West Side Story

As a fresh high school graduate, delving into university life at La Trobe is overwhelming, yet highly liberating. Despite the defeat you feel when your attention is glued to ‘Lost on Campus’ on your phone and you still get lost, simply being in the Agora makes you feel like you have the world in your hands.

Filled with the sounds of laughter and the singing of nature, student life on campus is truly unique. There is never a dull moment in our big little Bundoora campus community. I could continue and list all the amazing facilities and day-to-day proceedings of campus, but what good would that do? After all, knowing that there are over 50 buildings at La Trobe Bundoora does not justly express the student experience.

Here is what student life at La Trobe means to me. Travelling from the Western suburbs of Melbourne, studying in the North-East did not appeal to me, especially when all my friends were commencing their studies in Melbourne’s CBD. Most students are familiar with the area, so it seem as though everyone had a friend or knew of people already. But what really put the cherry on top is second-guessing your place in life and your studies. However as my first semester as a university student unfolded, I slowly realised that the name ‘La Trobe’ means more than just an education, or a place where it is pivotal to form a group of friends from the get-go. Instead, it’s a place that facilitates growth and development. It’s a place where old passions can be rediscovered.

I have the freedom and independence to take a walk with wildlife, study in the library, go for a swim, eat in the Agora or catch up with a club. La Trobe is a place for everyone. There really never is a dull moment at La Trobe, not only as there is an endless vibrance in the Agora, but rather because there is always a way to unwind from the pressures of life. And that is what I love most about being a student at La Trobe University.