University And What I Never Told You

Hi everyone!

It feels like its been awhile since my last post but it probably hasn't...

I'm back in Kaitaia for a few more days so I thought I would finally write my POST-GRADUATION BLOG ENTRY!!! It has been brewing in my mind ever since the auspicious occasion, some ten days ago.

So yes. Here it is. The picture above, taken by the lovely Aimee Storm, features my parents and me in front of the famous Otago University clocktower. It is essential for every Otago Uni graduate to get a photo in front of it, so I did. Even though I find it extremely cliche and overdone, I relented in following this trend.

My four years at University were some of my best.

I wouldn't say they were the best years of my life, because that is super depressing considering they are now over, but they were definitely essential.

Before going to Uni I was extremely ... what's the best word to describe it... pathetic?

I would refuse to walk anywhere by myself. I had never driven a long distance or flown on a plane by myself. I HATED talking on the telephone and actually cried before my Mum forced me to call the StudyLink people a few months before I moved to Dunedin.

I was still very much a child.

As for the singing, well, I could barely manage to sing above a whisper. I was quite happy to sing along to songs in the car, but if you asked me to sing without music or along with a guitar, I found it EXTREMELY difficult. I refused to sing in front of strangers.

My secondary school did not adequately prepare me for the workload of Uni, but I seemed to manage.

At the beginning of my first year I used to do ALL my readings. I thought that's what you did at University. You took it seriously.

I quickly realised that you didn't need to do the readings to pass. Especially not with Film and Media Studies. A lot of the things I was reading about were never even mentioned in class.

HOW WAS THIS RELEVANT?!?!

I spent so many hours learning about the history of the media, how newspapers were invented and changed over time, bla bla bla (I forgot everything now, clearly). But the moral of the story was: I didn't have to do my readings. So I stopped. And I only did them if I specifically had to for an assignment.

Uni got a lot more fun at that point.

Most of you have heard tidbits of my drinking escapades. Its no secret I drank too much in my first year and the first half of my second year, but I still did alright in my studies.

I still wasn't doing all my readings and I could easily maintain a B+ average.

My proudest moment in my first year was when I wrote an essay on a film I had never watched.

I got an A.

It was things like that which made it seem like I didn't have to try that hard.

I probably should have, but I didn't.

This carried on through my second and third years. I did still try, don't get me wrong. And I studied hard. I always did my assignments and the readings necessary for them, but I tried to do the minimal amount that I could. Only because I knew that I could do it and still get good marks.

I NEVER handed an assignment in late.

I also NEVER pulled an all-nighter.

I also NEVER failed a paper.

I also NEVER got lower than a B- for a paper.

So, as you can see, I was still trying. I could have tried harder, but I didn't want to.

As a film student, I was required to watch, usually, four films a week (ones that they gave you on a list).

But I didn't always do that.

To this day there were films that I was interested to watch, that I was SUPPOSED TO WATCH, that I didn't.

And I would reference them and write about them as if I had watched them, but I never did.

This is probably making me look really bad...

I'm not trying to condone lying. I guess what I am trying to point out in this blog is that it is possible to get by pretending like you know what you're talking about, but you have to be careful.

I would have preferred if I had done all the work, but I just really couldn't be bothered.

Everything changed in Fourth Year.

All my previous techniques were no longer valid.

I HAD to do all my readings.

I HAD to watch every single movie.

The bare minimum was no longer enough to get me through.

WHAT A SHOCK TO THE SYSTEM!

The reason fourth year was so hard was because I wasn't used to doing all the work that I now had to do.

As most of you would know, I struggled BIG TIME! But in the end I did the best that I could.

And maybe it wasn't good enough, but I tried.

I guess it shows that I got what I deserved in the end.

My dad likes to tell me that coming to University was a waste. But I think that is a straight-up lie.

I have met my best friends for life at Uni. I really believe that.

People like Briar, and Joella, and countless others, who never fail to be there for me when I really need them.

I wouldn't have met them if I didn't come to Dunedin.

I also never would have gotten the confidence to start writing the music that I'm writing now, or even sing in front of people.

And I wouldn't be that crazy ex-film student who has something to say about almost every film, and why or why not it works in terms of its character-development and use of motifs.

So thanks Otago University.

I know I was a questionable half-assed student at times, but I tried my best in the end.

And that's all you can ask for.

I have my shiny degree now, and even though I have divulged all my secrets, you can't take it away from me.

:) x