First Few Days

The past few days have been a whirlwind so I apologize in advance for how long this post is going to be.

The plane ride was honestly one of the best I have ever had. I have the problem that I am never able to sleep on planes but thanks to a great family friend I was able to upgrade to business class and I slept really well. In business class, the seat turns into a bed which was super cool and allowed me to sleep most of the flight. The food was also really fancy and I even got to order from the menu which I have never done on a flight before.

When I arrived in Sydney around 9 o’clock; I was well rested and I made it through customs fairly easy. I caught a shuttle from the airport to my University and then waited to check into my room. That wait took a while and I ended up waiting around until finally getting into my room tired and grumpy around 2 o’clock. I unpacked and calmed down from the day. I love where I live. It reminds me of Brooklyn a little bit. Right outside my window is a view of the Sydney skyline and a beautiful oak tree. I always have the window open and love listening to the life of the city below me as I fall asleep. The rest of the day was spent meeting people in my apartment building and getting sheets at the local shopping center but I will talk about shopping here in Sydney a little later in the semester.

This is the view from my window 

The next morning I decided to explore. I had a map and was just going to go wherever the wind took me. I ended up walking to Darling Harbor. It was beautiful. I haven’t seen the ocean in a long time so it was kind of special to be walking and to smell the salt in the air and hear seagulls fighting over some fish before I even got to see the water.

Over the harbor is a massive bridge that you can walk over. When I was going over the bridge I looked down into the water and saw a moon Jelly about the size of my dog Chloe. Jellyfish are one of my favorite animals and it was my first time seeing one of them in the wild. I have yet to see a wild kangaroo but seeing wild jellyfish is still pretty special.

(I circled the Jellyfish so you can see it)

 I walked through downtown. The city is beautiful and relatively clean but I think the best way to describe it would be alive. The city always seems to be hopping. People are always going somewhere, usually fast, and usually in beautiful clothes. Again I will talk about the clothes of Sydney later in the semester. I walked past the Sydney tower which is kind of like the Space needle but it looks more like a pointy Q-tip.

Sydney tower

I stumbled upon St. Mary’s Cathedral which is gorgeous. It is longer than a football field and the ceiling was made out of this beautiful wood that was in a chevron pattern. I love exploring old churches.

St. Mary's 

Alright since you have ready a lot already and because I have gotten tired I am going to do this

...To Be Continued Bum Bum Bum!!!

Australian Fun Facts

So Yesterday I was just looking up odd facts about Australia and thought I would share.

1. There are 150 million sheep in Australia and only 20 million people. That means that there are about 8 sheep for every person in Australia.
2. There are over 60 different types of Kangaroos.
3. The longest fence in the World is in Australia and is 5,530 kilometers long.
4. Australia has 3 national frisbee teams.
5. The Great Barrier Reef has a mailbox. That’s right you can take a ferry out in the middle of the ocean and send a letter directly above the reef.
6. Over 1500 different species of spiders live in Australia.
7. Australia has the world’s largest population of camels with one hump.
8. The Sydney Opera House roof weighs more than 161,000 tons.
9. It is believed that 75% of Australian living species haven’t been discovered yet (I have no idea how they estimated this number).
10. The Box Jellyfish has killed more people than the stonefish (a super poisonous fish that can crawl on land), sharks, and crocodiles combined.

(This is one of my art pieces and isn't a box jellyfish but a Pacific Sea Nettle Jellyfish) 

Pre-Departure

When I was little, my mom used to read me a book every night before I went to bed. It was called “Hello Ocean.” The book was a poem about a little girl who spent the day admiring the beauty of the ocean. I was obsessed with the illustrations of the sparkling water and odd creatures who lived there. The ocean became my life. I ate up any information I could get my hands on about it. I collected countless books about marine life and spent many hours learning about the endless diversity the water held. I knew that in order to see this diversity in person, I had to go to the Great Barrier Reef. Australia became a key part of my dream. I was set on becoming a marine biologist, on one day getting to see the Reef, and the continent of Australia.

Over time, dreams change and as I grew up, I no longer had the drive to be a marine biologist. It can be challenging to keep that passion in a state that lacks water. I discovered that my calling was actually teaching but I never lost my love of science. Coming to college, I decided to major in elementary education with a minor in biology. All of my dreams of Australia and being a marine biologist were practically nonexistent any more, until I walked into a study abroad information session. I remember walking into the meeting, and my whole body filling up with a childlike excitement. It was the adventure that I craved and the place that I had long dreamed about. I could work on my biology minor while living out my dream of finally seeing the Great Barrier Reef and Australia. The dreams that I had as a child are finally coming to life. In less than two weeks, I will be standing on the continent that I have only dreamed about.

