The end is near: #1
The end of university life is fast approaching and I've realised that it will be highly anticlimactic. There will be no giant thesis, no major project or collection of works, not even a final exam. Instead I will slip an essay for one of my random elective subjects into a box, and that will be that. In fact, it will probably be the essay for Vras, inevitably late because he doesn't really penalise people for that, and I will have to slip it under his office door.
So to make something big of the transition from full time education, I've decided to set up a string of posts to reflect on the last couple of months at uni. Here is the first one.
Stream of thought on Wednesday morning walking from the entrance of the uni near Redfern station to my class in the Eastern Avenue building
There are footsteps stomping over the boardwalk in both directions, even though it is only 9:50 and not many people should be leaving uni yet. On the left there is beautiful music wafting through the bushes. It's coming from the childcare centre. Usually they play the Wiggles, but today it's an arrangement of a Mozart clarinet concerto. I guess kids can be musically discerning. One of the carers is showing the children how to water a pot plant. I keep walking past on my way to learn about more important things. The board walk moves past the trees and the childcare centre. I see the glowing, smiling faces on the advertisements for the university sport centre smiling down on me. The mint cafe is open for breakfast. I can see the remnants of an EU committee - the girls from the Arts committee - who are looking like they have just had a meeting together. On the ground there is an ad for a talk by one of the socialist groups. The failure of capitalism. They have chalked on the new boulevards that the uni paid lots of money for. The uni gets mad at the clubs and societies when they chalk on the new paving. The socialists will get in trouble, but they probably won't care. Further on there is some more chalking, on the left side of the pavement: "Easter is about life with God". Cool, I find that encouraging. Except also written on the new pavers! Oh no! Oh well, it doesn't say which Christian group has written it there, so maybe no one will get in trouble. Except I now have a recollection - showing one of the girls in the EU economics faculty where we keep the chalk... Oh dear. On my other side some students are utilising the new and uncomfortable looking sun chairs installed on the lawn. It is hot in the sun, and the trees are new. They haven't grown big enough to shade the chairs well. It will look different in 5 years time. I'm leaving the walkway and ascending into the new building where the science library is. I can't remember the name of the building. It is named after some woman. I remember in my last year of high school, they opened two new buildings that were named after women whose names I can't remember either. It's funny, it's almost like they are naming these new buildings after women to try and balance out the millions of buildings that have been named after men. The building is empty and underfurnished. I walk past a room with a glass wall. The floor is polished concrete and there are a handful of lime green sofas. It looks cold and boring in there, but there are a couple of students sitting in there reading, one on each side of the room. Through the dark section of the building and then up onto the footbridge. The traffic flies underneath. A student doesn't see me, he walks into me. As I go down the other side, there is more chalking - an ad for last years Commerce Revue. And some more socialist chalking for the capitalism talk. At the bottom of the bridge it gets cold, we are standing in the shadow of the Carslaw buidling. I turn the corner and walk upstairs. Eastern Ave is a new building too (although not as new as the woman one). It has glass walls too, but the environment here is much nicer. It's warm and light. My lecture theatre has seats that look like armchairs but they are uncomfortable. I take a seat at the back.
So to make something big of the transition from full time education, I've decided to set up a string of posts to reflect on the last couple of months at uni. Here is the first one.
Stream of thought on Wednesday morning walking from the entrance of the uni near Redfern station to my class in the Eastern Avenue building
There are footsteps stomping over the boardwalk in both directions, even though it is only 9:50 and not many people should be leaving uni yet. On the left there is beautiful music wafting through the bushes. It's coming from the childcare centre. Usually they play the Wiggles, but today it's an arrangement of a Mozart clarinet concerto. I guess kids can be musically discerning. One of the carers is showing the children how to water a pot plant. I keep walking past on my way to learn about more important things. The board walk moves past the trees and the childcare centre. I see the glowing, smiling faces on the advertisements for the university sport centre smiling down on me. The mint cafe is open for breakfast. I can see the remnants of an EU committee - the girls from the Arts committee - who are looking like they have just had a meeting together. On the ground there is an ad for a talk by one of the socialist groups. The failure of capitalism. They have chalked on the new boulevards that the uni paid lots of money for. The uni gets mad at the clubs and societies when they chalk on the new paving. The socialists will get in trouble, but they probably won't care. Further on there is some more chalking, on the left side of the pavement: "Easter is about life with God". Cool, I find that encouraging. Except also written on the new pavers! Oh no! Oh well, it doesn't say which Christian group has written it there, so maybe no one will get in trouble. Except I now have a recollection - showing one of the girls in the EU economics faculty where we keep the chalk... Oh dear. On my other side some students are utilising the new and uncomfortable looking sun chairs installed on the lawn. It is hot in the sun, and the trees are new. They haven't grown big enough to shade the chairs well. It will look different in 5 years time. I'm leaving the walkway and ascending into the new building where the science library is. I can't remember the name of the building. It is named after some woman. I remember in my last year of high school, they opened two new buildings that were named after women whose names I can't remember either. It's funny, it's almost like they are naming these new buildings after women to try and balance out the millions of buildings that have been named after men. The building is empty and underfurnished. I walk past a room with a glass wall. The floor is polished concrete and there are a handful of lime green sofas. It looks cold and boring in there, but there are a couple of students sitting in there reading, one on each side of the room. Through the dark section of the building and then up onto the footbridge. The traffic flies underneath. A student doesn't see me, he walks into me. As I go down the other side, there is more chalking - an ad for last years Commerce Revue. And some more socialist chalking for the capitalism talk. At the bottom of the bridge it gets cold, we are standing in the shadow of the Carslaw buidling. I turn the corner and walk upstairs. Eastern Ave is a new building too (although not as new as the woman one). It has glass walls too, but the environment here is much nicer. It's warm and light. My lecture theatre has seats that look like armchairs but they are uncomfortable. I take a seat at the back.