First week

Hey welcome to my first blog post. My name is Anthony and I am studying a single degree in Law at, as the name of the blog suggests, QUT. The purpose of this post is to inform others how it feels to walk into QUT for the very first time. While many people would mark the official start as Monday I would like to go back to the orientation.

After the long bus ride, and the 10 minute walk to QUT, on the first day I finally made it in one piece. I made the decision to not bring anything with me but a bus ticket and the clothes on my back (amongst a few modern day essentials such as mobile phones, bank accounts, and everything else needed to survive in the harsh city environment). As I walked in the one thing I noticed, and that I still notice, that a poor soul had set up shop on the left of the pavement. They sold fruit and cold drinks. Why anyone would purchase fruit on orientation day I don’t know but each to his own. Although I have to say walking out of QUT today I did kind of yearn for an apple, maybe it was a smart business plan after all.

I continued up the path and dodged the many advertisers asking for money/support/who ever the hell knows. I walked around a bit and the campus seemed familiar, then I remembered in grade 12 we had a class excursion to Gardens Point.

After some aimless walking I decided I should get my ID card. With over an hour until my next orientation activity started I thought I would be safe joining the line. After being in the line for a few minutes I met a few people and we talked for an hour or so which made the long line seem quite short. I probably won’t see them again but it made the time at least somewhat exciting. I should mention I never even got my ID card that day, although killing time talking and laughing which other new uni students made the hour wait not seem so wasted.

The orientation itself was in a way informative but I could see by the end of the day many people falling asleep or walking out of the lecture room. Naturally though these house keeping tasks are quite boring. I being a patient person though didn’t mind too much. The most informative was the input from the 4^th year students. Unlike the lecturers they can drop hints and tips about how it’s really like to study at QUT.

After the orientation there was a week break before yesterday attending QUT properly for the first time. There was just a lot of information about each subject and just an introduction to assessment and what is expected and all that good stuff.

One thing that got me though about studying law at QUT is that in a number of lectures it was stated that we can’t just have our own opinions and that if we want to state opinions we should go do journalism. One would think we could state any opinion if it was backed up logically. This would be my only criticism so far. Everyone should be welcome to their own opinion, no matter how unethical or immoral it could possibly be to others, so long as it is reinforced with a strong, well reasoned, and logical argument. I think our own opinions are the essence of law. Instead of separating opinions from arguments we should be using arguments to back up opinions.

Well that’s all from me for now. Look for more next week.

And off we go…

Well, it’s started, the first day of 4 and a half years here at QUT.   Before I get into anything, I best introduce myself.  I’m Keira, I’m 18 and a first year Business/Law student here at QUT.  I have recently moved to Brisbane from the sunshine coast (well….Gympie-ish) and am attempting to settle into the hectic city life.  Before we get started, let us establish, the basics.

Name – Keira (rest withheld so that no one stalks me and stands outside my window at 3am singing Can’t Fight the Moonlight)

Age – 18 (as of January)

Location  - One of the many suburbs starting with C in East Brisbane. (haha stalk me now)

Hobbies – Dancing, Music (Clarinet, Sax etc), Reading, Generally hanging out etc. 

Interests  - The military, history, law (well duh), travel etc.

Degree – Double degree in Law and Business majoring in International Business.

Pets – One kitten.  Sergeant.  One poodle (at home) Baby.

Now. Lets get down to the nitty gritty.  Law.  At QUT.  Well.  I started today….after much too-ing and fro-ing with my insane computer skills and a little help from a multitude of sympathetic co-ordinators etc who assisted me through my computer illiterate times, I have FINALY established a time table.

 Today, I had a LWB141 Tute and a LWB 142 Lecture, both seemed alright.  Until I got that person…you know..the really scarily smart one.  Who sat next to me…had already been to the lecture…and had done 27 pages of notes….Now, normally, this person would be me ( well…the obsessive note taking anyway), however; being the busy person I am (I work part time as a waitress) I had somehow managed to omit the fact that I had to buy a case book…my bad.  However, after meeting a few people, I discovered that uni students are in fact normal (ish).  No longer did I feel quite so horribly terribly nervous.   It is certainly an odd feeling going from the top of the school as a year 12, to being newbies again.  Coming from a relatively small school, (87 in my grade 12) to suddenly have 500 people in a lecture is rather intimidating.  But anyway, after about an hour of frantic note taking, and another hour of trotting through the law library my first tute was over. 

My first lecture cleared a lot of things up, everything was simplified, explained and made clear.  Thank goodness for that.   Now knowing approximately when and what my assessment was for 2 subjects and having acquired a few friends, I felt somewhat better.  More reassured. 

Now if anyone else is feeling rather lonely, lost, etc, don’t just stand there.  Be the random kid that introduces yourself to someone else standing alone.  Chances are, they aren’t just a random loner.  They too are probably lonely and a bit scared. 

Uni itself seems good.  For some mad reason, I am excited about learning.  And must  I say, the Law Library is AMAZING.  It looks stunning and seems to be very very well equipped.  I have had a quick look at the other library and it looks great too, I just wish I had more time to wander aimlessly around the campus and explore.   I am somewhat daunted by our library task, however I am sure that the magical library ladies are able to assist…Must I also say, the first librarians I have met who actually want to help you..and don’t just look at you like you are disturbing the peace in their space. 

Anyway.  I have truly babbled on enough.    I would be interested to hear what others think of enrolling and the law library? Feel free to comment etc and let me know J  I am excited to see what the rest of the week brings and wish everyone the best of luck. 

Ciao.

Keira.