How do you do, fellow youths?
OUSA’s post-graduate representative (resident UNC) here, using up ink on a column you don't read. And you know what? Good on ya! Exercise that free will, read me or don't. You think I care? Well… maybe a little. Still, I’ll try to earn a minute of your reading time.
I’m supposed to write something vaguely insightful about student life, so here I go. A lot of people come straight from high school into uni and never quite shake that “do as you’re told” mindset. Understandable, but it also means you can end up wasting away what should be some of the best years of your life.
So here’s a little secret from an old fart like me: you’ve got more freedom now than you probably realise. If you’re tired of staring at the same four mouldy walls of your flat, sitting in the same itchy chair in Central that your parents likely sat in and thinking too hard about how words work, you should just go and do something.
Walk around the harbour, or visit the railway station and despair at the death of inter-city rail. Start drawing Peter Griffin on whiteboards around campus and commit to it like it’s your degree. Hell, I'm wearing an army helmet, and no one gives a bat! That said, a little self-preservation goes a long way. You don’t need to become a cautionary tale to prove a point.
So, put on your Sunday clothes. There's lots of world out there!
P.S. Please send help, I fell into the photocopier and have been trapped in this paper format. I think the copier’s made a papier-mâché version of me and is now walking around pretending to be me. If you see “me” walking around, that’s not me – that’s the paper copy. Spill water on it immediately.
Exercising free will (within reason),
Fergus Parks (forklift certified)
