Let me just start by saying that I had the coolest experiences of my life when giving out this gift. As I mentioned in my earlier Wellington blog post, I had the opportunity to meet some of the kindest, most welcoming people. We instantly hit it off and all had so much in common. One particular guy I connected with is named Kalani. A Fiji native and a creative communications enthusiast like myself, he came from a similar educational background but in my opinion, had a much cooler childhood living in Fiji and surfing daily. We had dinner together, went out to some bars after, and ended up being together the whole night. I was always afraid we were overstaying our welcome, but he (as well as the other Wellington-ians) consistently reaffirmed that we were their guests and we should feel right at home.

It was an easy choice to give my gift to Kalani. We met up at a bar after dinner and when I gave it to him he was so excited, I almost thought he was being insincere, however he explained how honored he was that we thought of him so highly. The gift I gave him was a 3D printed keychain I made in the MakerHub. It was in the shape of North Carolina with a leather keyring attached. I explained to him the significance of the state and he was thrilled to have a connection to the group of Americans. This entire experience was overall so meaningful and I will truly never forget it. It was by far the highlight of my entire j-term trip.

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Here’s a photo of Alejandro and I at the third wine tasting! Photo compliments of Sophie.

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I loved our time in Australia. Between visiting Australia and New Zealand though, I would note that I found New Zealand to have more distinct cultural significance to it whereas I found Australia to bare a similar resemblance to the United States’ history.

One thing that was always clear in our trips across the country was the importance of land. We saw this in many films, whether it be from the particularly Australian movie “Drover” or any other movie centered around the importance of land in the region — even something as ridiculous as Crocodile Dundee. Similarly to New Zealand, land is often viewed as sacred or at the very least treated with the utmost importance. In Cairns, the importance of the environment was easily distinguishable due to it being home to the Great Barrier Reef.  The people of the area work incredibly hard to preserve this beautiful series of structures; this showed in the way tourists emulated mutual signs of respect when we took our trip out to the middle of the reef for snorkeling.  Many precautionary measures were put in place, such as only being allowed to feed the fish a certain number of kilograms per day of food, in order to ensure they remain wild animals, in addition to being extremely cautious not to touch the Great Barrier Reef to keep it as clean and unharmed as possible.

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Melbourne ranked as my second favorite city on our trip with the first being Wellington. I fell in love with Wellington because it had a big city look with a small city community and a lot of culture. Melbourne gave me a similar feel and I even wish we had a few more days there to really get to know the city.

Melbourne boasts its pride in its citizens and the things they are capable of doing. In fact, it works to showcase their creativity whenever possible. With every alley we traveled down during our walking tour with our guide, Mary, there were hundreds, if not thousands, of beautiful (and some not-so-beautiful) works of art. Commonly referred to as “graffiti” or “street art”, this is all done by primarily amateur artists who have a passion for their particularly modern expression with an emphasis on pop-culture references. The city commissions these alleys as a creative space for artists and works closely with them to continuously promote opportunities for expression

The city not only promoted the arts but also the art of sport. With Melbourne also being Australia’s sports capital, it was easy to get a well-rounded view of nearly every activity available. One of the coolest moments of the trip was being able to see an American Tennis legend, Serena Williams, play in the quarterfinals at the Australian Open.

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The ACMI was one of the coolest museums I have ever had the opportunity of visiting. Easily one of my favorite parts existed right at the front of the entrance — it housed so much nostalgia that any person born before 2000 could instantly reconnect with. These elements of nostalgia consisted of old television sets that still used dials instead of remotes (yes, I heard a young boy ask his father how to work that TV set and it made me laugh) and video game consoles from 1989 and beyond.

What became increasingly more interesting throughout this museum though was the integration of film and television production throughout the years. For example, the evolution of animation in the industry alone is unbelievable. The Toy Story exhibit was one of the many exhibits that had caught my eye, not only because of how sentimental I felt when I looked at it, but also because of the tremendous growth it achieved during its various stages of production throughout its multiple films. For example, during the original Toy Story, a majority of the animation was produced via physical sketches done by artists and other creative directors. As we saw at Weta back in Wellington, NZ, however, more recent production can be done via a series of creative suites through computer-generated products. This means less physical handwork is needed and more computerized technical work is required. In more recent productions of Toy Story, more specifically Toy Stories 2 & 3, 3D animation was more of a factor and Toy Story creator, John Lasseter, directed the first film entirely computer-generated. Interestingly enough, prior to Lasseter’s incredible leap of faith, these advanced practices were often rejected by many film moguls as the new technologies had been untested.
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here’s Alejandro and I under water together while snorkeling!

