A whole new world - fb3's uni journal

[fantasticbeasts3]

25/07/18

Hey, friends! It's been a while (there's even the red box to tell me I haven't posted here in over 30 days!) Btw, this is going to be really long.

Here's a quick rundown of what's been happening since the last time I updated:
- Results: mostly good! Out loud, I say my goal is just to pass everything but in my mind I have pretty high expectations for myself and I passed most of them so yay.
- Break: very chilled out. I did nothing most for most of it except a bit of German revision. I'm also now up-to-date on Jane the Virgin.

And now for the beginning of Semester 2. I'm only at uni for 2.5 days a week, so Monday, Wednesday and half of Friday. So far, I'm really liking the days off but after writing out my assessments in the semester planner thingy in the Arc diary... I need the days off. My assessments this semester are super hectic but it means I don't have any final exams so whoooooooooooooooop. And before I forget, these are the subjects I'm doing this semester:
- ARTS1091: Media, Society, Politics
- ARTS1511: Introductory German B
- INST1006: The World in Transition
- MDIA1003: PR and Advertising Foundations

THIS WEEK:
- Monday:
German and MDIA1003 lectures. German was good as always, but we have a new lecturer and tutor now because the German language department at UNSW has just left lol. The new lecturer wasn't too bad, but I miss my old tutor already. MDIA1003 was okay - lots of introductory stuff at the beginning which was really boring but then the content was quite interesting. It's reassuring when that happens because I feel like I've picked the right degree hahaha.

- Tuesday:
Break day. Also the worst day this week (so far).

Here's the story. I was going to meet up with my mum for lunch after she finished work (she starts pretty early) and I brought my laptop with me so I could do work on the way there. I always bring a water bottle and as I was running for the bus MY BOTTLE LEAKED. A LOT. What I didn't realise was it got into my laptop. Because I wasn't at uni that day, I didn't bring my larger backpack, and so I didn't use my bulky, heavy-duty laptop case because it wouldn't fit in the smaller backpack I used that day. I used a laptop sleeve and THE WATER WENT ALL OVER MY LAPTOP. I didn't realise until I got home and the water had seeped into my screen so like... rip laptop. It still turned on and was totally functional, but there was obvious water damage on the screen. This leads into the events of today.

- Wednesday:
After my INST1006 lecture, I went to an Apple Authorised Retailer (idk what they call it hahaha) to see what they could do with my laptop. I don't have insurance (guys get insurance just in case seriously) via AppleCare so that really upped the price of the repair. I've just spent over an hour trying not to cry about this because I honestly don't have the money to pay for this, especially when I have to save a lot before exchange. I'm praying that the water didn't get into the laptop itself because that will be waaaaaay more expensive and again, I don't have the money to pay for it. The reason I had a new laptop in the first place was because my old one needs a charger to turn on and it's very unreliable. Now, that's the laptop I have to use. I miss the clear screen, I miss how fast my new laptop was and I miss how it didn't need a charger to turn on. Wow. I miss my laptop.

But anyway, I've learnt very valuable lessons through this experience. (1) always use the heavy-duty case. I have it for a reason. (2) when buying a laptop, buy the insurance. It's an extra ~$300 but will be worth it in the long run.

Well that was a super long entry.

Hope you guys are having a great week!

[jamonwindeyer]

25/07/18

Hey, friends! It's been a while (there's even the red box to tell me I haven't posted here in over 30 days!) Btw, this is going to be really long.

...

I thought this journal might have gone the way of Jane the Virgin - Glad to see you are back for another season

[beatroot]

I thought this journal might have gone the way of Jane the Virgin - Glad to see you are back for another season

I know, straight out of a telenovela right?

[fantasticbeasts3]

I thought this journal might have gone the way of Jane the Virgin - Glad to see you are back for another season

It took me a while to get this... but yes, I'm back for another season!

I know, straight out of a telenovela right?

Unfortunately, my life isn't dramatic enough to be from a telenovela :-/

[fantasticbeasts3]

12/08/18

Hi friends! It's been a while since I've updated so... here's a summary of how weeks 2 and 3 have gone. :-)

Week 2
I can't remember anything about this week except for the water stain in my laptop screen slowly began to disappear, thank goodness. So glad I didn't fork out the money to repair it -- I would've been out $700 and that is not nice especially considering I'm going on exchange to Europe for a whole year in less than 1.5 years. (Now that's super crazy to think about.)

Week 3
I was a rolling ball of stress at the beginning of last week. The INST1006 lectures continue to be crap. Like the lecturer literally reads of a sheet of paper and calls it a lecture. And it's super disorganised so by the time I'm writing my notes back onto OneNote (I write on paper in the actual lecture) I have no idea what's happened. I'm trialling going back to my laptop to write notes this week because I'm short on time this week so we'll see how that works. The German lecturer/tutor is also new and doesn't really know how to teach the course as a whole (she inherited it from last sem's lecturer) and because she doesn't know how to pace classes we're left with a heck load of stuff to catch up on. It's not mandatory to do it, but since it's a language course you kinda have to keep on top of things so yea.

