8 October, 2010 in University, Youth Group by Aonghas

Test then Bake

Although I didn’t have any lectures today, I had a test for ELECTENG 204 (Electromagnetics) tonight, the second and final test before the exam. We were being tested on various topics in electromagnetics including energy in inductors and magnetic fields and the such. I must admit I was feeling a bit iffy about the test beforehand because I don’t know if I had studied enough.

But anyway, there was big drama before I had to leave for my test tonight. I was planning to drive to uni tonight for my test and then I could go back to youth group afterwards to join them for the baking night, except my mum was out with the only car we had at the moment, and she wasn’t home at 5pm, one hour before my test! Earlier in the week someone had driven into my mum’s car so it was at the panel-beaters being fixed up. I started panicking because I didn’t know what to do if she didn’t come back home soon, since it was too late to catch a bus by that time. I thought I had better ring someone to ask for a ride to uni, so I called Nick and asked if he could take me to uni but he was in the middle of finishing an assignment, though he did offer to take me if I couldn’t find another way. So then I rang Szelin and asked if she could take me and just as she said she could, my mum came up the driveway! Phew! Close call. I rushed outside and my mum asked why I was still home. I told her that I was waiting for her to come home, and she told me that I could have taken the other car.. apparently the other car was in the garage all along! I didn’t even think to check. That was pretty fail on my part.

I made it to uni just in time and thankfully a there was a vacant carpark close to my test room. I managed to write something down for all the questions, though I don’t know if they were good answers or not. We’ll just have to wait and see.

They were placed as separate cookies but came out as one merged cookie!

I made my way back to church after my test to be greeted by nice smells oozing from the kitchen. It was bake night at youth group tonight so everyone was pitching in to bake some nommable (thanks Sunny for introducing me to that word!) goodies. On the baking menu tonight included muffins, cookies, brownies and chocolate crackles. The cookie mix was placed on an oven tray as separate cookies but came out of the oven as a huge flat cookie afterwards. All the cookies had merged into one massive cookie so it was like a… cottage cookie (you know, like a cottage/shepherds pie?). We all enjoyed each other’s baking and it was good to see most people getting involved. And the best thing about it is that I’m not sick yet, so hopefully that means the food was all hygienically sound and everything is going to be okay!

1 April, 2010 in University by Aonghas

A Week of Tests

I’ve been pretty slack posting for the last week because I’ve been pretty bogged down trying to study/cram for all the tests that seemed to have sprung up on me out of nowhere. My first test was last Friday night – the test I was probably least prepared for. More than half the content was about semiconductors and conduction while the rest of the test was about diodes. I managed to wade my way through most of the questions and I was glad to see the end of that test. After that test I had to rush back to church for youth group because they were watching the movie “Up” tonight. I walked in halfway through the movie so I didn’t really know what was going on, but I kind of picked up a few things along the way.

In some ways I looking forward to this week, but in other ways I was waiting for it to be over. The last week was supposed to be a way for me to cool down and get ready for the mid-semester break, but instead my week was plagued with three more tests… on consecutive days too! Computer Systems on Tuesday, Mathematical Modelling on Wednesday and Electronic Circuits today. Overall they didn’t go too badly (fingers crossed!) but I don’t want to think about them anymore because it’s mid-semester break now. This year is just going by faster and faster everyday I swear!

11 March, 2010 in Engineering, University by Aonghas

First SSCC Meeting

I was so used to catching the bus at 11am to get into town by midday that it felt weird getting ready one hour earlier today. Our Circuits and Systems lecture got shifted from 1pm to 11am on Thursdays because of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Staff Student Consultative Committee (SSCC) Meetings (that’s a mouthful) that were scheduled at the same time. The meeting was my first responsibility as Student Rep for Year 2 Computer Systems so I was pretty excited to see what I was in for. I read the email with the meeting’s agenda earlier in the day but when the time was approaching, I realised I didn’t even know where the “briefing room” was. Thank goodness for the campus map though, I managed to navigate my way to the Science building across the road and up the stairs. A knowledgeable-looking young man directed me the rest of the way down the hallway where everyone was already seated around tables in the briefing room. Dr. Oliver Sinnen, the chairman of the committee, introduced us all to the department managers also present. We then went around the table introducing ourselves before Oliver got into the agenda matters. I probably shouldn’t say too much about what we talked about (I don’t know if I’m allowed to say…?) but it was a pretty interesting meeting and a great chance to see how the department runs and the clockwork that ticks behind the scenes. At the end of the meeting we had a group photo before we left. The copy of the photo we got sent had numbers on all the people though, because Oliver wanted to know which person in the photo we were.

