Over the past several days, I have been attending the international postgraduate student orientation at The University of Sydney, and while I would consider myself privileged to have been in and around diverse communities before, I can confidently say that I have never seen so many people from so many different places. There were students from countries that would obviously be attracted to the university given their geographic proximity: from places like Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, China and India. There were students who were representing nations that would presumably be attracted to the university given its western intellectual tradition and cosmopolitan location: from places like the U.S., England, France, Switzerland, and most of the states in Europe. And then there were students from places that I struggled to locate on my mental globe: from places like Kazakhstan , Serbia, and Bulgaria; not to mention students from nations like Iraq and the Congo who- given their current geopolitical situation- didn't seem likely candidates to export their students to a place like Australia.
I was astounded. And what made the day even more incredible was the opportunity to talk to some of these people. For example, I had dinner last night with a student from Dubai who also happens to be studying Public Policy. She and her husband, who is attending the University of Technology Sydney, moved to Australia about six months ago and are here because they were both awarded national scholarships by the government of the United Arab Emirates. Truly, I have never been around such a sundry group of people.
Meanwhile, Callie has concluded her first week of classes, and I must say that, judging by what she brought home, things went quite well. In addition to two different kinds of scones, she made madeleines, friands, genoise, and gateau weekend. Now, I haven't the vaguest idea what those items actually are, but I certainly know that they tasted good. At the same time, we have been preparing to move into our apartment this upcoming weekend. Without class today, Callie travelled to IKEA with Kathy to modestly and inexpensively furnish our new living space, and no thanks to IKEA's deficient notion of customer service, it appears as if our furniture should be delivered tomorrow.
With a place to live and a few things to go in it, we are feeling just about settled, and while we will absolutely miss the Blahuts, it will be nice to have a place to ourselves. So . . . it's off to moving this weekend and starting lectures next week. With a little extra effort, I think I was finally able to confirm my coursework for this semester, which includes classes in Asia Pacific politics, governance and civil society, Australia in diplomacy, defense and trade, and global environmental politics. Unfortunately, most of the lectures meet in the early evening but I am excited about the course material, and it should be an enjoyable semester amidst an unbelievably populous and multi-cultural student body.
4 comments:
Wilson--I shuddered to think that you didn't know where Mongolia was. You have heard of Genghis Khaan, I hope.
Ikea furniture, in my experience, is a challenge, especially if anything has to be assembled, or worse yet, connected to a wall (the holes for screws are based on the distance between European studs, and the distance between studs in the US is different). Lots of patience is required, so keep that in mind.
Beth
It was a bit of hyperbole- I do know where Mongolia is but it was meant to be illustrative of how diverse the University is, and yes, I am familiar with Genghis Khan.
I love that you're going to school with a little United Nations. It should make public policy classes that much more interesting. And it's excellent that you get to benefit so much from Callie's education.
The image with this post reminds me of Oxford...does it look like that to you?
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