Manning House (University of Sydney) is my recent hiding place on Tuesday afternoons. Every Tuesday evening we have a PhD-student led seminar: each student presents their progress for an hour, and a short Q&A session ensues. I have already done mine, but I would still find time to attend other classmates’ talks – it’s a fantastic experience to know what your classmates are working on. Here I have a few fellow classmates working on Appraisal and academic discourse, so now I know who to talk to if I need some fresh perspectives. And as I said, you need a fresh mind after working for a whole day. It’s also a valuable chance to get my brain processing as my classmates deliver their presentations!

A few hours before the seminar I would be working in the Manning House student canteen. I have some nice ambient background noise here for concentration. The brightness is about right – a blend of the orange fluorescent lights and natural sunlight from the football pitch. What adds to the advantages of “hiding” here is no wifi for outsiders. My devices cannot get access to eduroam at USYD so I don’t have to think about checking emails.

Just an irrelevant footnote: Manning House organises regular music gigs and concerts. I went to Mew’s concert here in December 2015. This uni is fantastic!