This week
I have two assessments due and haven't made much progress on any so I'll see you guys at the end of the week in the hope that I've survived.

As for exchange...
UNSW says you have to get all your paperwork and preferences together by some time mid-October (I can't remember the date) if you're going on exchange in Term 3, 2019. I'm going sometime at the beginning of 2020 - should I wait for information for Term 1? Or should I be asking now about the exchange program? International Studies has a kinda specialised exchange program so my friends and I are a bit confused as to what we should do.

Hope you all have an awesome week,
fantasticbeasts x

[S200]

As for exchange...
UNSW says you have to get all your paperwork and preferences together by some time mid-October (I can't remember the date) if you're going on exchange in Term 3, 2019. I'm going sometime at the beginning of 2020 - should I wait for information for Term 1? Or should I be asking now about the exchange program? International Studies has a kinda specialised exchange program so my friends and I are a bit confused as to what we should do.

Personally, I think it doesn't hurt to ask?

[fantasticbeasts3]

Personally, I think it doesn't hurt to ask?

Hi!

I think I’ll ask, but not now because the course convenor is away


Side note the WAM requirements for each exchange uni were released recently and two of the ones I wanted to go to have WAMs above 80 so like......... don’t know how that’s going to work. 😅 The WAM requirements are an indication of popularity but it looks like I’ll have to work a bit harder to make sure I can meet the WAM requirement!

[paigek3]

How are you feeling about the change to trimesters???

[fantasticbeasts3]

How are you feeling about the change to trimesters???

Not a fan -- there's a huge possibility I'll have to graduate in 2023, rather than finishing in December 2022. All my subjects are messed up for Term 1 next year and overall just not impressed.

Does MQ have semesters or trimesters? And if you have semesters are you changing to trimesters?

[paigek3]

Not a fan -- there's a huge possibility I'll have to graduate in 2023, rather than finishing in December 2022. All my subjects are messed up for Term 1 next year and overall just not impressed.

Does MQ have semesters or trimesters? And if you have semesters are you changing to trimesters?

My friend goes to unsw and she isn’t keen either!

MQ has semesters and we’re keeping it that way. We do have a semester 3 which is optional over summer but not many do that. So yep just sticking to semester 1&2 for now thankfully!

[fantasticbeasts3]

21/08/18

Hi friends! This one's going to be pretty short (I hope). Let's get straight into it!

1. I made it through last week! Yay! It was a bit stressful but I'm glad I got through it. This week I have a relatively quick essay to get through (1000 words) due on Friday. I hope it won't be too mad. Next week's the real nightmare though -- 2 mid-terms in one day, right after one another and another essay due on Sunday. It's pretty chill after that, as my assessments are spread out then after the semester break, I'm in for another assessment nightmare lasting until the end of sem. Woop. Not.
2. I HAVE A LOT OF FEELINGS. Okay so "To All The Boys I've Loved Before" came out on Netflix on Friday and I've been meaning to read the books for the longest time, but I wasn't too inspired because I didn't want it to be just another YA romance novel (even though I'm a sucker for romance lol). So I watched the movie first and I loved it. Then I proceeded to read all three books. And oh my goodness. AMAZING. I can't believe I didn't read them earlier! Now I'm just drowning in my feelings and how much I want a Peter in my life but it's okay lol books are my best friends. I finished the last book like 20 minutes ago and I'm still screaming on the inside hahaha.

Hope you all have a great week,
fantasticbeasts x

[fantasticbeasts3]

29/08/18

Hallo, meine Freunde! It seemed appropriate to address you all in German as I had a German exam today.

I've had a pretty eventful week since the last time I updated. I also got a very interesting email last Friday:

Spoiler

This was really surprising - I never considered doing Honours because honestly, I hate studying. I think I'm only at uni so I can get a job in my desired field (at this point, PR) and idk Honours seems like an extra year to pay HECS and more effort. We'll see how I feel at the end of my degree which is still a long way away!

Today I had two midterms -- one for INST1006 and the other for German and needless to say, they were both a disaster.
- INST was a disaster because I forgot so many things I wanted to write. I forgot what 'analyse' meant. That's how sad that exam was.
- German was awful because once again, I forgot so many things. I forgot the dative personal pronouns, I forgot the words for stuff in the kitchen, and I forgot prepositions for certain locations. The last written German exam, I was way more prepared -- I didn't have two exams in a day and I didn't have an assessment due the weekend before it so I had a lot more time to study. I guess I'm really disappointed in myself because I know I could've done so much better.

