So I’m back in Canberra now after several weeks in Sydney finishing up that education research project, and I’ve now moved out of my residential college with a couple friends to a house in Dickson. Funnily enough, I write this as I sit in a tutorial room in said residential college regardless, since
1. Free WiFi
2. It’s a great damn tute room.
Moving out has been quite the trial by fire though. Lots of fun and messy conundrums. Our first day in the new place we wanted to test our soil to check if we could do a veggie garden… which resulted in an exploding garden tap (not our fault!). Recently I put in a bidet on our toilet, after having wanted one for so long. It’s actually pretty great – would highly recommend. Would also highly recommend tightening any hose fittings to avoid unwanted leaks and flooded bathrooms…speaking from recent experience.
It’s incredibly rewarding though. I actually somewhat enjoy the whole cleaning thing – but maybe I’ll sing a different tune in a couple months.
In terms of courses though, I’ve been studying in advance for Analysis and Galois theory. I’m fully salient of the fact that no amount of preparation will make either course less painful though. On the plus side, I’ll have things to complain about on this blog. With thermodynamics, a machine learning project (which I’m wholly unprepared for!) and hopefully a small extension/side project for thermo with Prof. Howard on more plasma diagnostics, I’m honestly really excited for this semester.
This whole week I’ve been working at Questacon too, totalling I think 35 or so hours. We have a gallery at the moment called “Math-a-mazing”, which has been an awesome way for me to share how friggin’ cool maths is with kids, parents and fellow purple-shirts. There’s something special about the look on someone’s face when they realize “oh, this maths thing is actually really intricate and interesting!”. It’s a small win in moving away from the all too common misconceptions of mathematics as simply “crunching numbers”, and boring high school calculus. I’ve been thinking of making significant design suggestions for a lot of the exhibits, as well as writing up gallery notes for the staff. Man, I’m excited just thinking about it – there’s so much potential. Hopefully I get around to that before things get too hectic at university.
Really though, the whole moving-out-of-college, working heaps at an actual job, cooking, cleaning and all the rest of it kinda hit me recently, and made me realize that “oh, this is the next part of growing up!”
Weird feeling. Especially with the calm before the storm vibe of this fortnight before semester begins.
-A
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