Preparing For Reverse Culture Shock

Well, my time here in Australia is rapidly coming to an end and everything seems bittersweet. I’m consciously trying to mentally take in everything around me so that I’ll remember it when I go back home. However, I don’t really feel like it’s the end of my time in Australia because I’m going to be coming back here in a year to live. I just wish that I didn’t have to leave… but I guess it’ll make coming back so much better.

On the good side, my girlfriend El just bought her plane ticket to come to America in December to visit me. That’s going to be a LOT of fun! She’ll finally be able to see where I come from, where I live, meet my family, etc. I’m excited for that. To quote her, “I feel like this is the beginning of something really special.” I like her a lot and I’m happy that she reciprocates my feelings enough to invest her money and time into coming to visit me halfway around the world. That shows a lot of dedication, and it makes me mentally secure about trying to maintain a long distance relationship. I think we’ll be able to manage it.

After this Friday, I will be completely done with my academic duties here in Australia and I will have two weeks off to do touristy things like going to the zoo, the aquarium (where I want to work next year),  koala park, museums, etc. I will also be spending a lot of time with El because I won’t be able to see her again for 5 months.  I think I’ll be pretty anxious during the two weeks because I know that I’ll be leaving soon, which always sucks. I’m actually looking forward to going back to America to see the Georgia Aquarium and to start working and make some money. For the first time in about 4 years, I know what I want to do and I’m comfortable with my position in life, and I’m motivated to start actively working towards my goals. With next year being my final year of uni, I can see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel and I’m excited at the prospect of being out on my own in the working world making money. I’m tired of being broke!

Well, that’s all for now! If anyone actually reads this blog and wants a souvenir from Australia, just write a post and tell me what you want. I can get you anything from a simple Aussie flag to a kangaroo testicle bottle opener. Yes, they have those here.

Some more pictures

Tommy More quad

UWA pathway

Cottlesloe Beach

Sarah and Meagan

Perth skyline

Essay madness

Sorry it’s been so long since my last post. I’ve been EXTREMELY busy with all those essays I mentioned in previous posts. And the worst is yet to come. I still have to write 8,000 words worth of essays in the next 5 days!

Since last time, I went to Margaret River for holiday. That was a lot of fun and very refreshing. Also, very informative! I know a lot about wine and wine tasting now, and I’ve definitely developed a new appreciation for it. In fact, I’ve had quite a bit of it since that trip, haha. Also, I finally got to see kangaroos! Now I can cross that off my list of things to see in Australia!

The semester is nearly coming to a close. I’ve got about a week and a half left of classes, then a week off for studying, then two weeks of finals. So, I’ve got about 4 1/2 weeks left. That sounds like a long time, but it’s going to go very quickly!

I have to say that I’m VERY torn on what I want to do. I feel so incredibly at home here in Perth that I have decided that I am DEFINITELY moving back here after I graduate. That’s the problem though… now I don’t want to leave! If it wasn’t for the fact that I have one more year of college left back in the US, I would just stay here. Like, if I had come here last year, I probably would have just quit college and stayed here for awhile. But I’m SOOOO close to the end of college that I can taste it, and I don’t want to quit now! But now I’m in this wierd limbo stage where all next year I’m just going to want to come back here! I know that I am going to miss this place so much…

The hardest part about is that EVERYTHING I could want, I have here. Before I left, my dad told me, “Josh, your mother and I talked about this – and if you meet a really nice girl and you find a really good job… I think we’re ok if you don’t come back.” Well Dad – I have found both of those, but I’m still coming back. But ONLY because I promised Mom that I would finish college! There’s a really nice aquarium here called AQWA (Aquarium of Western Australia) and there is a position open there for a tour guide/public educator, which I’ve found out through the course of this semester that I would love doing. And I know that I could get the job, because of the things I did last semester. I made a mock resume and I was just looked at it and said to myself… “damn, I’d hire me!” I was quite impressed by all the things I had to offer. I always find myself talking about fish and coral amongst friends. When I was in Margaret River, we stopped at a town called Busselton and they had the longest wooden jetty in the Southern Hemisphere there. At the end of the jetty, there was an underwater observatory, where there was all kinds of coral, sponges, fish, etc. I convinced the guys to down into with me and they were awestruck at how cool it was. I got all excited, like a little child, and started spurting out random bits of information to them about fish and stuff… I think they were impressed

I am pretty sure that I could re-apply to IU’s Overseas Study program and get accepted into UWA again and just finish my university here, through UWA, and get my IU diploma. But, that would take a lot of time and effort, and it would just be much easier to finish it in Bloomington.

