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'ello

 How many of you turned up to the Link Week BBQ on the Oak Lawn today? For a free sausage? A free fruit juice? A free squeezy tomato sauce? A free ice cube, even?

First day of semester is on us tomorrow. If you are a new first year student on campus, take up the following challenge this first week:

Flying Start is over for another year! We had such a great group of students at our Flying Start orientation this year. They all seemed to have plenty of questions and were keen to meet each other and their leaders. The hot weather made life a bit exhausting but everyone was very patient.

I can't believe that one week of semester is gone already and before I know it, it will be Week 3.

Week 1 is almost over already. We had an awesome crowd at the first lunch. It was great to see some folk catching up after Flying Start and others meeting for the first time.

Week 2 we have our Info Panel on Tuesday 11th, 1pm in Rm G202 -that is in the Social Sciences South Wing courtyard. There will be some key members of staff who will give  a bit of an overview of some things you might need to think about at this time of year and you can ask questions. Anyone welcome -bring friends along, they don't have to be in UniSkills.

First year students at Flying Start orientation were challenged to design something from the university of the future. The winning concept, a stunningly simple design modelled with just a couple of balloons and some alfoil, aimed to solve parking problems and enable future FY students to have a parking permit. This won a resounding vote of support from the audience and the design team clearly have a great future of problem solving and providing technical solutions ahead of them.

Flying Start 2008 is happening right at the moment. Thursday was an action-packed day and I'll bet there will be some tired people when those hardy souls who elected to stay over at Currie Hall get themselves up this morning. Being a bit of a morning person, I've already packed my bag and headed back over to the office to check out a few things before we get underway for another day.

It's hard to believe that exams are creeping up on us again already. Everyone has their own personal survival mechanisms for studying for exams and surviving exam stress. Share some of your strategies here. Perhaps you have perfected the 10 minute break between study sessions. What is your favourite way to reinspire yourself to hit the books again?

Semester 2 is well and truly underway with about 50 UniSkills students enjoying lunch on Tuesday. Most were familiar faces but we had some students who have just started. There were some anxious moments when the pizza delivery was a bit delayed but that just gave everyone an excuse to hang about and chat until the food arrived.