Masterchef + Murdoch = Joyness!!

Except I think you need to live in the village....

This proves yet again how much awesomeness can come out of Murdoch. Okay, so a previous student never won an Oscar (but I'm pretty sure someone from Murdoch was nominated?) but Callum from Masterchef is giving the student village free cooking lessons! Eeep! Makes me wish I was a student living on campus.

You can read allllllll about it here: http://media.murdoch.edu.au/callum-from-masterchef-comes-to-murdoch?sms_ss=facebook&at_xt=4d6dac8b7a908437,0

Exemption Outcome....

EXEMPT!

What a relief!! I am officially graduating University. It was a little up in the air before I received this e-mail. The possibility of preparing yourself to go back after thinking it's all over is just unbearable. It reminds me of that scene in Despicable Me when the evil villain sees a boy crying over an ice cream, so he gives him a balloon, and then he pops the balloon.



This is only for 2/3 subjects, but seeing as I didn't use my workplace unit for these exemptions I will now automatically be exempt from the third. Confused? Here's how it works.

If you successfully complete a workplace unit at Murdoch that coincides with your degree it will replace a core unit. As for the other two units, well...  i'm going to put that down to a damn good exemption letter (and maybe good grades, also maybe the professor was just in a really good mood....).

I stressed for weeks over how I was going to word this letter. How would I address the person I was talking to? How am I going to show I deserve to be exempt? How am I going to phrase "can I be exempt" without sounding pushy? The worst thing was there were no guidelines to writing this kind of letter. Until now.

Due to the amount of hair and sleep I lost over how to write an exemption letter, and no matter how much you google or search the Murdoch site you will not receive any help, I have decided to provide my own how to guide.

How To Write A Killer Exemption Letter:

• Keep it formal - Address the person your talking to formally. For instance, don't say "hi" or "hey". Try going with "dear" and finish off with "yours sincerely". It's a bit of an over kill, but it's better to be over formal than under formal. Also, make sure you use the right title for whomever your addressing. For example "Associate Professor Terrence Lee". Then when they reply with something more simple, you can use that in the future.
  
  
• Demonstrate why you should be exempt - Have you completed several units that correlate with the core unit you have left over? Do you believe you've learnt everything you can on the subject? Ultimately it's up to the person your writing to decide if you've satisfied course requirements, but it doesn't hurt to give your own example.
  
  
• Provide a copy of your academic record - Be prepared for the first reply to ask for this. I wasn't to sure where to get this from. I ended up going into my units and taking a screen capture of my unit results.
  
  

It's not much, so here's a template as well.

If your not to sure whether or not you have any core units left over it's best to ask a question through MyAnswers. They will usually get back to you within a couple of days if your submitting the question during a teaching week.

Good luck with the rest of your studies! And a BIG congrats to all those graduating with me this year :)

Tav Tuesday!

Why has it taken me so long to go to the tav, sit down, and have a drink?  Today was so much fun, and all we did was drink and talk. I'm planning on going again on Wednesday now. Trust me to become addicted to the tavern during my final (ever, hopefully) teaching week of the year.

Day's off are AMAZING!

I can't remember the last time I was this impressed to have a day off. I went to bed at 11:30 last night - which is early for me lately. I woke up at 10am this morning and all I've done is lazily wake up and begin some homework.

The past month has been absolutely hectic. My work hours have increased, the website I'm working on has launched, I've been to 4 gigs (including a 2 day festival and a comedy night), handed in 2 essays, and have still managed to have a social life. I've just looked at my diary, and tomorrow it all starts again for the month of November. Why is the end of the year so intense?!

Currently I am writing what was meant to be a weekly assignment, updating this blog, studying for a test and chatting on facebook. Now that's what I call balance.

Also, check out what I found while studying in library:

Funky, huh?

- Jess

There's a first for everything.

Well... those essays didn't exactly go to plan. I'd like to blame a few things on my late submission of assignments, but truth is it's really my fault. I'll quickly play the blame game though, just to make myself feel better for a moment.

Firstly, I worked on my assigned day off which is when I reserve a majority of my study for. I didn't find out I was working a full day until Thursday night while I was working, so I had prepared to write a majority of the two essays that day. Friday night came around, and I was too tired to string a sentence together. Poor excuse, I know, but I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to assignments. So if it's not perfect; it's not right and if it's not right; I'm not submitting it. Consequence is, it takes me a lot longer than average to write an essay, aside from that day that I wrote a 2000word essay in 8 hours (I ended up with a C+... but still, terrible terrible habit!)

Both essay's were due at 5pm, and I need to allow for at least 1 hour to travel to uni and reach the assignment box. As 3 o' clock ticked by and I was still in my pj's trying to polish off two conclusions I started to doubt whether I's be ready in time. 4pm came by, and I was still referencing. At 4:50pm I emailed my tutors to let them know my essay's would be late. It was the worst feeling in the world. I've just spent 3 solid days and nights trying to finish these, and I still couldn't get them in on time.

