ISSUE TWO l

MASSEY MANAWATU

1ST APRIL 2015

Greetings All!

Above: A successful evening at this years Sex

and the City
Below: Why not join a Club?

This is a busy time of year with assignments and tests.

Keep trucking along as semester exams are in mid
June. Hopefully youre already in the habit of
reviewing notes regularly to better prepare yourself
for exam revision. There are a few of workshops as
part of the Study Up Programme to help you prepare for exams. Check
out the following link for more information: http://owll.massey.ac.nz/
pdf/StudyUp_2015_Knowledge_to_go.pdf
The end of daylight savings also signals cooler weather. With winter
comes the flu and colds. Keep yourselves warm and if you need
assistance or advice please see your RA or go to see your doctor.

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

Sex and the City

Ball Committee
Halls Resident Survey
Stressless
Getting Great Sleep
From The Centre
Why not Join a Club?
Campus Living

Balance your Massey experience by remembering to take some time out

of studies and joining in the events we hold for you. One of these events
is the Tree Planting Event held on 2nd May at Pit Park. This is an
opportunity to get involved with the Palmerston North community and
be a part of developing this park. Massey has been involved with the
project for around 7 years now and it is great to see how much the park
has developed over this time.
Another upcoming event that many residents look forward to is the
Residents Ball which will be held in early August. If you want to get
involved in the preparations, let your RA know. Keep an eye out for the
first meeting details in your hall and on Facebook.
It is very close in the hunt for the Gumboot Shield, but it is early days and
plenty of points are still up for grabs. If you want to improve your hall
points tally, make sure you get involved in all the events we have. Its
not only a great way to get to know each other better, but its also a
chance for you to contribute to your hall community in a positive way.
Enjoy the mid semester break!

extn 84163
Level 2, The Student Centre

Sex and the City 2015

With attendance in excess of 350, this years
instalment of the annual Sex and the City talk was
very popular! The aim of the night was to act as an
informal educational talk to break the ice
surrounding the topics of; relationships, safety in
town, and sexual health. Here no stone was left
unturned, with all aspects of the hard to talk about
topics being discussed by various, and entertaining
guest speakers. The night was filled with laughs with
the occasional grimace as only what can be
described as revealing images were displayed to
hammer home certain messages. Overall the mood
was light, and the speakers did well to engage and
involve the audience.
No student event is complete without freebies, with
Sex and the City being no exception to this. With
many opportunities to win prizes, in addition to
goodies being distributed throughout the night as
well as after the event, no resident returned home
empty handed.
Big thanks must go to the Massey University Medical
Centre for making the night happen, and to the
guest speakers from Family Planning, Central
Primary Health Organisation, and the NZ Police.
Also, a tip of the hat to RAs for their continuous help
throughout the night!

Interested in Being on the Ball Committee?

The halls ball is coming up on the 14th of
August and we are looking for enthusiastic
and creative students in the halls to help
organise it!
If you are interested, and can commit to
at least 5 hours of work, then talk to your
RAs! P.S. You will receive a free ticket for
your time :-)

Halls Resident Survey

You would have received an email recently
about the Halls Resident Survey.
The purpose of this survey is to gauge how
you have adjusted to Halls life so far from a
pastoral care perspective. The answers to the
questions will enable our team to make an
assessment on how we can enhance and
improve support that we provide to you.
Your answers have no bearing on your stay
within the Halls. We will use this information
constructively in order to address the
necessary issues.
While we can not guarantee immediate
changes or implementation on opinions
given, we will carefully consider suggestions
that will help us to improve the service we
deliver to you. Your responses will remain
confidential within the Accommodation
Services Management team.
There will be Gumboot Points awarded to
the halls with the highest response rates: 15,
10 and 5 points awarded to the top 3 halls.
This will be based on the percentage of students per hall.
Thank you for your participation.
- Accommodation Services

Want to find out more about what Palmerston North can offer you?
Check out http://www.studentcity.co.nz.
Find out more about the Manawatu community, job vacancies, events, clubs,
buy and sell as well as accommodation options.
Theres also information about where you can get student discounts with your
ID card!

