Sydney Life

For many high school kids thinking about going to uni, a big consideration is moving out of home. Whether it be into a college, the Sydney Uni Village (SUV), Unilodge or into a share house, there’s no disputing that the move from home can be a difficult, and for some, an emotional one. And that’s just the beginning…

In my own experience, the first few weeks of uni were so jam-packed that there was no time to think about the transition. At college I think this is intentional, so that people are so preoccupied with the present that they kind of detach themselves from the fact they’ve left their family, friends, home, state (and for some, country) to come to uni. For me the change was so sudden that it felt like losing a limb or something… there was no pain, it just wasn’t there anymore. I know it sounds insensitive, but it’s just the truth! Take away the phone and msn messenger and you almost have nothing left of your previous life – or at least it feels that way at the start.

Four weeks on, you know you’ve settled down when you start calling the place you now live at home. It’s been roughly four weeks since uni started (or a bit longer if you take into account o-week), and I can truly say that Wesley College is now my second home and it’s already staring to grow on me. I already know the labyrinth of corridors and stairwells typical of college, a catalogue of two hundred and something new college faces and names, half as many new faces from my course, and groups of friends from both that far outnumber my friends in Canberra. I now know King St in Newtown like the back of my hand, my architecture friends and I have $6 Thai for lunch at the same place every second day, I have perfected the art of getting out of the shower 10 minutes before my morning lectures, I’ve had more late night (ie 2, 3, 4am) snacks at Istanbul (Turkish Pide place on King St) on my way home than I can count, I can finally spell Woolloomooloo and I know the best places to eat there as well!, I’m on a first-name-basis with the barista at Campos Coffee in Newtown (one of the best & most affordable coffee shops in Sydney), I have my local pub in Glebe, I’m starting to get into the non-drinking nightlife Sydney has to offer (like if I weren’t feeling sick and getting hot and cold flushes tonight - blame it on the Thai… or the industrial-strength model making glue that was on my hands when I ate the Thai - I would be at the Vanguard on King St watching Russel Crowe and his band for free thanks to my Sydney Uni Jazz Society membership), and I am finally on top of what needs to be done in terms of uni work within the next few weeks.

If I had to tell you in 25 words or less, I’m having the best time ever! I really love my course, I (mostly) love my college, and I love my new friends (that’s 22 words!). But the change hasn’t been all fun and games. There have been times for me when I’ve just crumbled under the pressure of money or a lack thereof (Sydney is SO expensive), or I’ve missed my friends or my family or my cat in Canberra so badly I just start crying, or I fall out of love (hate?) with the whole insular bubble college can sometimes be, and I’ve just wanted out. There have been times when my course has been really vague about its objectives and I’ve just wanted some specific directions, there have been times that I find myself in the city with people I barely know wondering why I’m there, and there have even been times where I think that I have totally changed in less than a month – that in some ways I have lost a part of myself.

And then there are the flipsides: I can easily get work for extra spending (drinking? clubbing? Thai-ing?) money during the week. Sometimes I miss my family and my friends in Canberra so much, but at the same time I already have friends as strong at college and in my course that I couldn’t bare not seeing every day; at times college is really sheltered but equally this provides the intimacy and belonging that a home needs; and yes, first year Architecture is a course unlike any other – it’s vague, simple, really fun (did I say that all those Law *yawn* kids?), really social (*cough* unlike Economics), and lacks the structure of, say, an advanced science degree – but upon closer inspection it is aimed at providing the basics for a life of design. Like a sushi train where you get a bit of everything, first year architecture offers little bits of everything from history, theory and criticism to practical “hands-on” construction, structural education, artistic development, and verbal communication skills (that’s where the 5-hour studio sessions where there’s always talking and Thai for lunch come in). And for all the times where I feel like my Canberra-self has dissapeared, or been 'chopped off', I have to remember that I've already learned a lot, changed (for the better, I hope) a lot, and seen (christ, have I ever!) a lot more than I would have had I stayed in Canberra.

So, to cut a long story short, the move from home to uni is a big one, and like any significant experience there are good bits and bad. At this point the good far outweigh the bad, and I’m pretty sure it will remain this way; but when the proverbial hits the fan it’s easy to lose perspective and even lose hope. For want of a better term, this emotional rollercoaster is only compounded by the experience of going back home, even if just for a weekend. Superficially everything changes (or at least it seems to), and you feel like you’re living two lives (one at home and one at uni). But when you delve deeper, everything, or at least most things stay the same. The dynamics of family relationships and friendships change, but the underlying bases of both remain the same. So to put it simply, your old friends are still your friends (and for the same reasons), your old home is still your home, your family is still the same, close and most important thing (even if slightly dented by your leaving); and you know, at least by now, that leaving home for uni is something overwhelmingly positive in your life experience, and regardless of the setbacks, this is something that should be taken full advantage of, enjoyed, and maybe even loved.