But the hardest part about this whole situation is my relationship with El. The girl is absolutely amazing and we have the greatest times together. I like her A LOT and I am going to be really sad when I have to leave. I definitely want to be with her, but it’s just not realistic considering the time I will be gone and the distance between us. I know that some people can do long distance relationships, but I’m just not one of them! We’ve been having a lot of really emotional conversations lately about what we plan for the future, and it’s really hard to accept the fact that once I get on the plane back to America, things will never be the same between her and I. Even when I do come back to Australia, things will be different and nothing is guaranteed – and I’m having a really hard time coming to grips with that. I’ve thought about staying here hundreds of times just to avoid that, but I know that it’s not the responsible thing to do. But the greatest risks bring the greatest rewards, right? Sometimes I tell myself that I have all my life to finish college, but this could be my one chance to have the perfect life with an awesome girl… am I willing to give that up for one frustrating year in college? I know that nothing is guaranteed with her – couples break up all the time – but how will I ever know unless I try? I have a feeling that I’m going to wonder what could have happened with her for a very long time

I just hope that a college degree is really worth it. When I’m on my death bed, I better not think “man, I wish I had stayed in Australia instead of going back to America for my senior year”… I hope I think “man, getting my college degree was the best thing I ever did”

My New Year’s Resolution for this year was to do everything that i’ll regret when i’m 40, and to do everything that i’ll look back on when i’m 40 and be glad that i did. So far, I got a tattoo. Oh yeah, I guess I hadn’t mentioned that on here before… I have a tattoo. It’s on my back – I’ll post a picture of it later. That’s one crazy thing down!  Where I’m going with this is…. I constantly think about whether coming back to America will fall under “doing everything i’ll regret when i’m 40″ or “be glad that i did it when I’m 40″. I REALLY want to take a chance in life and stay here. For the last couple years, I’ve felt like I’m in this awkward in-between stage where I’m not a child, but not an adult… and I just want to get started on the rest of my life. I want a place of my own, a job, financial independence, etc. I just want to start living on my own and start my life! I feel like I’m just in a practice session right now and the real thing hasn’t started yet… and I feel like if I just said “fuck school, i quit” and started my life here doing something cool like carpentry (they have awesome apprenticeships for labor jobs here, and they get paid really well) then my real life would begin and I would be happier.

But then there are those fleeting moments where I know that it’s more responsible to go back to IU and finish my degree. For example, I had a dream the other night where I was at my graduation ceremony at IU and I woke up with the most satisfying feeling I’ve had in years. That was the final straw that made me decide once and for all, that no matter how shitty i’m going to feel coming back to America, it’ll all be worth it when I have my diploma. There are two things that are going to make it worth all the heartbreak and the feeling of not belonging that I will have when I come back to IU to graduate: the satisfaction of setting a lofty goal and achieving it, and the look of pride and satisfaction that my parents will have seeing me in a cap and gown. Those two thoughts keep me motivated. I want to feel proud of myself for achieving something that most people in the world don’t get to experience (graduating from college) and I want to hear my parents say they’re proud of me for doing it too. I think the second thing is more important to me at this point, to be honest. I just want to see them have the same feeling of pride and accomplishment when I graduate as when Jeremy graduated. But to be honest, I think they should be more proud of me than him. We all know that Jeremy’s an incredibly smart man and he loves being academic, so it wasn’t really a shock that he was going to graduate college with all kinds of awards and honors, and most likely continue his education later on. However, I’m not an academic and I don’t think I’ve ever really been one. Sure, I have the brains and the potential to be just as smart as Jeremy, but being in a classroom just doesn’t stimulate my brain the way it does for him and I don’t really feel in my element when I’m studying in college. I’m a hands-on, love-the-smell-of-sawdust, can’t-wait-to-build-something kind of guy. I would LOVE being a carpenter or a contractor because I could see the results of my labor at the end of the day, and that’s the sort of thing that makes me excited and feel fulfilled. I don’t care about statistics and biological theories… I want to make something, or build something, or draw something. I guess I always saw myself graduating from college because that’s what everybody expected of me – but I’m just not an academic. That’s why I think it should be more special for my parents when I graduate than when Jeremy did… because even I didn’t think I would at some points in time. I know that I could have quit thousands of times already, and I’ve thought about it just as many times, but that’s what will make it so much sweeter when I actually do get to graduate. And I hope that my parents appreciate that I stuck in there and earned my degree, even though it won’t be as impressive how Jeremy did. To me, just having my diploma will be enough reward – I don’t need a lofty gpa or honors… and I hope that my parents understand that!

