I never realised that the lectures were so difficult for some people to follow. I almost fell asleep during yesterday's lecture, but I still got most of it. My friends were probably just as tired at the time, but they didn't seem to get any of it. They didn't seem to have looked at the lecture notes nor the textbook either. I had to tell them how to do the conversions between binary and hexadecimal.

I wonder if it was the right thing to do. Should I have made them ask the tutors instead? What if I was telling them the wrong stuff? Then again, I had a calculator with binary and hexadecimal modes, so I used it to check my results, which were all right. The tutors probably won't notice even if I just used the calculator and not tried doing it by hand, but I had to do it by hand to show my friends how to do it, and I think I should have a go at doing it anyway.

Then again, I probably have a slightly better start than they do. All that random reading in the past comes in handy once again! Really, time after time I seem to be getting by just because somehow I've actually read relevant information years ahead. Sometimes I wonder when I actually read all this. I even wonder if I really did. It might just be dé&jagrave; vu. Either way, this won't last. One of these days I'll get another huge shock when I can't keep up.

On the other hand, for now I'm glad I don't have to do physics. I'm doing as many units as I can for this semester, but I only have 17 hours of class each week. (Well, 19, but I have 2 clashes so I can only attend 17.) According to my friends, physics on its own is 7 hours a week. I have linguistics instead, which is only 3 hours a week (and one of those I can't attend because of a clash). I'll probably end up having to do it later, but I can worry about it then.

Riding my bike everyday is actually really stressful. The paths are crowded, and I have to hold onto the brakes at all times and go really slowly. I always get stuck behind people who are walking slowly and don't seem to react to my bell at all. Taking it onto the train is also very difficult, especially at peak hours when the train is already crowded enough.

Then again, I don't HAVE to ride my bike if I don't want to, but I wouldn't have it any other way now, even if it means arriving in class looking as if I'm melting and all stressed out.

I arrived at my maths lecture on time today. Now that I've had a lecture for advanced linear algebra, being in the advanced unit doesn't seem like such a good idea after all, because the lecturer's accent was really difficult to understand. He also writes the letter r in a reversed way so that it doesn't look like an r to many people in the class, and someone actually asked what that symbol was. That was hilarious.

I have to rearrange my clashes again today. I think I'm better off clashing the maths tutorial with the computer engineering lecture, since it's all information that's in the textbook. Someone else said that the lecturer was going too fast. I had trouble paying attention because I was too tired, but even then I thought the pace wasn't that fast (then again, I don't think it can be any faster without skipping any information). Then again, it's mainly stuff that I already know, so I can't say anything. This always seems to happen to me. I always have at least one class where someone says it's too fast and I can't honestly agree because I already know most of it so there isn't that much new information, but I don't want them to know that I already know it either. Just the kind of thing that happens to me. Too bad there isn't an advanced unit for that. I'll have to be extra careful not to lose motivation. That's me. I have the patience to spend 40 hours hand-sewing a dress, but I don't have the patience to follow a slow-moving class.

On second thoughts, I'm glad that I changed to the advanced units for both maths units, because this means that the lecture has to be at 8 (well, the regular unit has one at that time too, but I was assigned to the other one), and I'd rather get up early and get that one lecture over and done with, and then I have the rest of the day to myself. Today it was funny that someone came in for the last 10 minutes of the lecture. He might as well not come.

After the lecture I went to buy a basket and a kick-stand. I'll need those now that I ride my bike everyday.

It's been a great week. I met more new friends, and since it's the first week, everything is either introduction or revision (for both maths units). It's still physically demanding though, because I have consecutive classes on opposite sides of the campus.

Perhaps changing to the advanced units for both maths classes wasn't such a good idea. I was going to go and get my timetable this morning, but my bag broke on the way so I had to go and buy a new one. (Luckily, they do sell backpacks in the book shop.)

When I got to the timetabling place, I found out that it opens at 9:30. So much for arriving at 8... at least I found out that I can catch the 7:15 train and still arrive at 8. I was expecting to have a tutorial at 9, so I went to one anyway, and I was told that I can stay in that group. I like the maths tutorial. It's basically just a time to do maths questions individually, and the tutor is there to help anyone who needs it.

