I’m Joyce.
I’m from Malaysia.
I’m currently in my last year of Bachelor of Laws degree
at the ANU College of Law.
I live on campus;
it’s close to the city,
near to where all my classes are.
I start my day by dragging myself out of bed and getting dressed.
If I’m not rushing for class
I will take my time making breakfast for myself.
After breakfast and I rest for maybe a half an hour,
I’ll head to the gym.
I usually start off with cardio,
so I’ll do 20 minutes of treadmill
and then I’ll go on to do some weights, squats, sit-ups.
Yeah that’s the whole complete set
but sometimes I get a bit lazy
I just do treadmill and I feel like
‘Okay, call it a day.’
I find going to gym in the morning energises me
and get me ready for my day.
After going to gym,
I usually head straight to class.
Many of the professors here we have at the law school
are very distinguished
and very renown in their area of expertise.
They are very approachable.
You can just go to them with any questions,
even if the questions are
really out of what is taught in the course.
They will be very happy to explain to you,
or to direct you to an answer,
or try their best to answer your questions.
There’s no barrier between teachers and students.
When we discuss about issue we can discuss it as equals.
It’s as if we are peers.
I find it really rewarding and very enriching.
I work part-time at a cafe called Peppercorn.
It’s just right behind the law school
so it’s really convenient.
I don’t work that much
so it’s still doable for me to study and work part-time.
Because my boss is really nice,
I could choose my timetable
so that it doesn’t clash with my classes.
Working at a cafe is not entirely closely relevant to what I study
but it provides me with an environment to deal with people,
to talk to people,
to service people essentially.
I develop interpersonal skills while at work.
I also learn a lot of things that I wouldn’t have learnt
if it wasn’t because of my work,
such as time management,
and how to really multitask,
and keep your customers happy,
keep your food good,
keep your boss happy.
I procrastinate less and work more efficiently
knowing that I have limited time now.
It sort of gets me going with work and with studies,
and I feel like every day is more well spent.
I study mostly on campus.
I like studying in the library.
It’s really convenient.
The books they’re just there in case I need to borrow any.
Everyone around you is studying so I don’t feel alone,
and I don’t feel like I’m the only one struggling.
This environment helps me to concentrate
and it’s very conducive to studying law.
Sometimes I have cravings for Malaysian food
but that’s not really a big problem
because you can always drop by any Asian groceries
which are everywhere in Canberra.
Your Asian cuisines, paste,
all the ingredients that you will need are all there.
There are a number of cheap Asian restaurants
around offering student prices for their food.
We usually hang out with friends in the city,
especially on Friday night where there’s late night shopping
to get stuff, get dinner,
to get good food.
Studying overseas is a very unique experience.
You enjoy a lot being overseas
and having the freedom of doing literally anything you like.
It’s very exciting just throwing yourself
into an entirely new environment.
Of course at times you feel lonely and homesick
but thinking that all your friends are feeling the same,
it’s actually not too bad.