Well, in time, this will all work itself out. But in the mean time, I have to go watch the Champions League final match – Liverpool v. AC Milan. Liverpool was the team that I picked to win about two months ago, so I hope all goes well!

‘Til next time! Oh, and I’ll be adding some photos soon, now that I have a sweet-ass new digital camera!

ANZAC Day

Today is ANZAC Day here in Australia, which means one thing: no school! I am definitely excited about that because it gave me the entirety of the day to rest. I have been feeling a bit under the weather for the past couple days and I really needed to get a lot of sleep. I originally thought that I had strep throat, but a physician told me yesterday that it’s just a virus. So, I’ve been doing the normal things: drinking tons of water, resting a lot, etc.

For those of you that don’t know what ANZAC Day is, it’s similar to Memorial Day for Americans, in that it celebrates all the Australian and New Zealand soldiers who fought for their countries in Gallipoli, Turkey during WWI. The reason that it’s so special is that it was the first time that Australians fought and died for their country as an official Australian army, not as British soldiers or as Australian colonial soldiers. There is a holiday on January 26th called Australia Day which is supposed to be analogous to July 4th, but most Australians would argue that today, ANZAC Day, is more important to their national identity because of the significance of what happened.

This weekend is going to be a lot of fun. Carlos, Joe (Penn State), Aleks (Illinois),  and I are going down south to wine country (Margaret River). We are going to be leaving on Friday morning and coming back on Sunday night, and doing a lot of relaxing and cruising in the middle. We are planning on visiting several beaches (possibly surfing if the weather and my body permit it), going on a vineyard tour, and also talking a leisurely stroll down the longest jetty (i’m not sure about the spelling of that word; it’s a manmade dock/outcropping in a body of water) in the Southern Hemisphere. I’ve heard it’s about 1 km long. That should be interesting to see. I’m sure I will be taking a lot of pictures this weekend, so be sure to look out for them soon. Maybe I’ll see my first kangaroo since I’ve been in Australia! Yes, that’s right… I’ve been here for over 3 months and still haven’t seen a kangaroo. Disappointing, I know.

Well, it’s dinner time for me. I guess this is enough for now. Look for more next week, with pictures from this coming weekend!

Oh, and go Liverpool FC! (that’s a European soccer club if you didn’t know)

Some pictures, more coming later!

Spring Break, here I come!

Well, like most of my entries that will happen in the future, I am writing this one at night because I can’t fall asleep. I think I am just excited that next week is our week off, called “Easter Break” instead of spring break. It will give me the chance to catch up with all the work I’m behind on and also allow me to get ahead since school is going to get a bit more hectic in the coming weeks. I have a major paper to write in every class this semester, and they are all due around the same time, so I am hoping to get an early start on all of them that way I can chip away at them slowly and methodically instead of having to do 4 overnighters later on. Just like the tortoise, slow and steady wins the race…

I am debating on whether or not to go to Margaret River (wine country) for Easter Break because I… 1) don’t really have the money 2) could get a lot of work done 3) don’t really want to drink alcohol and let’s face it… it’s wine country. Chances are, I won’t go, but it would be nice to get away from college for awhile. A change of scenery would be nice, I have to admit.  Sometimes I get a bad case of cabin fever when I stay here at college too long. Every once and awhile, I just like to go up to King’s Park or down to Freo for the day, just to get away from everything.

One good thing about being here at college is that there is a big screen tv in the common room and there is always international students watching it around this time of night (12-2 am) because the Cricket World Cup is currently going on in the Carribean. It’s pretty cool to watch; I have to admit I am a fan of cricket now. Once you learn the rules, it’s a pretty cool game. I would even venture to say that it’s cooler than baseball… yeah, I said it. That was pretty unAmerican, but then again, I haven’t really been an American for almost a year now   Also, the Western Force (rugby union) are doing really well right now and I love watching their games. They’re in a league called the Super 14, which includes teams from Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. Right now, they’re currently 2nd out of the 14 teams, so they’re doing pretty well. And of course, I’m definitely getting into footy, a.k.a. Australian Rules Football. The season just started, so there’s plenty of time to watch their games. There’s actually two teams in the Perth area, so I get to watch twice as many games, although I’ve been told that I have to choose one team to support because it’s just not possible to cheer for both. I guess that would be like being a White Sox and Cubs fan… you just can’t do it. And also, I’ve also been instructed to never tell people that I “root” for one team, because “rooting” in Aussie slang means to have vigorous sex with someone, i.e. “I rooted that chick last night!” Just thought I’d let you guys know that fun little fact…

