First Year Catch Ups

By Georgie Macho

As we reach the middle of first semester, our new first year students are settling  into their new college and university lifestyle. I caught up with two of our first year students, Ashna and Kate, to hear all about how their first five weeks at Hilda’s has treated them. 

Ashna, from Rowville, has just started a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Melbourne and is thinking about majoring in Psychology. When talking to her about how the past few weeks have been, she couldn’t keep the smile off her face. When I asked her about her O-Week experience, she told me that she appreciated the mix of great activities and important talks about maintaining a safe space at college. In particular, she pointed out how beneficial and important she found the queer allyship talk to be. Overall, she reflected, “all the activities were so fun and all the O-Week Leaders were super interactive”. Kate also talked to me about how much she enjoyed the activities of O-Week and how wonderful it was to meet lots of new people and make great friends. Kate is from Canberra and is studying a Bachelor of Music at the University of Melbourne. 

I then asked the two of them how they have found settling into our community and was met with glittering responses. Kate commented that everyone she has met has been “super welcoming”, specifically the second and third year students. Ashna added that she’s found it “fabulous”. Despite the sometimes nerve-wracking feelings that come with moving into a new community, she told me making friends has been easy. She also added that getting used to the early dinner times has been the biggest adjustment yet, which, if that’s the biggest challenge so far, I think we are doing something right here at Hilda’s. 

Despite the meal time adjustment, Kate commented that meals are actually one of her favourite parts of college. Getting to sit down at each meal surrounded by a friendly and diverse group of people every day has been the highlight of her day. She has thoroughly enjoyed the conversations she’s been able to have with people she never would have met, had she not come to Hilda’s. Meanwhile, Ashna says her favourite part of St. Hilda’s so far has been everything from movie nights with mates, walks to Lygon Street, and studying with friends. As well as this, Ashna, as one of our newly appointed Fresher Reps, is most looking forward to working as part of the General Committee. With her first event coming up soon, she is really keen to work alongside her fellow Fresher Rep, Dillon, in the planning process. Likewise, Kate is super eager to get involved as much as she can in university and college alike. 

Thank you to Kate and Ashna for telling me about their first year experience so far, and I look forward to getting to know them both better over the course of the year. It was so great to hear from some of our first year students about how they are settling into college/university life and that they are enjoying their first year as much as I know I did.