I also got marks back for two assessments today:
- MDIA1003 (group presentation): just missed a HD! After my not-so-nice day this was an awesome surprise. A little salty about just missing a HD but it's still a pretty good mark!
- German (portfolio): not happy with this at all - I got just over a distinction. I usually do a lot better in the portfolios and this time was just... nah. On the bright side, I got full marks for one of my LLPs (Language Learning Products - you make something to demonstrate your understanding of German) which I was super happy about because I put a lot of effort into that.

To cap off the day, I got a job interview wooooooooooooot. My current job doesn't give me enough shifts (I haven't worked for almost two months) so I've been desperate for a new job and I got an interview yay! It's retail at my local shopping centre and I'm excited because I kinda miss working -- I really need to get my savings up before I go on exchange in just over a year!!

Hope you've all had an awesome week,
fantasticbeasts (almost signed off with my real name!) x

[fantasticbeasts3]

04/09/18

Hi friends!! Hope you're all doing well. :-) If you're not doing so well, check out these memes -- I've been laughing for the past 15 minutes at them and... I'm still laughing.

Just a quick update:
- Survived assessment nightmare #1 last week!! The next assessment nightmare is in week 13 where I have a whopping 6 assessments with 4 due on the Friday. Until then, most of them are staggered but since I have 2 peaceful weeks off, I'm going to try my best to get ahead so I can focus on the big 4 in week 13!
- Had my job interview today and I think it went okay. I have another one this Saturday. Fingers crossed I get at least one of the jobs lol
- Snapchat memories let me know that two years ago yesterday I went to UNSW open day to look at the International Studies/Media course. Crazy to think how it's all come full circle and I'm studying that course (and the taster lecture I went to -- I had that same lecturer last semester!).

I'm going to continue laughing at more of those memes... just kidding I need to stop procrastinating and get started on more assessments!!

Hope you all have a great week,
fantasticbeasts x

[fantasticbeasts3]

12/09/18

Hallo meine Freunde!! I actually forgot I had a uni journal today but then something happened and I thought about saying something about it and then the journal popped back in my mind lol.

Quick rundown of what's been happening:
- Last week and this week have been pretty chill so far. Loving the assessment-less life!  I've been doing a bit work here and there to prepare for all the assignments I have due over the next few weeks.
- One of my assignments got moved back a week and I don't know how to feel. On one hand, I'm like YES extra time, but on the other I'm like NO this sucks I don't want extra time. It's due the same day as my INST1006 essay so I think I'll try and finish this assignment by the original due date, or a little after so I don't have to think about it.
- Got two assessment marks back and they weren't too bad! One of them was my INST1006 midterm which I thought was a disaster but I got a distinction!! I don't know whether I'm just dumb and the marking was lenient or I actually did okay (probably the former tbh) but that was a relief.
- Got rejected from 1 of 2 jobs I got an interview for last week. Oh well. I have my current job but the extra income would've been nice.
- I finished the new season of Cable Girls and guys let me just say that was some real dramatic crap. Telenovelas really go full-out with drama and plot twists but this last one just... nope
- Reflection: isn't it weird thinking about where you were a year ago? A year ago, I was about a week out from graduating year 12, and I had so many worries about the HSC and my future, yet I was excited to see what my life would be like post-high school. It still feels kind of surreal that I've finished school and I still hang out on this website a year on. Time flies.

Hope you all have an awesome week,
fantasticbeasts x

[fantasticbeasts3]

18/09/18

Hi friends!

I could've spent the whole day doing work for my next assessment due Friday (1500 word paper) but did I do work? Nope, I only wrote 100 words. Send help. I need to stop procrastinating but my brain is literally wired to procrastinate and I really don't know how I'm going to manage my time as Assessment Nightmare 2 approaches.

Other than my really bad habit of procrastinating... here's a life update since last week:
- Got my INST and German mid-term results back and they weren't too bad. I was expecting a fail for both and I'm somewhat happy with the marks. Super happy with INST, but for German I was disappointed. Even though I was expecting a fail, the mark itself wasn't that good for my standards. I knew I found the test really hard but I can't help being disappointed. The average made me feel a lot better lol but idk I still feel a bit sad about my mark... it is what it is
- On a total whim, I was on the Seed Heritage website (fyi, a clothing store) and while browsing I found an open job at the airport. I applied and I wasn't expecting much out of it -- then I got a call yesterday about it!! I really hope I get the job because I would be so down to quit my current one lol. My hourly rate won't be as good because the Seed job is a part-time position and my current job is casual, but at the end of the day I would be getting way more hours so the hourly rate wouldn't even matter then. Fingers crossed I get this job because my funding for exchange is very slow and I'm starting to get worried ahaha
- One year ago today I graduated high school!! Thanks Snapchat memories for informing me hahaha.
- Also, the AN HSC Snapchat has some mad background music lol

Hope you're having a great week,
fantasticbeasts x