Student Interview: Claire and Laura

selfieThis week, I went after some more students to interview! While eating lunch with some of my friends from Biomed, I casually mentioned I was about to go find a student to interview, but Laura and Claire said they were interested, so here we are! Laura and Claire are 3rd Year Bachelor of Biomedical Science students at the Mt Helen campus.

Claire (left) and Laura (right)
Claire (left) and Laura (right)

What’s your favourite thing about your course or studying at uni in general?

Laura: I was going to say friends but…yeah, friends. It’s good, meeting people. It’s nice that even though we aren’t working towards the exact same goal, we are all enjoying what we are doing and working with people with similar thought patterns, all working towards getting the degree.

Claire: I agree with you. It’s friends. Hanging with friends when you come in. Even from day one, it’s what makes you want to come to uni the most.

What do you struggle with most when studying?

Laura: The work, the questions, the expectations of having to learn stuff. I don’t know… I live in Geelong, so I guess I’m struggling with the travel, and the early start. Getting up at 6:30 just to get to uni on time is a bit of a pain. I guess I’ve adjusted a little bit, but I would have definitely preferred to be a local. Would have made it much, much easier.

Claire: Mine would be relating to all of the different people at uni, especially when trying to work in groups with people that have opposite personalities to you. Group work can be the hardest.

Do you have any tips for other students?

Laura: Basically, it’s a 12 week semester. So seriously, get down to work, do what you have to, don’t get stressed about it, stay organised, and just get excited. Do work by the time you have to, and try not to stress about it. What about you Claire, what do you think?

Claire: The trickiest thing for me is trying to balance your social life as well as studies. You’ve got a lot of students who don’t do enough study and go out to Bluey [The Bluestone club in Ballarat] every single Wednesday. You need to be able to still have fun while studying, [but] going out every week doesn’t help anyone.

If you weren’t studying, what would you be doing?

Laura: Well, I’ve always wanted to get into the military. I tried to get in in year 12 but didn’t get in for particular health reasons. So I would have tried out again and made sure I got fit enough for that. So definitely I’d try out for the military, and if not that then…truck driving! I could have also gone to be a primary school teacher.

Claire: If I didn’t go into the medical field I think I would be playing badminton professionally. I played for the state in Malaysia. I think I could actually be a pretty high rank in Badminton if I kept going.

Do you have a role model at all? Somebody you aspired to be or based your dreams off when you were younger?

Claire: Yeah, it was my Godmother. She was a role model for me. She was a teacher and she did a lot of other things. She was definitely a role model with all the things she did: volunteering work, church work.

Laura: Because I’m one of 6 kids, I’d have to say my older brothers, ’cause they are like 10 or 15 years older than I am. Ben for instance, he travelled, became an engineer, and then decided “Wait a second, I’m going to become a teacher” so he thought he’d change his career path and go back to uni. He’s now a teacher, and he does a lot of work with indigenous people. It’s kind of cool. I always liked the idea of working in an indigenous community so I can stick to my background a little bit.

Following on from that, do you have something you really care about or are passionate about apart from your studies?

Laura: I’ve always liked martial arts. I’m pretty keen about that.

Claire: I really care about my younger sister. I take care of her a lot, and we’re really close. If anything goes wrong I’m the one to step in.

If you could change one thing about the world, that would immediately happen, what would it be?

Laura: I would get rid of famine, starving, people dying in 3rd world countries. I would just increase everyone’s quality of living, so we are all on the same level.

Claire: Yeah, I would get rid of the high, middle and low class people. I would get rid of the hierarchy altogether.

What’s your strongest memory, or your first memory that comes to mind from your earlier life? It could be happy, funny, sad…

Claire: I found this puppy left in front of my house once. We brought it in because it was really skinny and very sick, and looked after it. My parents didn’t want to keep the dog because it was so hyper, and used to jump on them all the time. I came home from school one day to see the puppy, but it just wasn’t there anymore. I kept asking my parents where it was, and they said they left it in the park one day.

Laura: When I was younger I used to hang out with my siblings, five of us (my older sister used to do other things). My older brother would take us to the beach and go bush-walking, cook and eat food.

What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever done?

Claire: For me, it was probably leaving everything behind in Malaysia to move to Australia.

Laura: I think mine was saying goodbye to my grandparents when they passed away. I was pretty close with them and was quite young, about 11 when they left. I kind of wish I was older and had more experience with them because the memories I have are very distant. We used to have Christmas at their house, and then suddenly it was at my parents’ house. It just wasn’t the same.

BONUS QUESTIONS

If you could have one superpower, what would it be?

Laura: I would want to be a mindreader and a shapeshifter. I could read someone’s mind, and then morph into that person or someone that they like, and be like “Hey sexy boy, how you goin’?”.

Err…

Claire: I would probably want to have powers like Magneto, so I could hit people with pieces of metal.

I LOVE those answers! If you wrote a book, what sort of book would it be, and what would it be about?

Claire: Probably the type of people in high school, like different classes of people trying to fit in. It would be for students going into school, ones who feels they don’t really belong and are afraid of fitting in.

Laura: I would write about someone who had massive dreams of changing the world, like a little bug who can’t quite make it and then grows into a pretty bug and everyone loves it.

Thanks heaps for doing the interview, Laura and Claire!

It seems odd how this is the second interview that mentions the Bluestone. There’s a message here ladies and gents. There are adventures to be had out clubbing for sure, but nothing beats the adventure of finally understanding how the heart valves open or how that piece of code creates an infinite loop. And with that, I’m signing off.

– Cam

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