Open Day!

I've never been to a university Open Day before, not even Murdoch's. Before I came to university I had no real aspirations of studying again after high school, so Sunday was a new experience.

I was surprised at how much fun the people around me were having, as I was kinda bored. It probably would have been a different story if I had gone with friends, or if I was actually interested in finding out about a course to study.

There was a bunch of fun things set up that day to keep everyone entertained. There were rides, live music, festival food, and nova radio even made an appearance. I spent most of my time at the live music tent, but I did wonder down to the science and media buildings. The science section was interesting, there were little tents set up with a bunch of hands on fun. At the media end of campus there was a red carpet set up with people taking your photo as you walked past. Just before you reached the red carpet, however, there was a giant blow up whale shark. It was probably a litlle smaller than life size, but it was pretty darn close.

One of my favourite things about campus that day was the student centre. The glass doors, that I once thought were windows, had opened up and chairs had been placed outside to make for a super inviting environment. Why can't they do this all the time? Or at least during summer. Actually let's just make campus like Open Day every day. We can have tables and chairs on bush court, a live music tent, people wearing red and white shirts to help when you get lost, and show rides. Who wouldn't want to be on campus then?!

But seriously, the tables and chairs on bush court are a super awesome idea *hint hint Murdoch*.

Murdoch revamp!

Here's a nice little video of the artwork that will soon be on its way to the courtyard just outside the library in the ECL section of murdoch.

It's been directed by Chad Peacock  and showcases Kyle Hughes-Odgers new artwork installation which is apart of the 'Murdoch University Art Collection'.

Construction was meant to start this weekend so if your on campus at all, head down and take a peek!


help is on the way from Chad Peacock on Vimeo.

A change is a comin'.

Time to get excited because big things are happening at Murdoch.

Murdoch University have called upon an internationally recognised artist to help vamp up the ECL area on campus. Many of you probably have lectures here every semester and have noticed it's a pretty empty shell. In order to help make it an inviting environment, artist Kyle Hughes-Odgers has painted a mural which will give new life to the ECL area as a part of the 'Murdoch Art Collection'.

Along with a funky new look, there were will be the added convenience of wireless Internet. Pretty cool huh? So now we can just hang out outside the lecture theatres with our laptops instead of trekking it to the library and back!

Installation should begin this Saturday, and in between now and then I've got a pretty awesome video to share with you guys. Or you could start googling now, here's an extra hint: 'creepy'. Happy searching!

Is it week 14 yet?

Hasn't week 3 come around fast? I've been meaning to write a couple of blogs since first week, it's not like I haven't had much to talk about, I just didn't notice time flying by.

The last couple of weeks have been pretty hectic. I missed the first week because I had tonsillitis, turns out I had actually had it for 6 weeks, so I should have been on bed rest before semester started again. Missing the first week of semester isn't really a huge deal in terms of study load, but I did notice some drastic changes in the second week. Firstly, I didn't have a unit guide for any of my units. My friend manage to save me 1 guide, but that didn't help me with the other 2. So now I'm left with two options, a) read about the week's requirements online, or, b) print out a unit guide. Seeing as my printer is out of ink, I've been going with option a and it hasn't been that bad. Secondly, all my unit readers and prescribed readings were sold out, bar one book which I bought. This is pretty lucky, because I couldn't afford to buy more than one anyway, but it's been a real struggle keeping up to date with my readings. Usually I'll read a book on the train on my way to uni, now I need to sit at a computer. I shouldn't really complain, it's not like I can't access the readings at all, but the other day I read 29 pages on Global Media Industries in an hour because the book belonged to the restricted section. I've never felt so accomplished, and I was so prepared for class this week. So maybe not having the book is a bit of a blessing.

One thing I'm noticing about the end of third year though, is that tutors and lecturers expect a lot more from you, and why shouldn't they? For instance, I have a 2000 word essay due in just over a week. I have had 2 lectures and 1 class on the subject and I'm expected to do the rest of the research myself. Usually classes will help you out a little more by giving you a but more notice or loading you up with tips. I'm not too shocked that I'm expected to be independent, I'm just surprised. This is the first semester I've been told that I should know these things by now, that I've enough practice writing essays and that I should just be able to write one without notice. I suppose this is the kind of thing that will happen when I finally leave University and get a real job, so I'm glad it's happening.

So that's enough of an update for now! I hope I'm not scaring any high schoolers away from university, it takes 3 years for it to finally get hard and even then it's pretty bearable. I hope your all heading to open day on Sunday! It should be a whole lotta fun, and there are some awesome local bands playing. Hope to see you all there!

Jess.

Free Showing of An Inconvenient Truth!

If you haven't already noticed, Murdoch's pretty keen on being green. Recycling bins everywhere, a recycling feature, special green days and now a free movie showing the impact humans are having on the world.

