Class begins

Another week has gone by and lectures have begun. This week I attended the much anticipated lectures in philosophy and politics; they all seem fun and interesting, in their own way. Monday, I had my first ever film screening of my entire philosophy degree. Each week we view a film, this week it happened to be 'The Matrix’. We then have a lecture and a tutorial each week, where we critically analyse the film from a philosophical slant.

I have also enrolled on my first ever politics course, called ‘Money, Power and War’. Interesting title, very attractive! However, when I share with you a small detail concerning opinions of the lecturer one’s expectations may swiftly change. Rick Kuhn, my lecturer for this module, is a self-stated "revolutionary socialist/marxist”, causing him to be tremendously bias in all aspects of our investigations of these fundamental political elements. It’s interesting, having such an opinionated lecturer, for he admits his biases and even (implicitly) condones playing to his subjectivity in the course. I’m currently reading 'Zombie Capitalism’ (it’s exactly what one might expect from the title) for my first ever book review - looking forward to writing it!

What is also very interesting, is the difference between course syllabi in Nottingham and the ANU. At Notts everything felt very much analytical and toward the logical side of study; however, at ANU things seem more arty and there is a lot more literature to focus on, especially French post-modern writers, such as Sartre and Derrida just to name a couple.

Today I woke up early along with Jeffrey or just “Jeff" as we all call him, he’s a committed future olympic athlete in the field of archery; Lina, who is one of the four columbians at ANU (that we know of anyway); and Trisha, a Singaporean whom we all like to have around to keep us laughing. We woke to go on a one-hour trip to Tuggeranong to see some kangaroos/wallabies and shoot some arrows at the archery range Jeff always goes to. We all loved it and are considering making it a weekly or at least fortnightly activity. We ran back to make the AFL game against Burgman (another college/hall); we started well and finished pretty good too, but somewhere in the middle we lost our drive and Burgman made up a significant lead. It was a quick week, next weekend a group of ten of us will be going to Sydney - it should be fantastic!

Week One: Battle Wounds

It’s Sunday evening and my body’s aching after an interesting game of aussie rules or just “footy” as the locals like to refer to it. Some people explained it to me as something quite similar to rugby, but there isn’t much that I can say that is all that familiar in my mind. After being tackled several times, quite strongly I might add, I quickly acquired some battle wounds on my arm and knees. It’s a great team sport and the hype is immense, drinking bottles of Jack Daniels and beer during each quarter-break really seems to motivate the “ex ressies” (ex residents) against the “ressies” (current residents). I was on the ex ressies’ side and playing right back I soon became without anything to do as our team ruined the opponents. What an experience!

This was probably the highlight of my week, but I cannot say that I didn’t enjoy many other things throughout. On Thursday night, we all gathered in one of the SRs' (senior residents') larger rooms in the Packard Wing (mainly older students). Playing drinking games and just generally getting to know one another was the objective of the night. However, after a few hours of banter and games, it quickly led to over-excitement and loud noise, soon I found myself in one of the popular bars in town, Mooseheads. We tested the structure of our alcohol capacity with a few shots, before moving onto the main club for the night, Mesch. Here I saw many people I’ve been bumping into throughout the many introductory sessions planned this week. We partied hard and I think I may have been baptised with the name ‘good drunk’ since that night. We ended the night in a gay bar called “Cube”, it was an interesting experience, though I cannot say I remember all that much.

After spending most of the next day recovering from the activities of the night before, Friday was a pretty lazy day. Then, it was Saturday, again, I woke up late and started the day off with lunch. Food service times are between 7:30-9am, 12:30-2pm, 5:30-7pm everyday. The dinning-hall is a very social place, great for meeting new people and just talking about stuff with those you already know. On Saturday afternoon I found out that random adventures could also be arranged within this social food-hub. One of the locals happened to have a car and before we knew it, we were on our way to the National Gallery.

In the evening we had a “scribble party”, which consists of all the Bruce people writing stuff on each other. Earlier that day I bought a t-shirt from a female clothing shop for two dollars; it was the cheapest white shirt by eight dollars! A great way to end my first week, wearing a size 16 female shirt I was attracting all the attention.

Next week is the beginning of lectures and a carry-on of an intense party-week; looking forward to it!

The prelude

After experiencing the intense equatorial heat and humidity of Singapore for three days, I arrived in a dull and miserable Canberra, the capital territory of Australia. It may have the status of a big city, implying fast-pace exhilaration and extravagance, but it’s far from it. Seeing Sydney the day before expressed true class and modernity, not its capital counterpart.

Yes, I was anxious on my first encounter with the city and it made me anticipate my accommodation even more. As I traveled through the campus of ANU, the magnitude of the area quickly became apparent. The buildings were post-war made and gave off an air of a 'global establishment'; almost intimidating.

As I entered Bruce Hall, I was struck by wave-upon-wave of warmth; lacking in the weather, due to the winter season, it was balanced out by the closeness and friendliness of everyone in the hall. As I continued speaking to more of my hall-mates, the anxiety of what might or might not be, eased off my mind. What I felt was a unique contact with people, something totally opposite to what I would find in England and especially London. I defer my naiveté of facades and the many masks of men for a time when I am more familiar with friends. For now I say, “for God sake Europe, make an effort!"

However, facing problems with internet, I was agitated and became conscious of being out of my comfort zone, as I could not communicate with anyone. Something we all feel from time to time, but a feeling that we seldom confess. Our dependence on the www is truly analogous to a drug; unless we take or replace it with a suitable substitute, we are doomed to chaos. Fortunately, after hanging out more with my new friends and finding a solution to my problems, I could enjoy again the new places and people. The only thing left is getting used to being right next to the entrance to my block; shouldn’t take long!