Meet our July graduates: Peter Appleby

One moment can set a life in an entirely new direction – at least that was the case for Arts graduate Peter Appleby.

“I didn’t know what I wanted to do before I came to ANU,” he said.

“When I was signing up for classes I went to an open day presentation on linguistics and the guy was talking about puns.

“And that was basically me in and sorted.”

“I really enjoyed the first year class and kept going from there.”

More than five years on from that fateful presentation Appleby is graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Linguistics and Philosophy (Honours) and plans to spend the rest of his life studying languages.

“It’s a really interesting, rich and deep field. I really like learning about the way people communicate and the way that reflects their thought processes,” he said. 

For his honours thesis Appleby travelled to Northeastern India to study the Hmar language – a confronting experience for someone who had never left Australia before.

“It was definitely different,” he said.

“It was rough. There was a lot of culture shock but basically it was a very rewarding experience.”
Appleby said the travel bug has caught on and hopes to complete a PhD in Europe or North America. He will leave ANU with fond memories. 

“It’s been really good, positive in just about every way,” he said.

“The campus is beautiful, everyone is really friendly. It’s been a fantastic time.” 

 

VIDEO: A passion for puns has served linguistics student Peter Appleby well. He talks about some of the highlights of studying at ANU.