While awaiting my UCAS confirmation for whether I had procured a place at this illustrious school I happened to spend a term at Murdoch University in Australia. University in Australia, amazingly different than university here, actually embodies Australia’s greatest cliché as a laid back, sunny and ‘no-worries-mate’ country. At Murdoch there was little expectation that students would attend lectures, classes were not compulsory and, with its beautiful green surroundings, the atmosphere was almost mystical, so that one could imagine that Aboriginal ancestral spirits walked among us students.
By now you must have come to realize how unlike Murdoch is the city-locked LSE. Here the ethos, if I may put it crudely, is one of ‘more worries’. I have always dreamed of coming to the LSE, and for me it is the only place, save for Venice, that has met its story-book quality reputation. But the culture here is written for the driven and ambitious; there are positions to hold in societies, in the union, in the newspaper – it’s an unending spectrum of choice. And that’s not even mentioning how academically competitive students are; or, at least, that’s my impression as a second year law student. While Murdoch had a Guild President and accompanying officials, the campaigns for their election consisted of a few posters randomly thrown around the university as opposed to the pantomime of campaigners that crowd Houghton Street.
During Fresher’s Fayre in my first year I remember trying to find the Australian/New Zealand society stall, only to learn that it had been disbanded! A few months later though I met some Aussies and the token New Zealander who declared that it was ‘scandalous’ that the continent of Oceania didn’t have a presence on campus, and so we formed the ANZAC society. The term ANZAC alludes to the name given to the Australian and New Zealand armed forces that fought in the First World War. It is a term that every history student asociates with the sentiments of courage, camaraderie and patriotism. Now, trite as this may seem, in my moments of homesickness I sometimes feel that the Australian and New Zealand students in the society are like the ANZACS. Okay, I see that look of incredulity plastered across your face. I shall rephrase; we are one millionth of an ANZAC. Let me explain why I think my simile appropriate: our ‘patriotism’ was obvious in the way we stood hours in the rain, me revisiting my days as a cheerleader, screaming ‘join the Australian society’ and the guys doing the age old ‘Aussie, Aussie, Aussie’ chant (as you can see we kind of already forgot the New Zealanders!). Our ‘camaraderie’ is obvious in the way we spend a good amount of our time empathizing about our workloads at the Walkabout pub and we were ‘courageous’ in the way we played cricket on the patio above Temple Station, not paying attention to the disapproving glances cast our way by the passing Londoners. So you can see why I think LSE has its own ANZACS!
The diversity at the LSE is wonderful; half the Australians I know here I would never have met if I remained in Perth because, as it is often said, ‘more Australians go to Europe than they do to Perth!’ Studying at the LSE I’ve had the opportunity to hear Penny Wong speak, and the society got to meet with the Federal Treasurer, Hon. Wayne Swan – you know it’s dramatic irony when you have to leave your country to meet the country’s leaders! For me personally, the Australian society is an amazing thing. As President I must confess that we are not the most active society around but when we do get together it is just plain fun. At the international food festival this year we served kebabs, barbecue chicken and Pavlovas made with Sainsbury’s meringues and tinned berry compote; the evening before Suraj, from New Zealand, and I, went to buy a ton of ingredients, and spent a good three hours trying to create an Aussie barbie feel to the food. Upon failing, we enlisted the help of Amnesty President Divya, pleading help on humanitarian grounds (people will die if we burn the food). She came through and even created something she named ‘Bush-Tucker’s dip’.
The LSE has given me memories that will cheer me up on a rainy day; I will always remember my days with the ANZAC society, as well as all the other fun I had being on the C&S, committee, in the Green Party and the Inns of Court societies, singing for RAG charity week, dancing for ‘LSE’s Got Talent’ and even getting to recite my poetry at the Literature Society’s Poetry Open Mike night. I don’t think there is anywhere else on earth where I could have done all these things as well as gain a world class degree – LSE’s got to be the best!
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