I made this “made in the USA” bracelet because I thought it would be a meaningful item and represent where I come from. When I was younger I loved to make bracelets for my family or friends and give it to them as gifts. I ultimately gave my bracelet to a person named Stephen who worked at the Australian open. When we first entered the Australian Open we just got general admission tickets, but soon realized we could not enter the main arena where many of the famous players play and where they hold famous matches. As a result we wanted to update our tickets to be able to enter the main arena. When we approached the ticketing office I was hoping the upgrade would not be too expensive. We asked the person working there, Stephen, to upgrade us to the main arena. He then informed us that Serena Williams was playing that day, because he could recognize that we were Americans. We were so excited to hear that she was playing because we actually never even looked up the schedule! He could see the excitement in our faces which prompted him to ask us where we are from in America. Once I told him I was from around the New York City area he was so excited. He informed me that he had actually never been to America. I found this especially interesting because most of the Australians we previously met had at one time been to America, even if it was when they were little and could not remember. He informed me that he always wanted to travel there. I thought it would be a great opportunity to give him my bracelet in hopes he would always try one day to go to America! This experience was meaningful because he had given me a new opportunity to see Serena Williams play while I felt I was giving him hope to travel the world like we were currently doing. Unfortunately, the conversation and exchange was short and I was unable to get a picture due to the lines of people behind me, but I will never forget the appreciation he showed when I gave him my gift.

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The Australian Center for the Moving Image in Federation Square was amazing. I did not know what to expect going into the museum but it was so awesome to see the early stages of filming and how they filmed movies, to the technology they used to make video games, to now all of the high-technical advances they have made. The interactive exhibits were some of my favorite at the museum, especially the one that gave you the perfect side portfolio. It was also awesome to be able to play some of the games, such as Pong, that came out in our parents generation. There were many exhibits in the Australian Center fo the Moving Image that connected with our travels and course studies. One exhibit in particular included “Preserving Culture” which talked about how making Indigenous content for children’s television can actually help maintain the Indigenous culture and languages. These programs emphasize education, preservation, and story telling of the Indigenous people. This directly connects to the Tjapukai people we met in Cairns, Australia. Many of those who are aboriginal decent emphasize the importance of teaching the next generation so that their culture never dies and their stories can be spread. In this exhibit they specifically talked about the show Manyu Wana, which is basically similar to Sesame Street. The goal of this show was to teach children literacy and numeracy in their first language. This show especially highlighted the talents of Aboriginal filmmakers.  (more…)

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The Australian culture is definitely unique. I was intrigued by their slang words and different vocabulary, and loved getting to know each city. It was interesting how each city had its own culture and diverse people. Sydney was a large, expensive, and beautiful city, while Cairns was tropical and had a much smaller population, while Melbourne was an affordable, growing, and artistic city. One thing I thought was similar to many of the things we learned in the films was the aboriginal people. Many of the films we watched showed aboriginals living off of the land and with tribal members, such as in the Rabbit Proof Fence. This was strongly portrayed in Cairns when we visited the Tjapukai people. They often spoke about living off of the land and trading with surrounding tribes. They would use the land to make food, clothing, and baskets for themselves. Even though the berries and nuts were hard to figure out if they were poisonous or not they would test them on animals to see their reaction. Overall the aboriginals highlighted living off of the land, much of which the movies highlighted as well. Another similarity that I believe the films did a good job of representing is the Australian lifestyle. Many movies depict fact-paced city environment, although movies such as Crocodile Dundeedepict how Australians are often very laid-back, and not in a hurry. People spend their time eating and enjoying their company, instead of rushing and eating at the same time. This was especially apparent in Melbourne with all of the cafes.  (more…)

