Business As Usual

When I arrived at uni on Friday morning, I joined 200 other first year law students anxious to make it to the law basement before 9 am, as we had been told buses would leave at 9 am on the dot. Instead we were informed by our leaders - older law students – that we wouldn’t be leaving until 12 pm. From this, I gathered that by the end of my law degree I will be much more comfortable lying. On our way to Licola, where we would be spending the next two nights, we stopped in Traralgon to load up on supplies for the weekend: alcohol and Maccas. At this point I decided Law camp wouldn’t be like any of my school camps! 

After arriving in Licola and having dinner, we got ready for the first camp activity: trivia. This version of trivia involved opportunities for teams to earn extra points through activities like massaging the judges, which my team declined. If anyone thought this was the weirdest activity they would participate in during  law camp, they were proven wrong the next day, when the Beer Olympics were held. One event involved participants riding each other like horses, and feeding themselves and their horses… 

On Saturday night, the theme was ‘super’. Being enthusiastic Commerce students, my friends and I rejected the superhero angle and instead dressed up as ‘superannuation’, or our interpretation of it - tradies off a superannuation advertisement. 

Law camp was one crazy, tiring and incredibly fun weekend, and I’m looking forward to future Monash events if they’re anything like that!

This morning I had the last of my introductory sessions, with this one being the second part of my introduction to commerce.

Following this was probably the highlight of O-week for me: the O-show performed by the Monash Student Theatre. This performance was described as 'an introduction to student life, with a Game of Thrones theme.' As a new student, and a Game of Thrones fan, I was incredibly excited to see how this would work, and I wasn't disappointed! I may have cried with laughter at one point, and I was almost inspired to join the Student Theatre, or at least see another production.

Later on I discovered there were many more clubs I would be inspired to join – many of which offered free food, or free vodka in the case of the Polish Society. I narrowed my choices down to the Law Students' Society, the Business and Commerce Students' Society and Debating, but I know I will be tempted into joining many more as my time at Monash progresses!

While I had a great time meeting other new Monash students last night, getting up this morning wasn’t pleasant.

Today my Commerce session was followed by another free lunch. I was also able to locate a few different buildings around campus without getting totally lost, which I count as a success!

My first day as a student at Monash University began with me arriving to campus 10 minutes after my first Law session had started and frantically searching for $11 in coins to pay for a day of parking. Luckily I was informed that parking was free for O- week in one of the carparks, which only made me 20 minutes late for my introduction to Law… at least I've learnt to account for peak hour traffic before my lectures begin!

My biggest worry for starting university at Monash was how I would make friends, but halfway through day one I had already caught up with friends doing the same course as me, as well as met plenty of great new people. After my course session and a good hour or so waiting in line to pay for law camp, I was introduced to what I’m sure will be a highlight of university life - the free sausage sizzle! Unfortunately I couldn’t enjoy the free beer as I was driving home, which I think is a fair price to pay for not having to get the bus.

After arriving home from my first day at Monash, it was straight back for a cocktail evening for new Law students, which gave me a chance to catch up with the people I had met that day, and be reminded of how much work there was to come by my new teachers and lecturers. However, this was soon forgotten as my friends and I headed off to the first of the O- week parties in the city. Being at a club, I instinctively felt as though it was a Saturday night, not a Monday night, where I’m due in at uni at 9am tomorrow morning.

I’m a first year Commerce/Law student at Monash and I’m really excited to start my degree as I have always wanted to study Commerce and major in Economics, which was my favourite subject in year 12. I’m also looking forward to getting involved in a few different clubs and societies at Monash and meeting new people through them, but I’m yet to decide which ones to join. After studying Australian Politics in year 12 I know I’m bound to join a political group – I just don’t know which one!