In the last two weeks in February, I worked on campus and it was a lot of fun. This is my third work visit to Wagga Wagga (fourth overall so I’m starting to get the lay of the land) so I thought I’d do a bit of a run down of what’s been like to work on campus.

I have an office. It’s crazy to me that a whole room with a desk, chair, bookcase, and various technology bits and pieces, is there and waiting for me. They’re going to put my name on the door and everything. I’m probably only going to be in that office a few times a year for a week at a time, but it’s nice to know that I have a ‘home’ in the building.

I have really enjoyed the collaborative conversations I was able to have with my colleagues. While we’ve been managing meetings on Zoom and Teams quite effectively, the incidental conversations that come from discussing ideas just don’t seem to happen. Being together in person has been great for developing subjects and tweaking assessment tasks.

Having to commute to work and back each day is not something I miss… While the peak hour traffic in Wagga was nothing on Brisbane (or other major cities), having to factor that into my day was certainly an adjustment after only needing to walk down the hall to my office for over a year.

Socialising with my colleagues outside of work was probably my absolute favourite thing about working on campus. Don’t get me wrong, I am incredibly introverted and recovery from working weeks on campus often takes days, but I really did enjoy getting to know my colleagues better and just hanging out. I’m already looking forward to our next visit!

I think I’ve landed in the best of both worlds with my current job. I have all the benefits of working from home with colleagues who know how to be collaborative and effective while working remotely, and I get to balance that out with full weeks of working in person with my colleagues where we have so much fun. It’s win-win, really!

*Feature image is a photo of my office on the CSU Wagga Wagga campus during my last visit in Feb, 2023*