By Ashley Ermann
Our stay in Brisbane is quickly coming to an end. At the end of
this week we will be saying goodbye to our host families and heading off to
Lamington Plateau for a five day camping trip. This past Friday we finally
turned in our fifteen page research projects that we have been working on since
last semester. Handing in a paper that is nearly half a centimeter thick really
gives you a feeling of accomplishment. To add to the joy of being done with
such a big milestone of our trip to Australia, this Saturday was India’s
birthday and our host family planned a bit of a celebration for her.
They took us to the local bowling alley to play a few games of
bowling, and it didn’t take long to realize that none of us have a future in
pro bowling. Nonetheless, we had a lot of fun, and the kids had a good time
teasing us about how many more strikes they had gotten than us (though I do
think the fact that they had bumpers might have had something to do with that).
After we finished at the bowling alley, we returned home to enjoy a delicious
chocolate and passion fruit cake that our host mom had baked and decorated
especially for India. India and I both had a great time celebrating her
birthday with our hosts, and it was a nice break from studying for our
Australian Area Study final exam.
The following day we got up early to take part in Clean Up
Australia Day with our host family. We went to one of the parks in our suburb
and spent a few hours picking up all of the trash with a small group of locals.
It was a rainy morning, and we got very wet despite having packed our Portland
raincoats. The experience was fun and rewarding even if we got a little wet,
especially after the hot choc and left over birthday cake that was waiting back
at home for morning tea. Unfortunately, after the wonderful morning we spent
with our host family we had to get back to our coursework because we had a
final on Monday and independent research presentations due on Tuesday and
Wednesday.
The independent research portion of our classes down here in
Australia had very open guidelines. We were each supposed to develop a research
question within the theme of people and the environment. The theme was really
open to our own interpretations, and that was very clear in the variety of presentations
given on Tuesday. Rachit started off the presentation session with his project
on the acculturation of Indian families to Australia. This project was of
particular interest to Rachit because he is Indian himself. His project was centered
in the Sydney suburb of Westmead, and it looked into multiple aspects of the
lives of transplanted Indian families to determine how well they had adjusted
to life in Australia.
Justin E. followed Rachit with a project that could not be more
different. He looked into how bluegrass music got its roots in Australia.
Justin made some amazing contacts in the Australian bluegrass scene, and he
learned that the large mining industry in Australia played a major role in
bluegrass gaining foothold in Australia. The Australian miners could easily
relate to the themes of the hardships of the poor hard-working man that were
present in the music that arose in the Appalachians. Justin was even lucky
enough to have the opportunity to perform with a few of the bands that he
interviewed.
Following Justin’s presentation on bluegrass music, I presented
my project on traditional bush medicine. I researched what some traditional
bush remedies were, what sort of empirical basis they might have, and how
traditional medicine is used in modern Australia. I found that most traditional
medical practices reported by Aboriginal elders do contain a chemical that
could be the empirical reason for their effectiveness at treating disease. Many
of the chemicals found in high quantities in the bush medicine plants are
actually ingredients found in modern Western medicines.
Kyla’s presentation was really quite different from the previous
presentations of the morning. She had done her research on the philanthropic
bikers of the King’s Cross suburb of Sydney. She interviewed a few members of
the King’s Cross Biker Social Welfare Club, which is devoted to conducting
community charity events, how they are affected by stereotyping, and
legislature that are centered around bikie culture in Australia.
The three final presentation of the day were Lucy’s project on
the development of permaculture in Australia, Elijah’s presentation on the
public transportation system in Melbourne, and Annabelle’s research on how
legislation is—or is not—promoting the revitalization of Indigenous languages
in Australia. Everyone’s major
seemed to have had a big influence on how they interpreted the theme. Lucy, for
example, is an environmental studies major, and her project focused on making
human activities in Australia more sustainable. On the other hand, Kyla is a
sociology major, and her project focused more on how a group of people function
in Australian society. Overall, everyone who presented did a great job on their
research projects and their presentations. The presentations were very
interesting and informative, and it was fun to see how everyone had interpreted
the theme of the research project.
Here are a few photos of our weekend adventures!
India's 20th birthday wish! |
Helping out. |
India Bowling |
Clean Up Australia Day! |
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