Sydney Life

At the moment I live in a world of chalk dust and footpath art. It is a lovely yet hectic land which I like to think I stroll through with the air of a flâneur, enjoying the smell of fresh paint in the Graffiti Tunnel and watching piles of printed propaganda float by in the breeze.

Oh yes, it is Union election time again.

In the midst of an exciting election campaign, the sandstone of Sydney Uni has become host to an array of catchy slogans, colourful homemade t-shirts and trestle tables huddled around by the candidates themselves.
Don’t talk to me about the race to the White House, student politics here on campus is passionate, exciting and host to some pretty amazing guerilla marketing skills.

One of the most interesting parts of all of this, however, is not who the candidates are, or what their Facebook profile pics might look like, but what the whole process says about students in general.

This evening I stayed at uni late to write an essay and upon exiting Fisher Library, was witness to teams of ‘chalkers’, the students who come out at night on behalf of various Union candidates to grace the uni with the chalk dust slogans and wet paint splashes we get to see during the day.

Talk about commitment.

And so this all got me wondering: exactly where do the bludgy uni students live?
Because I don’t think they exist. In fact, I want to send out a stern challenge to the person who invented the image. Because it is a MYTH! You hear me? A myth! Certainly none of my friends are bludgers. Every one I have spoken to over the past few weeks has been so busy with uni that we barely have time to brush our teeth. With student politics, clubs and society BBQs and parties, student publications to read and write for, a multitude of places to buy coffee from and, at the moment, an endless supply of footpath propaganda to be intrigued by, we have absolutely a million reasons to be some of the busiest people I know!

If uni students were the lazy money-wasters we get stereotyped as, I don’t think our campus would offer all of the awesome things it does. And I don’t think the Graffiti Tunnel would be nearly so interesting.