Guest Post - Matthew Ledger
My father passed away last week and so the blog has temporarily gone on hiatus. Thankfully, in my time of need, some of my friends have come forth with excellent posts to keep you entertained. Hopefully we will resume regular service soon.
This first post comes from Matthew Ledger who I met in 2009. I had the pleasure of calling Matt a friend for the duration of his semester at Murdoch and am lucky to have the blog graced by his presence. Please thank Matt for this awesome post in the comments.
Hey there my Australian friends, former Murdoch uni student Matt Ledger here, providing a guest shot of blog-writing from the state of Wisconsin in the United States. We’ll return you to your regularly scheduled writer, Jonathan Gurney, the cutest ice cream eater in all the land, shortly but first I’d like to confess something to you all: I’m jealous of you. Super insanely jealous of you. Why you ask?
Because you, my friends, have all reached the end of another wonderful semester in Australia studying at Murdoch University while I am stuck with five weeks left to go til mega-massive-learning-death induced by final project overload. Meanwhile the temperature here continues to plummet like an all-too-revealing neckline, and the Sun keeps refusing to answer our calls. This is the time of year when I question what part of me thought it would ever be a good idea to leave Australia and Murdoch University. What do I miss most about uni studies in Perth? I’ll tell you:
- Study Breaks – Oh sweet, sweet study breaks, how I loved thee! Every four to five weeks students are granted a break from school which, although the professors say is for us to consolidate our studies, we all know is better used for week long vacations and leisure reading and sitting around in Fremantle eating far too much gelato. Back here in the States, most students are forced through fifteen straight weeks of study with a three day break at Thanksgiving which leaves just enough time to become stressed out about all the work we didn’t do while we were driving back and forth to see our families. The word break in “study break” doesn’t mean vacation in the U.S.; it’s what the professors hope to do to our spirits.
- Studying at the Beach – I know, I know. “Who actually gets studying done at the beach?” The fact is, I did. I did a lot of my class time reading on the beach shores in Fremantle, reading about the habits of criminal offenders while taking in the salt air (Side Note: I’d highly recommend taking Criminal Behaviour with Jaimie Zander if you can; she’s quite fun.) I wrote one of the short stories I’m most proud of up on the Roundhouse. The beach made studying bearable and oftentimes even enjoyable. Compare that to my now usual studying routine of taking refuge in the university library from the frigid outdoors and trying my best to find a window which lets in just the tiniest bit of light and you tell me which one is more conducive to retaining information about material.
- The People – This extends to just about everyone I met, be it professors, fellow students, or friends in the Village. While this may just be my memory glorifying my Australian experience, I cannot remember a single person that I met that I actively disliked. Not one. The fellow writers in my writing workshop, the actors and actresses I stage managed for, the people that I had to come back to my flat and live with each day, all of them were creative, welcoming, and kind. So much so that when given the chance to tell you about what I miss about my studies in Australia, these people were the first thing that came to mind. I chose to save them for last for dramatic effect though.
So there you have it, the reasons that I jealously hate each and every one of you reading this blog entry. I go now to either once again take to the Wisconsin outdoors and trudge my way to class or to surf over to Qantas air and buy the next ticket out of this dump. I really haven’t decided yet.
1 comments:
Thanks for the laughols Matt!
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