Broc N’ Roll – kauac’s uni journal

[katie,rinos]

Good luck for your other 3 exams!! 

[kauac]

Good luck for your other 3 exams!! 

Thanks Katie! How you are finding the start of the new term?

It seems so strange that you guys are just starting again when we are finishing:)

[katie,rinos]

Thanks Katie! How you are finding the start of the new term?

It seems so strange that you guys are just starting again when we are finishing:)

It's been pretty good so far but I'm not too keen for it all to be online. 

(It's weird because I'm waiting for some friends assessments/exams to be over before meeting up but I'm already starting back)

[kauac]

Chem is now done and dusted!

Feeling a bit disappointed about it, so maybe writing this will help me to vent a bit aha.

I wasn't sure if they would increase the difficulty of questions, since it was open book. But the questions were actually decent, and fairly similar to past papers that were closed book.

BUT, having to type up our working out for short answer questions took forever! It was really frustrating, because most of the time was spent typing and formatting our answer, rather than doing a calculation or thinking about how to get the answer. As well as this, we had to keep going back and forward between questions on different pages, because we needed the data from previous questions. All of this meant that I was stressed and rushing to put down at least some sort of working out for all questions, some answers only half-finished.

I feel a bit robbed, because there were questions I knew how to answer, and would have answered perfectly fine, had it been a paper exam. This seems to be the common opinion on our unit's discussion board, so I wonder how the markers will respond.

Regardless, it's over, time to rest (for tonight ), and focus on my next exam, Linguistics and Phonetics. I did a practice Proctor U Test for this yesterday, which was pretty weird - with remote control, and speaking to my proctor and all. So the plan for tomorrow is to go through and memorise all the mindmaps I have made (about 12), and maybe do some practice questions, if I have time.


Pozdrav!

(Croatian: This is really hard to say in real life haha!)

[kauac]

Hi!

It's been a bit over a week since I finished exams. The last two exams were on Proctor U, which was an interesting experience! After hearing a lot of negative talk about Proctor U, I found it okay. It was a bit weird that we were being recorded while we did the exam though!

Linguistics and phonetics went alright! The multiple choice were pretty good, but there was one tricky short answer on aphasia - that wasn't really covered in a lot of detail in the lectures. It was a really short exam though - I got through all of the questions in less than an hour for a two hour exam!

Speech science went better than expected! It was mainly multiple choice, and most of them were alright. I had a good shot at the nerve lesion short answer, which is notoriously tricky.

Since exams, I have been working a lot, relaxing, and hanging out with friends and family. I think I always feel a bit funny after finishing exams, because I have had a certain routine for a while, and then all of a sudden, it's gone! So guess I'm starting to get into new routines now, as well as trying to be spontaneous (though that's not my natural tendency  ).

I bought a lego set of Tokyo city, which was been really fun to build! Been trying to keep up with my June "goodbye" language challenge, but honestly, 1 language a day is a lot for someone with low motivation haha! I should get back into learning Dutch as well!

In July I have a few more online practicals that we need to complete for chem, but other than that, I'm uni-free for the next 8 and a bit weeks. Looking forward to the EU conference later in July as well!

안녕
["annyeong"]
(Korean)

[kauac]

My results for this semester came out a few days ago! I think USYD was one of the first uni's I know of to release results, which is weird, considering semester 2 goes back so much later.

Bio: 81 DI - a bit disappointed, because it was really just one assignment that I didn't do very well in that made the difference between a HD and DI.
Speech Science: 86 HD - pretty shocked in a good way! I found this subject fairly challenging all semester - but I'm glad my efforts paid off!
Linguistics and Phonetics: 88 HD - pretty much what I was expecting, so I'm happy with that.
Chem: still waiting for results - have to finish my holiday pracs first.

Although I was a little disappointed about bio, I'm stoked to have 2 HD's and a DI so far! Just have 2 more pracs to go, and then I have officially completed my first semester of uni!

My break has been busy! I've been working 30-35 hours each week, and then have been exercising and catching up with various friends in-between. I'm taking a bit of time off work at the end of July for various conferences, so hopefully that will be a bit more relaxing!

[kauac]

A rainy Sunday afternoon, and the gym's not open  ...So thought I'd pop in here.... So my Chem results came out early (meant to be officially released tomorrow, but was sent an email on Friday)!

Over the moon ecstatic to get an 85 (HD)! I was expecting a low credit, so I was actually laughing at how I managed to pull this one off! All I must say is that they must have been very kind when marking/scaling the final exam. 

Had an awesome week off work! Super recharging and gave me a chance to reflect / look forward on life and plans and such. Work's settled down now, so I've got a more manageable amount of hours.

