The great first day
After all, the Quad was a great place to be lost in, every path ended in a class, a corridor or a gateway.
On my first day, I walked directly into the picture that had inspired me to apply to the University of Sydney: the Quadrangle 一 affectionately known as the Harry Potter building. The huge square lawn was divided by the two crossing paths and surrounded by the sandstone castle-like structure, placed like a crown amidst the Camperdown Campus. I took a hesitant step into the corridor where the sun’s morning slant plunged it in an abstract light and shadow aesthetic. Holding the little piece of paper which I’d torn from my diary earlier this morning, I looked at the scribbled address: Quadrangle S233–Approaches to Genre.
There were a few students around. Some of them were sitting on the little wall separating the green lawn from the sandstone corridors, others were leaning against the wall in the shade reading a book, working on a laptop, or conversing expressively with a friend. It looked like an image straight out of the glossy pages of the prospectus, only warmer and livelier.
After five minutes of wandering around looking at the picturesque place, I refocused my attention to finding the class. There was a group coming over from the other side with two girls in orange university t-shirts, guiding the new students who couldn’t help but crane their necks to look at the historic sandstone structure. Fortunately, the group decided to take a break, I walked up to one of the tour guide and asked,
“Excuse me, hi, do you know where S233 is?”
“Hey, let me see if I can find it—” She walked over to the map showing rooms in the east wing, the one where we were standing. “It could be upstairs—but I’m not sure. Sorry.”
“Thanks, I’ll take a look.”
She smiled and gave me a thumbs up before going back to her group. Despite her uncertainty regarding the whereabouts of S233, she did enlighten me about the fact that there were floors in the Quadrangle.
The stairs were lit by stained glass windows depicting biblical or historical figures with Latin and English quotes beneath their feet. Wow, I whispered as I climbed up to the first floor corridor. The first room on the left was a professor’s office with open doors. It looked exactly like the ones in movies with an aesthetic overload of stuff: mostly books and papers interspersed with unique knick knacks as per the owner's personality. The professor was a kind-looking man with salt pepper hair and round glasses. He caught me hovering by his door and smiled,
“Yes?”
“I’m sorry to disturb you. I'm looking for the Approaches To Genre class in S233, would you know where that is?”
“Most literature classes are usually held in the south wing. That’s on the left side from here.”
“I’ll go look there. Thank you so much.”
“No worries.”
Back in the Quad corridor, I wondered if everyone struggled in finding their classes. After all, this campus was huge! No wonder there were student-led tours to show the new batch around. But since I was alone in my exploration, I turned left and tried to follow the professor’s directions. There I saw a guy with the friendliest smile enter from the nearby shadowed dome entrance. He walked in the relaxed manner of someone who knew his way around.
As they say, third time’s a charm, so I took the chance and asked him, “Hi, excuse me, do you by any chance know where S233 is?”
“Oh, um.” He looked a little surprised as he responded, “Let me check.”
He typed something on his phone and shook his head,“It doesn’t show up on Google Maps.”
“I know, that’s why I am asking people.”
He clicked his phone shut and smiled. “Actually, I’m also looking for my class which started 10 minutes ago.”
“Oh I am sorry–-” I started to say, but he waved his hand, shaking off the apology like a stray leaf.
“It’s alright, you’ll probably see me again, walking around still searching for it.” I chuckled. “Good luck then.”
“You too!” He smiled, picked up his phone and walked away.
Looking back, it was the first time I’d ever seen someone wearing their lostness with such ease, as if being late or being lost didn’t matter. After all, the Quad was a great place to be lost in, every path ended in a class, a corridor or a gateway. Over the course of my studies, I would often come here just to walk around and be present. Whenever I watched the Quad silhouetted against the setting sun from the Fisher Library, it reminded me of all that it took to get here. It almost became a ritual for me to look at the Quad when I was feeling out of place. The golden structure always seemed to respond with, “You do belong.”
But it all started with the first day. When wandering from corridor to corridor, asking around, I got to experience the feeling of being a new student in its sensory richness 一 the cool breeze rustling through the leaves of the Jacaranda tree, the golden sunlight warming the sandstone Quadrangle, the lively curiosity of the new faces, and the smiling reassurance of the old ones painted the perfect picture of my commencement as a USYD student.
And for all those still wondering, I did find my classroom eventually.