Getting Great Sleep

Insomnia is not an illness and is in no way life-threatening, but it
can be very distressing, frustrating, exhausting, depressing and at
worst it can make you feel like you're going crazy. Sleep is as
essential to us as food, air and water but can be effected by so
many aspects of our seemingly normal life-style. Anyone can
difficulties sleeping, although sleeping problems are more
common among women, and can be triggered by illness, smoking
and overuse of alcohol amongst other things. Sleep problems are
surprisingly common among students who tend to have shocking
sleep hygiene. We tend to need regular sleep / wake patterns
as our brains are programmed like that students tend to
neglect that bit of basic biology. Going to sleep and waking at
(more or less) the same time every day is critical.
There are two broad types:
Chronic insomnia - lasting for several weeks, months or even years and Transient insomnia - lasting for a
few nights or weeks only, usually connected to a stressful event such as an exam, or a bereavement.
Within these broad categories insomnia usually takes one or more of the following forms:

Difficulty falling asleep - more common among young people

Sleeping lightly and restlessly, waking often, lying awake in the middle of the night, which may be
associated with depression.

Waking early and being unable to get back to sleep - this is more common in anyone worrying about
something in particular.
Main Causes
Insomnia is a condition that is caused by something else! Sometimes it won't be immediately obvious what
the causes are in your own case, but the following list might give clues:

states of mind - anxiety, depression, worry, anger, grief, anticipating a difficult event

change - moving house/city, starting university

environment - noise, discomfort, time zone change

pain - one of the commonest causes

medical conditions - heart, breathing, stomach, digestive, high blood pressure, arthritis, anorexia.

recreational drugs - including nicotine, caffeine, heroin, cocaine, amphetamines, LSD, cannabis.

sleeping pills and tranquillisers - can actually cause sleep disturbance other prescription drugs including some contraceptives, diuretics, slimming pills, beta-blockers, stimulants.
Some causes of insomnia can't be easily dealt with but most can.
What can you do about insomnia?
The good news is that you can cure yourself - in your own way, in your own time and at your own pace. You
may wish to enlist the support or help of your doctor or a counsellor, but you won't necessarily need to.
However you must be prepared to make some changes in your lifestyle in order to sleep better.
You need a comfortable bed and a room that's quiet, warm and dark enough. Unfortunately this is not
always be possible in the Halls but there are some things you can do which will help.

Getting Great Sleep (contd)

Use earplugs if it's noise you can't do anything about - or change your attitude towards it. People can sleep
through high levels of noise - it's not so much the level of noise but how you feel about it that keeps you
awake. Take some 'diplomatic action' - e.g. talking to noisy neighbours. Keep a radio/iPod by your bed and
use it to mask other noise. And if noise from neighbours continues to be a serious problem - speak to an RA.
For a start you will need to cut out or cut down on all stimulants such as coffee and tea, alcohol, nicotine,
cola drinks, food additives, 'junk food', slimming pills or appetite suppressants.
Here are a number of other suggestions

exercise regularly and ensure your diet is healthy

stay up until a reasonable bedtime even if you feel sleepy earlier

go to bed only when you are feeling really tired and sleepy

if you can't sleep, get up (and do something boring like study) and only go back to bed when you're
really sleepy again

establish a routine that gives you 7-8 hours sleep (though individual needs do vary)

get up at the same time each day if you're a late sleeper, force yourself to get up earlier and dont nap
during the day

relax mentally and physically for an hour before bedtime and avoid TV and computers (there is something about the flicker of the screen that stimulates the brain)

have a warm shower as sleep is triggered as the body cools down

make a list of the things on your mind so you dont hold onto them through the night
Some things to avoid:

taking stimulants to keep you awake, or sedatives or alcohol to help you sleep

sleeping during the day no matter how tired you are

going to bed when you're stressed, wound up or not ready

having arguments at bedtime or in bed

using your bed for working, watching TV, eating, telephoning - i.e. waking activities

lying in bed awake for more than 30 minutes

eating, drinking or smoking when you get up during the night

falling asleep in front of the TV

worrying yourself into not sleeping (and keeping looking at the clock to see how long you have been
lying awake!)
You won't need to do all of these. Decide which would be most helpful and start with those. If that doesn't
help, try others until you are sleeping better. Your aim is to break the cycle of insomnia. You achieve this by
establishing a good bedtime/sleep routine and by reinforcing the connection between bed and sleep.
Getting additional help
You may feel that you need some additional help in dealing with your sleeping problem. There are a variety
of self-help books and CDs as well as number of people who can help you - a counsellor at the Student
Counselling Service, or your doctor. You needn't feel bad about having to ask for help - insomnia is not a
trivial matter. It can be debilitating and, once established, it can be difficult to shift - professional help and
encouragement may be just what you need.
You can explore the articles on sleep and relaxation on the CROW website (for both these resources, go to
http://crow.massey.ac.nz) or contact Student Counselling to discuss the issue.

