Surviving Law @ QUT

Before you get reading, I guess I had better introduce myself.  You might not have noticed me at orientation, I was the non descript lady standing around in the back ground.  You know, the one NOT wearing skinny jeans/D&G sunglasses/ and ballet flats with a countryroad or LV tote (although I think the LV was fake?).. 

I was the one you probably thought was a secretary or a tutor or something. You didn’t pay very much attention to me anyway, cause you were to busy checking out the cute guy with the Hawaiian boardies, cool Sunglasses and the skate board.. .(which was weird)… but don’t worry I was checking him out too, until I realised he was young enough to be my SON!!!!   

Yep, I am a mature aged student,  one of those older ones, and and yes I am really feelin it this time round back at Uni.  

I am a single Mum with two children and this is my third time back on a campus and everything we have been told about Law being different from anything you have studied before seems to be panning out just as they say…

Anyway.. lets take a look back at the first week from a mature aged perspective… (Oh and by the way, to the cute guy in the Hawaiian boardies… I was just kidding, I wasn’t really checking you out…. to busy trying to get my freakin readings done..)

Monday, 25 February 2008

Ok, first week of classes and I am excited about getting started.  Of course it is bedlam at my house the first morning of school.  I am awoken at 7am with a kiss on the cheek from my 7year old daughter, which was lovely until I look at the clock and see that I have overslept by an hour.  So much for getting up early.  All my plans of being super prepared and ahead of my readings for the first class are lost amidst the mad scramble to get two children and one adult off to school.  My 6 year old son is very concerned about who is going to look after his new test tube alien while he is at school today.   I sarcastically answer that I will stay home and feed it as I madly scrape fake peanut butter (allergies at the school) on bread for sandwiches. He is very surprised when I am packing my books into my backpack and asks me what I am doing as we walk out the door.  “Going to school” I reply, and he blankly looks at me before his face crumples.  “You said you would stay home and look after my test tube alien”… I pause as I realise that 6 year olds do not get sarcasm.  I feebly try to explain the concept of sarcasm as I push them both down the stairs at the same time.  Giving up the sarcasm explanaition,  I go on to explain that he can take the Alien to school for show and tell and look after it himself. 

Oh god.. how am I going to do this.  Havent’ even got there and already it seems to hard.  After dropping the kids at school, I think I will go to the gym and do my readings on the walker.. you know, study/balance… start a work out routine and study at the same time cause I do not have time to do it all one at a time.  In the change room I meet a girlfriend I havent’ seen for ages, and we proceed to catch up.  Looking at my clock I realise that I am now running late, change out of my gym clothes and head to school as I have to go buy  the study guide (so I can have the work done for tomorrow’s subject)  and get my laptop set up for wireless and get to the lecture… Argh..

Did I mention I didn’t do the readings for today….

Finally make it to the lecture and fall into my seat as Des Butler begins explaining the ins and outs of Contracts…. oh my, doesn’t’ this sound exciting…. not.  But at least it looks as though he has done his very best to make the subject interesting with pod casts, the workbook and on-line tutorials, movies, and other stuff.  Hey, he even gives you a mid semester exam to track your progress…..great….

Saturday, 1 March 2008

Well, so much for keeping up with everything… the rest of the week just got totally out of control with me completely missing the last lecture of the week (Fundamentals of Torts… if I missed anything important, can you please let me know) … thank god for streaming lectures.  Note to self, have to make sure i listen to that today.  Yep, right after I clean the house, do the laundry, grocery shopping.. oh yeah and find that work life balance they kept talking about all week.   

I am pleased to say that I made the Introduction to Legal research Lecture…after  two attempts… good thing I did as there was lots of hints for the Library Exercise.

I didn’t get any readings done for any of the subjects for this week, just carried those text books and study guides around in the vain hope that I would find time to read them.  I pretty much spent the week juggling my kids school demands, and medical appointments.  We ate take out pretty much every night as I was to shattered to cook.  My Uni classes, unfortunately, got relegated to the back end of the priority list and became another thing I had to do, as appoised to my main focus.   I don’t know how as it really should be up the top… but life kinda gets in the way.  I did meet a really cool girl at the intro to legal research lecture and we are going to get together each week for a study group next week, so hopefully we can keep each other up on everything throughout the semester.

So my goals for this week end, is the do all the readings for last week, and for this next week.  Don’t panic, I have a plan to get it done.  The only way I am going to even remotely be able to accomplish this, is to go to the video shop and rent four Wii and Playstation games as a special treat for my kids.  They will love it, and I can be left alone to do my study.  Wish me luck

By the way Kiera, I was in the same tute as you with the really pretty girl who knew all the answers to the tute questions…. it was like Hermoine Granger was in the class…… hate girls like that…. next tute can you give her a note asking her if she wants to be in our study group next Friday….. you can come too…

See you all next week

…