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The Great Barrier Reef was one of the most breath taking experiences of my entire life. From the moment we began to travel to the middle of the ocean, I was entranced by the beauty of everything around me.

One of the things I took away most from the trip was to take a moment to just breathe and enjoy it all. I looked around and began to not care about the technology, or honestly even the people around me, but rather the beauty of nature that I had what could quite possibly be a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see. I loved every minute we were there. I took the course that was called “Snorkel Safari”, which was a one hour course that was a detailed snorkeling experience teaching all of us about the brilliant wildlife that existed below.

My first initial jump into the ocean was honestly nerve wracking. We immediately dove into the deep blue sea — and it was just that — deep and blue. It wasn’t until we saw the coral reef and all of its beautiful species that I began to feel at peace again. One of the most beautiful species I learned about was the Damselfish. The fish was gorgeous and consisted of so many varieties that our guide was unable to name them all. This fish in particular is a beautiful rainbow color that comes in a spectacular array of color and is eye catching every single time. I found myself pointing at the various fish every time for my classmates to see. (more…)

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Both the Maori and Thapukai people were incredibly unique and had differences that were honestly incomparable between each other. Both cultures were equally special and equally had special cultural and historical elements that made them so distinct and memorable when learning about.

My biggest takeaway from the Maori people was about the influence their culture has over the entire nation. While we were only able to venture around the northern island, it was evident how prevalent the Maori culture was engrained in everyday activities and practices. In New Zealand culture, I very much got the impression that the Maori people and their culture were greatly appreciated and respected; their heritage and history was integral in the building blocks of New Zealand. Whether it was something as simple as slang like the phrase “Kia Ora” meaning a plethora of things like “good health”, “hello”, or “goodbye” — these little bits and pieces we learned about here and there more often than not tied back to the Maori people and I found that completely admirable.

When we reached Australia, I got a different sense of appreciation for the Aboriginal people. In contrast to New Zealand, I continually got the impression that up until recently, the Aboriginal people and their history was something taboo and something that should be removed from the country’s history. A lot of the nation’s history reminded me of that of America. Originally, the country was seen as a place that was unwanted — one that was unexplored and unpopular in opinion — until it wasn’t. Australia quickly erupted into land that was desired by many and there were plans for it to grow tremendously, but the Aboriginal people were not included in this plan. We learned from our various tour guides that only within the last few decades have Aussie’s worked to reinstate and celebrate Aboriginal culture into every day Australian culture. While this is a process that is continuously growing, I personally don’t think it will ever compare to the appreciation that the Kiwi’s have for their Maori people.

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I loved Sydney because we were able to do so much in a relatively short period of time. That being said, I wish we had had more opportunity to explore the rest of the city because I believe there’s so much to appreciate. It reminded me of London in the sense that it’s not the best city to be a tourist because the livable aspects are what make it the most special and we don’t get to entirely appreciate those.

Somethings I took away from visiting Sydney were that Sydney is by no means as big as it looks, in regards to population. I didn’t realize that as big as the city is, there’s only about a third of the population that decides to live full time in the city itself. Moreover, any population that does live in “Sydney” actually lives in the surrounding areas. Rather, a majority of the population that we immediately encountered along areas like the Central Business District and Harbor. This was something I found to be somewhat disappointing because I had high hopes of encountering some people from the area, much like I did in Wellington.

Another thing I learned was about the opera house and how unique it’s structure is. They have not been able to replicate a structure of this kind since it was originally made. This may also sound kind of stupid, but I had no idea that the structure was split into three different sections and had so many different stages for performances. I had quite honestly assumed it was just one large performing space. I also think it’s incredible that all of the revenue makes up for 85% of the Opera House’s operating expenses and only 15% relies on taxpayers. I do think this is quite fair though, considering the original cost of $17 million turned into being over $120 million to build the iconic landmark.

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had to get a final sunset photo in front of the opera house!!! I got a lot of laughs taking this.

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