Welcome back to your favourite Unimelb student blogger! Hope you’ve all been having a good semester so far and I couldn’t be happier updating you all on the amazing time I’ve been having in Melbourne.
Now facing the end of the semester with two exams down and one more to go, my grades are the only thing that’s on my mind. However, before I deep dive into the stressful part of this blog that goes into my exams, I would like to spend some time talking about the friends that I’ve made during the semester. Unlike last semester, I found my wallet crying at the thought of completing another semester overseas as I realised I had burned a hole through my savings last semester. It was job-hunting time!
Searching for jobs as a New Zealand citizen was very convenient as I had no worries that an international student would have regarding working time and eligibility. This helped me to secure my job working hospitality at a private country club in the heart of Melbourne, and you’ll never guess how I managed to land it. Long story short, I was referred to by a friend who I met on the plane from Hong Kong to Melbourne. I met her when we were both transferring flights to Melbourne, her from Vietnam and me from China. We had stricken a conversation on the plane after realising we were both exchange students coming for a year and lived only a block away from each other!
Through this job, I learned about how many Australian businesses will pay workers more on weekends and how all workers are paid superannuation on top of their wages regardless of how long they are working there. Also through this work, I met the group of people who I can truly call my best friends throughout my exchange in Melbourne.
After taking a look at the amazing people I’ve met while working in Australia, we can turn back to focusing on the exams that are at the forefront of all of our minds. Even though I’ve reduced some of the stress by taking a course during the summer, it was still imperative that I received good grades this semester to help me get into my post-grad. My experience from the last semester has me entering the SWOTVAC (Studying WithOut Teaching VACation) period more prepared than ever. I cannot stress enough about the importance of study-work-life balance. Instead of the draconian regime that I forced upon myself, I made sure that I received enough sleep and ate at the correct time of the day all while smashing through my revision.
So when the time came for my three exams, I felt adequately prepared to face the horrors of an in-person online exam. Unimelb had a total of 3 different exam formats which included online at home, online in-person and paper in-person. All my exams fell into the second category. The venue for our exams was the Royal Exhibition Hall (REH) near the city centre and was accessible by both tram and train. Those who had their exams at 8:30am in the morning (that’s me!) had to wake up at 7:00am and make their way to the REH by 8:15am ready to sit for the exam, which I was not keen about doing.
All in all, I’ve found the semester so far to be a lot easier to get through than last semester. I’ve managed to integrate fully into the life of a Melbournian and finished this semester with a plethora of new friends and experiences!
Till next time!
Your friendly Unimelb guide 🙂