#3 How to uni! A non-comprehensive ramble

How to start uni. The proven guide of basic survival of a first year that has had three weeks of experience that she considers are viable credentials.

Hi there it's Michelle first of all congrats on choosing being decisive enough to choose your potential occupation unless you chose a Bachelor of Arts though- my advice: have a good think every night before you get to sleep what your next step will be. Even if you're not doing uni, it's all good, just reinterpret the information to befit you circumstances.

So just a little bit of background information. I'm currently doing a bachelor of Law combined with a Bachelor of Arts (media and communication) and by the looks of it I will be majoring in government and international relations – that however is subject to change throughout my six - yep six (basically high school again) – years at uni. That nicely leads on to a very important thing I have learnt in the transition from high school to uni. And that is it is very much ok to be uncertain. It would be abnormal to have no anxieties about choosing a pathway to a working life that will span for the rest of your life (and with the demographic trends present, you’ll most likely be working in your death bed and your final clock off will be at your last breath). 

Although I truly envy people who are so adamant in reaching a particular job, I find that everyone needs a little uncertainty to keep us equally open to opportunities that wiz past but also to be alert and flexible to our constantly changing  individual interests. That is to say, I don't want 40 year old me regretting the decisions of 17 year of me. I think that is my biggest fear. I digress. Here is my almost foolproof guide (disclaimer: the term ‘guide’ is used very loosely) to starting uni.

1. If there is any time to reinvent yourself and finally be who you knew you truly were, but was stifled in high school by societal expectations that you inadvertably built yourself when you were a nervous stress ball in junior school…. Now is your chance. Take it. Capitalise on it. Be the person you always know you are.

2. Make friends- network! Be that person that starts conversations and sustains them. Expert tip: ask questions about them! Scientifically if you were to ask a new person questions that centred about the person were more than likely to be liked by that said person. Lest be honest, humanity is shallow. I'm not afraid to admit it. And so shouldn't you. 

3. Don't forget old friends. Expert tip: don't be an asshole. This idea should be taken in expansion to the latter- that being said, the people of your old life were foundational to your upbringing, they made you who you are- even if you wanted to reinvent yourself, something within you (irrevocably motivated by your values which in turn were influenced from your external environment ie your high school friends) has propelled you to do so. Unless they were rude or degraded you, ditch em’ they ain't your friends.

4. Lectures are recorded- abuse the system. Self explanatory PERIOD

5. Find work- don't be stagnant and reliant on your parents/guardians. You don't want to be the only one in your social group still nesting at home at 30. Be independent, search the world, find your ambitions, sculpt your dreams and make your life wholesome. Expert tip: given the chance to go abroad, DO IT. 

6. Show incentive. A little like no. 5 but just a reiteration basically. 

7. Say yes- more than no. Unless you really don't want to on grounds of illness, imminent possibly of death, general discomfort is no excuse. Exercise breaking out of your comfort zone and like muscle memory, I’ll be too easy soon enough. 

So of course they are infinite tips and tricks that I could have shopping listed for you but in reality that's not the way life works. You know it, and I know it. So don't kid yourself. 

Also I just want you to know that life can be a long journey (as cheesy as it sounds) and you should always let yourself catch up with yourself. What I mean is that, soon you’ll be tied down with work and responsibility, and you have to keep conscious of your own personal psychological and physical health to keep yourself floating. 

Tbh I'm still trying to work out how to go about doing that. Starting to drink darker coffee is also not helpful. Expert tip: know your ‘coffee threshold’ (defined as the hour you can no longer drink coffee and be able to sleep peacefully, as an example my threshold is about 3-4pm… More on this later) 

Well I think that is about it, and not just because I want you to have a go at uni and life in general for yourself, but really because I have two assignments due in the very near future that are not writing themselves. 

In summary; know yourself, don't be mislead, live in the ways that count and learn everyday in as many aspects of life as you can.

MLVD

Diary #2 The Beginning, the End or Both?

I have graduated from high school.

Personally I hold it as a personal achievement that remnants of my high school orientation day still exist in my memory. I remember being conscious of the fact that these year 6 girls would be the ones to fill my life for the next 6 years. And as I recall this memory, I remember the day before the first day of high school when I was contacting my exercise books under the air-conditioner of my living room, I was anxious about changing myself. To change or not to change? Presenting to the world a new me. Or maybe even the real me- the one I've repressed. From personal experience in the education system- I believe that primary school contained  whole lot more peer pressure than high school. I sometimes think about the things I had done and cringe and have a little chuckle. Although I am so inherently ashamed of young Michelle but kind of proud that I can feel ashamed at that- It just highlights how far I've com since then. However parents, teachers, mentors, significant people tell children that its ok to be unique, and to deviate from the majority.

But here comes the paradox. Oh man is it a big one.

How is it that peer pressure exist then? That we confine ourselves to some prescribed ideology or expectation. When we relinquish our true selves (if I may say) to the majority. I tell you now friend, when you find yourself in such a dark place, think about your future, past the inky cloud that is suffocating you at the present, strain for the open air behind it- it is beckoning to you. Don't hide or cower. I know it is easier said than done- I understand it so, because I too have been there.

It will feel so unnatural even painful at first, but make a habit of exerting Yourself and it will begin to feel so natural. 

I recently had an email from Sydney University- the most prestigious university in Australia, probably listed among the big guns of the world- inviting me to an interview for a Combined Law degree I was applying for. I can honestly say I cannot remember what or how I answered the questions they asked- considering it was me vs. three academics, only the fact that I was outside in the waiting room re-reading my prepared answers (that would subsequently not be asked) and of course walking out of that beautiful and eerily intimidating Law faculty, dressed in my mother’s business suit. 

Why did I just tell you that? Well it was such a profound moment that I realised the future was dawning. It was blinding my eyes, it's rays burning my skin. But really, isn’t the future always upon us? Just around the bend of the road, the next foot step, the next thought?  

Life is so infinitely mysterious and uncertain. *dramatic hand poised about forehead and back slightly bent back.* 

I’ll leave you with this serendipitous photo I took on the final day of high school, a few hours before the graduation ceremony. My phone lens opened at just this particular moment and this angle to capture this beautiful sunset.