Written by Luke Gibson
In mid 1983 I rode my BMX bike a couple of kilometres to a record shop on a Saturday morning to buy Billy Joel’s “An Innocent Man” on vinyl. I was 12. I knew I needed to do the transaction before lunch time, as the record shop was only open from 9am until 12pm. At that time, when shops weren’t open after midday Saturday and closed all day Sundays it maximised family time. In the intervening years, stores started opening longer and now we operate in a virtual 24/7 society.
One of the many drawcards of Charles Sturt University was the opportunity to study over the summer break. That would make it a 365 day education process, with a few breaks thrown in. Doing my research, Semester 1 was called Session 1, Semester 2 was called Session 2, and there was this magical opening into a super exciting Alice-In-Wonderland-style universe called Session 3. Oh, the possibilities!
How romantic would it be to hang out on the deck reading about neurotransmitters, the Medulla oblongata and Positron Emission Topography from the Psychology 101 subject while I heard the unequivocal joy of my wife and our 10 year old boy frolicking in the pool! It’s like I could get a secret subject nailed before the “real Uni” started up again.
Looking forward, it’d mean getting closer to the ultimate goal of completing my Bachelor of Social Science (Psychology) much sooner. With three subjects successfully completed in 2025, and just a mere 13 left to go after taking into account my credits from last year’s Diploma in Counselling, I could finish at least a year earlier than planned, just by doing the summer subject sessions.
I was torn though. 2025 was admittedly exhausting and I felt I needed, in fact deserved, a break. The demands of University as a mature age student in my 50s, a job loss in the first half of the year where unemployment went on for more months than anticipated, and the daily fallout of exhaustion stemming from a chronic autoimmune disease, meant that I was ready to fall in a heap. It seemed a major miracle I’d been able to survive my first year of Uni virtually intact.
Eventually I made the choice: I would forego that mystical Session 3, and explore its hidden treasures in 12 months time. A few days after making the decision, I promptly signed up for two separate creative courses to take place over December and January. Less than a handful of hours work each week was a pretty good way I thought, to spend the first two months of summer.
But there’s been lots of advantages in making the decision to have this season off studying from Uni: reorganising the garage, reading much put-off books, and attempting to remove those tiny hairs at the entrance to my ears. They’re really stubborn! More widely I’ve been able to make the time to take in spectacular sunsets, spend precious moments in the pool (and not on the deck studying), and engage in a couple of triathlons.
The beauty of the set up at Charles Sturt in offering a Session 3 is that you have the choice in how quickly or not so quickly you finish your degree. It’s your choice. And that’s empowering. Now, sorry Charlie editors – I’m heading back into the pool!
Charlie blog is a SSAF funded initiative.
