Melbourne was an awesome city to visit. When I found out the Australian Open was going to be happening while we were in the city I was so excited. Unfortunately, I was not feeling well the day of the tour so I was not able to join the class that morning. However, my mom went to college with two people who now work and live in Melbourne. She put me in contact with them and they gave me many tips on what to do during my time there. One thing I learned about the city is that they love their tennis. On my free day I wasn’t able to get tickets to the Australian open. However, we decided to walk down to get a bite for lunch. When we got there, there was 3 huge screens broadcasting the Open live. There was bean bags and hundreds of chairs all filled with people watching the matches. I wasn’t even sure who was playing, yet I saw kids of all ages and their parents cheering after every point. The whole was city had been taken over by tennis. Every corner I turned I saw a different stand selling Australian Open T-shirts or hats. It was really cool to be in Melbourne at such an exciting time. Another thing I learned is that their public transportations, including the tram was free. Being from Boston, this came as a shock to me. I went to Boston College High School and had to take the train into school every morning freshman and sophomore year. The conductor would come around each morning and clip our tickets. Paying morning after morning built up and trying to avoid the conductor was almost impossible. To get to use this free transportation was a very nice change and was fitting for the Australasian’s personalities. Everyone there was so nice. On the day I was sick and had to meet the group at the museum, I was lost looking at my map trying to figure out where I was when I woman came up to me asking if I needed directions. She showed me exactly where to go and helped me when I needed it. Melbourne was an awesome city with some great people in it. 

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The ACMI was a very cool place to visit. Even though I was late and not feeling that weel, it gave me the opportunity to look around the whole place by myself with no distractions. One exhibit I thought was really cool was the moon landing one. It happened on July 21st, 1969. 6 millions people watched human kinds first steps on the moon. Australia played a key role in this important event in broadcasting history, sending pictures of the moon walk to the rest of the world. Once Armstrong stepped down onto the moon surface, he activated the onboard camera, as well as a tripod camera. Two Australians and one American tracking station took part in broadcasting the moon walk. When the astronauts began the moon walk, the signal was received by all the stations simultaneously. Honeysuckle creek sent the images over sees to Sydney video, which delivered the famous first steps to the the world. The time it took for the signal to travel from Australia to Houston was three millisecond, therefore Australia saw the moonwalk earlier than the rest of the world! The next exhibit I enjoyed was the TY the Tasmanian Tiger Zoetrope, 2009. It was a zoetrope of a much-loved Australian character from TY the Tasmanian Tiger, a video-game series  produced by Krome studios. This display contained 150 characters. They started to gradually spin faster and then the strobe light started. This produced the illusion that the figures were actually moving. There were bunnies jumping in and out of holes and everything looked as if it was moving at a fast pace. It was mind blowing to see the difference once it slowed down. Another thing I thought was really cool was the virtual reality exhibit. I have seen so many videos online of people using virtual reality googles and screaming because they are scared what they are seeing or they are just in shocked by how realistic it looks. I waited in line for 20 minutes or so to get a turn and was not disappointed. It really does feel like you are part of whatever reality they put you in. It takes a bit to get used to and I know I probably looked like a fool to those watching me, but it was well worth it and I was very glad I got to try virtual reality

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The item I made was a 3D printed keychain from the Maker’s hub with my name on it. I made that so the person I gave it to will remember me and my name even once I go back to the states. I gave it away to my grandparents friends who live in Wellington. Prior to the trip my grandmother gave me their cell phone numbers and kept insisting that I reached out to them and meet up with them when we were in Wellington. Although it is not exactly how I wanted to spend my free day, I knew it would mean a lot to my grandparents so I called the number and they offered to pick me up at our hotel later that day. I thought it was going to be really weird spending a few hours with people I had never met, but it was quite the opposite. From the second they picked me up they couldn’t have been nicer. Paul Fyfe was an old work friend of my grandfather and he was CEO of ING in Wellington for 18 years. Him and his wife brought me back to their house to show me around. It was an amazing house up on a hill, with a pool and a view overlooking the harbor (picture attached). We had a few drinks at their house and talked about my trip and they told me old stories about my grandparents. We then went to dinner downtown and it was amazing. The whole night was awesome and I couldn’t have been happier that I reached out to them. At the end up the night I gave them the keychain and explained the significance behind it all. Mrs. Fyfe gave me a huge hug and said they would keep it forever and send my grandparents a picture of it. Overall, it was a great experience and even though I went out of my comfort zone, it was well worth it. 

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Photo I took at the first winery I have ever been to. Thought it was a great day and cool experience.

