melbourne vs sydney

i'm settling in alright, school doesnt start till next week, and next week is orientation week, and that means i've got one more week off. actually, i don't really have lessons proper, all i need is to arrange for a consultation with my supervisor, discuss some initial research questions and directions, and then invade the library. ah but these can only be done after everyone else are done running around excitedly.

and it's hard to be excited about something i've done three times before. i'm about ten years older than the freshies, attending my fourth uni (i did graduate from the previous three, just in case you're wondering) in a fourth different city, and i'm as jaded and exhausted as any jaded and exhausted institution-hopper can be. but that doesnt mean i don't enjoy my time now, and that the coming few years would be a dread and a chore. for god knows how long,this, is what i've been waiting for man...

but ideally, i'd have loved to be able to go back to melbourne. and coming to sydney this time only made me miss it even more - a case of so-near-yet-so-far. sydney's ok, it's got great beaches, a beautiful harbour and a bridge and the opera house, and sydney university's just gorgeous. but it's not melbourne. sydney can't hold a candle to melbourne's arty, groovy, indie vibes, wine bars and first-rate cuisine, its laneway cafe culture, its european, bohemian, air. these are things that appeal to me, and are what make melbourne more than just an old flame. i do wish i were back.

maybe i'd grow to love sydney, who knows. but as they say, first loves are the most unforgettable. when i first came to melbourne, it was as much a non-event as stepping out of my room to go to the kitchen. and it was winter then, rain, cold and grey and all. and how unknowingly i was in the kitchen's thrall. but well, mr sydney, i'll let you know in four years' time.

i promised to put up the aussie pics when i visited last june, what better time (than never) to present the two age-old rivals - forever putting the other down, engaged in a permanent battle to outdo the other - to be the city of australia:

Melbourne :


CBD area. the countless times i got lost amidst its buildings even though they were few and the streets were laid out in a grid!


southbank and the yarra river. i think of that one gloomy winter day having coffee with s, the grey giant clouds threatening to bring the city along with it


degraves street, and one of my favourite cafes in the city. when it gets very crowded you have working professionals milling around with cigarette and latte on the one hand, and a mobile phone on the other; and the bohemian types sitting on wooden crates in tubetops, jackie'O sunglasses, and a breakfast at tiffany debonair


the university of melbourne (ahhh...) - old arts (left) and law quad (right). how many times i've sat on the benches in front of the clock tower and read


anthropology and geography school. a lecturer there once gave me a C grade for a term paper accusing me of being a PAP apparatchik. i have since repented and reformed.


inside the old quad. leaning against the cold sandstone pillar while clad in comfy woollies and pondering the profoundest existential questions of life is one of the profoundest satisfactions one can derive from studying at this institution - that is, provided you have a propensity to ponder profoundly

Sydney:


the harbour bridge at sunset. i always wondered what's so fascinating about those gigantic steel structures while being fascinated by it


the famed opera house. likewise, i can never understand people's obsession with this clutter of faded, dated, aging seashells. i suppose architectural effects can be rather gestalt-ish.


st. mary's cathedral. when i took this picture there was a rainbow pouring through the fan of waters


the university of new south wales: john niland scientia building, where graduation ceremonies are held. when i visited as a tourist, who'd have thought i'd return eight months later as a student. life's endless surprises huh


its modern-ish buildings cant compare with sydney uni's (or unimelb's), but some pretty good research gets done here, they have a few rhodes scholars and nobel laureates already.


the business faculty, otherwise known as the asian money spinner. my word of advice to anyone wishing to experience a true university education is - never enrol in a business degree (unless you wanna do economics). hey i'm speaking from experience


the library, also one of the ugliest buildings in sydney. but they do have beautiful books inside, so it's all forgiven
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that's all the pictures for now, there're too many to put up and i don't wanna go figure out how to go the collage thing all over again (thanks, Apple). i'll try to keep you guys updated on what i'm doing as much as i can, and as you probably can tell, i seem much happier already - i am. i need to be re-acquainted with communal living. the art of making small talks and joining in activities i've not much interest in etc etc. i really just wanna be left alone to read my book. my next door neighbour, an architecture student, is also like that - i think we're just made for each other.

while i'm still rambling about universities, i'll put up the picture of the uni i'd most loooooooove to attend. when i drove through new england last october, i visited a few of the ivy leagues - just to stroll through their green lawns and hallowed halls - yale, brown, harvard, upenn, columbia, and none could match this sentient rush of vertigo this uni invoked - the prestigious, the secluded, the aristocratic, the elegantbeautifulravishingfantabulouslydazzlinglychokestoppinglyheartbreakinglygorrrrrgeousohhhhmyyyygorrrrrgeooooooussssssssss....


..... ahhhhhhhhhhhh.... dartmouth college