Nutrimens

The thing I like about going to uni is that it's in the city. The thing I hate about uni is that it's in the city. So conflicting. If I was a robot I'd explode from feelings within a minute of trying to be human. I guess I like being near the city because I have more options for things I can do and places to eat on the rare occasions that I finish uni early. The thing I hate about being in the city five days a week is how far it is from home. I have to get up two hours earlier than my first class (compared to high school where I just rolled out of bed looking like a prisoner of Azkaban then was at school within 5 minutes) then there's the cost of train tickets. Like paying gazillion dollars per year just to be educated isn't enough!

Today's city adventure was to Hyde Park where the night noodle markets are held. Junyssa (who is officially my impulse eating uni buddy) and I had it all planned out that we were going to stay at uni to study for two hours before heading off but we completely ditched that idea and ended up shopping at Paddy's market, eating at Town Hall then pretended to be rich by sitting at a chair, refusing to leave because we were too comfortable lying there, amongst all the designer shops at Westfield Centrepoint Tower.

As lame as it was, I think that was the highlight of my day. We looked like homeless people amongst the classy ladies with their fancy hats and elegant dresses and the business men sporting those cases that looks like it has the contents of a $500, 000 winner on that TV show, Deal or No Deal. We then realised that we were probably doing the complete opposite of getting rich by lazying around and not studying.

The food at night noodle markets wasn't that great and plus, I'm Asian so the food there were all ordinary to me and I've had much better.

The only thing I liked were the decorated tables and the guy who was performing there. Good music always lifts up the mood and makes up for the lack of good food!

Annus

I am currently at my uni's library laughing at the things people come up with on Tumblr to the point where it looks like I'm crying. (I can sense the judging eyes of my friend.) My favourite one so far - "Me when I lend a book to someone: Bend the spine and I'll bend your spine." Most accurate description of me, ever. I'm supposed to be studying for my mid sem exam during this one week "break" but you know, when does that ever really happen?

The past week has been full of nostalgia for high school. It's been a year since graduation already. It's weird. I don't fully feel like I'm a uni student so it feels like I'm stuck somewhere between the high school and uni stage refusing to believe that I'm really growing up. I went to my sister's graduation and for a few moments, I felt like I was almost back at high school watching other people graduate in the hall.

Then the day after, I finally caught up with everyone in the group again at Green Peppercorn. I felt like I had been MIA from everyone's lives and at the time it felt like forever since I've seen them but when I saw them all again for dinner, it didn't feel that long and I suddenly didn't miss them.

Then the day after that, I saw a few of the original people from the random group after nearly a year. I didn't feel the same vibe I did with them two years ago when we used to go out after school or on weekends together. There were too many other people from the grade I never got to know well and there wasn't many from the original group so I felt awkward and out of place. I guess it was fun but still a disappointment because I expected too much.

University is so depressing in comparison to high school.

Criniti

My family and I had dinner at Criniti's, which is a South Italian cuisine restaurant. It was my second time there so maybe the amusement of eating a one metre pizza wasn't there so my tasting senses were working better this time round and made me realise that it didn't actually taste that good. Honestly, I would have preferred having Pizza Hut. The pizza was too chewy and the other dishes we ordered tasted a bit too bland to me.

For once, no one blinked to ruin the family picture!

Friends For Dummies

As we grow older, we find it much more difficult to make friends. When we are 5, friends are the people who share toys with you. When we are 10, friends are the people who don't have cooties. When we are 15, friends are the people who hates the same person as you. See how much more difficult it gets? Well, thank goodness there's me to help you out on the journey of friendship for those struggling to find friends in environments, such as uni, with the world's biggest pretentious people.

Friends For Dummies by Rebecca Tran.

