I thought I'd be blogging more while I'm in Australia, but alas, I haven't had the time to. The last 2 weeks have been really long weeks. Each previous day feels like it happened a week ago, and everyday is just so filled with things to do that I can't quite differentiate each day from the other apart from my client meetings, and even then, it takes effort to recall what day it is. Supervisions are the same. I can't quite remember what went on in the last session, thinking that the last session happened 2 weeks ago instead of one. =S Each day has seen me holed up in the clinic, such that Michael has now deemed me as a permanent fixture there, not needing to change, only summoning my jacket from my room. Ahh hilarious. =p
Last week was a rather stressful week, with 4 deadlines due in just two days. It was a pretty intense experience, though I think it was rather interesting. Haha. I had two presentations - one on Wednesday and one on Thursday, and on Thursday, I had to submit an essay, and do an exam. So it was studying and research, all needing to be completed in one weekend. It was interesting to see how I coped. I thought I would have broken down and started losing my temper with family and Kok Yong and became more tearful, but the opposite happened. I was the same as always, and still able to talk and joke with people, and those in Singapore. Instead of thinking, "Oh bloody hell, I'm not going to finish this", I realised I wasn't thinking anything about that at all. And the funny thing is, I was in the moment of experiencing what I was experiencing. Sounds weird, eh? It was like I had two minds - one was trying to meet all my deadlines, while the other was observing from a little distance away, noting down my feelings and thoughts, and being vaguely amazed that I could really do it. Of course, I do have to give credit where it is due. My classmates have been exceptionally supportive, offering to pick up the slack - they had told me not to bother with participating in compiling the information required for Thursday's exam and that they would share the information with me - and also offering support in the form of asking how I am coping, encouragements, and also giving me air time to air my grievances if I wanted to. Haha there's a reason why these people are budding clinical psychologists, I guess. It's pretty interesting to observe what goes on in the staff room. Lots of support around, but also lots of anxiety when deadlines loom. Pretty much a hot place to be if you wanna observe psychologists behind the scenes. =p Of course, family and Kok Yong have been wonderful to me too. I really can't imagine how life would have been over here if they hadn't been there for me to vent my frustrations and air my thoughts. =)
This week has seen me going back to the flat at midnight, working on the WISC videos. The video wasn't perfect, but I don't think I have the energy nor time to redo 2 hours' worth of videoing, so I'm going to leave it at that. If it was only me doing the video, I might have reconsidered redoing it. But this involves another person's time, and it is not fair to ask my partner to stay back till so late when we all have our work to do.
Postgrad is indeed different from my NTU days. Although it was busy in NTU, there weren't so many strict deadlines I had to meet. Now, because the internal practicum is in a professional (albeit safer) setting, reports, tests, and summaries have to be done promptly. Records have to be kept neatly and accurately, and we have to do these on top of juggling school work.
But on top of these, I'm really glad I have the opportunity to come here to experience a different life. I might complain about the stress and the demands, but I'm really enjoying this, and I think if I didn't go through this experience now, I would never get a chance to do this ever again. Everything is interesting to me - even being different from the others in terms of accent, habits, and way of thinking, feeling, acting, it's been interesting observing the differences and appreciating them. I have found that my classmates are very open with sharing their culture with me, and they have often been mindful of the fact that I am an international student, so they have taken the time to explain their habits, culture, language, and bureaucracy to me. I have asked them many stupid questions, like, "When Australians say 'How do you do', do they really expect an answer?" (Ans: not really, but depends on the person), "Say foot. Say food. Why do you pronounce it differently?" and many others which I can't think of at the moment. And they haven't laughed at me, but explained it to me in all seriousness. This is really positive for me, as I have learnt that sometimes, stupid questions need to be asked in order to let us learn more. And today, Kate was listening to a song on the radio, and she just told Wing and me that it was an Australian song that is always played at pubs. It's called "Run to Paradise" by the Choirboys. She just thought she would share additional information about Australia with us, which I really appreciated. The video is below!
This is what I'm in Australia for. To learn everything I can possibly learn. I cannot ask for a better opportunity than this. =)