The Social Side

Astley College on Cocktail Night

• As with typical students, clubbing and drinking is a very popular form of activity! However, pre-drinking starts so much earlier as students leave early to go to places as alot of clubs close around 1am. 
•  At VU there are alot of clubs and societies which you can participate in 
• Also there is a gym and swimming pool at then Footscray Park Campus which you can join
• The Uni, ran quite a few different social activities during the semester for example the Great Ocean Road Trip, Healesville Sanctuary, Victoria Market etc
• The Student Village was great at social activities that were not always about the drinking! They did trips and activities such as:
  -  a trip to Phillip Island 
  -  a trip to Sovereign Hill
  - a Coffee Crawl during exam period
  - free bbqs and college meals throughout the semester
  - movie nights every thursday
  - sport events every monday
  - a college outing to play laserquest and go bowling
  - they also ran a cookery class every tuesday for students who didn't know how to cook or wanted to learn new recipes
  - cocktail night 

 

Studying at VU

Studying at VU was very similar to studying at BU in the wya that classes were run and the use of Blackboard. However there were one or two differences


BU Classes

Unlike BU, I had to create my own timetable for VU by looking at what subjects I wanted to take and then working out my own timetable so it all fitted in. This proved to be a nightmare as alot of them clashed or were on fridays when I really didn't want to be in Uni! Also it was very difficult to put this onto the VU website as many of the classes said they were 'full.

The sizes of classes were quite good with each tute only having about 15-20 people in them so very similar to home. This also meant that the tutors got to know you individually.

Lectures
 The lectures normally lasted 2 hours but always finished early.
What was odd was a lot of students walk in to lectures late and when I mean late I’m talking 1 hour! Also they would just get up and walk out when they felt like it!
However, the lectures are very similar to BU and done with the projector.

Students in the classes

As you can choose any subject at any level, a lot of my classes were filled with first years.

At VU there are a lot of International students but in most of my classes I got to learn with Australians which was nice.

Homework

At VU, for each class, homework was given

Assessments

I had 22 different assessments over 4 months at VU!

Grades

Instead of First, 2:1, 2:2, third grades VU has Pass, Credit, Distinction and High Distinction. HD is 80% + and a Pass is 50% +.

SUVU

The Student Union was great as every few weeks they would serve free alcohol and food at Uni! Occasionally there would be candy floss and popcorn handed out for free too J

Different names for things!

English - Australia 
Ice Lolly = Icy Pole
Suitcase = Port
Peppers = Capsicums
Aubergine = Eggplant
Courgettes = Zuchinni
Duvet = Doonas
Trainers = Runners/Sneakers
Binmen = Garbo
Paramedics = Ambos
Firemen = Firies
Geek/Nerd = Dag
Chavs = Bogan
Chelsea Tractors = Toorak Tractors
McDonalds = Maccas
Chicken = Chook
Sausages = Snags
Wellies = Gum Boots
Afternoon = Arvo
Bring a plate = Bring a dish
Right wing = Red necks
Food = tucker
Swimwear = bathers
Flip flops = Thongs
A long way away = Beyong the Black Stump
To cheer for = Barrack
Car accident = Bingle
Blowfly = Blowies
Gatecrasher = Blow - in
Lazy person = Bludger
Red head = Bluey
English people = Poms
Bottle shop = Bottle O / Liquor Shop
Very poor = Razoo
Speedos = Budgie Smugglers
Crisps = Chips
Broken = Cactus
Trucks = Utes
Lorries = Trucks
To be close = Cooee 'Englad were in cooee of beating Australia in cricket'
Sick = Crook
Sandwiches = Cut lunch
Trousers = Daks
Trousers = Pants
Stupid person = Drongo/Galah

Everyday Life In Australia!!!

Over the past few months living in Australia, it has been really interesting to find out what's similar and what's different to the UK.

When you pay for something on your card there are 3 options to choose from: Cheque, Savings & Credit. After all this time I still don't know the differences to explain them!