After that, I went to get my timetable. Shock and horror, the advanced differential calculus tutorials are all on Monday! I already have a full day on Monday, so it means an extra clash in my already overloaded timetable! One option was to have it clash with my existing clash (xD!), but I can't have two tutorials clashing, so I'll have it clashing with a really boring lecture instead. xD The advanced differential calculus lectures start at 8 too, so now I have to get there at 8 on Thursdays and Fridays as well as Mondays and Tuesdays! Then again, having the Friday class early in the morning is actually better because I get the rest of the day to myself.

Wednesday is also the day with the linguistics tutorial that I can actually attend. It was so funny when we all had to try making all the sounds! Too bad that I'll always miss the Monday ones. I hope that my buddy takes good notes.

I was surprised to find out that there were no trains this morning. It turns out that someone died near the track in Chatswood, and that caused delays on the entire line. I still managed to go to my maths lecture on time, and the  lecturer actually knew about the delays on that line. Apparently, that was one of the reasons why the lecture today wasn't as crowded as yesterday. I've found out how to get into the advanced classes. I had to talk to the first year adviser in the maths department, and she asked me two questions. The first one was whether I did maths extension 2, which I answered a straight-forward yes (somewhat surprisingly, no proof was needed, so theoretically anyone can claim to have done it). The second question was whether I like maths. I said yes, but I obviously didn't sound very convincing. It was an awkward moment when she said "you've got to like maths to get in". and I ended up telling her the "that's so cruel" story (it was relevant because the story ended with the maths scientist saying "she loves it" to Nadi), and she joked that I can do the advanced unit because of the story. I even showed her the mouse heart drawing (which was behind the aforementioned story) and my maths smileys. I'm such a show-off. xD Then again, the most important thing was that I got in anyway.

The bad thing about getting into the advanced unit is that I'll now have to get a new timetable, and I can't get it online because of the pre-existing clash, so now I'll have to go to ask for the clash to be allowed. I hope it doesn't end up changing everything else. The worst case scenario that I can imagine would be that my other maths lectures will also be in the morning and I'll have to go at 8 everyday.

I also bought my textbooks today. Compared to what other people said on their blogs, my textbooks aren't too expensive. They were heavy though. I'm actually glad that I didn't have my bike with me today. I don't know how I would've managed to ride my bike while carrying all these books.

The lab session ended early today, so I went home much earlier than I expected. I'm glad. I'll need the extra time to get everything sorted out.

Only yesterday it was hot and sunny. It just has to rain on the day when my classes start.

Well, it wasn't raining when I left home this morning, but the rain started when I was on my way to the university.

I really ended up taking my bike with me, and I'm glad that I did, even if I was riding in the rain without a raincoat.

I'll have to say that a maths lecture first thing on a Monday morning wasn't really that cruel. Not that it was anything interesting either, except that I found out that I might be eligible for the advanced class. Aside from the administrative information, the lecturer started talking about vectors, which was of course familiar stuff from all the years before.

Despite the fact that the first lecture ended 5 minutes early, I was still late to the next one. Then again I took a wrong turn somewhere. This is the time when having a bike really made a difference. I was only 10 minutes late even if I went the wrong way. It was a really boring lecture though.

Normally I should have tutorial right after, but it's the first day and we haven't had a lecture for that subject yet, so it was cancelled. That gave me a much needed break to go and buy some food, and I also got to attend the first linguistics lecture where I now have a buddy to swap notes with. Then again, I already knew him from O-week.

I had another break after that, and during that break I met Reni, Jessica, and Anne. It's surprising that I managed to meet them on this huge campus.

After the break was the final lecture of the day, and the lecturers were late! No, it's not because people here don't bother about being on time, it's just some kind of confusion about locations. That lecture was just as boring as the computer engineering one though. May be I didn't make such a good choice after all...

If you're reading this, you'll probably know the "maths question first thing on a Monday morning that's so cruel" story. Well, Nadi should see this timetable. Whoever that planned the lecture times for the units that I'm doing is what I can really call "cruel". I'll have to leave home at 7 tomorrow, and I'll have non-stop classes until 1 o'clock! It'll really be "survival of the fittest" at university - just travelling between classes will be exhausting.