I signed up and started the second round of Questagame, which will be fun! I've only taken a few photos of birds at the moment, so I probably should be a little more intentional about it - since it is a competition, after all!

I've had a bit of a look at what my timetable looks like for this semester. In terms of face-face, I'll have 3 hours of tutes each week - mostly likely a Wednesday morning, and then 2 chem pracs in the semester. So still mostly online at this stage. Honestly, I feel like this semester will be a bit dry will all the data science and maths I'm doing, but I've just got to get through before I can get to bigger and better things. Still a few more weeks before I head back. Hoping to sneak a little trip away before uni/potential lockdown sets in. 

[angewina_naguen]

Congratulations on your amazing results  They're super impressive and very well-deserving!

Also great to see that you're thinking positively about the online learning experience as much as possible. What are your thoughts on how USYD's handled the pandemic, for next semester as well as overall?

[kauac]

Hi! It's been a mighty while!
(So long that I had forgotten my AN password, oops!)

So this semester's been happening... Now at the end of week 8 of 12. I've been enjoying going into campus once a week for some F2F tutorials. Always lots of protests when I go though, = lots of police, so it's a bit strange.

I also had 2 lab skills sessions for chem... I'm pretty hopeless when it comes to pracs though, so I found them pretty scary and intense. Thankfully it was just a P/F mark for this though, so it ended up being fine.

I don't think I've recorded what subjects I am doing yet, so here they are and how I'm finding them:

- BIOL1007: From Molecules to Ecosystems - fairly interesting and not too hard - liked the genetics and biochem sections, not so much the plant science
- CHEM1112: CHEM 1B - has been okay. Did a lot of organic chem and analysing spectrums (a little tedious), but not too bad.
- DATA1001: Foundations of Data Science - starting off liking this a lot: learning about experimental design and how to code using R, but now I find the lectures a bit dull (using R is still cool though ).
- MATH1013: Linear Algreba - Enjoying this quite a lot! A bit different to the kind of maths I did in highschool, but it's a very methodical process using matrixes to solve things, and the lecturers are really helpful (and provide pretty lecture notes!).
- MATH1014: Mathematical Modelling. Building on highschool 2U, but somehow I'm struggling with this one a lot more!? I feel like the lectures make sense, but when I get to tutorials, I have no idea what I'm doing! Probably need more practice.

Very ready for this semester to be over! My friends from other uni's are all wrapping up their classes and starting exams, whereas USYD still has 5 weeks before exams to go! Have felt very time poor this semester since I'm doing 5 subjects (even though it's the same amount of credit points). Mainly because I have to spend more time on maths since it's not my strong suit - probably more time than my 6cp subjects, oops.

Being on campus has been great, though! I had free pancakes yesterday, which was a nice surpise! Been good to have some social interaction in classes (even though I'm less productive), rather than just focusing on the work, when classes are online.

Participated in a research interview in the mid-semester break for chemistry. They were testing how VR technology could assist in visualising substitution reactions, so that was cool! I feel like you aren't officially a uni student until you participate in some sort of research for uni.

I started playing a mixed indoor netball competition with my brother and sister, which has been exciting - and something to look forward to each week! Work has been alright - doing a manageable amount of shifts (around 15-20 hours), and have been training a lot of newer workers. Going to have full rest day on Saturday - no uni work or working, which is exciting! Probably going to go shopping!

What are your thoughts on how USYD's handled the pandemic, for next semester as well as overall?

I think USYD have managed things pretty well. It's been good that they have offered some things F2F whilst being flexible for students where this isn't possible for them. They also have given plenty of extra resources for online learning, which is terrific!

Not sure why they gave us such a long break in between semesters, but hope it was helpful for them!

[kauac]

Another semester down, only 8 more to go! 

Exams flew by - most of them of were quite difficult, but it's satisfying to have finished them now. Marks are supposed to come out sometime in January, but my marks for BIOL1007 came out early, which was cool. I ended up with an 88 (HD), which I'm really happy with. It'll probably be my highest mark for the semester, since I did find my maths subjects quite challenging. Just hoping I passed these (but if not, my back-up is repeating them as January intensives).

Feeling a bit more confident with my lab skills after having a chill microbiology skills session one week. Quite familiar with pipetting now, and had a go at using the spectrophotometer and various microscopes, which will be helpful for next year and beyond.

When I went to campus for the last week of semester, I was getting a little sad that I wouldn't be back there again until March. That's not normally like me to get emotional haha, but going to campus has been a highlight of this half of the year! We had a little party in our chemistry tute that week to celebrate end of semester, which was pretty cute! Turns out it was our tutor's last tutorial, since they were graduating, so a nice way for them to finish too.

