Are you pickin' up what i'm Putin down? - strawberries' university journey

[strawberries]

Hello I'm strawberries

I graduated VCE in 2015, took a gap year, and now I'm a first year at The Australian National University in Canberra
My degree is pretty complicated to explain, so let's just say I'm doing a kind of specialized arts degree

subjects I'm taking

Last semester I took intro courses in philosophy, politics, international relations and international security. In winter I took a course in political theory/philosophy, and this semester I'm doing a course in political economy, a course about how to write political science essays, and another intro course in IR (continued course of what I did in sem 1). I really enjoy what I'm doing in uni (although it's kinda hard!)

last semester

Last sem was quite ok! Do have a distinction average, which is ok, and I've literally learnt so much last sem! (although I've forgotten quite a bit, but still)
Uni social life is quite difficult though

But strawbs, what do you want to do after your degree?

Honestly I have no idea, in terms of future study, there are many things I'd consider. Perhaps honours in either international relations or political science, maybe a masters degree in this area? I'd also like to do a PhD but yeah, still early days yet (also love to explore other fields)
Also, have been considering a UoM JD for a while, don't know if I should start prepping for LSAT yet, as I'm still not 100% sure I want to go, and idk if I want to spend a long time studying a law degree. Have also wanted to do an MBA before...but yeah I'm so ambitious
Part of me just wants to get out of uni asap

In terms of career, I would probably like to work as a diplomat tbh (ideally but not realistically though, although my career ideas will probably change over time). Getting into DFAT is very competitive, so yeah.
Also I'd like to be a politician one day, but just as a job not as a career (still need to work out my political affiliations first).
I'd probably like to start up my own business or be a CEO or something, and I'd love to be working in somewhere like London or NYC #onecandream
I have a problem aiming high rather than realistic so tbh I have no idea what I'd realistically be able to do

diary today (22/8):
- had a tutorial and a lecture (very confused)
- I read like a tiny little bit for my essay that's due in a month, but yeah, spent a lot of today eating and doing chores
- i'm pretty happy I finished my readings last week for my political science lecture tomorrow (even though I'm still fairly confused)

I do have a long to-do list though: mainly just making more notes, I took notes of my readings all sem but I need to make them neater and combine into a doc so I get a booklet

yep...this post turned out rather long...and I spent time doing this...rather than doing actual work #procrastinationwins

[K888]

The quality of thread titles here is top-notch. I take credit for starting the trend

Great read! I look forward to following this throughout the rest of semester, strawbs

[brenden]

Yaaaaaaaaas strawbs!

[strawberries]

ahh 23/8 - not so productive in terms of work but I did go shopping and buy some groceries today!

today I only had an evening lecture, was quite okay
I also did a tiny bit of reading for my IR essay, I even wrote some paragraphs but chances are I'm probably not gonna use them as I'm not even close to finishing my research (but I just get into the habit of writing before I've finished researching)
ps. word limits need to be reasonable. 1000 words is not enough to get information across

[Coffee]

ps. word limits need to be reasonable. 1000 words is not enough to get information across

Try a word count of 750.

[strawberries]

Try a word count of 750.

is that even considered an essay?

(have had small assignments worth 500 words though)

[K888]

Try a word count of 750.

Feels 🙌

I have a limit of 2,500 words for my major semester assignment worth 20% of my semester grade. And this is an assignment that takes 9-10 weeks to do 

[Coffee]

is that even considered an essay?

(have had small assignments worth 500 words though)

It's not an essay but I'm still struggling to strike a balance between describing/explaining what I'm talking about, and analysing it. I'm still working on cutting it down so I can meet the +10% word limit.

[strawberries]

24/8

- I had 2 tutorials and 1 lecture...
- okay so in my political science tutorial I am very confused...we've liked talked about maths and statistics and standard deviations...I can't believe I forgot this shit
- I have a midterm next week for IPE...I've pretty much finished making my flashcards and typed up notes from all the lectures this year, but I might want to re-read some parts of the textbook and do parts I haven't quite finished yet...but at the moment, I feel okay about it
- I need to have a more defined to do list, I just pretty much do work whenver I feel like it

[brenden]

To do lists are a godsend!! You can still do stuff when you feel like it but... you get to cross it off your to do list when you're finished!

[K888]

- okay so in my political science tutorial I am very confused...we've liked talked about maths and statistics and standard deviations...I can't believe I forgot this shit

I feel this! We're doing it in research right now and it's bringing back bad memories of Methods

Do you like all the units you're doing strawbs? Would you change any, in hindsight?

[strawberries]

To do lists are a godsend!! You can still do stuff when you feel like it but... you get to cross it off your to do list when you're finished!

yep that's true! I did that during swotvac and I was pretty productive and got things done quickly...but now...(should probs make one xD)

I feel this! We're doing it in research right now and it's bringing back bad memories of Methods

Do you like all the units you're doing strawbs? Would you change any, in hindsight?

yeah tbh I quite liked doing the stats part of methods but I completely forgot it now 
technically all my units are compulsory for my degree so I have to do them sooner or later
so far they're quite good (actually political science didn't start off too well, but now it's ok!)

[strawberries]

weekend (26-27/8): so unproductive (ugh)

- so on Saturday it was Open Day, but I just decided to go and hang around to get free food
- I only have one midsem (this Thursday) for IPE, but for some strange reason I feel sorta good and confident about it? Like, I don't feel like I need to prepare much because I think I know most of it already ??
- I added more notes to my current set for IPE, except idek if I'm wasting my time or not anymore...or if I should print them out
- today I did half of my IR readings, and I decided to make a comparison table of the different IR schools of thought for no reason really...
yep...I need help with sorting out my life xD

[sweetiepi]

weekend (26-27/8): so unproductive (ugh)

I feel you on a spiritual level with the unproductivity- happens to me too!

How was today for you, Strawbs?

[strawberries]

I feel you on a spiritual level with the unproductivity- happens to me too!

How was today for you, Strawbs?

yep 

um so yesterday (28/8) - is it bad that I even forgot what I did??
I did answer some tute questions regarding for my tute today, I did try and make my notes for my IPE midsem a little neater and add a bit more info, but other than that I really can't remember.
ooh and I printed flashcards too

today (29/8):
- had an IPE tute. we discussed tutorial questions she emailed us...and yeah, i decided to probably answer too many questions
- had an IR lecture where she discussed critical theories. to be honest, I'm sorta confused and didn't know what she was talking about on one hand, but on the other hand I found it pretty interesting? especially when you get a different view to your traditional schools (realism/liberalism)
like, the readings we got were supposed to be about Marxism and feminism, and an extra journal article on feminism (which I didn't read oops) but she spent little on that and more on discussing ideas, changes and other critical schools of thought (e.g. Frankfurt school)
- in the evening I played some sport and sucked...
- and since then, all I've done is clean up my IPE notes for my exam??

I have essays due in like 3 weeks...should probably get onto them (after I finish my exam)