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The Melbourne city tour was a great way to see the unknown sites of Melbourne. This tour was so unique and very different than our previous tours that we did in Sydney and Wellington. I feel as though many visitors do not get to explore or see much of the hidden beauty of the city. I enjoyed how each alley you went down was actually a hidden secret filled with amazing restaurants and shopping. One thing I learned along this city walking tour was how much pride locals take in their street artwork. I feel as though in many other cities, especially in the United States street art would be considered vandalism and often be hid from the public’s eye. Although, it is opposite in Melbourne. Many of the alleys are even dedicated to street art such as the AC/DC street which I thought was amazing. It gives those who live in Melbourne a way to express themselves. Although I found it interesting that the government continuously tried to hide or paint over the street art, but they soon realized that street art would prevail. Another thing I learned that I did not know was that they call their alleyways, “laneways” and do this because many times people associate alleyways with danger, drugs, or violence. Melbourne did not want their beautiful alleyways being presented in that light. As a result, they call them laneways and have many amazing restaurants lining the street often with outdoor seating. One restaurant was even designed to feed those who are homeless. So when homeless people go to this restaurant, instead of paying they write a note on a sticky note and stick it on the wall. As we passed the restaurant I noticed the abundance of sticky notes. Even though I did not see many homeless people I thought this was a great idea to help those in need. I also thought it was crazy and kind of funny that the old postal office is now an H&M. The beautiful layout and architecture within the old post office building was amazing. Overall this city tour was definitely my favorite and I enjoyed it the most. I would love to come back to Melbourne one day and enjoy and explore the city more. 

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Loved attending the Australian Open! It was amazing to see Serena Williams play!

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After visiting the Tjapukai people in Cairns I noticed the similarities and differences between the Maori people of New Zealand and the Tjapukai people of Australia. It was interesting to visit the Tjapukai people after experiencing the Maori culture. It was ultimately a great experience to see their presentation of their history and culture. I enjoyed learning about where they came from and how they live off of the land. Their dances were much different than those of Maori decent. Many of the Tjapukai peoples dances represented animals such as Kangaroos or crocodiles. I found this interesting because those of Maori decent often dance the Haka which is a war dance that gets them excited to fight or scared their opponents. One noticeable difference between the Tjapukai people and Maori people is that those who are Tjapukai have markings on their bodies that represent their name and where they come from such as water, rock, dry, whereas the Maori people have tattoos about their history and story.

Some similarities between the Tjapukai people and the Maori people that I noticed is that they both lived off of the land. They knew their surrounding land and would use things that the Earth provided to stay alive. Tjapukai people specifically highlighted this in our tour because they showed us the different nuts they eat that they find and even tell us which ones are poisonous. They told us also how they make bread out of a poisonous nut. I found this especially interesting because it ultimately takes 500 of these poisonous nuts to make one loaf of bread. One thing I noticed that the Tjapukai people emphasized which I did not notice with those in the Maori culture was that they often traded with surrounding tribes and were very peaceful with them. I appreciated this because many of the stories that the aboriginals or Maori’s tell are those of war and fighting. Another thing that the Tjapukai people mentioned was punishments. Their punishments were harsh and brutal including spears through the leg or breaking ones knuckles. This is something that the Maori culture did not really mention. The Tjapukai’s punishments were harsh which made me wonder how did they survive after experiencing such brutality. Overall I really enjoyed experiencing both the Maori culture in New Zealand and the Tjapukai people in Australia

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The Great Barrier Reef was definitely the highlight of the trip for me. Every part of our day I enjoyed. As soon as we got out to the pontoon I was so excited to snorkel and see the wildlife that inhabits the reef. At first I was surprised that everyone was wearing the Lycra suits to protect themselves from jellyfish, but after I saw how big the jellyfish were I was quick to put one on. I thoroughly enjoyed snorkeling and coming so close to the fish and natural wildlife. One thing that I did not know that I was very surprised about was that the Great Barrier Reef is roughly the size of Italy. This means that the reef is very large. It also means that the Great Barrier Reef is the largest living thing on Earth. I also did not know that the reef is ultimately made up of a bunch of smaller reefs. I had always thought that it was just one large reef. After snorkeling the outer reef it made sense to me how they are a bunch of small reefs instead of one large one. Another highlight of this trip was seeing a shark on my snorkeling tour. Even though in the moment I was very scared, when I look back now I’m so happy I did the snorkeling tour. I saw more wildlife and the tour guide was very knowledgeable about the wildlife. She would frequently explain an animal or something to us and then swim down and point it out. This made learning about the reef and wildlife much better. Other than snorkeling I also really enjoyed the glass bottom boat. On this tour in a glass bottom boat our tour guide was able to point out to us all of the coral and how they are different or similar. We even saw a sea turtle eating a jellyfish. This was awesome because I learned a lot that could have been hard to explain on a snorkeling tour. The last thing I learned about the Great Barrier Reef and it’s fish is that many of the fish start off as a male and turn into a female once they get older or the head female dies. I was unaware that this occurred in many of the fish, and even the most infamous one to magic reef, Walle. This experience was truly incredible and I feel very fortunate to have traveled all the way to the Great Barrier Reef.

