Uni Stuff > The University Journey Journal
A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Bri MT:
I don't do new years resolutions but this new year felt different to me. I'm visiting my family atm and on new years eve when it hit midnight and everyone else said 'happy new year" I couldn't bring myself to say it. Ironically, it was going on the internet that helped me feel a bit better about the world. Being reminded about poet's running progress and talking to pf lifted my mood. Yeah, things can be bad but we can get through it.
About 368 days ago I called a mental health team on a close friend for the first time. I was terrified and didn't know what I was doing. Now I can call 000 and know what they'll ask and have a pretty good idea of what to say. I was living in a share house where we didn't talk to each other. Now I live in one where we miss each other when we leave for a while. I was without an internship and now I'm doing a fantastic one.
I still struggle a lot with guilt. I can't be everything for everyone and sometimes things slip. I had this tradition from the first year of uni / first year of my being a mod where I would read through the VCE year 12 journey journals that had been recently active from start to finish and write a message for the journaller which I would send before results. If you're a year 12 Victorian reading this, you might know I didn't do that this year. I've read every page of Ashmi's PDT folio, know about Geoo's passion and perseverance through missing the "best" part of chem, empathise with the academic pressure Cat in the Hat feels... but when December 30 showed up it took me by surprise. I wish I could've been more there for all of you during 2020 and in a way not preparing for the VCE class of 2020 is the right symbolism for how I've felt throughout the year. I wish I could've given more & I know I'm not the only one who has felt that way. I'm not looking for validation here, I know I've still done good things, I just haven't lived up to who I would've liked me to be in this year.
2020 might be over but its impacts aren't and that makes it harder for me to celebrate the new year. knowing that in many ways we're not restructuring the systems that perpetuate these problems doesn't help. Increased pressure on environments and animal consumption resulting in another zoonotic disease? Guess we'd all better just point fingers and wait for the next ebola or COVID-19. Cut foreign support & pretend like it isn't used strategically to help Australia too I guess. Ignore global warming so we have have mosquitoes expand their ranges rapidly (plus a whole host of other issues) sounds just about in-line with this.
On the plus side, I can remember the mantra I've heard before at conservation and sustainability panels. How do you keep up hope? You remember all the people fighting the good fight. I know so many people who are empathetic, intelligent, kind, resilient & working to make things better. We have everything we need to make a better future, we just need to communicate it in a way that others will be on board with the changes. I believe that most people, if given the choice in an accessible way, would choose to help others & themselves. Learning more about what's wrong can be overwhelming and sometimes paralysing but when the shock has passed knowledge remains.
2021 is not a fresh slate from the impacts of 2020 but our knowledge and experience isn't wiped away either. We've got this.
--- I'll try to actually talk uni things in my next entry :P ---
whys:
Hey Bri MT,
Firstly, congrats on getting through this year successfully and for everything you've accomplished. You are a cherished presence on the forums and we wouldn't have it any other way. You have supported the class of 2020 so much this year, as well as other year levels. Thank you for offering your knowledge and wisdom to help us on our own paths. It's okay to be disappointed, but I hope you also know what a big help you've been around the forums with your many helpful posts and amazing contributions.
P.S. I also felt the exact same way - it didn't really feel like a new year when everything from 2020 was bound to carry over. It sort of just felt like a new extension of 2020 to me, but with every new year comes the opportunity to bring about good change and reflect over what went wrong so we can do better.
All the best for 2021!
ashmi:
Hey Bri!🐢🐢
I just want to say, thank you for the honest journal entry. A big round of applause to you for making it through 2020 and all the progress that you have made has definitely been noticed by many on the forums. As whys has mentioned, we always feel your constant support no matter what situation we all seem to be in and the advice/encouragement you give is something we all treasure. It is perfectly fine to feel like you haven't accomplished anything you wanted previously, it's 100% alright.
Just like you and whys, to me, 2021 doesn't feel like a new year at all, in fact, it feels more like 2020.5, especially with all the impact 2020 had on us. However, we can always try new things and hopefully improve our quality of life for this year. Seriously though, thank you for everything you have done. Also, I do remember that time you messaged me in Year 11 before results came out and let me just say, I never forgot what you did. Take some time to relax and rest up💕
Good luck for this year and we are always here for you!
The Cat In The Hat:
--- Quote from: ashmi on January 02, 2021, 01:57:47 pm ---Hey Bri!🐢🐢
I just want to say, thank you for the honest journal entry. A big round of applause to you for making it through 2020 and all the progress that you have made has definitely been noticed by many on the forums. As whys has mentioned, we always feel your constant support no matter what situation we all seem to be in and the advice/encouragement you give is something we all treasure. It is perfectly fine to feel like you haven't accomplished anything you wanted previously, it's 100% alright.
Just like you and whys, to me, 2021 doesn't feel like a new year at all, in fact, it feels more like 2020.5, especially with all the impact 2020 had on us. However, we can always try new things and hopefully improve our quality of life for this year. Seriously though, thank you for everything you have done. Also, I do remember that time you messaged me in Year 11 before results came out and let me just say, I never forgot what you did. Take some time to relax and rest up💕
Good luck for this year and we are always here for you!
--- End quote ---
I second this.
Also, I feel honoured to be mentioned. :)
Bri MT:
Thanks everyone :) Feels like a bit of a role-reversal to have younger students reassuring me but in a way I think that's what the community is all about - people helping out when they can, how they can. Also I feel like I should mention that I picked those names as recently active examples but there are certainly lots more VCE journals than that :D
Apparently we'll get access to the Moodle page (at Monash this is where you find information about your units) on the 25th of January - exactly 2 weeks before we begin induction for honours. At the moment we don't have much information: we don't know what we will be working on, what teams we will be in, who our academic supervisors will be, who our industry supervisors will be.... I would be very surprised if we get our client briefs before induction but hopefully Moodle does give us a decent amount of information.
For anyone who has read insanipi's honours journey or is otherwise familiar with science honours you might be able to see that global challenges honours is a bit different. We work in teams with our cohortmates we've gotten to know over the past 3 years (yes, our honours is year long teamwork) and are assigned a client/Monash partner. As the global challenges site describes it:
"Unlike a traditional honours program, our students work with industry during their final year to tackle real world problems. Our students bring a whole suite of new entrepreneurial and scientific thinking to your business problems." - https://www.monash.edu/global-challenges
I could be wrong here, but I think honours will be more chill compared to 3rd year where we did consulting + also had to balance 3 other units. Previous honour students have given me hope here. It's also going to be the first year where I'm not on the mass^3 committee. I definitely feel that I made the right decision not to run for re-election, having one less commitment should be helpful.
The biggest thing I'm looking forward to with my uni work now is seeing the other gcers again in person (we've been told our induction weeks will be in person). I especially want to see my cohort but as the year progresses it would be good to catch up with the 2nd 3rd years again and to meet the incoming 1st and 2nd year students. In a strange way, it was almost like 3rd year was preparation for our cohort to be going our separate ways soon and not seeing each other around on campus. feel ready for this to be my last year of undergrad and to then venture out into the workforce fulltime. I'm ready to leave the structure of uni classes behind. I'm ready for this final year.
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