Back “Home”

There was something refreshingly comforting about returning to Canberra after a long summer of travelling. I was returning to a city that I knew, to somewhere where I wouldn’t have to worry about finding shops, and it meant that I would soon be back in my own room, with the days of a 10 bed dorm behind me. Most welcoming though, was the temperature change. Canberra is officially the coldest capital of any state in Australia, while I had just come from Perth (which since I departed, has remained just as warm, and has recently passed the mark of 30 days over 30°c for the first time in history) via Sydney, which on the day before my arrival had peaked at an incredible 41°c in the city centre, while 42°c was the hottest recorded anywhere in Sydney. The cooling 20-something degrees are far more pleasant.

However, my journey wasn’t quite there. With my room at Burton & Garran ‘under maintenance’, I had to book into the Canberra hostel for a week. After much negotiating, and discovering that I could only stay at the YHA for 5 nights, I did eventually manage to persuade Burton & Garran to let me in one night early, save me having to sleep in the kitchens.

I spent the week joyfully relaxing, apart from having to attend one meeting at ANU to discuss last semesters underachievements. While I have bored to death everyone around me here, I don’t know that I have ever fully explained the problem on here. When I applied to study in Australia from Sheffield, I was asked to choose 6 universities from the 7 that Sheffield is affiliated with, order them 1-6 in order of preference, and explain why. I chose Sydney and Queensland, explaining that they appeared to be the best to suit my degree, being the only universities to have a Maths department. ANU came in at #4, with an explanation that it doesn’t have a Maths department, and doesn’t offer courses suited to my style of Maths.

Never was this more evident than last term. One of my modules was a carbon copy of what I had already done in Sheffield, but had been forced to do again for lack of a better choice. Mathematics of Finance may have worked if it was taught from a Mathematics perspective, but this was aimed mainly at Economics students who already had previous understanding of the complex ideas. Matrix Computations started promisingly, but soon showed its true colours as a Computing course, an area of Mathematics I despise. My mark from that particular course came home narrowly as a fail, but would appear to imply that I scored very highly on the Mathematics part, and very low on the Computing part. Finally, there was Complex Analysis, a genuinely interesting module which was unfortunately just too high a level for me – I lacked any of the prerequisites for it.

The eventual outcome is that I have 1 withdrawn, 1 definite fail, 1 borderline, and 1 easy pass from my first semester, and the study abroad representative here at ANU was curious as to why this had happened given my strong grades in Sheffield. Trying to explain the complex different areas and fields of Mathematics, along with the different skills needed with each one was too much for him. We eventually settled on “unsuitable content”, and he let me on my way on the condition that I do better this term. Thus far, it’s looking good. From the meagre offering of Mathematics courses, I have somehow found three and a half modules which work – the half being that in all honesty, I think I might have signed up to some sort of philosophical course, but it’s interesting nonetheless. If the mood takes me, I might tell you about them one day.

There was another Freshers week after I had moved back in, which was fairly fun. Being an exchange student, I think I’m allowed to continually act like a first year student, which was useful given that many of my friends from last semester are now scattered around the globe. I’m in the same flat as last semester, my logic that there are fewer insects up here seems to have held firm so far, though it does get a bit warm. I may yet have to go and invest in a fan.

The other perk of being back, is of course that I get to collect my mail! My Formula 1 tickets were delivered over the summer, and they were a joy to collect. I took everything out in the university, wearing a mad grin on my face.

From L to R; Circuit map, Ticket, GP Advantage F1 car keyring, Programme voucher, Cap voucher, Official Lanyard.

I feel so cool.

I’m yet to book my travel for that long weekend in Melbourne, but rest assured, I am looking forward to it. The person I’m going with has suggested driving there and back may be cheaper than flying, but I’m concerned that driving away from a F1 race, I might not be able to control myself!

And with that, I think this post should do for now. Next time, read about my incredible exploits in Brisbane!

And finally, here is the first spider I’ve ever seen on my floor;

Since then, he’s doubled back to within a metre of my room, then perched on the ceiling ready to pounce on some unfortunate passer-by, and I haven’t seen him since… I sincerely hope he’s moved away from my room.