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A highlight of the trip for me! Loved holding a Koala!

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After watching all the movies at Flickerfest I found it interesting on how diverse each film was. I truly wonder how many applicants and entries that they receive and how they pick each one. I find it awesome how many times those who win from Flickerfest are often entered into the Academy Awards for short films. This ultimately helps directors and producers get their name known and in Hollywood. Some cultural differences I noticed within the films that we watched that were made from an Australian perspective were the bonds between family members among the Aboriginal people of Australia. In many of the movies we watched such as the Rabbit Proof Fence and Australia depict the close bonds that family members have to each other. They help protect, teach and feed one another. They pass traditions on through generations by teaching the younger generation stories their ancestors used to tell. In the movie the Rabbit Proof Fence the three young girls help each other escape from a camp so that they can return to their mother. Although in the film we watched at Flickerfest called YuluBidyi – Until the End it was interesting how the bond between the aboriginal family members was not present. During the movie the main character Jarman protected his brother, who had cerebral palsy, from his father named Thunder. Their father often threatened the brother by taking away his wheel cheer or almost hitting both of them with a bullet while shooting a gun. It was clear that Thunder wanted Jarman’s brother to die. This was unexpected because many of the films portray aboriginal culture as being a very close knit family. I believe this film could have connected more with families and the culture in the United States, because in the US many are often rejected or even disowned due to their disabilities or beliefs. Another film that presented a cultural difference between the US and Australia was called No Sincerer Love. In this film a group of friends have a tea party in which they pretend to have fun and post all over social media. They post each other laughing and enjoying the dessert or food they brought. In reality none of the girls in the group are having fun and none of them are eating. In the end it is obvious that many of them have an obsession with being presented as perfect on social media and are not happy with themselves. The film depicted them each eating after the group separated and insinuated that some of them had eating disorders. This is extremely prevalent in the United States. The idea of being perfect and looking happy across all social media platforms plaques the United States’ young generation. Overall these films did a great job of showcasing Australian culture.

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The Sydney tour was awesome. Our tour guide was knowledgeable and brought us to some really cool sights. The bus tour of Sydney brought us all over the city so we were able to see how much the city has to offer. I always knew Sydney was a beautiful city and would be a great place to visit but I never knew how much it had to offer. There are an endless amount of activities to do that it seems getting bored in Sydney would be hard, especially because the beach is so close and different islands are available by ferry. Our tour of Sydney also included a tour of the Sydney Opera House. This was an awesome guided tour that went in depth about how the opera house was built. One thing I learned about the Sydney Opera House is that they made it a competition for people to send it different architectural designs of what the Opera House could look like. It was amazing that Jornan Utzon’s design got chosen to be built. I also find it fascinating that he has actually never visited Sydney to see the Opera House in person. It is most likely his greatest achievement so I find it interesting that he has never come to see it. Another fact that’s surprised me was that it actually took 16 years to build the entire Opera House. I also did not know that the Opera House is actually made up of 8 separate areas where you can see different Opera or plays. This directly relates to the discussion and presentations we had about the Opera House before coming to Australia. Although, much of which the tour guide mentioned I did not know. It also surprised me how over 5,000 people can be working at the Opera House, just by those who do work there and those are on a contract. Another fact I learned about Sydney was that many of the convicts worked on the structural developments of Sydney, such as that large sea wall across from the harbor that our tour guide pointed out. I always knew Australia in general was taught as or thought of as the land where they send prisoners but I was unaware that many of the prisoners actually contributed to the structural development of Sydney. I believe this relates to our travels and course because even though this is a film course we learn a lot about the history and start of a country through the films we watch. Since the convicts built the wall so long ago this plays a major role in Sydney’s history.

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