An Inconvenient Truth will be screened for free over two weeks starting August 17th during campus free-time. The movie will be shown in half hour segments starting at 12:30pm in ECL2 (Here's a map: http://www.murdoch.edu.au/maps/murdoch/theatre/ECL2).

Although the screening is free a gold coin donation toward the guild is being encouraged. This will help fund a 5kW solar system to produce renewable energy for the guild building.

I haven't seen this movie since high school, but I can still remember it's key messages. If your a climate change sceptic or interested in finding out what the whole 'global warming' issue is about then I highly recommend seeing this movie. It's impact is undeniable.

Quick update + upcoming Murdoch events.

I've just been having a look at the online unit guides for my classes this semester and checking out the kind of assignments I need to do. The doctor insisted I take this week off uni as I've still got a pretty bad case of tonsillitis. So scrolling through the unit guide for New Media Technologies I come across the big assignment that's worth 30% of my grade. I couldn't help but laugh when I read that the big assignment was to create and maintain a blog. I've been doing this for about a year now, so it'll be interesting to see what kind of grade I end up with. Aside from this every other unit insists I write an essay or campaign plan (what's new PR?!).

Setting aside study commitments Murdoch have some interesting events coming up. On the 15th of August they are holding a Fun Run. You can choose to run either 4km or 8km on the new Bush Court Sports Field. All it costs is a gold coin donation and you get a free running shirt. Registrations close this Friday so get to it here: http://www.murdoch.edu.au/City-to-Surf-2010/Murdoch-Fun-Run/.

Then on the 22nd you can look forward to the Murdoch Open Day which promises fantastic live music, help with choosing what to study and the chance to explore what student life is really like. For more information on the day check out the official site here: http://www.murdoch.edu.au/Openyourmind/?cid=od2010_homepage_onb&bnr=y.

One Movement Line-up announced!

Sunset Events have delivered again!

Hitting our shores in the second weekend of October will be round two of Perth's One Movement Music Festival. It made a pretty good first impression last year with an exceptional line-up, and it looks like this year is no exception.

Grinspoon, Ben Kweller (Heck yes!), Children Collide and British India are set to headline Saturday. While you can catch Xavier Rudd, Shapeshifter, Dan Sultan and Operator Please on Sunday.

The festival will host several of Australia's rising stars including Cloud Control, Sally Seltmann, An Horse, Hungry Kids of Hungary, Parades, Richard In Your Mind, Boy & Bear and Tim & Jean. Also making up the Australian component of the festival will be Miami Horror, Dead Letter Circus, Drapht, Gypsy & The Cat, The Melodics, The Holidays, The Only, The Chemist, The Paper Scissors and Unearthed High Winners Stonefield.

International acts set to grace the One Movement stage include Dengue Fever (USA), ZE! (Malaysia), Delta Spirit (USA), Via Tania (USA), Raghu Dixit (India), Jonneine Zapata (USA), Bedouin Soundclash (Can), KORA (NZ), The Telephones (Japan), Melodramas (UK), Liz Green (UK), Get Dexter (UK) and The Great Spy Experiment (Sing).


For all your ticketing information check out this site: http://festival.onemovementmusic.com/tickets. Sunset's are offering a few different ticket deals, so check them out and see what suits you!

This is definitely a line-up I don't want to miss! What do you think?

Festival day tomorrow!

The second Murdoch semester officially starts today, and I just know everyone's excited to get back to the books. In honour of a new semester the Murdoch guild are throwing a festival tomorrow! Complete with bands, free coffee, and  stalls. Only financial guild members receive free coffee, so the rest of us will have to bring a flask or donate to one of the lovely cafes on campus. The stalls will feature a bunch of clubs and societies around campus. If you're interested in signing up to a club then be sure to check them out tomorrow morning after 9am.

A bunch of fantastic Perth bands will be playing some sweet music tomorrow morning from 9:20am. Helping keep you awake will be Ruby Boots, Hunting Huxley, The Love Junkies and One Tiger Down. These bands are well worth a look, so come down tomorrow and support some local music! Also, the Red Bull DJ will be spinning a few tunes between sets. The guild have arranged a bunch of activities and other festival cliché's to make the day complete. The FREE activities you will find on campus tomorrow include Laser Skirmish, a Bouncy Castle, the Gladiator Challenge, Horizontal Bungee, and the Wrecking Ball. I honestly have no idea what half these things are, so I think I'll have to pop down and have a look myself tomorrow! And like all good festivals there will be fairy floss, ice cream, popcorn and slushies.

So if you're on campus for class tomorrow morning make sure you duck into bush court and check out some splendid local music and enjoy what the guild has on offer. Also if you don't have class, I recommend popping down to Murdoch. Sounds like it could be fun day. :)