It seems uni next year will probably be pretty similar to this semester in terms of online / F2F learning. Going in for 1 day a week was certainly sustainable, but I do wonder how I'll go with all the travel when we eventually go back to full-time F2F. But that's a problem for future Katie! I am looking forward to my subjects next semester, since content becomes more specific - doing a bit of biochem, physiology, a speech/hearing unit and some OLE's (Open Learning Environment). Not too sure what OLE's I will pick yet, but there are some cool health-related ones. I was even thinking of doing a music notation one, since I play the piano and can read music, hopefully it shouldn't be too hard!

Uni break for me looks like some part-time work, getting around to those things that I put off during semester and resting in-between. Hoping to get away for a bit in January, (covid-willing), but if not, I'll find ways to enjoy some relaxation at home. Already started building some lego, cooking a bit, and thinking about getting back into learning Dutch (now that I have the brainspace). Should be a great next few months!

[kauac]

I've been doing a whole lot of nothing the last couple of days since having wisdom teeth surgery on Friday... seems like an ideal time to update my journal. 

Bit of a mammoth post, so decided to section it all off!

2020, Semester 2 Update

Spoiler

Got the rest of my results back in January... they kinda trickled in by email every few days, rather than all being released at once on the official release day, which was kinda nice actually. Pleased to announce that I passed my maths units, yay! No maths summer intensives for me.

MATH1013: 69 CR - This was my hardest subject all semester and I felt overwhelmed after each tutorial, so to get a credit in this is a surprise and relief!

MATH1014: 79 DI - Very happy, stoked to get a distinction in a maths unit! This unit was very fun, and I loved the methodical nature of working with vectors and matrixes. The final exam was shocking, so glad my marks still reflected how I was tracking throughout semester.

DATA1001: 84 DI - Also a nice surprise! The content was easy enough and I had done well in all the projects, but the final exam was definitely intense. 1 mark off a HD though aha.

CHEM1112: 81 DI - Very content. Pretty similar to last semesters' chem results, and considering I had all this maths to deal with, I think I handled this subject quite well.

BIOL1007: 88 HD - Good stuff! Wasn't sure how I'd go with the long responses, since bio marking tends to be a bit picky, but it turned out great in the end.

Can't think of any other uni-related things from last year, so let's continue onto this year.

2021, Semester 1

Spoiler

Made a minor change to my enrolment: I'm now doing a second major (rather than a minor) in Speech and Hearing Science. I'm really excited for all of my subjects this year! Only thing is, this semester it's looking like I'll have 27 hours of classes / week, which is a bit nightmarish! I blame all the pracs - esp biochem, which will be 4hrs! Enough said, here's my subjects for this semester:

BCMB2901 - Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (Advanced)
PHSI2007 - Key Concepts in Physiology
BIOS2166 - Neuroscience of Hearing
OLET1504 - Health Challenges: Diabetes
OLET1510 - Health Challenges: Sleep
OLET1801 - Music Theory and Notation Essentials

This seems like too many subjects, but the last three are just 2 cps each, since they are online open learning units. This will be my first lot of OLE's, not too sure what to expect in terms of difficulty or how time I need to dedicate to them each week. The good thing about them though is that they are basically self-paced, so I guess if there are weeks where my other subjects are really demanding, I can be a bit flexible about my OLE learning.

I'm really keen for the diabetes subject, since it was created by a lecuturer I had last year in human bio that I really enjoyed. Sleep should be cool too, since it's an area of health where I really don't have any background knowledge in or know anything about. I picked the music one with the intention of it being an easy subject, since I learned music theory in piano lessons for many years in primary & highschool. I'm wondering whether it might actually be a bit harder than what I first thought, but should still be cool! Kinda fun to say that I'm studying a subject at the con this semester haha.

Feeling both thrilled and nervous to be studying biochem this year. I first fell in love with biochem when I did an option module for it in HSC chemistry, and have been keen to delve into it further ever since (only did fairly broad biochem stuff in first year bio). I've heard this subject is really intense (and perhaps not too well organised), so I'm a little worried. Last year I was adamant that I wouldn't pick any advanced / SSP units, because I wanted to make uni as cruisy as possible. I kinda picked advanced biochem on a whim, since my friend was doing it and we wanted to be in the same practical. As far as I can tell, the two different streams are fairly similar, except the pracs are more research-oriented in advanced, which could be cool! I guess I see how I go in the first couple of weeks - it it gets too much, I have until census date to drop back down to the mainstream. 