These a few things to be learnt here. Firstly, stop procrastinating. I shouldn't have been writing the bodies for two essays the weekend before they were due, discovering along the way that I actually had more research to do. Secondly, reference along the way. Don't wait till the end of an essay, because you'll finally be finished and realise that you've actually got to spend another hour referencing. It's extremely painful.

I hope everyone's semesters are wrapping up better than mine. I'll let you know my final result when their in. I have no idea what percentage of my mark I'm going to lose - if it's the difference between a C and a D I just might die.

Jess.

Extensions aren't all good news...

So I should have had an essay in by Monday just gone, but instead the class was given an extension till this Friday. It made no difference, I still haven't started writing it.

Last week was pretty full on. I helped run two launch events for a new web page I've been working on with a few other people (Check it out here ;) http://mandurahyoungandrestless.com/) and I partied it up at One Movement. So really, not enough time dedicated to study in between all that. I was pretty focused on handing in the essay on Friday, however, so I was a little bummed when we got another extension.

Yesterday a full class rocked up to our tutorial, only to have the tutor not show. It was like being back in high school when the teacher never showed, I felt free for about 5 minutes before realising I'm meant to look after myself at University. Bummer right? Half the class began to trickle away while a few of us stayed to "work" on our essays. Yeah, that never happened. That afternoon I DID go to the library and borrow some books though, which I haven't done since first year. It didn't help all that much though, and I still went home and stared at my computer; knowing that I needed to write something, but I couldn't figure out what.

That night our tutor sent everyone an e-mail saying we had an extension until next Monday. Great? No. I have a 3000word essay due Monday! Stress stress stress!! I'm sprouting grey hairs as I write this. 5500 words, 5 days. Totally achievable...

Can I be exempt?

It sounds simple, but the title for this blog is one of the hardest lines I have ever had to write. Not in the context of a blog title though...

In order to graduate from Murdoch at the end of this semester, which is only 5 study weeks away (eek!! :D), I need to be granted exemption from 3 subjects. 2 belong to my media degree and 1 belongs to my public relations degree. I've set out an e-mail that explains why I think I should be exempt, but I just can't seem to close it. Do I simply say "due to the above, I believe I should be exempt" or should I be less pushy and write something along the lines of "is it possible for me to be exempt?"

I spent so much time on this letter, that I'm now sure I've missed the deadline. At least according to the Murdoch website. This is something MyAnswers didn't prepare me for. I'm kind of disappointed if this is the case. I would have expected MyAnswers to tell me there was a deadline, rather than just telling me I needed to write a letter to my academic chairs. There's also the fact that there are no guidelines to writing a letter for exemption. It's not such a big deal, but this is a pretty important letter. The outcome of this letter means the difference of me graduating at the end of this year, or half way through next year. Last year I was all "it'll be fine, I'll take this extra unit and if I have to come back I'll have to come back." I thought it would be fun finishing half way through the year, that way I wouldn't be committed to finding a job straight away and would be fresh from 6 months off when I started looking in the new year. But freedom is ever so close right now and I'm fed up with my casual wage and work hours which see that I remain broke for a good majority of the uni semester.

It's true what they say. The final semester is the hardest. I'm getting lazier with my assignments, and slacker with my study schedule. It's like knowing you're prison sentence will end in 6 months, but you dig you're way out anyway. Because it's so close you can't stand it! Okay... maybe that's an exaggeration... but 15 years of school with no more than a 2 month break once a year kind of does your head in.

I WANT TO GRADUATE NOW!!
So please please please Murdoch let me graduate this year! Otherwise I just might cry...

I'm going to go and watch 30 Rock now and procrastinate calm down :)

I'm lonely, and my phone just went flat.

Yeah the title pretty much says it all. It's 4 in the afternoon, my class finished an hour ago, I was meant to meet a friend who didn't show, and now I'm on the library computers blogging. I really forgot what waiting around on campus alone was like. I thought I had so many friends to hang out with, but reality is... everyone goes home at the end of the day.

The only reason I'm hanging around is because Powderfinger's concert starts at 6pm. So I couldn't be bothered driving back to Mandurah and then heading back upto Perth. Consequently I'm stuck at Murdoch, which is the perfect excuse to practice some study. But no... I choose procrastination, every time.

So here I am alone... and I'm thinking this isn't so bad. I'm chilling in the cafeteria, I'm messaging friends checking facebook and then... my phone goes flat. Great, now what? Wouldn't it be awesome if they charged your phone on campus? Yes it would. So I think maybe, just maybe, Murdoch offers this great service.Well... they don't. Murdoch you have failed me!!

