Well, I've been here for 6 months and before heading home for the holidays I thought I should fit in a post on my workplace, the University of Newcastle in Callaghan.
When I first came to campus back in June, I had some difficulty finding my way around. If you ask for directions, you will be greeted warmly but directed through a maze of Eucalyptus trees which just so happen to be your only point of reference as landmarks for directions. Now that I have been here for a few months, I find myself struggling to give others directions when. Point is: you have to go walkabout to find what you're looking for. Just follow the paths and explore the buildings which may or may not have appropriate signage to help you along your way.
You may even be inclined to take the Birabahn trail which leads to Wollotuka, the on-campus Aboriginal Institute. Walking along the outside, you'll come across some beautiful Aboriginal artwork and architecture.
As you walk along the paths you're also greeted by other locals: kookaburras, cockatoos, galahs, miner birds and magpies fly and swoop over your head, high up in the canopies of the forest. The campus is alive with the hustle and bustle of these locals. In fact, this may be the first campus where the noise form the birds overcomes the noise from the students! If you're lucky, you may also come across a cute, furry, possum...way cuter than the opossums back home in the USA. Now that it is starting to warm up on campus, you are seeing less and less students and more and more mosquitoes...which is why I have been working down by the beach for the past few weeks!
I don't know if its the trees, the sing-song of the birds, the quiet seclusion of campus, or the voracity of the blood-sucking mosquitoes, but when I'm on campus I feel like I'm either in the Ewok village in Star Wars, the Hunger Games or Jurassic Park. These days it feels more like Jurassic Park when you see students racing inside to escape the clouded swarm of mosquitoes closing in on them. No bug spray or amount of thick clothing will stop these guys! They will bite through the thickest jeans and laugh in the face of DEET. Students warn each other about going outside for a smoke or coffee break and look at you like its the Walking Dead out there if you do decide to brave the swarm.
So, campus may not be the best location in the summertime, but come Autumn and winter when the bugs die off and the trees start to shed their sweet-smelling foliage, campus can be quite beautiful and serene.
While I love and miss my concrete jungle and sing-song of the cars and sirens of NYC, it is a lovely change to look outside and see swaying eucalyptus trees dancing in the sunlight and tropical lorikeets singing while making their nests outside your window. However,now during the summer, I will continue to enjoy the sandy, mosquito-free beaches of Newcastle before heading back to campus in autumn.
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