Physiology sounds really interesting as well! Kinda seems like human bio 2.0, since structurally it's very similar - looking at all the different body systems and doing pracs for them. The pracs will be in the Charles Perkins Centre, which is exciting! I can pretend to be a real fancy scientist now

Neuroscience of hearing is the unit for my Speech / Hearing major this semester. If it's anything like the hearing version of speech science from last year, it will be intense, but good! Apart from not being able to choose our prac time, I generally appreciate how the Faculty of Medicine and Health is run, and they're good a giving exam feedback and things like that. I wonder whether we will be working with cadavers again in pracs - guess I'll have to wait and see!

As for my timetable, I submitted my class preferences and am waiting to receive my timetable back in the next few days. I'll looking like I will be heading down to campus for 1 day a week, and 2 days each fortnight, which is fairly ideal actually! All of my lectures are online, (except for physiology!?) so I'll be watching those at home and just going in for pracs. Have a couple of online tutorials, but some of them are only fortnightly as well. Still waiting for all the unit outlines to come out for this semester though - will be helpful having a bit more info about each subject.

Next semester should be a breeze though, I calculated that I will only have 17 hours of classes (instead of 27!), so I'll try and keep that in mind this semester in moments when I am feeling swamped with uni! Think that's about it for uni stuff.

& Everything Else

Spoiler

I have been working a fair bit over the break, some weeks 30+ hours. We have just changed over owners at the store which has been a little bit crazy with lots of new changes and workers, but things are starting to settle down again.

Been looking to find some more health-related casual work. Recently just applied for a perfect job - a diet aide at my local hospital. Basically working under the supervision of a dietitian to help patients select meals and then deliver them. The job description says it would suit a dietetics student, but I don't think I have much of a chance of getting it, but good application practice, I guess!

Have managed to slip away a few times for a youth camp, camping with friends and then with my family. Finally have been able to use my swag that I got for Christmas 2019! Very easy to set-up and pack-up, I'm quite happy with it! I've been to several different beaches across the last month or so, which has been nice! Good to get out of the house.

About my wisdom teeth surgery (thought I'd write a little about this so I can remember the experience when I look back on this)... was my first time having surgery / general anaesthetic, so I was feeling a bit nervous... Especially since I had to do the whole hospital experience solo due to COVID. Honestly, it was nothing to be nervous about... everything went smoothly, the whole anaesthetic experience wasn't too wacky... I remember looking at the clock in the recovery ward while I was still half-asleep, saw the time, and proceeded to try and wake myself up properly ASAP because I wanted to watch the livestream of my friends' wedding that was happening soon. Probably wasn't the smartest idea because I was feeling fairly dizzy, but I really wanted to watch the wedding! Kind of missed the first half due to the livestream lagging, but glad that I could still join for part of it!

I've been feeling alright post-surgery, tend to feel a bit funny in the head in the afternoon / evenings though. I'm meant to be back at work on Wednesday - I think I'm on track for that at this stage. My face is still a bit swollen (feel a little like a chipmunk) and I'm dosed up on pain killers, but other than that, we all think I am doing really well considering!

Leaving the most exciting thing til last, our family recently got a puppy! His name is Jaffa, and he's a 7 month old border collie cross kelpie rescue dog. He's got so so much energy and loves to lick our feet, but very cute. Definitely feels like our family is collectively trying to raise a child together, so it can be challenging at times, but a lot of fun! He's been very gentle and has been looking out for me the last couple of days as I live on the couch.

[kauac]

A lil update:

Got all my uni preferences that I wanted, yay! No annoying trips to campus for me, just my weekly day and fornightly two days.

Recovering from surgery is taking longer than expected, which is a bit frustrating. I feel bad for having to take more time off work, but I just keep getting dizzy all the time. Think it could be sinus related. I'm following it up with my GP & surgeon. Have been sleeping for 11+ hours every night - which is great, but also, when will my body go back to normal haha? Jaffa has been keeping me company while I'm resting. He's pretty cute and likes to get me to hold his paw, but then he tries to sneak up and lick my face. 

[K888]

A lil update:

Got all my uni preferences that I wanted, yay! No annoying trips to campus for me, just my weekly day and fornightly two days.

Recovering from surgery is taking longer than expected, which is a bit frustrating. I feel bad for having to take more time off work, but I just keep getting dizzy all the time. Think it could be sinus related. I'm following it up with my GP & surgeon. Have been sleeping for 11+ hours every night - which is great, but also, when will my body go back to normal haha? Jaffa has been keeping me company while I'm resting. He's pretty cute and likes to get me to hold his paw, but then he tries to sneak up and lick my face. 

