I finally feel like I have the capacity to make that future for myself. All those things I imagined - getting into medicine, opening a clinic - I feel capable of that. It won't be easy by any means, but it's certainly achievable. It's probably weird to say but I'm proud of myself for the first time in my life.

I figure I'll stop rambling on and update you guys with where I'm at. Here are my scores:

Trimester 1:
HBS109: 73 Distinction
HDS101: 72 Distinction
HSO102: 77 Distinction

Trimester 2:
HBS110: 78 Distinction
HSE102: 82 High Distinction
HSO104: [I haven't completed placement yet due to covid and therefore am yet to receive the mark for this unit, though I am expecting similar to the above]

So, as you guys can see, my scores have been improving! I'm hoping to move to most, if not all HD's this trimester with the following units:
HSE208 Integrated Human Physiology
HBS107 Understanding Health
HPS202 Child and Adolescent Development

Here are the links to those units if anyone is interested:
https://www.deakin.edu.au/current-students-courses/unit-search.php?year=2020&entunit=hse208&entkeyword=
https://www.deakin.edu.au/courses-search/unit-search.php?hidCurrentYear=2021&hidYear=2020&hidType=&txtUnit=hbs107&txtTitle=&txtKeyword=&selLevel=Select&selSemester=Select&selMode=Select&selLocation=Select&chkSortby=unit_cd&btnSubmit=
https://www.deakin.edu.au/courses-search/unit-search.php?hidCurrentYear=2021&hidYear=2020&hidType=&txtUnit=hps202&txtTitle=&txtKeyword=&selLevel=Select&selSemester=Select&selMode=Select&selLocation=Select&chkSortby=unit_cd&btnSubmit=

I'm on inter-trimester break right now, just past Week 6, so I'll probably share my assessment marks too when I figure out how to format them properly haha.

As I was already completing HSE208 and HBS107 in Trimester 3, I decided to take one of my electives for next year too. I figured I may as well if I'm studying over this trimester. It took a bit of deliberation, but I finally decided on HPS202 Child and Adolescent Development.

So yeah, whilst these aren't the scores I need to medicine, only my HPS202 score will be included in my 3 year GPA. It was great to have the first few units to get used to uni. Deakin notes on their medicine course site that they had an average GPA of 6.7. So, I'm still a fair way off from that haha

That being said, I also acknowledge that I've probably had it a bit easier doing uni online because I had years of experience with online education before that. Also, first year units are likely a lot easier than second, third and fourth. With my health improving, I'm hoping I can maintain and improve these scores next year regardless.

Next year, oh boy... Everything is still fairly up in the air. I've booked in for accommodation again, but no one is certain if we're going back yet. Genuinely considering hiring a moving company so I don't ruin my health trying to move in and out again, if it goes ahead.  It's looking like it might be semi-on-campus and semi-online. If that's the case, I'll likely have to go in 1-2 times a week and figure living there will be easier.

I'm going to get back into the habit of updating semi-regularly here. I feel like this helps keep my accountable, something I'm striving to maintain going forward.

I hope everyone else is going along okay. So many of us have faced a truly grueling and trial filled year and I hope you've managed to come out the other side okay.

Talk to you guys next time, I guess. Sorry for disappearing on you all. Let me know how you are :)

Bri MT

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Re: Never Give Up - a university journey journal
« Reply #37 on: December 19, 2020, 05:25:02 pm »
+2
Hey!

It's lovely to see you back again :)

Congratulations on everything you've achieved and it's fantastic to hear that you're in a great position atm.

I've found this year pretty challenging, online learning not so much (so much better than when I did distance ed in highschool!) but 2020 has been a rough ride for me. That being said I'm in an alright place atm and I'm definitely optimistic for next year. I'm way overdue for a uni journal update so I'll try to do that early next year if not earlier. 

Best of luck with accommodation.

Love the font btw.

K888

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Re: Never Give Up - a university journey journal
« Reply #38 on: December 19, 2020, 06:00:27 pm »
+2
So nice to see you again! Huge congrats on your results - they're awesome without even taking into account it's your first year of uni and how tricky this year has been! I hope you're really proud of yourself ;D I'm so glad lockdown gave you a chance to slow down and helped your health improve a bit! I think it really showed us all how we make ourselves so busy and often forget to give ourselves a bit of "me time".

Re: moving - I've had removalists for my last 2 moves because me and my housemate both have health issues, and it's been SO worth the money. You get everything done quicker, you're not absolutely exhausted, they're insured so if anything gets broken it's all g, and you (and anyone helping you) don't risk injuring yourself. If you pack everything up before they come it really takes them no time at all to move, then you actually have energy to set up your new place! Hope this insight helps a bit :)

KatherineGale

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Re: Never Give Up - a university journey journal
« Reply #39 on: December 19, 2020, 06:57:50 pm »
+1
Hey!