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After visiting the Tjapukai people in Australia, I noticed many similarities and differences between their culture and the culture of the Maori people in New Zealand. The first similarity that I noticed is that both of them decorated their bodies and face with paint and tattoos to show who they are and where they are from. The Maori people culture included getting permanent face tattoos that was a very painful and long process. However, I learned the people that worked at the exhibit we went to used faked tattoos because today if you have a face tattoo it would be very hard to get another job. I completely understand that because in todays world, everyone is judged so quickly and to have tattoos covering you face would not help you in an interview at all. One difference I noticed is their style of dance. The Maori tribe performed the Hakka. This dance was very intimidating and was meant to prove their power and strength. Even when we first got their, they all came out screaming and almost trying to scare us and our tribe leaders before we entered into their home. On the other hand, in Australia the Tjapukai people dancing was much more upbeat and happy. They were playing all sorts of instruments, had very friendly dance moves. They even got us involved and had us clapping and dancing with them. I feel like back then, the type of dancing and attitude of a tribe tells a lot about their culture and type of people in their tribe. The difference in the two of their dancing was very noticeable. Another similarity is that they both used wooden tools for hunting and other activities. The Maori people used wooden sticks to play games like they demonstrated to us. They twirled them around their arm with two balls on each end that women danced and played with. They also used long wooden sticks and passed they back and fourth to each-other, with different twists to make the game more enjoyable. 
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The great barrier reef was my favorite day of the trip so far. I had been looking forward to it since reading the itinerary and to actually be there was amazing. Snorkeling was so interesting and thrilling that the only time I got out of the water was for lunch. Tyler and I exploded ever inch of the  designated snorkeling area and saw some pretty amazing things. One thing I learned is that fish, specifically Wally can actually recognize people and act friendly towards them. When I first got in that water, I saw this massive fish that kept playing with all the workers that frequently swim there. Wally was acting like a dog, following them around and getting petted. He didn’t show much interest to me, but after about an hour swimming in his waters he finally came up to Tyler and I and rubbed up against us. Later in the day, he would see Tyler and I waving and him and swim through the crowd of people trying to pet him and come right up to us, doing a few circles and almost playing with us. This was my favorite part of my day and Tyler got an awesome video of us and Wally. Another thing I learned is that sharks are not as aggressive as people believe them to be. On our snorkeling safari I spotted a shark down below us. I tried pointing it out to Tom, but it had vanished into the depths on the reef. I kept looking behind me to make sure this predator wasn’t going to sneak up behind me and make me his dinner. A few minutes later there he was again, swimming around right below our group. As everyone panicked, our tour guide swam down 25 feet towards the shark  just to prove to us that we were not in danger. This was a crazy experience for me, being out on the open ocean with one of the most feared ocean predators right below me. I now know all sharks are not like they are in the movie Jaws. Another thing that I learned is that the great barrier reef is not just one single reef. There is hundreds upon hundreds of miles of reef that makes up the entire great barrier reef. It is broken down into thousands of separate reefs that are scattered around. They are categorized based on the shape of the reef and weather or not it goes above the water or not. Coral grows at such a slow pace, the reef has taken decades to build to the size it is today. It was an amazing experience to see such a historic place in person and have the opportunity to snorkel around and see the beauty of it. I will never forget our day at the Great Barrier Reef and am grateful for the opportunity to see it in person. 

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Tyler Tom and I hanging out with some kangaroos

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Sydney was an awesome city. I was looking forward to visiting Sydney since I singed up for the trip. It is such a known and popular city, I couldn’t wait to see what it was all about. My favorite part was the Sydney Opera House. It was such a historic landmark, to be there in person was amazing. One thing I learned was about the construction on the Opera House. The original building was built with a soft tiber to help with the sound. The seats were built with similar wood so the sounds bounce off them and fill the room with a perfect sound. Also. Above the stage had these big round tubes hung from the ceiling. The sound from a musician plays usually takes 2/3 seconds to reflect back and for them to hear. These ring above them makes the sound get back to them within a second so they can hear how they are playing. There has been updates on the lighting in all the theaters since technology has upgraded. It was an awesome tour and I learned a lot about the Opera House. We also learned about the Sydney bridge. It was made out of steel and is a very strong bridge. Its strong base come because it was built from both sides and holds the support from the top down. There is a walking tour you can take to walk yourself up to the top with a tour. Unfortunately, the price has gone up substantially so we were not able to do it. When we did our captain cook tour around the harbor, we were looking up at the bridge for a while. We had a debate about how long it would take to hit the water if you jumped from the top. After a long debate, we looked up an equation and found out it would take 5.3 seconds to hit the water from the top of the bridge. Bondi beach was also one of the favorite places I went. I quickly learned about the bluebottle jelly fish. They invaded the beach and I saw 3 people get stung. We took the ferry over to Manly beach the next day and once again the flagged area we could swim in was filled with these same bluebottle jellyfish. Part of living in Australia is dealing with the crazy wild life, and I quickly found this out. Sydney was an awesome city and I learned a lot during my time there. 

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There are many cultural differences shown in the Flickerfest films and how we perceive Australian culture. In the film “A Low Hum” it was produced by an Australian film maker about an Australian fitnesses model who was obsessed social media and had her own personal robot to capture her entire life on video so she can share it with her followers. This was surprising to me because I had a built up understanding that Australians were all outdoors people. Having so much beach, ocean, animals, and endless outdoor activities to do I wouldn’t think they would be too concerned with their social media accounts. This was the first film we saw at flickerfest and it was a bit of a shock thinking about it now. It was also based in the future so it is not depicting Australian’s today, but it could be in the near future. Another film that had some cultural differences was “Yulubidyi-Until the end”. The film was about an aboriginal man and his brother who has severe mental disorders. The part that went against my perception on Australian culture was how the father acted in the film. I have always heard that Australians are very outgoing and nice people. Also, since my time here I have learned quite quickly that this is true. All the locals I have met have been more than nice to me. Also, my grandparents have a close friend who lived in Wellington. When he found out I was in the area, he called me and invited me to his home to see it and then took me out to dinner. All these Australians are so nice, but the father in this film was evil. He left his mentally challenged son to die in a fire, but he was luckily saved. Then, he knocks out the older son who is taking care of the challenged son, and leaves the sob to die on his own. With the power of the Mabo(black smoke spirit), the son makes it back to where the father and son are and shots a gun. This film goes against my idea of all Australians being nice, because the father is so cruel and evil. 

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