Entry 15

Classes are finally over, and exams are two weeks off. I leave tomorrow for New Zealand, and will be there for ten days! This weekend was the Sydney Writers festival so I got the chance to go to three events in Town Hall, and Walsh Bay, featuring internationally acclaimed authors. Hearing people talk about their books was really inspiring. Friday night I heard lectures on topics of normalcy and etiquette, both of which were fueled by excellent wit and humor. Being a writer is about observing, but also about getting on the inside of a topic and fully understanding it. One of the most moving points of the night was a discussion in the first talk about the deaf community. I’ve written a few papers on Cochlear Implants, after taking three years of American Sign Language in high school, and one author spent years interviewing families and researching the threat this new technology poses on deaf culture. Most deaf children are born to hearing parents, who typically choose the route of cochlear implant operation. As more and more children assimilate into the hearing world with this device, the deaf community shrinks. Some people probably believe this is an amazing chance for deaf people to live the way hearing people do, but there is a loss. The Deaf community has a culture totally of its own; a language, theatre, literature… but now it’s losing its next generation. One thing studying abroad has made me more aware of, is how different people are, but also how amazing it is when we work together. My International Business class has taught me a lot about the differences between cultures and their values. Globalization doesn’t always happen smoothly, but it does give us a great opportunity to practice respect and courtesy when we meet people different from ourselves. I think traveling encourages more traveling, and now that I’ve lived for an extended time in another country I’m more eager to see the entire world and meet different people. I have gotten homesick, and miss my family and America a lot. I’m ready to enjoy my last month here, finish exams, and head back home to my side of the world.

Entry 14

Today is the start of my last week of class. All of my group projects have been finished and now its time to start prepping for finals. My first exam is accounting on June 12^th, and my other three exams are on the weekend after. I can’t believe next month will be the end of my junior year of college. UNCW has been a great place to learn over the three years I’ve been there, and I’m really grateful they supplied this opportunity for us students. This past weekend I decided to keep exploring Sydney, because there is so much to experience without doing any traveling. Saturday morning I went to the Sydney Museum of Contemporary Art in darling harbor. I saw some great instillations and a few really stirring sculptures. From the rooftop I could see ships sailing around the opera house, and ferries leaving the circular quay docks. It was exceptionally sunny, so I got lunch at a café near Town Hall and then walked to the Chinese Gardens of Friendship. Being in the Asia-Pacific region of the world, there are many Asian influences in Australian culture. Chinatown is a bustling suburb further down the harbor with very busy markets and distinct Asian architecture. The Chinese Gardens are very serene. Two lakes, draped and encircled with willow trees, floating lily pads, and ripples caused by swooping cranes landing on the placid surface. Red painted meditation huts were set up all around the shores, shrouded by bamboo forests, and mossy boulders. After a few hours of afternoon strolling I headed back to Parramatta and finished reading another book.

Entry 13

Sydney is actually starting to get chilly. Since it’s in the southern hemisphere Australia is going through autumn while America is in spring. It never gets below freezing in Sydney, but now that its May its too chilly for shorts in the evening. Most students here are just starting to make plans for their winter break— I booked my trip to New Zealand and I can’t wait to travel to another new country. This past weekend I visited the Sydney Aquarium and got to see a ton of fish, sharks, and other aquatic animals. The platypus is one of the strangest animals I’ve ever seen— a nocturnal marsupial with the bill and webbed hands of a duck, but the tail and body of a beaver. When the first one was exported from Australia to Great Britain for genetic analysis at a zoology university, the scientists thought a prank was being pulled on them. The cuttlefish was one of the most surprising fish I saw because its mastery of camouflage is even beyond a chameleon. My favorite exhibit had to have been the octopus, because I think they are the coolest of any animal. Octopuses have three hearts, a beak like a bird, and are the most intelligent invertebrate in the world. Instead of having a central nervous system like humans, Octopuses distribute their neurons evenly. This means each arm has a mind of its own and even after detached from its body, an octopus arm will still hunt and attempt to feed a mouth that’s no longer there! Mexican food is not popular in Australia at all, but I found a burrito joint near my gym that’s almost as good as Chipotle (almost). Besides Mexican food I also miss southern brunch foods, and good home-cooked meals. Portions are smaller in Australia, a large coffee here is the same size as a small in America. While obesity doesn’t seem nearly as bad here as it does in the US, Australians are very critical of their countries health. The local government runs commercials fairly regularly to advertise federally funded weight loss/ healthy eating programs. Smoking surprisingly seems more common here, and after doing two research projects on the domestic and international wine industries I can say for a certainty that Australians drink more than Americans.

Today has been hard not being in America because I wish I was able to celebrate Mothers day with my favorite woman in the world. There are a lot of influential mothers and grandmothers in my life, but I’ve always looked up to my Grandmom, my Grandma, and my Mom. I hope everyone appreciated the mothers in their life this week.