Uni Stuff > The University Journey Journal
Never Give Up - a university journey journal
KatherineGale:
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:
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:
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:
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:
--- Quote from: Bri MT on December 19, 2020, 05:25:02 pm ---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.
--- End quote ---
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
--- Quote from: K888 on December 19, 2020, 06:00:27 pm ---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 :)
--- End quote ---
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.
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