Settling in and joining a community

Roxanne Nguyen  0:03  
Hi guys! Welcome back to the UTS Student Hacks. I'm Roxanne, I'm in my fourth year of Medical Science and International Studies major in Japan. And here we also have...

Kelly Ding  0:11  
 Kelly! I'm also going into my fourth year of law and business majoring in accounting. This episode, we'll be talking about settling in and joining a community. Before we get right into it, get some water, fruit, snacks to accompany you through this podcast.

Roxanne Nguyen  0:27  
For today's podcast, we'll be talking about different ways to make friends on campus online, finding study spaces and our personal favorite study spots.

Kelly Ding  0:35  
So we want to start off with a good old fashioned way of making friends. Simply attending class. Going to class helps you understand what the subject requires of you, and how to approach your studies to get the most out of your subject.

Roxanne Nguyen  0:49  
During my first year, I was quite nervous first year and um... the one thing that we've always had to do during the beginning of our classes during week one was icebreakers! Which everyone, maybe not everyone, but the majority sort of dread, but it's the best way to introduce yourself to a crowd of people, and also to learn the basics info about someone else.

Kelly Ding  1:11  
Yeah, I mean, I suppose not my favorite activity, but at least I know the names of some of the people in my class, which is good. So my interesting fact was when I did icebreakers in first year was that I used to work at Black Star pastry.  So all those foodies out there, Black Star pastry, created the signature strawberry watermelon cake. And that was my interesting fact because at the time, it was a huge trend.

Roxanne Nguyen  1:40  
Yeah, it was very popular, you would see it everywhere.

Kelly Ding  1:43  
Exactly. And what about you, Roxanne?

Roxanne Nguyen  1:46  
For me, during my first year, I was like, a bit quirky or whatever. And I said that I raised nine dogs. And it did take people by surprise, because that's a lot of dogs. And explaining the aftermath of caring for nine dogs was a lot. So it was interesting to tell that to someone's like, oh, took them by surprise, for sure. But they definitely remembered me as the girl with nine dogs. Instead of my name sometimes a bit sad, but

Kelly Ding  2:15  
it's memorable. It's very memorable fact. Sounds good. Essentially, the easiest way of making friends is literally just attending class, because those people are most likely the people that you'll be seeing throughout your entire degree, because they're most likely doing the same degree as you or following the same pathway through the university journey.

Roxanne Nguyen  2:33  
And if you're taking online classes, for example, your whole subject is based on lectures. I really recommend talking during breakout rooms, because sometimes it's like you just have this five minutes between classes to sort of talk about your subject or just catch up to what everyone else is doing. And it's pretty good time during the class to talk with-

Kelly Ding  2:53  
select people in the past, especially in the breakout room. That was probably th- the main way I made friends during online learning in 2020 was through breakout rooms and everyone. In breakout rooms you feel more comfortable talking to a smaller group of people, and you can express your concerns like "When's this assignment meant to be due?" "Was there a change in it?".  And you guys, in that breakout room can kind of figure it out together? Yeah, you should take the initiative to turn off your mic.

Roxanne Nguyen  3:23  
No. 

Kelly and Roxanne  3:23  
Turn on your mic. Yeah.

Kelly Ding  3:29  
Yeah, turn on your mic.

Roxanne Nguyen  3:30  
Yeah, I think Yeah, during breakout rooms is just talking to them. And just asking like, "Hey, do you guys understand this content?" and they're also like "nope" and you're like. "Same." There's a sort of comfort, knowing that someone else is in the same spot as you or someone else knows the actual content, and they can help you out, which is really good.

Kelly Ding  3:48  
Yeah, totally good. Hypothetically, you've made some friends in class. Now after cost, you guys want to get some studying done. What are the good study spaces in UTS Roxanne?

Roxanne Nguyen  3:59  
For my personal favorites, it would be building 11. Down at the underground. There's some study spaces where there's like mats that you can lay on after if you want to take a break from your studies, and there's charging ports as well as it's quite quiet down there or building 3. So usually building three, it's quite a small building, but because not often people would stay back. It's  very quiet, if you wanna sort of study alone. But if you guys want to study in a group, I'd recommend trying out building two because building two has a lot of study spaces near Broadway, like near the streets. And those are really good spaces to sorta just hang out chat, and then grab some food at the food court and head upstairs. But what are some spaces that you recommend?

Kelly Ding  4:43  
For me building 2 I'm always in building two at the moment. So I really really enjoy the reading room because it's a quiet space. I enjoy doing work in silence. with probably like- a little bit of white noise of papers being flipped around, typing, things like that, like the occasional wind that might pass by-

Roxanne Nguyen  5:02  
Very ASMR 

Kelly Ding  5:03  
Yeah, something like that, especially with most of my work that I do is very individual. So I really like the reading room for that. If I need to get like some group work done, I'll probably pick, one of the floors from five to seven in building two get some work done, because there's free space, like desks, chairs they're all there, ready for you to use them. Other than that, I really like going to building 6 on level 3, where the Guthrie Theater is around that area, the student kitchen, chairs and desks that you can use, you can like heat up your food, if you're there, things like that. So very- a space you can use for multiple uses.

