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.

Do not disturb: On Vacation

It's official, this trip is beginning to fly by. Thursday will mark 2 weeks in Australia and bring this trip down to 3 weeks to go. The weekend flew by too! It could have something to do with having a field trip on Friday to the Hyde Park Barracks downtown which is where the first buildings were built and the prisoners were kept. Very nice, interesting museum which we just had to follow up with class lecture! Which reminds me I have an assignment to do, writing a diary entry for a convict Thomas Walker, convicted to the 7 passage and sentence for stealing a handkerchief and money. Noted.

After a busy week of class and commuting to workouts it was nice to have some down time. Of course MSU study abroad did not waste a moment of the night life and we had some very interesting and fun nights out in the city. No elaboration needed! On Saturday my roommate Alex and I made the run from Bondi beach down to Coogee beach. It ends up being about 12k and it runs along the coastal walkway which is beautiful. You go up and down the cliffs and along some really nice beaches. Lots of stairs! But we made it and spent the rest of the afternoon on the beach and swimming even though it was just about 5 degrees to cool for a beach day.

It was a vintage Sunday for me. Let myself sleep in a bit then took off with my backpack to see some sights! Ended up on Tamarama beach which is my favorite spot i think. It's a smaller beach, right around the rocks from Bondi but is referred to as more of a local beach. It's never crowded or loud, just very relaxed. I sat the little Tamarama cafe and got some school work done and read my book. It was a really warm day today and just perfect to be on the beach or walking the rocks and I fell into the sense of "i'm on vacation". The school work quickly lost favor against my copy of Old Man and the Sea and it was really nice. I made the walk back to Bondi along the cliffs to see if any other study abroad folk has made it down the beach (I couldn't imagine why they wouldn't it was so nice out!) but they didn't. I wanted to swim but in a classic A.J. move took the swim trunks out of my backpack to acknowledge I had remembered them...but by doing this forgot them. So, i was forced to sit on the beach and watch a surf competition...tough life.

We have an exam coming up on Tuesday for the kinesiology course and a lot of my classmates spent the day studying, or worrying about what the professor will put on the exam. I can't seem to be reached for comment. I'll have the day and the night tomorrow to study and it's only over 3 lectures. I've had bigger odds against me in past study expeditions. I'm on vacation. Why spoil a great day of beaches and surf-side coffee with matters not needing worry? Besides, the Tour de France comes on in a few hours! In conclusion, I plan on spending the night typing my 400 words about the convict Thomas Walker and all of his foiled escape attempts. (That won't take long).  In the famous words of Mr. Ferris Beuller..."Life moves pretty fast, if you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

*Don't worry mom, i'll do well on my exam!

"The (young) Man and the Sea"

"...the sea's only gifts are harsh blows and, occasionally, the chance to feel strong. Now, I don't know much about the sea, but I do know that that's the way it is here. And I also know how important it is in life not necessarily to be strong but to feel strong, to measure yourself at least once, to find yourself at least once in the most ancient of human conditions, facing blind, deaf stone alone, with nothing to help you but your own hands and your own head..."
— Bear Meat by Primo Levi

I will post more probably tomorrow. The weekends are for friends and laughs, and I haven't had much of a chance to sit down and write. Saw some beautiful parts of Sydney today, up on high on the sandstone rocks of the beach and also in the crashing waves of Bondi Beach. Stay tuned!

Study Abroad: Phase 2

One week down, four more to go. That was the conversation today on the train on our way to visit Demitri. Has it gone quickly? Maybe that's it. Does it seem like forever since we left LAX? Quite possibly. I decided today that I have entered the next chapter of this Australian adventure: I am in a far away foreign land. The initial excitement and giddiness I felt when I first arrived here has by no means worn off, far from it in fact. I do think, however, that like one of the multiple cups of coffee i have enjoyed in the cafes of Sydney, I have acclimated to this state of mind. It is now easier to notice the small differences of Australia and its people than the familiar Americans. I think it is these minute details that make you realize you are far from home.

Let me elaborate...

