This was blog was written by Semester 2 Storyteller Shubhi.
Sometimes, finding your way starts with simply asking…
There’s a funny thing about university: everyone tells you that you’re becoming more independent, but nobody really tells you how many things you’re suddenly expected to figure out.
New subjects. New assignments. New people. Future plans. Somehow knowing where everything is on campus.
And for a while, my instinct was always the same:
I’ll figure it out.
But over time at La Trobe, I’ve realised that university gets a lot easier when you stop treating that sentence as a rule.
One of my first discoveries was Peer Learning Advisors, or PLAs. Early on, I was getting used to academic expectations and wanted to make sure I was approaching things like APA referencing properly. I eventually found out that La Trobe’s PLAs are there to help students build their academic skills and work through things like assessments.
Even finding sources became easier once I got used to using the La Trobe Library website and its referencing resources. What initially felt like something I had to navigate completely on my own became something I could actually learn to do confidently.
And that became a bit of a pattern.
Whenever I wasn’t quite sure what direction to take, La Trobe’s Student Advisors were there to help me work through my options. They’ve been a huge help throughout my university journey, from figuring out which subjects suited me to thinking about what I want to do next.
Sometimes, you don’t need someone to give you the answer. You just need someone to sit with the question for a moment and help you work out what makes sense for you.
But support at La Trobe isn’t always someone sitting across a desk from you.
Sometimes, it’s a group of people you weren’t even looking for.
One afternoon, after class, I was walking past Simpson Lawn and noticed a group of students playing games. I had absolutely no idea what they were doing, but they looked like they were having a great time.
So, I stopped and asked.
They explained what was happening, showed me how the games worked and invited me to join in. I knew none of the rules, but that didn’t matter. They kept including me, laughing with me and making it very easy to feel like I belonged there.
I had only stopped because I was curious.
I ended up staying because I felt welcome.
And I think that’s one of the best things about being a student at La Trobe. Community doesn’t always come from people you already know or people who have the same interests as you. Sometimes it’s a random conversation on campus, an event you happen to walk past or a group of people who make room for you without asking you to have everything in common.
There are so many different communities around La Trobe that you can stumble across without even planning to. You might walk into an event because something caught your eye, join a club because a friend convinced you, or simply start talking to someone because they happen to be doing something interesting nearby.
Of course, there are also days when the problem isn’t an assignment or choosing subjects. Sometimes you’re simply tired, overwhelmed or finding it difficult to keep up with everything happening outside your classes.
Those are the moments when looking after yourself needs to be part of your university routine too.
La Trobe’s health and wellbeing services are there for those moments- whether you need someone to talk to, want help managing what’s been going on, or simply feel like things have become a little heavier than usual. You don’t have to wait until you’re completely overwhelmed before deciding that you deserve some support.
Because maybe that’s the bigger lesson I’ve learnt at La Trobe.
Being independent doesn’t mean doing everything alone.
It means knowing when to ask a question instead of spending hours stuck on it. It means talking through your options when you’re unsure about your next step. It means looking after yourself when things get overwhelming. And sometimes, it means being curious enough to stop and ask a bunch of strangers, “What are you guys doing?”
The more I think about it, the more I realise that La Trobe has started feeling like a second home in small ways.
You don’t have to arrive at La Trobe knowing exactly where you fit, what you’re doing or how to solve every problem.
Sometimes, you just have to take the first step- and let La Trobe meet you halfway.