From The Centre

Hi everyone,
Well done on surviving the first term! By now I am guessing you are
well settled into university life, hopefully managing to find time to
have some fun amidst the study (or vice versa)! :-) From talking to
some of you at The Centre, It sounds like its been a busy time for
many, and no doubt you are looking forward to a break. The semester
break is a good time to get away, see some more of NZ if youre from
overseas (or even if youre not), head to an Easter camp, enjoy the
outdoors, and of course catch up on some study. Semester break can
also be a time for reflection.
I would encourage you as you head into Easter break to consider these questions:

What does Easter mean to you?

How have you formed that opinion?

What is the original meaning of Easter eggs, and why are there crosses on Easter buns?
As chaplains we are here to help you explore these kinds of questions, particularly at this time of the year. If you
would like to discuss this further, feel free to pop in and chat with one of us at The Centre.
A few things to note: The Centre is closed from Good Friday 3 rd April to Friday 10th April. We look forward to
seeing you again soon, either when you call in at The Centre or on Pancake Nights, which will start again on
Wednesday 22nd April at 7pm.
Have a great Easter break,
Rebekah Jourdain, on behalf of the chaplains

Fire Drills for Semester One

Congratulations to all halls for completing the trial evacuations a few weeks ago. All halls did pretty well.
The most efficient hall this semester goes to Miro Hall. Well done!!! $100 social
account credit coming your way and also much needed gumboot points.

Why not Join a Club?

Why not join a club? Or a society?
Or a cultural association?

The Manawatu Campus has a wide spectrum of

clubs for all kinds of interests you might have.
Why not relax with people who enjoy what you
enjoy? MUSA, the Massey Student Union, can
help you find out if there is a group youd like to
join, just check out the MUSA Clubs Directory
(http://musa.org.nz/clubs/clubs-directory/)
or
visit MUSA Office 2.23 in the Student Services
Building, no appointment needed to see the Clubs
Development Officer (CDO) Gunhild.
And if you cannot find a club for your interests,
why not start one that does? The CDO will help
you. To contact her, just email: clubs@musa.org.nz

As you will be aware, Easter Holidays are just around the corner! We hope youve enjoyed the first part of your first
semester and look forward to assisting you again when you return. We have just a few reminders before the break
begins:
Mid-Semester Break:
All Matai residents have to vacate and completely clear out their rooms and communal hall fridges for the 2 week
break, so that extramural students can use these rooms.
Please help us by ensuring that your key is returned to our office no later than 10.00am on the 5th April. Our office will
not be open at this time so you will need to return your key in the key return slot located on the left hand side of our
front door as you look into the office. If your keys are not returned by this time we will unfortunately need to order a
lock and barrel change for your room and you will be charged the $151.00 replacement fee.
Your room key will be ready for you to collect again on Sunday 19th April between 11am 3.00pm. Please note you will
not be able to collect your room key after hours. If you know that you will not be able to collect your room key while
we are open, you will be able to nominate a friend to come collect your room key on your behalf. You will need to
email our team campusliving@massey.ac.nz or call us on 06 350 5056 to confirm who has permission to collect your
key for you. They will need to have photo id when collecting your key.
Residents from all other halls will not need to vacate during this break. Please note that there are no meal rebates for
this break period.
Our office will be closed the following dates:
3rd April Good Friday; 5th April Easter Sunday and 6th April Easter Monday we will be open 11.00am 3.00pm
Saturday 4th April and resume our normal office hours Tuesday 7th April.
Monday 27th April closed for ANZAC day
Storage:
Storage facilities are available at a small cost of $30.00 per locker. This is fully refundable provided the locker is left in
good order. You will need to provide your own lock. Spaces are limited, please enquire at the Residential Services
Office.
Direct Debit Payments:
Please note if you are on the direct debit payment option, your debit will continue over the break period.
Parcels:
If you have a parcel delivery we will send you an email to let you know that we have received a parcel for you at our
office, and that you will need to come to our office with photo I.D. to collect this.
Also we have had some parcels arrive with no name on them, please ensure that your name and hall are included on
your parcels to ensure that they are not given to the wrong person.

Helpful Tip:
The rainy season is incoming so its important to air your room regularly to reduce dampness
If you have any questions about the upcoming breaks, please come into the RSO and talk to our staff
Aroha Taimai
Senior Resident Support Officer

Congratulations!