Posted by alexandra_k on August 30, 2013, at 19:48:32
In reply to Re: making things worse » alexandra_k, posted by Twinleaf on August 29, 2013, at 23:02:36
> It sounds as though it's NZ until you get your doctorate. But choices might open up after that.
Well, if I get into medical school it will be NZ for another 6 years. Unless we start getting paid earlier than that... In which case I'll bail to Australia at the first available opportunity... Or not. Here is... Like anywhere... Perfectly fine if you have money to avoid the ghetto element.
> I visited Dunedin 12 years ago, and liked it a lot. Small, cozy and university-oriented. The weather was great, but it was January!
I went once when I was under 5... And then I went back again for medical interview. That was June / July so I got it at its coldest whereas you were there in the peak of summer. We both missed the students. They go back home over the summer and between semester breaks when I was there, too.
I liked it a lot. I thought I could have been happy there. There were a few apartment-type buildings in the city... And the city is a quick walk from the university and the hospital...
Did you see Dunda's street by any chance? Dunedin is notorious for its cheap substandard student housing. The idea is to... Live at the pub, basically. I'm starting to see... That is the idea for a lot of students.
I went and spoke with accommodation services in Auckland yesterday... The max I can afford to pay... Might just get me a tiny studio (as in, the bed folds out from the wall) where there is one kitchen / bathroom per floor in one of the tower blocks close to the university / park. The walls are made of paper so you can hear the person several floors down and three across talk to their mother.
I... Can't do it.
I got a brainwave... It is time for me to go back home. Not to my mother, of course, god forbid. But to my undergraduate university. There are some (not many but some) self contained rooms out the back of houses that are located close to campus (that is how I got through the bulk of my undergraduate degree). I've sent a letter off to student services about the possibility of campus accommodation... I'm fairly sure I'll be able to get some department office space over the summer even if not the second semester... They gave me my current grading work... It has reactivated my email address...
Of course. It's obvious. It is time for me to go home.
Tears.
Fingers crossed that works out for me.
If I get a place in a hall here for next year then I guess med was meant to be. That is the way I'll look at that. If I don't... Well... Then... That is that. We will see...
I am tired of... HOw people don't know what to make of me. I am tired of being a special case. I actually talked to the accommodation guy... He was talking about how they do try and match people (accommodation is apartment style)... They were thinking of setting up a facebook match-up like online dating... I cringed. I said that most people were full of it. Everybody says they are above average drivers and friendly and nobody consideres themselves to be a disgusting slob to live with even though most people are. How people rate themselves is very different to how others rate them. I said they should make GPA information available. Put the smart ones together.
For once in their life... Just once... For the first time ever for many people... Why not let the smart ones do their thing instead of expecting them to mind the unmotivated slackers for free. I didn't say that... But that is the general spirit of it. I'm done with people expecting me to put my learning on hold (indefinately, forever) in order to do other peoples work for them. I pay my fees, same as them. I deserve teh opportunity to learn, same as them. If A university doesn't get to reward academic success / desire for academic success then where is there to reward that?
I'm cautiously optimistic. They have updated their webpages, anyway... They used to have a drop down menu of 'hobbies' etc that you had to pick from (where I got the idea of popularity contest). Now people are asked to describe themselves (e.g., - what sort of hours do you like to keep? do you like to study into the evenings?). It is about minimizing complaints to the residential assistants. A little part inside of me dies. 7 years teaching undergraduates... Full responsibility for my own upper level undergraduate paper... Now you are going to make me live with the 18 year olds? If there aren't people like me... If I'm not valued there... Well...
Whatever will be will be.
This country simply can't get it's head around the idea of 'graduate entry' programs.
I... It will be interesting to return to my undergrad institution... Be surrounded by my academic friends (the professors are largely the same). So see... How much the university has changed... vs... How much it is me that has changed. I can't tell.
poster:alexandra_k
thread:1049633
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20130807/msgs/1049953.html