Blog posts 1-16

  As I conclude my Australian experience, I find that there is no better time to reflect about my trip than on the car ride to my house finishing up a 30 hour travel day. It has been a full month since I’ve been home and reality is just beginning to sink in of what life is like here in comparison to Australia. I’ve continuously walked on the left side since I landed in Los Angeles from Melbourne and I keep getting bumped into. I’m also not used to people being so unfriendly and the comfort of safety that existed in Australia. I will be at my home in Rockville, Maryland in about 30 minutes and I cannot stop thinking about when the next time is I’ll be back there. I was gone a full month and could not have dreamed of a better month away from home. I got to share some of these experiences with my family and family has always been the most important thing to me which made it that much better. In addition, I love meeting new people and this program gave me the opportunity to make new re...

  One of the things I looked forward to the most after learning of my acceptance to this program was to watch tennis at the highest level at the Aussie open. My family and I have always been huge tennis fans but none of us have ever been to one of the four majors which made them envious of me. This was the day I had been waiting for and it felt like a fever dream as we walked around the grounds wondering which of the many matches we should go to first. We began by going to the Aryna Sabalenka Vs. Shelby Rogers match and it definitely did not disappoint. Most of the group rooted for the American, Rogers, while me and a couple others rooted for Sabalenka. I have watched Sabalenka play for years now and knew that Rogers' talent did not match hers and the tennis we saw backed up my claim. Sabalenka won in straight sets (6-3, 6-1) and she played an absolutely incredible game making it difficult for Rogers to return any of her serves. Although there were many more matches to see, this be...

  One of my favorite things about walking around the city of Melbourne was stopping in the shops and local markets but nothing compared to the Queen Victoria Market. It was located only 10 minutes from the Scape apartments we were staying at so I had a lot of opportunities to go and walk around. This market is a major landmark in Melbourne and is well-known around the world partly due to it being the largest open air market in the Southern hemisphere. I went for the first time before going to St. Kilda for the day and walked around for about an hour with a bunch of others on the program. I knew I’d be back so I didn’t want to buy much just yet unless I absolutely fell in love with an item but I still had a great time walking around and seeing everything that was there. John, Hayden and I walked by a stand that had a sign “free gin” and we were immediately intrigued. We sampled a couple of the “award winning best in the world” gin and although it was 10:30 in the morning we all stil...

  Before the program began, I was in Sydney with my family exploring the city and participating in lots of activities. My favorite of these activities was the climb of the Sydney bridge, not only because the climb itself was awesome but because of the rich history behind the bridge. From leaving the facility to being at the peak of the bridge it took about an hour and a half, however it felt like just 30 minutes. All of the climbers had gear to keep us safe on the bridge as well as a headset to listen to the leader of the climb give us insight into the bridge and its history. Our tour guide had done the climb hundreds of times before so she knew almost everything there was to know about the bridge and the story of its creation.  I have always been a nerd for history and statistics and it made my experience so much better to get to hear all about it during my climb. Our tour guide told us that the bridge was 1150 meters long (3770 feet) and about 134 meters (440 feet) high. Whe...

  We went to MCG and took a tour of the stadium and also went to the museum which is an extension of the stadium. I had been to MCG for a cricket game before but it was really cool to see it during the off hours and to see all the work that goes into maintaining the stadium. In addition, it was cool to see how they changed the field for AFL, cricket, or all the other sports that are played there. The tour was awesome and the museum was also extremely cool and much different than anything I’ve ever seen in the U.S. As we were finishing up our stadium tour I noticed a lot of pictures on the wall of all the different sports that are played. I was surprised to find that lacrosse was represented because it is still a growing sport that is really only popular in several regions on the east coast in the U.S. I began to realize that Australia is open to all sports and will continue to adapt sports from other nations in the years to come. Melbourne is truly one of the best sports towns in t...

