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(Star) Trekking My Way to Space - Olivia's Uni Journal

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Joseph41:

--- Quote from: owidjaja on March 04, 2019, 07:02:59 pm ---So my group was working on the worksheet and one of the questions required us to convert the units to base units. For example, the first question was Newtons so using F=ma, we get kg.ms-2 (because SI units for mass is kg and for acceleration it's ms-2). We were a bit confused with the question and the tutor (who's also my lecturer) walks past our table. We were a bit quiet so he asks if we were ok so then one of the group members was like "Yeah we're kinda a bit unsure with this question." He was explaining how we should use the formula to figure out the base units while asking us questions but all of us were a bit unresponsive. When one of my friends tried to answer one of his questions he was like "Looks like someone's been skipping lectures." When we got to Coulomb he started asking us about amperes and current and I was gonna suggest to go through the V=IR formula but then he was like "Hmm nooo" and went through the rest of the questions. By the time he finished explaining it, he was like "Have you not done this in high school?" All of us were quiet. "Hmm, I guess you learn something new everyday" or something like that and walked away.

Because of that, we were didn't want to ask him questions because we didn't want another roasting from him ;-;

--- End quote ---

Yikes, sounds pretty harsh. Hope you didn't take it too personally!

owidjaja:
Hey guys,

I guess Week 3 is finally over and as usual, I'm tired lol. Well first off, my birthday was on Tuesday so I guess I'm an adult now, which means more responsibilities -_- Honestly though, enrolling into uni was already stressful so I can't wait to get taxed or start car insurance ;-; I don't usually celebrate birthdays but it was nice that people messaged me wishing a happy birthday. Funnily enough, most of them were either through AN or my uni friends so thanks for that guys <3, and none of my high school friends messaged me hmm... Anyway, my friends tried to buy me a drink at the roundhouse but I'm not really into drinking during the day so we bought a bunch of sides and brought the food upstairs to play mahjong lol. And then, I caught a cold. It was just a runny nose until I did my Makerspace Induction and inhaled a bunch of sawdust, leaving my throat irritated so now I have a chesty cough as well, so that's fun.

I also had a speech this week for ENGG, which was poor timing because I was talking in an air-conditioned room with a dry throat and blocked nose. I also wrote my speech the night before so I didn't do much practice, but I guess the amount of speeches I've done in high school has helped me deal with that since I had to do speeches without palm cards. However, I couldn't volunteer to go first since my mentor just let Moodle choose the order. I guess the only pro of not going first is to see how everyone structured their speeches because the task description was a bit vague. Even the idea of problem statements was a bit vague. Like, in the common lecture, when they went through problem statements, they didn't really explicitly say how to write one, only that it can't be too specific and it needs to be succinct and define the problem. There are a lot of guides out there but it still was confusing. For example, we were told that including the budget was too specific (i.e. design a product less than $100). But then as I was talking to Jamon and my physics teacher (yes, I still keep in contact with him, and he was a civil engineer), both of them said that design, logistical and even financial constraints play an important role of framing the actual problem so I was confused.

And speaking of ENGG, I also got my Impromptu Writing Task marks back. Back in Week 1, we were assigned into groups alphabetically and had to built a water tower out of cups, straws, paddle pop sticks and tape (I guess I should include cup stacking on my resume now lol). After that, we had to do a writing task to reflect on the design task/group dynamic. They gave us 35 minutes to write a response in reference to an extract from an engineering textbook (I guess it's Advanced English all over again). The actual construction doesn't go into my final grade but the writing task does. And as usual, I had no clue what I was doing when I was writing my response because we haven't learnt anything in ENGG. I guess they liked my response because I got an HD for the task. I guess this gives me a bit of hope because I'm literally just aiming for a pass for all of my subjects. I'd love to get a HD in all of my subjects but I've set my standards low so I won't get too disappointed when I get my marks back (woah this got dark real fast).

Anyway, I have to finish my quizzes so see you soon!

- Olivia

owidjaja:
Hey guys,

Ohh boy it's been a while since I've updated. I've been extremely busy because of uni, as usual. The term started out with a moderate amount of work and now I'm bombarded with assignments and other extra-curricular activities. I'll start off with the fact that I had a bunch of reports due at some point, along with a group presentation- this is specifically ENGG. My group keeps changing the design and since we have a compliance testing this Thursday, we're scrambling to have a basic prototype ready. On top of this, I had a maths assignment due last Friday. The questions aren't bad but the explaining is what took so long. It was even worse since we had to do this on LaTeX or Word. I gave up with LaTeX and did my assignment on Word. It got to the point where I was staying up until 1am and missing my physics lecture to make sure I finished the majority of the assignment before 5pm (which was when it was due). I think this screwed up my body clock because I found myself sleeping at 3am on Friday and Saturday, so now I have dark circles under my eyes and my skin is breaking out lol (I really need to invest in a concealer at this point).

Oh yes, I also had an in-class physics quiz and that was disastrous. I was on the verge of breaking down during the quiz and once I finished I broke down in the bathroom. The thing that sucks about the quiz was that it's based on luck. The question bank may be the same as the questions for the weekly quizzes, but again, it's based on luck. They might be nice and give you friction questions or you might be really unlucky and get rotation questions. But yeah, I didn't even feel prepared for the quiz so it didn't help with my nervousness.