1. Be confident with who you are. A good method is to practise saying your name in front of a mirror until you're confident that you won't forget it. Being the nervous person I am around unfamiliar people, I almost introduced myself as Tessa to a fellow lab group member. I honestly have no idea where that came from and I hope none of you will ever make that mistake after following my advice because it is downright embarrassing and the biggest brain fart you'll ever experience. If you want to go a step further, it's a good idea to remember what course you do and why you're doing it as well.
2. Equip yourself with knowledge (or lack of). One of my earliest uni friends I've made was by wondering around lost with the map of my uni opened on my phone. A girl asked me for directions and by coincidence, she was in the same tutorial as me. Through our shared fear of being lost in one of the creepiest buildings and getting in trouble for arriving late to our first class, we somehow became friends. By another great coincidence, we have a mutual love for fictional characters and tendency to leave assignments till the night before it was due. So either being lost or being a know it all will get you somewhere! You're either lost together or a know it all helping out a lostie.
3. Get to know the people from your group work. Rants of my friends' uni woes mostly comprises of bad experiences to do with group work. In your group, there will almost always be someone being a control freak and/or someone who does not contribute to anything and never turns up to meetings. Bonding with others over mutual hatred works a charm. Thank God I don't have group work yet. However, there might be those rare occasions that everyone in your group does what they're supposed to and you enjoy your time together so you might even spend time outside of uni together.
4. Electrocute them. There's nothing like beginning a friendship with a spark. Speaking from experience, it hurts but it's worth the pain. When put in those situations, it brings out their real personalities by how they deal with things. For example, I met two guys in my physics tutorial and it was so silent and awkward. One of the questions that we had to answer involved using a van de Graaff. Since I had long hair, I used it to try make my hair radiate out. One of them came too close to me and the electrons jumped and passed onto him causing us to experience an electric shock. I found that he is dramatic and likes to swear when things get tough and the other guy is still immature ("YOU GOT HIT BY A GIRL!") and would rather laugh than ask if we're okay. After that, it was less awkward.

Good luck and may you find that special someone to make cherished memories with!

Nitrogen

N2 Extreme Gelato opened recently so I went with Amy to try the ice creams that are made in front of you using liquid nitrogen. The whole store had a laboratory theme to it, which is pretty cool.

My second semester of uni has started and it's time to put my imaginary serious hat on. Remember how Pepito from Madeline once showed his entire hat collection that he has for almost every occasion? His infamous one is the bad hat. I need a stop blogging and write study notes hat.

Somewhat interesting things this so far:

• One of my lecturers introduced herself as Dale - Flashback to over a month ago when I emailed my unit coordinator with "Hi sir" and "Thank you, sir" only to realise three emails later that Dale is actually a woman. You can imagine my shock and how much I freaked out. She never replied to my apology (I sounded so desperate and made it a million times more awkward) so I'm hoping she'll never work out who this Rebecca is.
• Received my first ever parcel from buying online at Book Depository. Everything is so much more exciting when it's all wrapped up! I've been living like I'm from the 19th century.
• Random meet up with all the Usyd people in the group for froyo. The stories we all shared ended up with us dying (or crying) from laughter - Amy: "I have a know it all in my class." Vivienne: "Yeah, me too! I don't know anyone in class!" Also Vivienne was telling us about how you can unplug magnesium out of your head and the scientific thinkers of the group just.. yeah, we just exchanged looks.
• Vivienne being upgraded: "Everyone always gives me their rubbish so it's like I'm a rubbish bag! Now you're telling me to buy things so I'm like a shopping bag!"
• Saw quite a few train commuters reading 50 Shades of Grey. I failed to impress a lady with my superior book - I Am A Cat by Natsume Sōseki. She didn't even look up! HOW COULD YOU NOT? IT'S LIFE FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF A CAT. A CAT.
• Nearly stacking it on the train. This happens a lot but I don't understand why Jellee is always the one there to witness it. I technically never fall, which makes me a genius in the art of not toppling over completely!
• Made an observation that sounded racist but I swear I'm not. I OFFICIALLY HAVE A BAD REPUTATION AMONGST THE FUTURE PHARMACISTS THAT WERE THERE AND IF I END UP MAJORING IN PHARMACOLOGY, NO ONE THERE WILL BUY DRUGS OFF ME. That ended up with Jellee, Jason and I laughing over things we shouldn't be laughing about. Anyone notice how good it feels to laugh when you have a blocked nose? Laughing overall, feels good.

I found out that a first year girl from my uni got a silver medal for canoeing in the Olympics. It just made me wonder, what have I achieved in life? I didn't think for long because there honestly isn't much I can reflect on my life. Not to brag or anything but this one time I had 7 hours of sleep altogether in 5 days. GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS.