Korean BBQ

Yes People! We at PISA are bringing you yet another free fun-filled event: The Korean BBQ!

Details are as below:
Date: 4 April 2008 (Friday)
Time: 12.00p.m. to 1.00p.m.
Place: VCP Courtyard - BBQ Pit

This event is EXCLUSIVE for PISA members.

If your friends are interested to join but are still not a PISA member, encourage them to join PISA! Membership is still open - $20 for a four year membership. Just apply via e-mail or find one of our friendly PISA rep.

Please reserve your place by Wednesday 2/4/2008 5.00p.m. via our email at pisa2005@gmail.com

Don't miss out!

ISO Meeting

Today was a historical day for PISA.

We hosted the International Students' Organisation (ISO) meeting for the very first time.



We were very excited about it. So we came as early as 7a.m. to help set-up (some of us didn't even sleep the night before).



We put up sign posts throughout Uni.



And pretty soon, International students' reps from the five other Monash campuses (Berwick, Peninsula, Clayton, Caulfield and Gippsland) started to infiltrate our tiny greeny campus.



We had a lot of fun meeting each other,



had meetings,



and a chat with our Vice Chancellor, Prof Richard Larkins.



We also had a nice lunch of chicken pasta and wraps,



while being serenaded by the piano music from our in-house musician, Kush.



The event was a success and everyone was happy.



For the uninitiated,

Monash International Students' Organisation (ISO) meetings are held twice per year and every campus hosted them on a rotational basis. During the meetings, we raised up issues concerning International students to the Vice Chancellor so that the Uni is aware of the problems International students are facing. This year, we talked about travel concessions for International students, fundings for more activities and the current accomodation problem (scarity of places and expensive rent) amongst other things.

We also had invited speakers to train International students' rep (including those from PISA) about various things such as Students' Right Officer, Victims Support Agency and Work Visa requirements so that we can serve you all better.

This is the very first time PISA is hosting this event and we are very proud and happy that it was a roaring success. We hoped to host it again in the near future.

Robin's B'day

After the first end-note workshop, we threw a surprise birthday party to our beloved Endnote facilitator Robin Tan.


Robin cutting his cake.

We all have no idea how old he is, so we make do without the candle.^^

After that we cut up the cake and give to everyone present.


Lynn giving out the delicious chocolate cake.

And then we took a whole group picture.


Big happy PISA family.

Happy birthday Robin!

Endnote Workshop TWO!

Due to the previous hiccups on the first endnote workshop, we're organising another endnote workshop so that you won't miss out!!!

Date: 20th of March 2008 (Thursday)
Time: 4.30-5.30pm
Venue: C2-1 (Comp Lab)

Members – FREE!!!!
Non-Members – $3
Bring-A-Friend(Non-Member) – $1

Endnote is a computer software that helps you reference your work? Bored of writing down (Harvard, 2005) over and over again manually? Feeling crap for messing up the numbers in Vancouver system? Endnote is your solution!! Come and we'll teach you how to use it!

(p/s: If you want us to install the software into your laptop, we can do that for you! bring your laptop!)

To have a look at the poster, please click: http://h1.ripway.com/chujiephua/endnote2.doc

End Note workshop!

14 March 2007 and we are already having our 2nd event - the Endnote workshop! Conducted by our friendly advisor and soon-to-be doctorate holder Robin, this event is to teach students how to use Endnote - one of the essential research tool.

Robin doing his presentation


PISA members trying out Endnote


Robin helping out one of the students.

But no thanks to our Uni - they stuffed out the bookings and we had to reschedule our event from 12pm to 1pm, causing some students to miss out. We will be holding another workshop for them next week.

PISA welcome dinner

We kick started our 2008 activities with a welcome party on the 7th March. We bought back our hugely successful Nasi Lemak and Teh Tarik. Response is very good and everyone seems to have a great time getting to know each other and more about PISA.

The PISA team with 2nd year members.


Nasi Lemak


Photos..


More photos..


and more photos ^^

There will be more exciting activities to be held after this.. check this space!

Committee Members

The office bearers for PISA 2008 are:

Advisors:
Tamara Forbes (HWD Student advisor)
Robin Tan (PhD)
Boon Phiaw (4th Yr)

President: Jyotishna (2nd Yr)
V Prez: Aisha (3rd Yr)
Secretary: Phik Lun (2nd Yr)
Assist. secretary: James (2nd Yr)
Treasurer: Lynn (2nd Yr)
Activities: Kush (2nd Yr)
General Affairs: CJ (2nd Yr)
Liaison: Nirisha (2nd Yr)

We are all friendly and approachable people. ^^ Feel free to find us if you have any problems.

If you have any queries, drop us an email at pisa2005@gmail.com

STEPS

STEPS, which stands for Survival Tips and Essentials for Parkville Students, is a 28 page booklet crammed full of information an International student will ever need to survive in Parkville.

Divided into 5 sections, it covers everything from available health services, favorite cheap eats, how to make friends, academic matters, how to look for work and even have a section on TV channels and newspapers!

The booklet was written by two International students who had spent a fair amount of time in Melbourne and are relatively street savvy. One of them is a post-grad students while another one is an undergrad, but both have in common in them a desire to share their experiences and help new students settle down in Uni without much worry.

STEPS is currently in its 2nd edition, being updated recently. It is distributed FREE of charge for 1st Year PISA members.

You will never know what you miss until you get STEPS.