On top of this, my application for the EngSoc VDP somehow got accepted so I had to go to 3 workshops on the weekend. VDP, or Volunteer Development Program, is where you go to 2 soft skills workshop and 1 Industrial Training Workshop and then you do 15 hours of volunteering. The whole point is for engineers to develop their soft skills, and this gets recorded onto my AHEGS. It was pretty cool to meet people who are in 2nd+ years from different disciplines. Now the workshops are done, I need to do my volunteering hours. I've planned out my hours and have applied to volunteer, I just need to do them (and all of my volunteering is in May/June).

Anyway, I need to finish my quizzes early this week so see you soon!

- Olivia

owidjaja:
Hey guys,

I'm finally updating after a month haha. It's been pretty busy the past month, especially because of the number of assignments that increases (specifically assignments for ENGG1000) and preparing for exams. It's funny how my engg group spent most of the term changing the design and then within two days we managed to have something to show for our compliance testing lol. I don't know how we managed to do it but we did. And a Maccas run has become our group thing now, especially since most of us have the My Maccas app so we're always on top of those discounts/deals. I also was busy with work- as much as I enjoy working, it was exhausting, especially how I have to run to uni after work to attend my lectures and tutorials, and also stop by for a bit and help with construction for engg. But my day out on Anzac Day with my friends did help me take a step back from work and just relax. We went to see Endgame together and boy was it good (coming from someone who didn't see Infinity War lol). Watching Endgame made me feel like I wanna buy all the Marvel figurines (rip my bank account).

Anyway, the final testing for engg was very stressful. We were a day behind for construction because three of the members were sick and couldn't come to uni on Saturday and work on the vehicle. We tried to finish the tasks on the day but it took longer than expected we didn't have time to use the test track. On top of that, our motors were fried and one of the wheels weren't attached properly, and our Mega Arduino wasn't working on the day so we ran around collecting as many coins to buy another Mega Arduino (it's annoying because the vending machine doesn't take card and only coins -_-). So while the pulley system we made worked, it couldn't pick up any balls and could barely move so we didn't do well in the final testing. And the aesthetic appeal of our vehicle was... questionable lol. Our team actually got the lowest mark in comparison to the other teams (even after the marks have been modified). We decided that we should submit the report early after the project coordinator said that we could get bonus points for submitting the report early. We need those bonus marks. It was annoying how everyone agreed to finish their part by Friday but then they finished all on Monday. And they also had big plans of "let's sit down and make sure everyone edits the report" but that didn't happen. And I needed to study for math as well (which I'm sure everyone was doing, which was why they didn't finish it on time). So I was left to do the editing and formatting AGAIN (this was what happened when we submitted the design proposal). Idk, they're usually a good group but when it comes to reports, everyone just does their part and backs out. Like, one of my members uploaded they're part (late) and they're like "Is there anything else I can help with" and I said "I'm editing at the moment so if you can have a quick skim and see if there's anything I missed that would be great", to which they said "Yep okay" and then leaves the Google Doc. Like, what was the point of asking if there's anything you can do when you're not gonna do it...?

And then we have exams. Holy crap math and physics was brutal. I tried writing down any relevant formulas or ideas in questions I had no idea how to solve so I'm praying that it's a) relevant and b) they'll award me at least 1 mark for trying lol. I was so close to having a panic attack before my math exam and then after the exam I just broke down with a panic attack. I'm glad my friends were there. We all were in different rooms but once we met up I just broke down because I had no clue what I was doing, I was stressed and there's no way I'm passing maths and physics. And physics, omg. You know you're screwed when the first question is a rotation question. Asking you to sketch a graph of some sorts. And then the rest of the questions ask you to derive expressions. In fact, most of the paper asked me to write an expression and even had questions being like "using answer from part ___" and I'm there not even sure how to do the previous question. The only question I was able to confidently answer was the questions on conservative and non-conservative forces because a) it was in a past paper and b) Joe Wolfe made is recite it in the lecture like 5 times. But I did try to write any relevant formulas or if I attempted to solve the question, made sure I had the correct significant figures, so hopefully I can get a mark for that. Thank god I showed up to all my tutorials and workshops because I'm eligible to do supplementary exams. I guess I should start preparing for supplementary exams.

After physics, my friends and I went to Town Hall to hang out, have lunch and go shopping (which reminded me that I really need to buy some winter clothes because I barely have any lol). It's a relief that we're now officially on holidays but not that good when you have parents asking you why you found the exam hard and then saying "I told you so" in regards to me not doing the bridging course back in January -_- Anyway, it's good to finally step back from uni and finally sleep in because I'm gonna be spending the holidays doing a bit of work, binge watching movies/anime and doing some volunteering as well.

Anyways, see you soon!

- Olivia

mango8:
Hi Olivia! I whizzed through your journal because it was incredibly fascinating and reading it makes me sooo pumped for uni to start next year! And your course sounds really interesting, I don't know much about it so I'm keen to see how it goes through your eyes. Is it easy making friends? 


--- Quote from: owidjaja on May 11, 2019, 08:04:09 pm --- It was annoying how everyone agreed to finish their part by Friday but then they finished all on Monday.

--- End quote ---


--- Quote from: owidjaja on May 11, 2019, 08:04:09 pm ---Like, what was the point of asking if there's anything you can do when you're not gonna do it...?

--- End quote ---

Ohh the feels. I can 1000% relate to this so much omg. Literally never had a positive group experience.

Where are you planning to work/volunteer? And what movies are you going to watch? What's your fav part about uni?

Have a fun week and excited to be on this star trekking journey with you ⭐️

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