An old Sydney Uni myth suggesting ‘if you haven’t started studying for exams before the quadrangle jacaranda’s first bloom, you’re going to fail,’ is not something I want to think about one week and three assignments from the end of classes.
Take a walk through the quad and you’ll notice the unmistakable spattering of lilac already dusted over the vibrant lawn. There’s no denying it. The flowers have arrived, early, and with them, the end of another year.
Everyone knows the tree. After being planted in the 1920s it’s become a landmark and meeting place for students past and present. I would be lying if I said my decision to come to Sydney wasn’t made easier after flipping through all the pretty brochure pictures, some of which featured the jacaranda.
As the first shoots made their untimely appearance this week, I feel as though I’ve been caught strangely off guard. After a late mid-semester break I never anticipated such a speedy wrapping up of uni business.
While I’m counting on the fact, considering my distinct lack of exam prep to date, that the myth is just that, I’m also starting to entertain the prospect of a long summer stretching out before me.
It’s hard not to when sitting in the computer labs suddenly means being surrounded by more than one student crouched over nearby machines booking ‘Jetstar’ sale flights and musing about exciting overseas adventures.
This year, the upcoming summer break has a special personal resonance for the simple reason thatit will be my last stop in the safe uni ‘three month holiday harbour.’ To be ridiculously metaphorical, it won’t be long until I ride the trade winds out to sea, weathering the storm of the ‘real world.’
To put it simply, this is my final summer ‘sandwiched’ by two uni years. Even with no set plans for the end of my degree, I’m coming close to the final instalment in a series of summers which, until now, have always stretched endlessly into the future.
I think it’s safe and glaringly obvious to say that summer is a precious time universally; especially during your uni years. With 20 weeks of idle fancy woven into what is otherwise a highly enjoyable 32 week student life, the ratio of ‘business’ and ‘pleasure’ is not too bad at all. It’s almost criminal that we should ever complain of too much uni work!
When I think of summer I look back to childhood days spent running through the sprinkler, devouring ice blocks, making treacherous ‘booby traps’ on the front verge and creating dance routines with my sister and cousins in the cool of the house. We never sat still long enough to work on that ‘perfect’ tan, were happy to splash around in fluorescent rash vests and didn’t give ‘bikini bodies’ a second thought.
In many ways those days are gone but there’s still the sense of freedom and lightness. It was, and still is, a time marked by the sound of lawn mowers, the smell of sunscreen and the touch of salty skin.
So to everyone preparing for exams and especially the year 12s who are in the midst of a soon to be over HSC year, never lose sight of that precious fifteen or so weeks of summer on the other side.
Semester 1 2008: Monday 3 March, I think we can deal with that.
By then, the jacaranda will have shed almost all of its beautiful purple cloud. For those who aren’t nearing the end of a degree, or even yet to start, enjoy the years of watching it welcome not only exams but the long summers ahead.