Ah... so, I have been attached to my old university since I have returned back to Australia as a teacher. And it has been such an honour to be able to be be trusted with the responsibility of helping shape and guide the next generation of musicians and music-lovers. Honestly, if you had asked me if this would have been on my list of expected outcomes when I was student... well, no... not at all. On the other hand, I have never really had a list of expected outcomes... just doing things as well as I can at the time, with no life goal other than being happy and engaged with what I was doing.
Anyway... the whole of the last year... apparently I was supposed to have had an staff ID card and security access. I sort of knew that I was supposed to... but I never really got around to it, and I figured out quickly enough how to get to where I needed to without a security pass and I never got questioned heavily by security.
It is quite a different atmosphere in the building than it used to be when I was a student... these days, everything is secured behind electronic pass doors and you need to book everything. Part of that comes from the fact that the School of Music lost control of most of the building to the University... which is a bit of a poop, seeing as the Music School is the primary resident and user of the facilities here!
Anyway, when I was a student... there was a dedicated security team in the building, so they all knew us by sight and name. There wasn't really an opening hours.... you just wandered in and wandered out at most vaguely civilised hours (just not between 0000-0600) and if you were inside in the middle of the night, then you either just let security know... or you just avoided the areas with security alarm sensors! In fact, most of us just lived in the building for the whole day... and it was quite a great atmosphere, with everyone socialising, practicing, rehearsing, and eating together. I really miss it a lot... these days, it feels a little bit sterile in comparison. On the plus side, the common areas are much less filthy...
So, I had spent most of last year just trailing through security doors and getting people to open things for me... or just knowing which doors tended to be unlocked/ajar! And then just chatting with security if I was in the "wrong" place. Apparently, that isn't really the way that I was supposed to do things as a responsible "adult" staff member... I didn't get in trouble, but it was suggested that I probably should get an access/security pass!
Actually, the biggest reason that I wanted a pass... well, it was so that I could access the library! So, I dutifully got a pass (my photo looks exactly like my... scruffy and like I've just woken up.... the service person asked if I wanted to redo it... I figured it was okay, I'm not sure that it would have gotten any better!).... went to a different building, got my security access... and finally went to the library to activate my library pass! YEAH!... Now, I'm going to wander around the building to see what doors I'm allowed to open or not... and to see if there is anything interesting behind the doors that I'm NOT allowed to open!
When I was wandering around to get my pass... the first stop was the University Grounds and Facilities department.... I didn't know where that was initially, I never had to go there as a student. As a student, you get your cards done elsewhere... but when I arrived, it looked quite familiar for some reason. As I walked out and went a different route to the next stop on my card tour... I realised why!
... it was just around the corner from the particle accelerator where I did my summer internship as a newly minted Science undergraduate (before I switched back to music). I would spend many mornings and afternoons just dawdling up the road with a coffee in hand... it was a really relaxed internship, and so I would have nice slow walks just admiring the scenery and lost in my thoughts! Just seeing the path up again brought back so many fond feelings from nearly two decades ago!
I have been avoiding it (actually... not enough spare time...), but I really should do a walk around the campus sometime. I will bring my kids as well... it has all changed quite a bit, but there will be so many places that will bring back fond memories of when I was just a young adult starting out into the world!
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