Inside The University of Melbourne

So after getting some awesome feedback from the FOB series of posts and also stirring up a few people (Which was hilarious to say the least), I decided that I’ll mix things up a bit and attempt to be  helpful and assist the new starters at UoM by giving a bit of a break down about O-Week. The FOB series will continue in the future however, so don’t worry too much! The responses were just priceless!

Now, about O-Week!

Orientation week is a big event for all the freshers, it’s the opportunity to get yourself acquainted with the university atmosphere which you’ll be exposed to for the next few years, and a prime opportunity to meet some people that you could form lasting friendships with.

The week starts off with all the new students being placed in groups with other new students in the same course, and a host leading this group. After completing the usual introductions and ice-breakers you’ll be walking around for a university tour with your group. This is when you can get to know everyone your group on a more personal level. One thing I’d say is that, of course, you’ll be aiming to meet as many people then and there, but don’t feel compelled to be friends with everyone in your host group, the first few weeks of tutorials and lectures are a prime opportunity to make friends. In my case, I can’t remember too many people from O-week anyway, I met most of my university friends in classes, but this is obviously different for everyone.

If you’re one of those students that came from a school where a large number of students attend UoM then you’ll be sweet, you can just hang with your high school group initially, if not, then you can try to put yourself out there and try to join clubs and societies and find like-minded people. I joined a ton of random clubs but never ended up being involved with them too regularly aside from randomly rocking up to their Barbeques on South Lawn sometimes.

There’s a day later in the week, where you can attend barbeques and leech a ton of freebies. This is probably the most useful and fun day during O-week, as you get freebies and obviously get the opportunity to meet some interesting people.  There are also pub crawls and a ton of other social activities around, which you can participate in, if it’s something you’re interested in.

Now, if I remember correctly, during one of the days during O-week, there are subject orientation sessions and also course orientation sessions. These were so useless, I honestly can’t see what you could get out of them since everything said during these sessions are readily available from the subject page on LMS or by just Googling the subject code and finding the subject overview page. If you decide not to attend this you won’t be missing anything. The first lecture of the subject will probably repeat what was said in the orientation anyway.

Next Post: Settling in – The first few weeks!

P.S. – I love the one hilarious person/FOB that attacks my FOB posts over and over again in the comments which I disapprove. This person tries using different names and emails, to get his or her point across, but one thing you might not realise is that I can see IPs and I do know it’s just one bored, and obviously offended person. I honestly can’t help but to smile as I’m making such an impact on one’s life. I feel fulfilled.