Tag: Residential

Living on Res offers many things, some of the most helpful being meeting new people and friends, having a good time and living close to University. It offers a lot of great events and activities that include trips, theme nights and unit activities. Some examples of events are compass week, dinners (such as Res Ball), sports events such as netball, kayaking, footy, and trips such as the Kokoda trek and, at the end of the year, the annual FedUni Living Awards Night is held to look back at the good times and contributing members. All these events and more can be found on the Fed Uni website. However, with all these events and parties going on it is easy to lose track of why you came to University in the first place.

It happens time and time again. First years get caught up in partying and going to nightclubs with their friends. After weeks of partying and going to Bluestone every Wednesday of their lives they realise that they have to finish three septillion assignments (trust me, that’s a big number). Your friends always call you the minute you want to start doing work (this is something I battled with while living on res) and it is harder to ignore when the people you live with in your unit are your friends. It is a natural reaction to want to hang out with your friends instead of doing work. We are social animals and it has been embedded in us with years of evolution. I think psychologists have a word for this, but I hate using this word as I am quite a stubborn man that believes that he is immune to it, so I won’t use it :). It is true to everyone, though, and you know sometimes the cool thing to say when you’re asked to go to a party is ‘no’. It proves that you are not dependent, and your friends will respect you for that.

Also please don’t misinterpret my statement above: ‘it is harder to ignore when the people you live with in your unit are your friends’. Res people are definitely not at any sort of disadvantage. They live a few footsteps away from Uni, and many of its great services, such as the Library and the 24 hour computer labs. Res is an ideal place to study and do well.  And whenever you’re in any doubt or stress and think studying and living on Res is too hard, or just studying is too hard for that matter, just think about the international student that has to travel from Melbourne, work part time and hand in all of his assignments on time (me). What could he achieve if he was living on campus, and would he waste his time going to nightclubs?

I would like to emphasize that there is nothing wrong with going to a nightclub or having a good time once in a while (I keep contradicting my last paragraph). Like everyone in the whole universe said before: everything in moderation. It only damages your well-being when it’s over, with no end in sight and for no particular reason.

Eli