The faces in Sydney are not much different than those you would see in any major U.S. city. The buildings are modern, the stores well stocked and people fill the sidewalks. It might be how everyone seems to be dressed in black and gray winter clothes while I wear my bright summer shorts. It could be that everyone is constantly on their cell phones while I don't even carry a phone. Or maybe it's the fact that I don't share anything in common with the people on the trains and buses. I am a foreigner in a far away land. Now, i could definitely be in a more foreign place than Australia and would stick out like a sore thumb, but I think this realization is an important step of my trip. The Australians here have their own Australia lives and own Australian worries and they aren't much concerned with us little American visitors. I am a guest in this country and now that I feel settled and in a routine, I see foreign culture and tendencies that I at first overlooked. Time to begin phase two of this adventure:... ... but I have no idea what that will be!  A.J.'s not in Kansas anymore. (DUH).

*short entry, not an overly eventful day. Going on a fieldtrip in the morning then have the rest of the day free. If there is sun out I will surely be on the beach instead of exploring downtown. Hoping for the sunniest! Goodnight America.

Cezanne me, please

Sydney served up a healthy does of culture tonight in the form of "Art After Hours" in the New South Wales Art Gallery. This was technically a school function and a field trip aimed to educated us on Aboriginal art, old and new. My workout-mates and I were running a bit late from Demitri's training session (Demitri update at the end of the post). This may have had something to do with catching the slow train and also making a food run to China Town for some delicious spicy pork and rice. We only missed 10 minutes of the first presentation though so we narrowly avoided getting detention (as if there was such a thing on study abroad. Don't worry mom, we didn't get in any trouble). 

This art gallery is huge! Three full floors of exhibits and galleries. We began in the basement where there was a modern Aboriginal pieces including totems, dijeradoos, and bark decorated with the styles of the different tribes of Australia. There were also some more modern pieces such as decorated giant bats hanging from a clothes drying contraption (the Hills-Hoist Dryer). It was a very nice and interesting presentation. Well, actually it was slightly boring and I didn't take much from this modern take on Aboriginal art. I did really enjoy most of the older looking pieces and their variation. The Aborigines are very interesting people with a rich history. It is sometimes hard to, but important to separate them from my perception of the Native Americans. They are completely different people with completely different stories and I think in a way I automatically assume I know about the Aborigines because I have studied other Native inhabitants of colonized land. But this is another discussion for another day! Aborigines Art: cool.

We then had a presentation by a famous Aboriginal author in the main lobby of this place and I refuse to spend much time on this. She writes very feminine books about an Aborigines girl moving to the big city and having boy troubles. She talked for much too long, plugged her own books too much and brought up inappropriate things. Moving on.

My favorite part of this excursion to the Gallery was a moment coming up the escalator from the first Aborigines presentation. I had taken a look at some creepy modern pieces and really needed to get out of that exhibit so I was going upstairs to see when the feminist author was going to start speaking. I started to reflect on a trip I took the Nashville art gallery with my sister when I visited her at Vanderbilt. They had some really good Picasso pieces and also an artist who then became my favorite, Cezanne. To speak in "art" terms I like the bright landscapes he does and the distinct brush strokes. I'm not an art major, but let's just leave it at "I like his work". Anyway, going up the escalator the thought that came into my head was "I wonder if they have any Cezanne?". I then noticed a gallery right next to where the presentation was going to be, guarded by a uniformed gallery employee. I asked if we were allowed to go in the exhibit and he somewhat laughed at me. Of course it was open, he was just standing there to look busy. Literally the first piece I turn to on the wall was a simple, broad stroked, cottage scene ( Bords De La Marne ). My jaw dropped! It was a perfect moment in the most unexpected of places. Yes, I am able to have a good time looking at old art in a museum.

I spent the rest of my time looking at some amazing sculptures, a Van Goh, a Monet, and tons of other great paintings. What a collection. For the final course of my extremely fancy and cultural experience, i roamed the ancient china exhibit and looked at some very old Chinese kitchen accessories. Kidding, there was some great art that I know Jordan would have been drooling over. All of it thousands of years old. That concluded my tour and i might have to go back soon. It was only a few hours of a very busy day here in Sydney, but I think they were most worth sharing. 

