Semester the third

Pretty excited for uni tomorrow.  I don't actually have class tomorrow (normally I'd have a mining prac but they're not on in first week) but I'm going in anyway just to catch up with some friends and have lunch with a couple of people.  My sister was absolutely appalled that I'd go to uni when I don't have to - hey, I'm allowed to be keen if I want to!  I've got a couple of admin things I want to do at uni and in the city so I'll get that sorted tomorrow as well, before semester gets started.

I'm not sure what to think of my subjects this semester.  Only one of them is one I chose deliberately - the rest I had to do for one reason or another:

• MINE2105 - intro to mining, basically an overview of the mining industry in Australia, introduction to some software, mining practices, stuff like that.  If I'm to have any chance of not sounding like an idiot when I do vac work applications this year I need to do this course this year, and it's only offered in semester 1, so I decided on this one early on
• COMP2303 - networking and operating systems, the only one I chose deliberately.  Well, I wanted to choose one 'computer' subject, so basically I was tossing up between CSSE2000, CSSE2002 and this.  Operating systems is one of the areas of IT that I actually enjoy in my spare time, so it was a fairly easy decision
• ENGG1010 - applied mechanics, a first year course I was supposed to do last year but did PHYS1001 (thought I was going to major in physics) instead.  Need to get this under my belt before I can do pretty much any of the mechanical subjects in my degree
• MATH1061 - was tossing up between METR2800, which I really wanted to do because I actually kinda like team projects, and this one.  Ultimately I wasn't really sure if I wanted to take METR2800 without the recommended ENGG1010 - might have done it if it hadn't been a team project, wouldn't want to let the team down.  Apparently an easy elective

Getting involved in campus culture this semester too - wrote a whole bunch about my involvement with Robogals UQ, a club that aims to get more girls into science/engineering by running robotics programs in schools, but it was so long it deserved its own post (http://kimberley-drillin.blogspot.com/2011/02/robogals.html).

QRC is also kicking off with a... well, maybe not bang, but a welcome luncheon nonetheless.  On Tuesday a couple of us scholarship students ran a small stall in Hawken as part of a mini-careers showcase for first year students.  Had some conversations with a few students, but mostly they seemed more interested in promotional swag from the companies there (I got a free bottle of sunscreen on a keyring from Rio Tinto!).  More interesting were the conversations I had with the other scholarship students about vac work.  It made me a lot more confident in applying - I considered it last year, but I just didn't think I would be useful to anyone!  I was probably right, I guess, but I'm sure I would have found something to do...

These holidays have stretched out awfully long, though, so I've made it my goal to get vac work this year (or at the very least, make a genuine effort in applying - if nothing else for practice for when I really need it).  I'm going to go to every networking event, luncheon and conference I'm invited to - I'm no longer an awkward first year with no idea about mining whatsoever, I'm a confident young woman with definite career goals!  I want to go into vac work (and later on hopefully a career) with my eyes wide open, understanding as much as possible what I'm getting myself into.  Being too scared to even go to lunches is not the way to go about that.

So, without any further ado, let my third university semester begin!