  A big part of the reason my time in Australia was so great is because of how the locals treat one another and how they treat outsiders. Rather than looking down at outsiders because of their cultural differences, Australians are accepting of everyone which is why they are such a diverse nation. One thing I noticed is Aussies love tattoos and piercings as it is much more common in Australia than in America. Personally, tattoos are against my religion and would make my mom really upset if I got one, but I do think they are really cool. Also, Australians take pride in their sports and center a lot of their time and energy around sports. I have been to two cricket games during my time here and both times I genuinely enjoyed it and learned more about the sport each time. My amazing experience had a lot to do with the locals sitting around us who made sure to teach us the rules so that we could enjoy it as much as possible. One thing I have noticed is the technology used to help those ...

  The Victorian local government has plans to abolish public drunkenness laws, however there is a lot of backlash from this decision. The goal of abolishing these laws is to take care of citizens when they are drunk rather than punishing them for being drunk in public. Instead of punishments, intoxicated people will be taken to a sober center or their own home. A lot of this push to abolish public drunkenness is coming from aboriginal communities who feel that the current legislation is affecting them disproportionally to the rest of the population. The Victorian police association is worried that police will lose some of their power and be less respected in several situations. Unions are very worried that police won’t have the means to manage people and instill law and order if they can’t control a situation when someone is acting reckless and inebriated. However, paramedics may not be there when they are needed because public drunkenness will not be taken as seriously. The police...

  The Great Ocean Road is one of the coolest and most well-known parts of Australia and I actually had the opportunity to go on it twice. The first time was when I was with my family before our program began and the second time was without our group. Both times, it was an extremely long day with an early wake up and both times it was definitely worth it. When I went with my family we had a tour guide who had done the great ocean road many times before and he knew all the correct routes to take in order to maximize our time at the sights and minimize our time in traffic. When I went with my family, we saw the twelve apostles first and when we went as a program we saw them last. Although it's only a view of the ocean and some cool rocks, it is one of the nicest oceans in the world with some of the most unique rock structures I have ever seen. There are many stops along the way where we got out to walk around, take pictures, and simply just enjoy the views. When we went as a program, ...

  After our tour of the olympic grounds, we had an afternoon to do as we pleased so we decided to go to Coogee. We quickly discovered that we were in the middle of no where and it would be a 45 minute uber there so we were unsure if we should go. However, I went to Coogee with my brother for happy hour the week before and wanted to make sure everyone else could also experience it. We decided to go and ended up having a weirdly exciting uber ride there and it was clear that vibes were good. It was a beautiful evening and we had a lot to talk about from the days before. We arrived at around 6:50, right before the happy hour deals were about to end, and immediately purchased many schooners so that we could utilize the happy hour deals. We found a table and didn’t waste a second before pounding some schooners and we hung out at the rooftop bar for about two hours. Before we knew it, the sky got dark and we all started to slow down with the drinking and we realized that we should all pr...

  After our morning class, we had surf lessons planned for the afternoon but had a lot of time to kill before then. Us seven guys looked around at each other, not sure where to go or what to do. Fortunately, we made a great decision and decided to have a nice long beach day in Bondi and stay there until our surf lesson. We walked around the beautiful beach town, got some food, and chilled out for a bit before the lesson. There were two groups of us and I went with the first group of surfers. We headed over to the surf shop, got on our wetsuits and our instructor told us some general guidelines about surfing and safety. We began the lesson by practicing our form on the beach and repeating it until we finally got it right. We then went into the water to get a feel for the waves and how the board moves in the water. I really liked how our instructor took his time to teach us and didn’t rush it so that we could actually succeed and have an idea of what we are doing. We finally got to s...

  It was my parents last day in Sydney before they returned home to the miserable place we call America. We wanted to make the most out of the day so we planned a full day of activities, in particular the Coogee to Bondi walk as well as the Sydney bridge climb. After the 6 kilometer walk we hung on the beach for a bit and relaxed before we did the bridge climb. I did the bridge climb with my brother and father because my mom is extremely scared of heights and would not have enjoyed it. Right when we got to the bridge check in area we went over safety procedures for a while and learned a bit about the history behind the bridge. A group of about ten of us then made our way onto the bridge and it took a while before we actually got to climb. We had a tour guide that was with us the whole way and she continued to check in on the group throughout. We all had headphones so we could hear her discuss historic landmarks and she took pictures of everyone once we got to the top. Before gettin...