I hereby propose that Murdoch offer a phone charging service, instead of having to pay $37 for a energiser battery charger. We are university students, some of us rarely find the time for work, or if your like me your work just doesn't give you hours because your uni schedule doesn't fit in with theirs. So why should we pay $40 (almost) for a service that could well be free. I'm not saying that this service should be free, but if it was like $2 per phone charge that would be pretty reasonable. It would be awesome if it was free... like at southbound. Then again we could all remember to bring phone chargers to uni just in case something like this happens. But that's not the point. The point is that there is an oppurtunity for Murdoch to become extra awesome, and I think they should act on it.

Murals ahoy!

So I managed to grab some pics of the new artworks in the Economics Commerce and Law courtyard, and boy was I impressed. Kyle Hughes-Odgers is pretty talented, he's manage to convert a once empty space into an inviting environment.

If you haven't had the pleasure of stumbling across the new murals here's some pics for you to peruse over in the mean time. I strongly recommend you take a detour down to the ECL courtyard the next time your on campus, it's much more than just paintings. Try figure out if you can decipher a story. A friend of mine looked at the painting with bottles hanging down and said she thought it was about catching the tears of the characters in the other paintings.

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. :)

The food of students?

Yes that's a lasagne sandwich. Not something I would pay 2 pounds fifty to eat, maybe not even something you could pay me 100 bucks to eat. This little beauty can be found in tesco supermarkets in the UK. Did I say little beauty? It contains 24g of fat and is the equivalent of eating two McDonald's cheeseburgers. I'd rather those cheeseburgers any day.

Thoughts?

I can tell that we are gonna be friends...

Finding inspiration to write blogs about my uni life is a little hard while on holidays. I could probably list all of the amazing and interesting things I've been upto recently, but the truth is their not that amazing or interesting. The other day, however, I went to see Little Red play at Amplifier Bar in Perth. I've never been to Amplifier before, so that was a little bit exciting. With me was my friend Steff, who helped me out tons in the blogging competition last year.

Steff and I met in the second semester of our first year at Murdoch. We happened to be studying several units together and became really good friends. That summer she let me tag along with her friends and camp at Southbound with them. Last week we caught up on our holidays and saw a concert together. I guess where I'm going with this is that I've made a friend for life at university. When I first went to uni it was like I moved towns and was starting school all over again. Living in Mandurah all the schools in the area are connected. I started off at North Mandurah Primary School, then headed to Mandurah High School with a bunch of other year 7 students. At Mandurah High I made new friends from other primary schools, we then moved onto Mandurah Senior College together. So needless to say that when I reached Murdoch knowing only 8 students from high school, things were going to be extremely different.

If you've ever changed schools before, you might be used to making new friends. But if, like me, you never changed schools things might be harder. University isn't too much different to high school in terms of meeting people. By the end of your first year you would have met a bunch of new people studying the same thing as you. The great thing about the people you meet is that you will most likely have things in common, because you're studying the same degree. Another plus is the thousands of people that attend uni, well at least it seems like there are thousands of people. You will probably come across a few similar faces while walking the halls, but mostly you'll see a hundred different faces each day. It can be daunting starting out somewhere new, but just think of all the other first years going through the same thing as you.

High School Vs. University Part 3.

The last thing I want to talk about on this topic is the University lifestyle. It is probably the greatest difference between high school and university that you will discover. If you're heading to university straight out of high school then you're probably turning 18 that year, which brings you even more freedom than what you had back in school. I didn't turn 18 until November of my first year, which was a little annoying, but the only thing I was restricted from was the tavern.

Ahh the tavern... it is the single most greatest thing about your new university experience. The ability to drink at school. It is the ultimate hangout between classes, way better than the school cafeteria. Then again, speaking of cafeterias Murdoch's is pretty darn awesome. Back at school I didn't get to choose between Chinese, kebabs, muffins, or chips and gravy every day. There's also several shops on campus that are sure to please. I'm a bit of a stationery fiend so I got a little over excited when I discovered the book shop on campus stocks an awesome variety of stationery. There's also a second hand book store which stocks packets of lollies and a ton of other every day needs. You'll even find a travel agency on campus, yeah not weird at all actually it makes a lot of sense. A lot of students choose to travel between semesters, and at Murdoch they have the luxury of planning their escape during study time.

There's also the many different people you will meet. They will come from different countries, different backgrounds, different suburbs (I live in Mandurah and having friends from Perth is a big deal), and different age groups. Never underestimate mature age students, you will learn a lot from them. Meeting international students is also a ton of fun. You'll learn about their cultures and what they're countries are like, you might even make a friend for life!

So to wrap things up, yes university is completely different to high school. But you shouldn't be scared, the best thing to do is embrace the change! I have enjoyed my last 2 years at university more than I enjoyed my 2 years of senior high school. It's an awesome experience that keeps on giving.

Jess.