Electrical and Computer Engineering Student Reps 2010

My first Uni locker!

Another exciting event that happened today was finally getting a padlock for my locker. Yesterday I hired a locker in the Engineering building so I could leave my gym gear in it during the day. By the time I realised we could actually hire lockers, the only ones still vacant were either up on the 5th floor or down on the 2nd floor. I haven’t used it yet but there is now a padlock on my locker so that’s a start. Here it is in all its glory…

10 March, 2010 in Engineering, University by Aonghas

Test Number One: Basic Skills

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEPHANIE GATES! (her actual birthday day was today)

The thought of my first test this year at Uni hadn’t dawned on my mind until last night when I realised how much I still had left to revise. Although the topic of the test was “Basic Skills”, there wasn’t a lot that looked very basic to me when I went through the practice questions online. Feeling unprepared I decided to do some good ol’ last minute cramming. Fortunately enough, some stuff started coming back to me from last year as I was reading through the notes, namely things like Gaussian Elimination and matrix multiplication. By the end of the night I felt like I had a lot of it downpacked, though some of the integration questions still looked a bit dodgy.

This morning the plan was to get up early and study the rest of the topics for the test tonight. Well, that plan kind of fizzled. I did wake up and stagger to the lounge, but then I thought I’d take a “short rest” on the sofa. Which turned into another half an hour. There wasn’t much time for study by the time I had a shower and got my gear ready; I had to walk to the bus stop myself. Rose was on the bus when I hopped on at Te Atatu Road. I told her about my test tonight and got out some practice questions I had printed earlier. Luckily for me, Rose is the whiz kid at maths and she talked me through some of the integration questions I had question-marked. Phew! That was a relief, thanks Rose

It was the first time this year I had caught up with Rose on the bus today, but the reunions didn’t stop there. While I was studying at the Engineering cafe after my lecture, Ethan and Emily (from Robotics) spotted me at the table and came to join me. It’s been ages since I’ve seen Emily and it was great to find out she’s studying Engineering and Commerce. While I’m on the topic, I must also mention that I bumped into Toni (from Robotics) yesterday on the staircase too! She’s ALSO doing Engineering this year, so hopefully I’ll be bumping into them a lot more often this year.

Also today I met up with a guy from Student Life called Chris. Student Life is “a movement of university students who believe that every student at uni in New Zealand should have at least one opportunity to hear and respond to Jesus Christ”. During Orientation Week I indicated on a survey that I’d like to hear more about their group, so today’s meeting was about getting to know what they do around campus and seeing how I can get involved. Chris talked me through one of their magazine/booklets which had articles about God, successful studying, life’s big questions, etc. He told me about the weekly meetings they have and it was quite a good chat. It’s a pity their meetings are on at the same time as my lecture on Friday, but I’m sure there’ll be other ways I can meet other Christians on campus.

I attended my last two lectures for the day but I was thinking about the test the whole time. When my lectures finished at 5pm, I went to join Luke and Jesse who were studying up on level 5 in the Engineering building. It’s always great studying with those two before an Engineering test or exam, because I always learn heaps in such a short amount of time. I mentioned it to them while I was with them and I was saying how we’d be soo much smarter if we crammed hard like that every day!

Luke was in the same room as me for the test, 060-298 in the OGG Building. Not knowing if I was fully prepared or not, I was a bit weary at first going into the exam room. To my surprise however, the test turned out to be easier than I thought. There were a couple of questions there that were a bit iffy, but overall I reckon it wasn’t too bad. Luke’s mum took me home afterwards and I managed to make it home before anyone else. It was such a lonely place with nobody at home for an hour; only the TV and the cat were there to keep me company. I’m glad the first test is done and dusted, but when I think about the cramming that went on before the test tonight, I have to remind myself again that it was just Basic Skills. Please let the rest of the year not get too much harder!