I've managed to put some space between the Tuesday and Wednesday classes, but there's nothing I can do about Mondays. I've bought a lock. I'll really be riding my bike. Well, I should really get off the computer now. I'll need to sleep early tonight.

This is officially the end to my 4 months of holiday. I definitely won't have "too much time on my hands" any more (not that I ever really did).

It wasn't much of an "orientation", more like a time for all the clubs to advertise themselves. I met quite a few of my friends there though. Look at Mia and the snake from the wildlife club's stall!

Of course, there was also the talks. The talk about friends and
contacts was the best. The presenter asked the audience "who's a cat
person" and then "who's a dog person", and of course I didn't put up my
hand for either of them. Not that I can expect him to ask "who's a
mouse person", but I called that out anyway, and then he asked who's
indifferent or likes both, so I had to go for that. After that, of
course there were people who didn't put their hands up for anything. We
then had to talk to someone in the same category. I went to the session
with two friends, and between us we met two new friends who joined us
for the rest of the day.

It was good that I met someone from the friends and contacts session. I got my timetable, and it has a clash in it that I can't get out of. Luckily, one of my new friends is also in that class, and he even has a clash in the other session for that class, so we can swap notes. It's also an interesting coincidence that one of those two people does engineering, and the other one does arts, and I'm doing engineering/arts.

Now, I just need to figure out how to go from one class to another quickly enough not to be seriously late, especially for Mondays.

I had to go to sort out my enrolment at USyd, so I went there by train. The first place that I needed to go to was in the southern part of the campus, and even that took me long enough to find, even with a map. It must've been really obvious that I was lost, because someone actually offered to help me and I didn't even ask. That wasn't the worst. After I've sorted one thing out, there were other things that I need to go to the other side of the campus to do, and then when I got there I was told that it wasn't the right place, so I had to go back to a place I passed on the way, and then after that I had to go back to the place that sent me away again. Just sorting out a few things ended up taking me almost 4 hours. I finally got my student card, but they had to take a photo of me to go on it, and I was all red from walking around. Then again, at least I looked as if I was looking at the camera. The person in charge of the card actually complimented me on my hairstyle. She also said that I have an interesting combination of subjects (no wonder I couldn't get my timetable - I bet all the classes are scheduled not expecting anyone to do what I intend to do.)

By the time I've sorted everything out, I was actually on the side of the campus that's closer to home, so I decided to walk to the train station on this side, but just at the exit of the campus there was this Chinese man who asked me for help. He lost his bike and he didn't speak enough English to ask the guards for help, so I helped him and that took up a lot of time. At the end we couldn't find his bike, and asking the lost property people to check through the objects they found requires filling in a form, so he gave up. He drove me to the nearest train station though, so may be it was a good thing, because he said it's actually half an hour's walk away.

I've just got home a while ago and I'm so exhausted that I don't want to go to the gym today. (Now that's saying something - normally I go to the gym even if I've been out.)

Well, both places are home anyway, but I'm back to Sydney now. Yay! I won't go into another "now-home-feels-so-foreign" thing this year. I'm just glad to be here.

Now, if I could fall asleep before the sun rises tomorrow morning... I had enough trouble falling asleep even in Hong Kong, and now I'm jet-lagged. Sydney is 3 hours ahead of Hong Kong, so if I was up until 3 in Hong Kong that's 6 in Sydney.

Now, as always, I'll have plenty to do now that I'm back here. The first thing I need to do is try to sleep and get back to normal sleeping times. I'll have a lot to do tomorrow. According to a letter from the University of Sydney confirming what I've enrolled in, my proxy gave them the wrong details. I should've came back and did it myself. I don't know how it could've gone wrong.

Oh well, there'll be time for all the other plans that I've had since before I went to Hong Kong... I should've taken some of it with me, but then even without taking those things, I already had so much luggage that it's ridiculous. My dad and I came back with 4 suitcases (all with wheels) between us, and 3 of them were mainly my stuff, and then I had to carry the tablet in its original packaging as well.