One objective for myself is to get over fears of taking risks and putting myself out there. I have always had the safety net of my family or friends from high school but going to Australia is like jumping when you can’t see the bottom. It is going to be scary being in a new place all by myself. I am hoping that taking the training wheels off and seeing how I react to being in a different social setting will help me get over some of my social anxiety. That by ripping the bandaid off, that I will grow stronger, braver, and that I won’t be more confident in myself when I return to the United States. I want to be confident and strong and I am hoping this adventure will help with that.

Another objective is for me to learn about a culture that I know next to nothing about. Australia, being so far away has kind of always been a mystery for me. I love to learn about different cultures and am looking forward to embracing this culture. I want to experience as much as I can. I plan on taking in a lot of the customs and not being afraid to put myself out there to learn more. Saying yes to social situations that would usually scare me and getting to see the life of the Australian people is a main goal of mine. I have been blessed to be exposed to a variety of cultures in the United States and have gotten to travel to see other cultures but this is an entirely new experience for me and I am excited to learn.

I am anticipating traveling a lot when I am not in class. I have always loved to travel and am hoping to do a lot of traveling around Australia and to the neighboring islands. It has always been my dream to go to the Great Barrier Reef and to hug a koala and I am planning on doing both. I plan on doing the whole tourist thing a bit but I also want to know the real Australia. The part of the country that most tourists don’t get to see. I am hoping that the extra time there and making friends with locals will help me get to understand the culture of Sydney.

I am also anticipating really liking living in a city setting. I have never lived in a city, I always grew up in small towns but I have been to larger cities and have always loved them. I am looking forward to being part of the culture of Sydney and being part of the exciting atmosphere. I know Sydney has a rich music and art scene and I am happy to get to be part of those scenes.

I know that there will be challenges. I am leaving behind a great group of friends and it will be hard to leave them for such a long time. I have a great family that has always been my support system and communication will be hard. I am anticipating homesickness to be pretty bad. I will be in an unfamiliar place and the new style of life will be an adjustment for sure. I am sure things will be lonely at first because I won’t have very many friends. It will be like starting freshman year all over again, which is really exciting but is also scary and could be a challenge if I don’t make friends quickly. I also anticipate there might be a pretty big culture shock. Getting used to the customs and different ways of doing things might take me a couple weeks to get used to and I anticipate that it will be frustrating at times.

Other than the biology I am learning in my studies, I hope to learn about the aboriginals. I think indigenous people are always fascinating. I know that there is some tension and I am hoping to learn more about the people and compare their situation to the situation of our own indigenous people. I also hope to learn more about the wildlife and unique habitat of Australia. I have always had a passion for biology and islands have particularly interesting biology so I hope to study this and see the unique atmosphere that the island provides. I intend to go to a lot of zoos and aquariums because that is where my passions lie.

Australia is home to a very diverse community. It has a lot of influence from Europe and Asia but it also has a rich Aboriginal history. From my research, I have learned that this produces a very unique culture of food, dance, and music. Like America, it is a melting pot of culture. It is fairly accepting of most people but there is a lot of racism towards the indigenous people of Australia. The LGBTQ community is very accepted which will be very interesting to see and to compare with the LGBTQ rights in the United States. There is a wide range of belief systems; however, the majority of the population is Christian with a large Catholic community. This will be very interesting for me as I am Catholic, it will be very exciting to see my own faith in a different culture and to compare it to Catholics in the United States. Australia has a strong mixed economy that is focused on service and mining. It is an island which results in higher island prices sometimes so it will be interesting to see the differences in prices compares to the United States. They also don’t typically give tips so that is something that I will have to get used to as the United States is a large tipping community.

I am blessed to be able to have this opportunity. How many people are going to get to live out a childhood dream? Two years ago I started going to a school that supports dreams like this. NAU has allowed me to be able to explore the world and become a better person because of it. I am lucky because I have a great support group of friends and family and I am getting the opportunity to live out my dream. I will get to see the Great Barrier reef that has fascinated me for so long. I will get to hug a Koala. I will get o to see evolution at work in one of the best places to study biology in the world. I get to explore the world and take classes for my minor at the same time.  I have been so blessed and while I know there will be challenges I am so excited for this adventure to begin.