Settling in and joining a community

Descriptive transcript

[Upbeat music plays. UTS logo appears on screen.]

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

I'm 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.

For today's podcast, we'll be talking about different ways to make friends on campus or online, finding study spaces and our personal favourite study spots.

So we're going 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.

During my first year, I was quite a nervous first year, and the one thing that we've always had to do during the beginning of our classes in week one was icebreakers.

Which everyone, maybe not everyone, but the majority sort of dreads, but it's the best way to introduce yourself to a crowd of people and also to learn the basic info about someone else.

Yeah, I mean, icebreakers are not my favourite activity, but at least I know the names of some of the people in my class, which is good.

So my interesting fact 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.

Yeah, it was very popular. You would see it everywhere.

Exactly. And what about you, Roxanne?

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, and it took them by surprise for sure.

But they definitely remembered me as the girl with nine dogs rather than my name sometimes. It's a bit sad, but it's memorable.

It's a very memorable fact. That's 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 their university journey.

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 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 a pretty good time during the class to talk with select people in the class.

Yeah, especially in the breakout room. That was probably the main way I made friends during online learning in 2020 was through breakout rooms.

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—no, turn on your mic.

Yeah, turn on your mic. During breakout rooms, it's just talking to them and just asking like, "Hey, do you guys understand this content?" and they're like, "No," and you're like, "Same."

So 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.

Yeah, that's really good.

Hypothetically, you've made some friends in class. Now after class, you guys want to get some studying done. What are the good study spaces in UTS, Roxanne?

Oh yeah, for my personal favourites, it would be Building 11 down at the Underground. There's some study spaces where there are mats that you can lay on if you want to take a break from your studies, and there are charging ports as well. It's quite quiet down there.

Or Building 3. So usually Building 3, it's quite a small building, but because not often people would stay back, it's very quiet if you want to sort of study alone.

But if you guys want to study in a group, I'd recommend trying out Building 2 because Building 2 has a lot of study spaces near Broadway, like near the streets.

And those are really good spaces to just hang out, chat, and then grab some food at the food court and head upstairs.

But what are some spaces that you recommend?

For me, Building 2. I'm always in Building 2 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 a little bit of white noise of papers being flicked around, typing, things like that, the occasional wind that might pass by.

Very ASMR.

Yeah, something like that. Especially since most of my work that I do is very individual, so I really like the Reading Room for that.

If I need to get some group work done, I'll probably pick one of the floors from 5 to 7 in Building 2 to get some work done, because there's free space—desks, chairs—they're all there ready for you to use.

Other than that, I really like going to Building 6 on Level 3, where the Guthrie Theatre is. Around that area, there's a student kitchen, chairs and desks that you can use. You can heat up your food if you're there, things like that. Just a space you can use for multiple uses.

There's a lot of study spaces as well in Building 6, which I would recommend booking through the library, as well as Building 2, which is really good.

And I really enjoy the toaster that's in the kitchen.

In Building 6?

Yeah, it's really good.

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. Not in an academic sense—I guess it can be in the academic sense—but more so outside of all the formal classes.

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 part of ActivateUTS.

We did a lot of volunteering for O'Day, like packing the bags, giving those free bags out, things like that, as well as other events like the Study Abroad barbecue.

Another volunteering group I was a part of was RNA—Respect.Now.Always. They're the people that give out the ice cream.

And through those events and through those volunteering opportunities, I've been able to get free merch as well as make a bunch of new friends.

For me personally, I made a lot of friends through societies because I was an exec for the past three years, this year included.

And it was very nice to meet people with similar interests. I made a lot of friends through there because a lot of people join in their first years.

So I met a lot of great people, as well as volunteering on campus as a PN—Peer Networker.

Often, if you go to O'Day or Clubs 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. That was a really good opportunity to meet people as well. I got to connect with a lot of people from different disciplines and work with a similar goal of helping first years sort of migrate—transition!—into uni life, really.

Before COVID, I also volunteered at the Network Café, which is where 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 doesn't run anymore. But you can still meet a lot of international students through the HELPS Buddy program as well, which is very good.

I also did quite a few societies, being a subcommittee member. I met a lot of people from my same degree, and 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.

Putting your foot through the door is the biggest step that you can do. And going to the first event that they host—a lot of people are keen to meet other people and befriend others.

And I really recommend you challenge yourself to go out and meet new people and talk to them.

And through societies and volunteering events, you might get really cool merch, such as enamel pins, free t-shirts. I know, Roxanne, you have quite a few t-shirts.

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 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. I have a lot of merch from volunteering at UTS.

Another important note is that if you have any concerns about your enrolment or subjects that you're currently enrolled in, it is good to get these sorted 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 these sorted, you should go to the Student Centre. To contact the Student Centre, you can contact them via phone, email or booking an appointment.

And that's just through the Ask UTS page on the UTS website.

Thanks for listening. We're just going to end with three important tips from this entire podcast.

So A, actually go to class. It's the most important step that you can do—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.

And B, be yourself. It's just great to be yourself when meeting new people because you want your personal qualities to shine through and that to attract the people that are compatible with you.

And finally, C, challenge yourself. Just step out, challenge yourself, join societies, volunteer, put yourself out there because you expand your personal comfort zone.

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, they're on our website and other sites like Spotify.

Don't forget to join us for our next podcast on balancing uni and your life. Until next time—

See ya! [Music fades out. UTS logo appears.]