For what it's worth, having surgery and a GA really takes it out of you and it's not unusual to take several weeks to recover! It's a real shock to your system and takes a toll on it, so don't feel like an alien for taking a bit of time to recover haha.

Jaffa sounds absolutely adorable, sounds like he's just what you need to help you get better

[kauac]

For what it's worth, having surgery and a GA really takes it out of you and it's not unusual to take several weeks to recover! It's a real shock to your system and takes a toll on it, so don't feel like an alien for taking a bit of time to recover haha.

Jaffa sounds absolutely adorable, sounds like he's just what you need to help you get better

Definitely agree with you K888! 

I think I was a bit naive going into surgery about how long it would take to recover... In some ways I did recover fairly quickly (in terms of swelling & pain), however I coming to realise now that it might take a couple of weeks to get back to 100% peak health.

Adopting Jaffa has been a highlight of the year so far... it's so funny watching him relate to us and the world, because he really is a puppy in an adult sized body.

[kauac]

Woah, I let this journal slide for a bit too long!

Enjoying my final weekend before uni starts again - as much as one can enjoy lockdown aha. It hasn't all been bad though, I've had plenty of time to complete my lockdown fun bucket list, including reorganising spaces, creative projects, building lego and the classic lockdown activity - baking.

Been exercising more than ever, taking the chance to go for long walks with friends & fam, as well as 30 min strength workouts and plenty of running. I'm starting to do a couple of longer runs again (like when I was training for my half marathon). I did 16km on Thursday and I really surprised myself with how fast my pace was - probably about 20 seconds / km faster than paces I have previously at similar distances. I've put it down to the fact that I've had a year and a half of gym workouts and leg toning, which have hopefully made my leg muscles more powerful in each stride. I've taken to really craving the sore muscle feeling the day after a workout - is that weird?

Back to some actual uni stuff... I think last semester it took me several weeks to adjust to my uni schedule life - I changed my sleep schedule and had the most hours of classes I had ever taken. I think I cried when I looked at my uni schedule last semester, but I just did this semester's one yesterday, and it's actually not looking too bad! After last sem's first couple of rough weeks, I settled into everything and the rest of semester flew by!

Subject wise, I loved all of my OLE's, and a tough choice, but I think Sleep Health was my favourite. It was good to get them out of the way before my other exams started. For molecular biology/ biochem, the former was painful and confusing, the latter was very interesting and relevant to nutrition. I despised the pracs because I am a disaster with a pipette, but I liked the theory side of the pracs - designing and running assays for blood glucose and blood alcohol levels. Physiology pracs were amazing! Feel like I just started to work on some clinical skills, doing things like running an ECG and testing blood glucose levels. Neuroscience of Hearing - the second half, more focused on hearing, was brilliant! However I felt robbed in terms of assessments for that subject - it was only MC for every single assessment, but I feel like often the things I got wrong were just tiny irrelevant details that actually don't contribute anything to the topic as a whole. Despite feeling very confident as a subject, I don't think this was reflected in my marks, which was a bummer. But we live and learn, don't we!

This semester is looking great! We will be entirely online for the first 4 weeks at least, probably more, considering the state of Sydney at the moment! And I'm finally only doing 4 normal sized subjects, which has been a rareity for me so far:

BCMB2002: Proteins in Cells - not looking forward to molecular bio again, but maybe there will be some relevant things about proteins that might be helpful for nutrition.
PHSI2008: Integrated Physiology. Keen! Pracs sound fantastic, a bummer that we will be missing out on some of them F2F. But they have a whole module dedicated to nutrition, which will be brilliant!
CSCD2070: Human Communication Development. Looks interesting! I think I will need to brush up (A LOT) on my transcription skills, but I found out it is being coordinated by a great lecturer I had in first year, so that should be a ball!
CSCD2071: Audiology 1 - Seems like this one will follow on from the Neuroscience of Hearing, and sounds like a fairly practical, clinical subject, which is cool!

Overall, I only have 17 hrs of classes, which is very managable! I've decided to dedicate a bit more time to EU activities, as well as just have some free time on my weekly schedule, which is amazing! I don't mind doing uni online actually, it'll just be the online pracs that will be a killer. I'm planning on getting back into waking up a bit earlier - 6.15 or 6.30 for a relaxed morning routine, before starting uni stuff at 7.30. I haven't talked about work because I took 2 weeks off, which has been amazing! Dreading going back to work but I think once I'm back it won't be as bad as I thought.

Well, I think that's it for now... back to my restful weekend.