It's lovely to see you back again :)

Congratulations on everything you've achieved and it's fantastic to hear that you're in a great position atm.

I've found this year pretty challenging, online learning not so much (so much better than when I did distance ed in highschool!) but 2020 has been a rough ride for me. That being said I'm in an alright place atm and I'm definitely optimistic for next year. I'm way overdue for a uni journal update so I'll try to do that early next year if not earlier. 

Best of luck with accommodation.

Love the font btw.


Hi Bri MT :)

Thank you so much!

Glad you're in a better place now after such a tough year. I do agree that online learning in uni was on an entirely different level from distance ed online study - I don't know if it's just different content, better access to resources or what, but uni online is far more preferable.  Loving the optimism  ;D

Looking forward to your update!

And thank you haha - thought the font was a nice change. I've become obsessed with using Courier in the last few months. The people marking my assessments must hate me lol


So nice to see you again! Huge congrats on your results - they're awesome without even taking into account it's your first year of uni and how tricky this year has been! I hope you're really proud of yourself ;D I'm so glad lockdown gave you a chance to slow down and helped your health improve a bit! I think it really showed us all how we make ourselves so busy and often forget to give ourselves a bit of "me time".

Re: moving - I've had removalists for my last 2 moves because me and my housemate both have health issues, and it's been SO worth the money. You get everything done quicker, you're not absolutely exhausted, they're insured so if anything gets broken it's all g, and you (and anyone helping you) don't risk injuring yourself. If you pack everything up before they come it really takes them no time at all to move, then you actually have energy to set up your new place! Hope this insight helps a bit :)


Hi K888, thanks for the reply and for your kind words! I think a lot of us have needed that "me time" during lockdown!

That's great to hear that you have used removalists before and it's worked. It makes me feel more confident that it's the right way to go. I found a company that has mini trucks to move uni students - because we obviously don't need to shift large amounts of furniture - which is great because that makes it a lot cheaper! Hopefully I'll have a bit of notice before moving (I don't want to book them in advance and then have to cancel or still pay the fee if we don't go back on campus 2021, so I'm in a bit of a pickle of what to do there).

As I'm booked in for accommodation in Geelong this time, I'm more concerned about trying to find a park to even unload everything. I feel as though removalists would be able to park in loading zones, whereas I would not, which would make it so much easier. It was difficult enough lugging it all the short distance at Waurn Ponds, let alone trying to find a park in Geelong and then cart everything back and forth! Thank you so much for that little tidbit.

K888

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Re: Never Give Up - a university journey journal
« Reply #40 on: December 19, 2020, 07:01:43 pm »
+2

Hi K888, thanks for the reply and for your kind words! I think a lot of us have needed that "me time" during lockdown!

That's great to hear that you have used removalists before and it's worked. It makes me feel more confident that it's the right way to go. I found a company that has mini trucks to move uni students - because we obviously don't need to shift large amounts of furniture - which is great because that makes it a lot cheaper! Hopefully I'll have a bit of notice before moving (I don't want to book them in advance and then have to cancel or still pay the fee if we don't go back on campus 2021, so I'm in a bit of a pickle of what to do there).

As I'm booked in for accommodation in Geelong this time, I'm more concerned about trying to find a park to even unload everything. I feel as though removalists would be able to park in loading zones, whereas I would not, which would make it so much easier. It was difficult enough lugging it all the short distance at Waurn Ponds, let alone trying to find a park in Geelong and then cart everything back and forth! Thank you so much for that little tidbit.

A lot of removalists also have different truck sizes depending on how much stuff you need to move, too. We've been able to choose truck size both times. Re: booking, we booked like a week or two in advance and got the impression that's very rare - it seemed like they regularly get booked only days in advance at most.

The Cat In The Hat

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Re: Never Give Up - a university journey journal
« Reply #41 on: December 19, 2020, 08:50:22 pm »
+1
-snip-
Now the ordinary font looks... commonplace. And by the way, your journal looks really interesting!
VCE 20
HHD MM Revs (F/R) Eng T&T
ATAR 85
Uni 21-24: BNursing/BMidwifery @ Deakin
Y1T2:
HNM102
HNN122 (double)
HNN114
I hope I don't fail....
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Creative excerpts
Nur/Mid uni journal

For Narnia and for Aslan!

she/her

Basically inactive now. May change. Have a nice day.

KatherineGale

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Re: Never Give Up - a university journey journal
« Reply #42 on: December 19, 2020, 09:12:40 pm »
+2
A lot of removalists also have different truck sizes depending on how much stuff you need to move, too. We've been able to choose truck size both times. Re: booking, we booked like a week or two in advance and got the impression that's very rare - it seemed like they regularly get booked only days in advance at most.

Good to know! I might have to look around and get a few quotes. Glad that if I have to book last minute there are removalists that will do it! That makes me feel a lot better about it [but I must admit I will still feel better if I get to book in advance haha]

Now the ordinary font looks... commonplace. And by the way, your journal looks really interesting!

