Outback, Bruin demand group work, isolation from world

Hemesh Patel Patel served as a News staff
writer.  

Flies were everywhere. They were all over my face, my back, my
head and some even flew into my ear. Yes, this was the outback of
Australia. I went to Fowler’s Gap Research Station located in
the middle of nowhere, with 14 other students, two TAs and two
professors. We went there to conduct research on birds. The group
and I also studied ants ““ not the small kind, but large
species, the size of your pinky finger.

For three weeks, we all worked together, ate together and lived
together. We were isolated from the rest of the world and we became
a family. During the last few weeks after we returned to UCLA, our
final papers were due. Most of us stayed in the lab in the Life
Sciences Building all night long, taking a three hour break to
sleep. The work was hard, but rewarding in the end.

The experience reminded me of the Daily Bruin.

For three years, we all worked together, ate together and lived
together. We were isolated from the rest of the world and we became
a family. We weren’t in the outback, but we were in the
office all the time. We all worked for a common cause ““ to
get the paper out everyday.

Many of us would come in early in the morning and leave during
the late hours of the night, missing the opportunity to see more
than a few hours of daylight.

Some of my greatest memories were made in this office, topping
recollections of kangaroos, emus, outback formals and poetry night
in Australia.

The work was hard but rewarding in the end.

I couldn’t have done this without the support of my dad,
mom, sister, grandmother and the entire Indian crew ““ thanks.
Oh, and I forgot to mention the hello doll.

I end in a haiku:

The Daily Bruin

Working without food or rest

Turn in your story!