Checking in

Another day in Aussie! And a lot less traveling around which is nice. Yesterday we had a field trip I was under the impression would be 45 minutes but turned into quite a long educational experience. We visited the ANZAC Memorial which is a tall monument in downtown Sydney, right in Hyde Park. ANZAC stands for Australia New Zealand Army Corps. The memorial was built after WWI which was the first true test of Australian military. Australians were extremely proud to play a part in this war even though they did not have much of any success. They suffered huge losses in Turkey and also on the Western Front but the perception of this is pride for Australians. They were happy to finally have a chance to prove their strength and honor, regardless of the result. Their perception of war is very different and very interesting. The Anzac memorial does not contain any names of dead soldiers, but rather recognizes every single soldier who served or volunteered. It's not about the losses, but rather the symbolism of the brave Australian "Digger".

We then toured the New South Wales parliament house which is in a very cool building. Very old, with many new additions but the characteristic most interesting to me is how British it is. You can see the influence of the British everywhere, especially in the political buildings. Their traditions also seem very British, with just a small Australian twist to everything. I was tempted to take a seat in the chair reserved for the Queen. I'm sure she wouldn't have minded, she hasn't been here for about 30 years! They probably would have jailed me in the rat filled Hyde Park Barracks where they held the old prisoners. Good thing i withheld the urge.

The Tour de France has begun and that is how I am spending my evenings for the next three weeks. They offer me 4 hours of coverage per night... I think I will have to budget my time a bit better. Maybe two hours per night? With my first exam of the trip behind me (and i think it went well!) I will be spending the week training (without Demitri sadly). Training, cooking, watching biking, a little bit of class... it sounds like I'm back in East Lansing! I better get out into the city tomorrow so that this trip doesn't turn into a translation of my normal routines just on another continent! I will start posting pictures soon of the cool things I've seen. Aboriginal week is upon us and time to make some art. Take care, I'll add a more insight- less update entry, tomorrow.