Sydney Life

When seeking sage counsel from elders who are already firmly ensconced in university life you will often encounter such nuggets of wisdom ranging from the indifferent, like ‘at Uni, you can pretty much do whatever…’ to the saccharine, like ‘the world is your oyster’! However you anticipate what the university experience will be like, until you are right in the thick of it everything will seem really vague. To clear things up, I will tell you straight off that the university world is not your oyster. Rather, it is your octopus. I use the word ‘octopus’ metaphorically, to convey to you the idea the experience is multi-tentacled and each aspect of university life will probe slimily into your heart as much as an octopus would, should it ever have the chance. It’s true, in the lead up to university and in your first weeks of it you will absolutely bombarded with information about degree and course structure but this kind of information can never encapsulate the myriad of ways a new student can participate and invest in his or her university experience.

Upon reflection, I have identified tension between the two kinds of attitudes with which a student can approach that amorphous realm of the ‘extra curricular’. Generally, people think they will start to make friends and get involved in things organically or through a process requiring concerted effort. I think some people wait to see what their interests are before they allocate themselves to a club or society which might suit them. Others may join a club and figure out whether they like it later. I feel I am woman of the latter category. Why, then, does this hasty impulse exist within me? I think it is because I am much more focused on the outcome not the process. I am a solution oriented, action pointed, measurable outcome, cost benefit analysed kinda gal. Anomalous as these character traits are in an English major, they have served in me in good stead. You see, I went to the same school for thirteen years and have never been in a position where I have been the ‘new girl’, never not known where the canteen is and never had to worry whether someone would want to sit with me at lunch. My school was by no means ‘safe’ (there was the fair share of teenage tribulation, I assure you) but it certainly sheltered me. I got to uni and realised that, because I have never encountered such a situation, I have ever been endowed with the skills to ‘start from scratch’. So on the first day of O-Week, I went into overdrive. I joined so many clubs and societies and carted myself off to all the O-week events. It was like slinging hopeful mud at the acceptance wall and hoping that some of it- Gosh! any of it- would stick like friendship.

Insecure? Maybe. Needy? A little. Necessary? Definitely.

In early March 2006, I stood on the front lawns, opened my fresher arms wide, and pleaded ‘oh shiny shucked oyster of Usyd, won’t you open yourself to me?’ All I got was a wallop- like an octopus to the unsuspecting face- of club meeting times, laminated membership cards and a map of the rooms where all my potential friends would gather to discuss the Sufi movement/ Buffy television show/ Hegelian philosophy in which I apparently had an interest. I went to a whole bunch of meetings and while it helped me develop my tastes and interests, I did not feel capable of committing to something. I was hanging out for the 'Eureka moment' where I would exclaim ‘ah! This is what I have been meaning to do all my life!’ Accordingly I flirted briefly with the idea of becoming:

a) a gaming geek
b) a drama nerd
c) a charming philosopher
d) entirely fluent in Italian (without actually studying the language but by just turning up to Italian society’s events…)

I do not know if I was looking for a crowd, an identity or both. Yes, first year was a hard slog.

I am not saying don’t dabble- university is all about experimentation- rather I am saying that perpetual frenetic dabbling will not be satisfying in the long run. Don’t just window shop and think that is enough. Being involved is more than just being a social butterfly. While University is a place to broaden your interests, your horizons, your networks and your mind it is also a place where you can specialise, perfect, invest and make niche your interests and your talent. This is an aspect that is often left out of the general extracurricular discussion. Open mindedness is good but endless open-endedness may actually obfuscate understanding of how best to develop yourself. While I do like to throw myself into anything and hope it turns out okay, some prior reflection is useful. While getting involved in a lot of things can be fun, meaningful involvement is what makes you feel attached and allows you to make connections with people on a level deeper than just turning up to the same movie night once every two months. For those who are fans of the ‘How To’ guide, I have outlined some useful steps.

1) Think about what you like and what you do not like. For example, Politics- good. Ping pong- bad.
2) Think about what you are good at- what skills can you bring to the table?
3) What are you not good at- what skills do you wish to acquire?
4) How much time do you have to devote to something?
5) What are you hoping to acquire? Friends who have similar interests to you, a network that would improve your employability, a skill set…?

Perhaps having these in mind when you are thinking about how to spend your time outside the classroom will prove efficacious. When confronted with the fanfare of O week and the fear of a seemingly unknowable university community, take a moment to strike a balance between the intuitive and the impulsive.

All I am saying really is, let your heart be warmed by the octopus’ tentacles of true involvement.