Sydney Life

The longer the time period between my blogs, the more I stress about coming back in with a bang. Inevitably, that worry consumes me to the point where I can’t write ANYTHING, not even a shopping list, without being overcome by the fear of Bad Writing Shame. So please, gentle reader, clear your mind of any spiteful thoughts and continue with compassion in your heart.

Now I know that most of my blogs have included a list of some kind. Believe me, I know. It’s been the hidden thorn in my side sabotaging every attempt at individuality. But then I realised that many prominent authors rely on a set formula. Dan Brown does and he’s made squillions of dollars. Ergo, I can too. So here’s the latest low-down, list-style, on the lucrative leitmotif of every Con student – the Practice Room.

An advantage of being a humanities student at Sydney university is that I rarely have a class start before 10 a.m. This yields its own advantages; sleep-ins, time for a leisurely cup of tea in the morning as I read the newspaper, or time to put the finishing touches on an essay towards the end of semester - lets face it, I probably only started writing the essay the night before so these few extra hours available to me in the morning are crucial. My favourite thing about my mid-morning starts, however, is the chance to get a FREE-parking spot in the clearway on Parramatta Road. I know it sounds a little pathetic - but free parking from 10 til 3 has, on more than one occasion in the midst of essay deadlines and exam stress, made my university day.

Given the recent weather of "mega precipitation", once again I have had to re-teach myself how to expertly manoeuvre myself around uni through the (seemingly) never ending barrage of rain. Picture this: my umbrella was rapidly buckling under the weight of the constant rain and the high winds, so in spite of having an umbrella I'm sure I ended up more wet that I would have without one. Also, my shoes were canvas AND had holes in them - which has taught me that canvas shoes, although trendy as, are not the best kind of shoe to wear in wet weather.

Everyone will have to combat rain at uni at one point or another. Whether it's a freak storm, seven days of non-stop rain or just a sun-shower, here are some handy tips to survive uni in the rain!

‘ello all,
This is the period of time, known (in my head at least) as the ‘calm before the storm’. Pretty much everyone’s finished their last few assessments, and is relishing the last week of revision before the student vacation and exams kick off. Now is the time to bid farewell to loved ones, to lock the bedroom door and to start pulling those colossal study sessions to make up for that fact that you’ve been coasting through the last six months. Which is why (as one would entirely expect) I’m going to relate my experiences with transport, and driving around the campus.