Last week I did something I haven’t done since November last year….I went back to the Cumberland Campus at Lidcombe for uni. After 20 weeks of prac work in the hospitals and 9 weeks of glorious holiday, it was finally time to start the last 7 weeks of my undergraduate degree in Physiotherapy.
I can’t really complain. I only have 4 days of uni , not the usual 5, plus I am learning how to manipulate backs and best of all I get to visit the famous Cumberland lolly shop (where students get to stock up on their favourite lollies to help get them through long lectures!)
One thing I didn’t miss about the campus was the long trek to get out to Lidcombe. From my house, it involves a bus – train – bus journey which takes a minimum of 1.15 hours, and perhaps 2 hours maximum (depending on Sydney’s notorious transport and traffic!). Quite frankly it’s a drag. Or so I used to think.
I would now even go so far as to say that I quite enjoy my traipsing across Sydney on public transport. Here’s why:
1. I get to listen to my groovy tunes on the ipod (FYI - Ben Folds has been on the play list recently because of his amazing concert last week!)
2. I have time to read my latest novel (exciting!) or catch up on readings for uni (not as exciting.)
3. I can collect the magazines of Sydney ranging from 9 to 5, Mx tabloid, Epoch Times or best yet The Big Issue (Did you know that there is a homeless soccer tournament, and Australia is sending a team to South Africa this month for the tournament!?)
4. If I do no other exercise that day, at least I have walked to and from the bus station, which is around 30 minutes, the magical number of minutes everyone should be active per day.
5. I randomly bump into people and have a quick chat (if you ‘bump’ into anyone whilst you are driving, it can only mean trouble!)
6. I don’t have to stress about only finding a park that is light years away from campus.
7. I feel a part of Sydney city and get the opportunity to observe the people of Sydney ranging from the punk with purple hair and face covered with silver piercings to the business man wearing an immaculate shirt.
8. I have peace of mind knowing that I am reducing my contribution to global warming (I haven’t yet seen the documentary ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ and after seeing the previews, I don’t want to, it looks damn scary.)
So….
Hop on a train,
Or hop on a bus,
And get to your uni,
Without any fuss!
(to the tune on that public transport ad)
Comments
So I missed Ben Folds once again =(
And I definitely agree about public transport, even if my trip's nearly half as long...
Posted by: Joel | September 15, 2006 01:18 PM
Hello! I am going to be heading out to the Cumberland campus myself in a couple of months to start chugging away at the Master OT program. Curious to know if you have any suggestions on where I should look for housing. I think I'd rather live closer to campus, but I am struggling to get good information on the best neighborhoods to live in. Auburn, Lidcombe... I am in the USA currently so I am stuck with what I can google. Any help you can give me is much appreciated!
Posted by: Ellen | December 17, 2006 07:12 AM
Tough decisions of where to live......
Auburn and Lidocmbe are certainly close to Cumberland campus, but they are probably not considered nice areas of Sydney, and they are about a 20 min + train ride from the city! You would probably want to live near somewhere with a train line. Strathfield might be a convenient suburb to also look, or even Ashfield. Both of these suburbs are a 10 - 15 min train ride away from Lidcombe (and then a 5 min bus ride to the actual campus), but they are also more central to the city and some might consider them to be nicer areas. Then again, it depends how far you would want to travel to uni - as you could even try for somewhere in central Sydney area, but then have to travel 30 min or so to uni.
Good luck finding a place.
Posted by: Keren | December 17, 2006 02:24 PM