Thanks for your reply The Cat In The Hat!
haha! Sorry  ;D This font helps me think for some reason.
Thank you!

KatherineGale

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Re: Never Give Up - a university journey journal
« Reply #43 on: December 27, 2020, 04:33:24 pm »
+3

Hello again  :)

In my last update I think I mentioned keeping track of my individual assessment results for this trimester to hold myself accountable for them, so I'll note them down below.

HPS202 Child & Adolescent Development:
AT1 - Annotated Bibliography [30%]: unknown
AT2 - Policy Brief [50%]: unknown
AT3 - Quiz 1 [4%]: 15.00/15.00=100%
AT3 - Quiz 2 [4%]: 06.00/15.00=40%
AT3 - Quiz 3 [4%]: unknown
AT3 - Quiz 4 [4%]: unknown
AT3 - Quiz 5 [4%]: unknown
Current Average: 70

HSE208 Integrated Human Physiology:
AT1 - Practical 1 [5%]: 19.50/20.00=97.5%
AT1 - Practical 2 [10%]: unknown
AT1 - Practical 3 [10%]: unknown
AT1 - Practical 4 [10%]: unknown
AT1 - Practical 5 [15%]: unknown
AT2 - Quiz 1 [4%]: 04.00/04.00=100%
AT2 - Quiz 2 [6%]: unknown
AT3 - Examination [40%]: unknown
Current Average: 98.66

HBS107 Understanding Health:
AT1 - Career Report [25%]: 25.00/25.00=100%
AT2 - Health Plan Report [40%]: unknown
AT3 - Group Presentation [35%]: unknown
Current Average: 100

So my HPS202 AT3 Quiz 2 score sucked lol. I left it to last minute, didn't do any study for it, and did it through a moderate flare up, so I'm surprised I even got that much. It's only worth 4%, so I'm trying not to agonize over it. That will do me more harm than good. It's only 4%, but at the same time, that 4% could be the difference between a D and HD. Still, I'm going to try and use it as motivation to help me pull my HPS202 overall score up to over 80.

During the time I completed HPS202 AT3 Quiz 2, I also completed HPS202 AT1 and HSE208 AT1 Practical 2, so I don't have high hopes for those assessments either. My flare up was likely caused by stress (my niece, brother [twice], sister and mother all went to hospital for different reasons within the span of 1 week so I expect that's probably why lol) so I'm hoping that it's a one off as my health has been a lot better in control as I mentioned last post.

I'm hoping that dedicating enough effort to the HPS202 AT2 policy brief, and trying not to lose too many marks on the HPS202 quizzes and HSE208 quizzes and practicals from here on out will enable me to remain above an average score of 80 for all of my units and make up for the poor scores I am expecting.

Still, I must say I'm pretty thrilled with my results so far (besides the obvious ;D). The HBS107 AT1 career report was certainly a pleasant surprise.

I'm a bit behind, so the next two weeks I'm going to try and catch up. Well, not behind really, just behind my own schedule. I need to be two weeks ahead for when I go on placement sometime mid-jan and I am not quite there yet.

I plan to spend the next week or week and a half going through all the content for all of my units for the rest of the trimester. Then the following week when classes start back up, I only have to worry about assessments. I only have the HPS202 policy brief and the HBS107 health plan report and group presentation to do, so I'll get those done in the next 1-2 weeks after that. Then I'll do quizzes and practicals when I can, refine my notes for the HSE208 exam and do my placement and the assessments attached to that.

So, I've got a busy few weeks ahead of me  ;D Wish me luck lol  :'(

Hope you guys are having a good holidays. I might not post again until after the new year, so talk to you all then!

KatherineGale

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Re: Never Give Up - a university journey journal
« Reply #44 on: January 05, 2021, 08:21:16 pm »
+5

And... the flare ups strike again... Guess I spoke to soon haha

I've had another bout of flare ups unfortunately. I still managed to make a great start on notes, but not nearly what I was aiming for. I'm still very happy with what I got done considering.

It was my 21st on Sunday and spending the day relaxing and taking it easy was certainly a relief! Best birthday I could've asked for. I'm so boring haha  ;D

Classes went back Monday. Nothing too new there. I think everyone is feeling the drag of the holidays.

I don't really have much more to update right now.

Oh, I did get another assessment result:

HSE208 Integrated Human Physiology:
AT1 - Practical 2 [10%]: 23.00/28.00=08.21/10.00=82.14%
This brings my current average for this unit down to 89.95.

Not as bad as I was expecting, but I would certainly like to do better. Considering I was concerned about this result, I'm not as disappointed as I thought I would be though! Still a HD... just haha - and my overall unit result hasn't dropped below a HD either, although I don't have much further to drop before I do.

I guess that's it. I'm just trying to keep positive and push forward.

I'll talk to you guys next time  :)