* Today with Demitri we continued our handstand walking, cartwheeling, somersaulting and added front flips on the trampoline onto the mats and also front somersault to landing. We then did the climb the rope, use the rings, crazy Demitri stuff and it was nice and hard. Can't wait to see what happens after four weeks of this! Oh, and he has 3% body fat. 

**I also looked up the Cezanne painting i was so excited about. The NSW Art Gallery paid $16.2 million for it in 2008. I'm not sure about the exchange rate, but that's a lot. 

Cheers!

Demitri the Soviet

I'm fully convinced that the gloomy, at times rainy day was a result of having to sit in class all morning. On the other hand, it probably made being in a classroom more bearable. Had it been sunny and 70 again today I would have only been thinking about catching the bus down to Bondi Beach and hopping in the water to body surf the waves. After class there was a long buffer period while everyone spread around the city, going to their first training sessions. My roommate Alex is doing the surfing program here and caught the ferry over to Manly beach. My training wasn't until 7:30 tonight but we had to leave around six to make sure we got out there, especially at "peak time" (rush hour). The train takes about an hour to get to Olympic Park with all the stops along the way. It's a group of about nine of us doing the strength and conditioning program. We are going to be training in the gymnastics facility from the 2000 olympics and we've been set up with the highest level of a character as well as a trainer.

Demitri (last name unknown) began his introduction stating that he is from the "Soviet Union, which they now call Russia". He is a former USSR national gymnastics coach and has also spent time coaching US olympians. He currently works in Sydney training stunt doubles for major Fox movies, Australian special forces, "Thunder Down Under" performers (a Las Vegas show... no more detail required) and even, believe it or not, the Wiggles. *Anyone not familiar with the Wiggles should type them into the Google machine and discover that they are synonymous with America's Raffi or Canada's Sharon Lois and Bram...but also Australia's top selling recording artists of all time...multi-platinum and apparently extremely fit!*

Our lesson today was more of an introduction. We are to be focusing on the core which apparently no one but gymnasts have properly developed. Warmup consisted of ab exercises, handstands, somersaults, cartwheels, and more handstands. Demitri took us through some basic exercises like climbing the rope, handstands on the wrings to flat front and back positions, "crosses" on the rings (arms straight out) and some other ab exercises all the while explaining his philosophy on training. From what i got through his accent, Demitri and his training friends get together and workout constantly for an hour, running from climbing the rope to ring exercises, to crazy parallel pullups to exercises i can't explain. There aren't breaks or time in between, they just go and go and do as much as they can then go and go and do more and find new things to do and go.....! This guy is nuts! I doubt there is much science behind his methods except for the fact they work. To get biceps that seem to also have their own sets of biceps you have to be a bit crazy, and get back to basics. It was a bit frustrating for me because I'm not quite built to be swinging around in a gymnasium and I literally couldn't do some of these exercises. But, I'm excited to go back tomorrow and see what Demitri has in store for us. I think that this will be an unbelievable training tool and i'm looking forward to the challenge. Some nice six pack abs wouldn't be bad either. Tonight is the first and likely the only night I catch the train home from the gym wanting more out of the session. I have a feeling i'll be cursing my new Soviet friend and his crazy gymnastics in the not so distant future.

Goodnight for now, another big day tomorrow!

Forward: Welcome to Sydney

After dreaming of coming to this country my entire life, I am finally a resident of Bondi Junction, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. This city has already proven to be more than i could have ever expected. I've been here about 5 days and I feel like i've seen and done so much there isn't possibly anything left in this city...but there is. There are so many places left to explore, beaches to enjoy, art to behold and coffee to taste. My secret mission of my trip to Australia is to find the best cup of coffee, or the best cappuccino in the entire city, or at least to find my favorite. A goal I hope takes me to some of the nooks and crannies of Sydney, not often discovered by an American here only a month. I hope to use this blog to keep my family and friends updated on my days here in Australia, and also so that i don't have to email my daily updates to everyone! Enjoy, I'm excited to share as much as I can of my Australian adventure.