My brother and father both went to Michigan and it just so happened they were playing in the college football playoff while we were here. We woke up early to go to the Star casino to watch the game and the game did not go Michigan’s way despite them being favored to win. My brother and dad were borderline depressed about the game and had little motivation to go on with their day. Luckily, we were right near the fish market and had our eyes set on getting some sushi tacos, oysters, and calamari. We began with the oysters and got 12 for the four of us. I usually am not one to go straight for the oysters but they were truly some of the most fresh and tastiest foods I’ve ever had. I’m also not one to take pictures of my food but this was one of the only times when I felt it was absolutely necessary so I could capture the moment and remember it forever. Despite the rough start to the day, we had an amazing lunch that rejuvenated us and made our day much better than it previously was. It was...

  On our way to the blue mountains, we got to stop at a wildlife sanctuary to see the local wildlife and it was an amazing experience. Not only did we get to see the animals up close but we also got to pet them, feed them, and take tons of pictures with them. At the beginning, we were fixated on the koalas because not many of us have seen koalas before and we were so close to them. We then walked through the reptile sanctuary to see some lizards, snakes, and the lone crocodile. I personally am not a fan of crocodiles because of various stories I have heard about the dangers of these reptiles when being around humans. I went around with a couple of my friends and we wanted to utilize our time the right way and have time to see everything. After this, we got to see a ton of baby penguins which was one of my highlights because I had never seen a penguin in the flesh before this. Last up was the kangaroo and goat area where we actually got to be up close with them and had the opportuni...

  Sixers vs Thunder, 7 P.M. Sunday night. It has been an exhausting day but a great day and we still have a full cricket match ahead. Although I have been advised by my brother, my parents, and friends that gambling is bad, I felt like it was only right to throw a wager. As we were entering the game, I started asking the locals who they thought was going to win, despite whichever team they were a fan of. After utilizing the advice of the locals, my buddies and I decided to throw a nice little wager on the Sydney 6ers to enhance the excitement of the game. For all of my friends, this was their first cricket game but for me, this was my second game and I was ready to go crazy. We sat down and it just so happened a bunch of Delaware students were sitting right in front of us. They also gambled on the game and took the same team that we did without knowing it. We bonded with the surrounding locals and the students in front of us about the Sydney 6ers victory. This type of cricket was a...

  My knowledge of Australia consists mostly of what I have heard from my brother as he studied in Sydney for about a month and a half before Covid devastated the world and he had to come down. Ever since this happened, my family has been on a mission to come here to ensure that my brother could make up for lost time. I will be blogging updates about my trip, my experiences, and will be taking pictures and videos of all the beautiful views I get to see. This is by far the best traveling opportunity I have had in my lifetime and I am grateful for getting to be in Australia for a full month. It is awesome that I get to be with my family for half of it as well as my friends and classmates for the other half. I am looking forward to the Australian open and just hanging on beaches as well as getting to see all the wildlife here. I am definitely a bit nervous about the strong UV because I really don’t want to get burnt and I know I’ll be spending a lot of time in the sun. When my brother ...

My second day in Melbourne with my family, we attended a cricket match and had no idea what to expect. My parents, my brother, and myself had never watched cricket before and did not know any of the rules. We sat in our seats and the locals around us picked up on our accents immediately and realized that we had no idea what we were watching. There was a man named David sitting in front of us with his two kids who were 9 and 11 and they were as knowledgeable about cricket as I am about the NBA/NFL (very knowledgeable!) For the rest of our time at the stadium we talked to the man and his two young kids and learned everything about the sport. First off, David described the difference between the three types of cricket matches and told us that we were currently at an international test match (5-day match) of Australia vs South Africa and that we would only get to see South Africa bat that entire day. I was able to ask David and his kids so many questions about the game including the rules ...