Roxanne Nguyen  5:45  
There's a lot of study spaces as well in building 6, which I would recommend to book through the library as well, as well as building 2, which is really good. And I really enjoy the toaster that's in the kitchen. 

Kelly Ding  5:54  
In building 6?

Roxanne Nguyen  5:55  
Yeah. It's pretty good!

Kelly Ding  5:57  
 Other buildings that you can book rooms in are also building 11. So building 2, 11 and 6 I believe. Yes, that's through the library's website. So now moving on to other ways of making friends outside of class.

Roxanne Nguyen  6:13  
Not in an academ- I guess it can be in the academic sense. But more so outside of all the formal classes. 

Kelly Ding  6:20  
Yeah, so it would be through societies and volunteering events for me. So I was a part of the pack, which was a volunteering group as a part of Activate UTS. So we did a lot of volunteering for O'Day. So like packing the bags, giving those free bags out, things like that, as well as other events like the study abroad barbecue, and other volunteering that was a part of was RNA (Respect.Now. Always). So they're the people that give out the ice cream. And through those events. And through those volunteering opportunities, I'm able to get like free merch, as well as made a bunch of new friends.

Roxanne Nguyen  6:57  
For me personally, I made a lot of friends through societies, because I was an executive for the past three years. And this included. And it was very nice to meet people with similar interests. So like I made a lot of friends through there because you're meeting- because a lot of people join through their first years. So I met a lot of great people, as well as volunteering on campus as a PN ( Peer Networkers) . So often, if you go to O'day or Club's Expo, you'd see these people wearing bright fluorescent orange shirts, and they are Peer Networkers. And I was one of them for the past two years. And that was a really good opportunity of meeting people as well that I got to connect with a lot of people from different disciplines and work with a similar goal of just- sort of like helping first you sort of migrate?... migrate?? 

Kelly Ding  7:38  
Transition?

Roxanne Nguyen  7:39  
Transition! Into the uni life really. Before COVID, I also volunteered at the network cafe on campus, which I got to meet a lot of international students and talk to them over coffee. So I drank a lot of coffee throughout the semester, just because it was free. But sadly, it isn't running anymore. But you can still meet a lot of international students through the HELPS buddy program as well.which is very good.

Kelly Ding  8:01  
 I also did quite a few societies being a subcommittee member, I met a lot of people from the same - from my same degree, I made a couple of good friends out of that. At the end of the day, you need to be the person that takes initiative to make friends, whether it be in class, through societies, or volunteering events, you need to be the one that takes the first step.

Roxanne Nguyen  8:04  
Putting your foot through the doors, the biggest step that you can do, and going to like - the first event that they(societies)  host, a lot of people are keen to meet other people and befriend others. And I really recommend you to be able to take that and challenge yourself to go out, and meet new people and talk to them.

Kelly Ding  8:40  
And through like societies and volunteering events you might get really cool merchsuch as like enamel pins, free t shirts. I know Roxanne, you have quite a free t - shirt.

Roxanne Nguyen  8:51  
Yeah. 25% of my wardrobe is volunteering shirts, which I wear at night, which is very comfortable. But sometimes I do look like I'm volunteering the next day. And I have a lot of shirts from the Respect.Now.Always as well, which you would often see me around campus just because they're very comfy. And they look really cool. For the design wise, I have a lot of much merch from volunteering at UTS.

Kelly Ding  9:12  
On a more important note is that- if you have any concerns about your enrolment or subjects that you're currently enrolled in, is good to get these sources before the census date, which is the 19th of March to ensure you don't have any financial penalties if you decide to withdraw or change subjects to get this sorted, you should go to the student Centre to contact the student Centre . You can contact them either through via phone, email, or booking an appointment.

Roxanne Nguyen  9:42  
And that's just through the Ask UTS page on the UTS website.

Kelly Ding  9:47  
Thanks for listening, we're just gonna end off with three important tips from this entire podcast. So A

Roxanne Nguyen  9:55  
Actually go to class, it's the most important step that you can do is, to actually attend class. And, you know, you can meet a lot of new people, if you actually go to the class and you make the most out of your subject as well. 

Kelly Ding  10:07  
And B

Roxanne Nguyen  10:08  
 Be yourself. It's just great to just be yourself when meeting new people because you want your personal qualities to shine through and that to sort of attract the people that you're compatible with. That's compatible with you.

Kelly Ding  10:20  
And finally C

Roxanne Nguyen  10:22  
Challenge yourself. Just step out, challenge yourself, join societies, volunteer, put yourself out there because you know, you just expand your personal comfort zone.

Kelly Ding  10:32  
Yeah. So regardless of whether you're a first year or not, it's better late than never put yourself out there. Challenge yourself, you have no idea what university holds for you. So just do it.

 Once again. Thanks for listening. If you want to check out any of our other previous episodes there on our website and other sites like Spotify

Roxanne Nguyen  10:50  
Don't forget to join us for our next podcast on balancing uni and your life. Until next time- 

Kelly and Roxanne  10:56  
See ya!

Transcribed by https://otter.ai