Shops

• Shops are very similar except that they don't have M&S, Debenhams, John Lewis and shock horror, no Primark!!
• McDonald's is referred to as Macca's!

• Clothes shops don't count how many items you have before you go into a fitting room
• Staff are very laid back and wear very casual clothes 
• Everything takes a long time as they are so laid back!
• They have Milk bars instead of newsagents
• There are 3 main supermarkets: Coles, Woolworths (not like ours) and Safeway
• The supermarkets have liquor shops next to them

Accommodation 

My first thoughts of the student village were 'OMG what have I let myself in for?!' lol however it was the best place I could have stayed as it was sociable and it was exactly what you need for a few months.

Australia tend to live in bungalows or one storey houses unlike back in UK. The gardens that I've seen don't tend to be too big and I haven't met anyone with a swimming pool yet which everyone believes all Aussies to have!

Transport

• Melbourne is very big on its trams and has the 3rd largest tram network in the world or something along those lines.In alot of the cities, you'll find trams and they are a relatively easy way to get around a city although they do take a long time from an outersuburb. 
• Just like the UK, they have buses and trains 
• Transport is realtively cheap - for a allday ticket that can be used on  buses, trains and trams it is only about £3.50

Food

• Australian food is very similar to the UK and they have all types of cuisine as Australia is fairly mulitcultural
• BBQs are very popular with burgers, snags (sausages) and salad. Although they tend to just use bread for hotdogs and burgers instead of proper buns which means that they always break apart! (or maybe I just don't have the knack!)
• A very famous Australian dish is Chicken Parma (Parmagiana) which is basically a chicken breast covered in a napoli tomato sauce, cheese and wrapped in ham with breadcrumbs on the top! Really  yummy although the one I had was huge and covered my plate! 

  

  Chicken Parma

•  Also, fish & chips are pretty much the same although instead of cod or haddock you eat shark!! It is gummy shark and they call it flake. It tastes really meaty.
• How could I forget - KANGAROO!! so yummy!! very tender, tastes like beef! 
• Also you can eat crocodile and emu! Crocodile is a mixture between fish and chicken taste. 
• You cannot find Gammon anywhere in Oz! 
• They have Timtams which are the best biscuit ever and which you cannot buy in the UK! I have 20 packs to take home.
• Iced coffee is really big here!
• Beer sizes: Stubby (beer bottle), schooner - pot - glass - pint. 

Oh the joy of exams!!

It's that time of the semester again when exams take over your life and every waking hour, and in my case sleeping hour, is spent thinking about revision and worrying that I haven't done enough. Every exam time is the same - I always say to myself  'next time I will start earlier!' of course this never happens and the few days before my exams are a mad panic and stress where I get up at an ungodly hour  to try and insert information into my brain! 

This exam period is a bit different though as I am taking exams at VU so  I got to experience how Australians do exams and whether it was any different or was similar. 

The first thing I noticed was that ALOT of the units have no exams and so students have nothing to do after the semester is up - soo lucky! Unfortunately only one of my units did not have an exam so that meant I had to endure 3! 

The second thing is that, like BU, exams are held on an external site which in this case was the Melbourne Showgrounds. A very nice venue to be set at except the rooms are freezing cold! It's not too far away either - 10 mins on the tram and there are  loads of people sitting exams at the same time. 

The third thing is that for each exam you are given 15mins reading time which is great if you have a few texts to read but for my exams I find I've read my questions in  5mins flat and am just willing my brain to remember the thoughts it's come up with as you are not allowed to make any notes during this period. I suppose it is good for international students who don't speak English as their first language but I do think it is a waste of time and I would rather just start the exam. 

Apart from that, the exams here are very similar to BU which is good as I knew what to expect and was familiar with the process.

Only one exam left now thankfully and I can't wait till 5pm to walk out and be free from stress and revision and to enjoy my last night in the Student Village.

Till then - I suppose I better do some revision.