Due to my inconsistent blogging habits, this entry may be rather long with lots of pictures. Sorry If I bore anyone to tears.
Much has occurred in the past two weeks, including the survival of both my first round of exams and the tail end of a cyclone (more on that one later).Last Thursday marked the completion of my midterm exams, which called for a necessary night of celebration before we headed to Broome at 4am. It was an excellent night which led to an interesting morning, but I did to see my first Australian sunrise! It looks strikingly similar to the Australian sunset, so I’ll probably just stick to watching those instead of being up at 5am again.
Anyway, the trip to Broome was nothing less than amazing. I returned from my magical trip to the Outback about a week ago, and there are SO many parts of my experience that I want to talk about! I’ll focus of only a few for the sake of time, but trying to pick only a few to talk about is extremely difficult.
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| Friends at Cable Beach sunet! |
Before the trip started, I was advised not to hold any expectations, but to be prepared to have a life changing experience. To me, that demand is completely contradictive, since something that will allegedly change my life automatically suggests a certain sense of high expectation. Nonetheless, I tried really hard not to hold any potential hopes of achieving or doing certain things; and this was partially because of the mysterious aspect of the trip and also because I did not want to be let down when I came home not having any huge life revelations. So, when 4am came along and I boarded my flight with a few changes of clothes and a journal, I was not sure what I was getting myself into
I purposely decided to wait to write about my time in Broome until after I let the experience resonate within me for a few days. In my Critical Ethnography class taught by our director, Aric Putnam, I’ve learned that to be critical about an experience is not to under appreciate the moment, but merely to seek a better understanding of its importance. In being critical about the trip, I was able to recognized the significant opportunity for personal growth I had been given, but above all, I found myself thinking quite a lot about the experience, especially in terms of how culture, community, and change effects my everyday routine. That said, Broome had two really significant outcomes for me: realizing the power of community, and inspiring me to improve the way I embrace culture and experience.
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| Bennies at cable beach! |
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| Colin Morgan and I |
Throughout the week, I got to experience some truly amazing things. We stayed with an aboriginal family in the city of Broome which is in the northern part of Western Australia in a part of the outback called the Kimberly. Throughout the week, Colin and Maria Morgan told us about their culture and growing up in an indigenous environment. It was an honor to get to know Colin and Maria and spend the week with them, as they are very well known and respected within the Kimberly. Aside from my own father, Colin is one of the wisest people I’ve ever given the opportunity to talk to. The aboriginal culture is so intriguing, and hearing the story of their heritage was mind blowing. One of the most impactful stories we heard was Colin’s moms’ experience being affected by Stolen Generation, which was a period in time when the government took all aboriginal children from their families and put them in western civilized schools. It’s a tragic story in Australia’s history, and unfortunately is not even taught in the Australian education system so very little of the population is aware of the situation. It was amazing to hear stories of the impact if had on Colin’s mom and the way he was raised.
Besides being with the Morgans, it was great to bond with the group of kids from CSBSJU. Although we all live together, we rarely all get together to hang out. The first day we were in Broome was probably my favorite of all, and possibly of my entire semester. We spent the day at Cable Beach and Gantheaume Point, which is one of Australia’s most well known public beaches for its beauty and also very sacred land for the Aboriginal Culture. It poured due to a cyclone that had just been passing through, but it ended up being a great day to play in the rain! Unfortunately, we got blown off by a group of camels that we had arranged to ride, but we were content with just playing games in the rain instead. We ended up riding them the next day. Some of the other things we did throughout the week was make and throw spears, bake bread, fish for salmon, meet the Elders of an aboriginal community, go crabbing in knee deep mud, visit AMAZING beaches, and explore the HUGE Australian Outback.
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| Out group playing in the Rain on our first day |
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| Cable Beach camel rides |
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| Me standing at Gantheaume Point |
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| This was my favorite picture of the trip |
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Red Rocks- Stunning
After coming home from Broome, I realized that the hardest part about going somewhere is coming back and enduring the change that occurred. I say enduring, because trying to explain the emotions I had while being in Broome is truly frustrating - however eloquent and descriptive I am, the story I attempt to tell cannot do the emotions I felt justice. That said, it is easiest to sum up my experience by saying that Colin and Maria’s impact on my view of culture and community is something I will hold dear to my heart for years to come. In many ways, what I experienced in Broome is a small taste of what I should be experiencing in Australia as a whole: inspiration to make improvements that will stick with me while I’m here but more importantly when I return home. As goofy as it sounds, I’m excited to go home and put by lessons into practice where they really matter: in my home community, in my family, and any other ambiguous situations I find myself in throughout my lifetime. I hope that when I am home, I can inspire one person in the same way that Broome inspired me J
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