2009 on campus

O-Week. Not my favourite time of the academic year. It's fun if you're involved in some way, but less so when it's just about large groups of people milling about the entrance-ways to all the buildings I want to go in and out of, and when all the parking spots are gone by 9am.

But I do like the energy. The feeling of a fresh start, the unknown. It feels like a second New Year's. When I was walking to my office this morning I had a fleeting moment where I remembered how I used to feel on my first day back after the summer as an undergrad...thinking about where to go and what the classes were going to be like, and whether I'd lucked out with the tutors I'd ended up with, how had the uni changed over the summer, were there any new lunch or coffee places.

And this year the uni has changed heaps over the summer. Two new cafes, a re-vamped courtyard area, and lots of landscaping and benches and shady areas. It's quite nice really. My regular cafe on campus has gone downhill of recent months after they lost some of their regular staff, so I didn't feel like a traitor when I tried one of the new places this morning. Good coffee, still the same fairtrade brand as my usual. Lots of cheapish lunch options by the look. Some good value morning combos, which no doubt will go up in price once they suck as all in, but for the moment they are bargains. Pleasant atmosphere. And they call your name when your coffee is ready, rather than your number. I love that.