So, I filled out a bracket on facebook for the NCAA tournament this year, having only watched about 2 1/2 college basketball games all season. I did really well actually, but I guess everyone did well because this year’s tournament was pretty predictable and there weren’t any real major upsets. I got 73% of my choices right, including picking both Ohio State and Florida in the championship game and Florida winning. I was pretty close on the final score too, I said Florida would win 88-85, and I think the final score was like 84-72 or something like that. I actually came in 2nd out of all the people at UWA who filled out a bracket (mostly exchange students). The only person that beat me was my good friend here, Aleks, who goes to University of Illinois. I also got 13th in all of Australia, which is pretty cool.

Alright, well I guess it’s time for me to try to get some sleep again. I think I will sleep like a baby tomorrow night because I will finally be on break and be able to relax for a bit. Also, practically everyone from college will either be gone or getting ready to leave on Friday morning for the break, so college will be really quiet and sleeping won’t be a problem. And now that I borrowed an acoustic guitar from Sarah, I will be able to sit in the field and play guitar when I’m not doing work… yay! Well, goodnight everyone! Or should I say…. good afternoon?

My First Two Months, in a Nutshell

Due to the overwhelming amount of responses that Jeremy gets to his blog, and the constant questions and nagging I get from people back in the states about not hearing about my trip, I’ve decided to start this blog so that everyone will know what I am up to. I have a steady and reliable internet connection here, unlike in Bonaire, so I should be able to update this pretty regularly!

Ok, where to begin… Well, I got here on January 16th and for the first 5 1/2 weeks that I was here, I was pretty much on vacation. I spent a lot of time traveling around the city with friends that I met here to get to know my new surroundings. I went to the beach quite often, about 3 or 4 times a week, and I also did a lot of drinking alcohol. Haha sorry Mom and Dad, but I’m just being honest! It’s sort of hard to avoid here because unlike in the states, drinking alcohol is almost idolized here as a part of the Aussie lifestyle. In fact, it’s considered a manly thing to do, but not in the derrogatory connotation that it receives in the US. Well back to what I was talking about: I made quite a few really good friends here, in particular an Irish guy named Ronan who was here for a couple months for part of his med school. We became good “mates” (I’ll slowly starting using a lot of Aussie terms because it’s how I talk now…) and we have plans to meet up again sometime in the future, possibly on my return journey back to America. I also met a girl who I’ve been dating for approximately 6 weeks now who lives here in Perth, but is originally from England. Her name is Eleni, El for short, and she’s half-British and half-Greek, but all gorgeous What can I say, I’m a sucker for the Mediterranean look…

After the first 5 1/2 weeks,  school started and things changed a lot (I’ll refer to school as “uni” from now on, cause that’s what we call it here). The dormitory-style place that I’m living at, called a “college”, filled up with people. There are currently 174 people living here, whereas there was about 10 when I first came here a couple months ago. At first, I didn’t really like the change because I loved the guys I was hanging out with this summer. But since they moved back home (one to Ireland and the other back to Sydney) I had to find other people to hang out with. I’ve met some really cool people here, mostly Aussies, but some Americans as well, and one guy from El Salvador, Carlos, who probably took the place Ronan the Irish guy as my best mate here. Here is originally from El Salvador but has been here for a couple of years going to uni, so he knows everything and everyone around here. He’s a lot of fun to hang out with, because he knows what it’s like to be here from another country and he knows what kind of stuff we wanna do while we’re here. For example, he took me and some other Americans/Canadians to a micro-brewery/restaurant in Freemantle (shortened to Freo, it’s the port city just south of Perth) called “Little Creatures” and bought us some kangaroo kabobs. I have to admit, kangaroo is mighty tasty!!!

As for school, I am taking four classes here. Two are primarily based on the representation that Australia receives in the media and its cultural stereotypes, and the truths behind everything. One is a history class all about Aboriginal culture and the racism and injustices performed against Indigenous Peoples throughout the history of Australia. If you thought treatment against African-Americans was bad, you’re in for a shock! Lastly, I’m taking a class that fulfills part of my major requirement back home for my biology degree, Genetics w/ lab. So far, school has been quite interesting since I am taking classes about subjects I’ve never really learned about before. Also, the university is pretty laid back, so it has a different feel about it.

Well, I need to go eat dinner, so I have to cut this off right here. There will definitely be more later!

G’day!

This is my online blog for my 6 months in Perth, Western Australia studying at the University of Western Australia!