I’m A Student


I’ve just finished the 4th week of my 1st semester at Melbourne University, so I thought it prime time to tell you about it.

I spent the first 2 weeks at uni with a campus map in my bag, but my pride didn’t allow me to use it when lost, as I didn’t want to look like a foreigner! Thankfully I live about a 10 minute walk/3 minute cycle away from Parkville campus, so at least I don’t get lost getting there! The campus is really big; I can’t have seen more than a third of it so far, as there’s a huge area with sports grounds and residential colleges which I’m yet to explore. There are something like 46 Melbourne University libraries, although a lot of these aren’t on Parkville campus. Many of the buildings are beautiful, particularly Old Quad, and there are lovely grassy areas which I can see being packed in the summer. The Con (Conservatorium of Music), where I have half of my classes, is in a pretty white building, which holds the newly renovated concert hall, Melba Hall.

I’m taking 4 modules this semester, 3 music, 1 breadth; Orchestration, Art Music and Post-Modernism, Making Music for Film and Animation and Human Rights in China and East Asia. Orchestration is pretty much an extension of an orchestration course I’ve already done in Edinburgh, and the lecturer is a seriously clever dude. Art Music and Post-Modernism is very artsy… the lecturer used to be in a rock band and she wears floral tights and a head band always! The subject’s so interesting, as it’s looking at composers in the 1960s+, and their reactions to revolutions and culture at the time. Making Music for Film and Animation is also pretty artsy, the lecturer casually swearing in lectures; he’s a film composer which apparently means he can. We’ve just been given 4 5-minute films to choose from, and from now on we’ll be working on soundtracks for them. Exciting! And finally, my breadth, Human Rights in China and East Asia. I chose this because I’m really interested in human rights in North Korea, and I thought learning about human rights in the rest of Asia might give me a better overview of the situation. This is probably my favourite subject so far (awkward as I’m a music student). It’s got us challenging the Western views of human rights, as well as learning about the history of China, Confucianism etc.

So there you go; I just wanted to let you know what I’m going to be studying for the next few months 🙂

Categories: Australia, MelbourneTags:

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