Final Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar Report

Below is the introduction and conclusion to my Final Report--my last and final duty as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar. And in turn, this will be my last and final blog as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar! Thank you so much for following me on my journey.

 “To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted.”   -Bill Bryson

            When I look back on my ten months as a Californian in Queensland, sponsored by the Rotary Foundation to obtain a Master’s Degree in International Public Health as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar, the first thing that comes to mind is that Bill Bryson is so right! What I am most proud of for the year I lived in Australia, is that I took advantage of this once in a lifetime opportunity of living almost as far away from home as possible, and traveled to see every unfamiliar bit of the Australasia region as possible. Because of this, I was able to see some of the greatest tourist destinations in the world all in about 10 months time: I stood on the crater’s edge of a live, erupting volcano in Vanuatu; I snorkeled with rainbow-colored fish at one of the 7 Natural Wonders of the World—The Great Barrier Reef; I cooked tucker by a campfire, slept in a swag under The Southern Cross, and rested at billabongs while bushwalking through the Outback; I learned ancient traditions of growing rice, rode on the back of an elephant, and visited 1,000 year old villages and Hindu relics in Bali, Indonesia; I ate, drank, and laughed my way through the most beautiful and quaint metropolitan city I’ve ever visited—Sydney; I worked and sweated alongside local villagers across four remote islands in the Solomon Islands in order to improve community-wide access to safe water and children’s access to a proper education in villages still recovering from a devastating earthquake and tsunami from 2007; I drove in a glaring green and purple van up the most sickening and winding roads, to be rewarded with the most breathtaking vistas of New Zealand; and I lived as a local in sunny Brisbane, Queensland, where I grew to love hot tea with milk even on a “bloody” hot and humid day, the extremely early morning sunshine that gets you up and out of bed before your alarm goes off, and the strangers who became my best friends and family away from home.

Though arriving in the Southern Hemisphere—where I knew there would not be a single familiar face to greet me—was really intimidating at first, it was actually the unfamiliarity of it all, the newness and the changes, that turned out to be the most significant, exciting and influential aspects of living abroad as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar for the 2011 school year. The following words are my final report, which fulfill my final duties as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar. I hope they convey how blessed and fortunate I feel to have been given this year to live abroad, to surprise myself with my own mental and physical strength and ability to be self-reliant, to broaden my worldviews, and to see everyday things as if for the first time all over again. 

When I left the U.S. for Australia, I was in tears. Then when I left Australia for the U.S., I was in tears. However, just as I knew when I left the U.S. I would certainly be back in a matter of months, I know I will certainly be back to Australia and to Rotary in a matter of years. I am grateful to everyone who made my year abroad possible—my parents for letting me go and for always being my biggest fans; my sponsor counselor, Russ Desch, for informing me of the scholarship, preparing me, and cheering me on the whole time I was there; my sponsor District 5230, for selecting me to represent the place that has always been my home; my host District 9600, for welcoming me and letting me get involved in their community; my host counselors, Brian and Cheryl Springer, for turning out to be friends for life; my RAWCS team leader in the Solomon Islands, Trevor Taylor, for letting me get involved in a life changing project; and every Rotarian, whose donations to The Rotary Foundation support the Ambassadorial Scholarship Program to allow students like me to achieve our dreams and broaden our minds.

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

Leaning forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies

I went through the motions of leaving my apartment, saying goodbye to my closest Aussie friends, and sitting at the airport and through the whole 15 hour flight home, with none of it feeling real until I landed and was back on the other side of the Pacific. Doug--the boy who waited with me at LAX to send me off to Australia--was the same exact boy waiting for me at LAX upon my arrival. At least there was a familiar face to greet me- something I could start getting used to again! 

Ridiculously delusional and jet lagged, I remember walking out to Doug's car from the International Terminal, and without realizing it, I waited for Doug to let me into his car on the left side of the car--the side that would have been the passenger's side of the car in Australia, but was the driver's side in the U.S. The realization of that little mistake finally triggered my first few tears about leaving Australia. In that moment, I was finally having to face the fact that "home," the place that should be the epitome of comfort and familiarity, was now the foreign land I was going to have to start anew in.

There were some weird changes to get used to being back in the US and jumping from Summer into Winter, but after lots of hugs from family and lifelong friends, a belly full of In-n-Out, and seeing my childhood house glowing with Christmas lights, "home" began to slowly feel more and more like home again. 

I believe this quote by Kerouac best describes the juxtaposition of all my feelings about my year in Australia coming to a close: my sadness and shock of leaving Australia, and then that moment you just accept that one chapter of your life has closed and another one is opening whether you like it or not, and now the excitement I feel for the new life changes and adventures to come.

"What is the feeling when you’re driving away from people, and they recede on the plain till you see their specks dispersing? It is the too huge world vaulting us, and its goodbye. But we lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies." 

I am sitting here writing this reflective blog post 10 weeks later now, and I must admit I still feel unsettled, unsure, and uncertain about life and being back here at times. I am working hard to find the job that will lead me to the career of my dreams, and I am working hard at trying to figure out where I want to be and where I fit into this big world; but despite the uneasiness of right now, I am EXCITEDLY "lean[ing] forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies," knowing I have grown and learned so much all because of my "year in Brisbane, Australia."

UQ Graduation

I spent my last day in Australia walking in my graduation ceremony! It was the perfect way to wrap up the year. I was lucky enough to have an entire fan club there for me--Brian, Cheryl, AND two of my oldest friends from home, Chelsea and Louis. 


Australia really knows how to "do" graduation right! The ceremony was short and sweet (under an hour! Woohoo!), they streamed it live online so my parents could watch it back in the US, and they had free finger food, champagne, and other drinks afterward. Very nice!

The brick arches and hallways at UQ reminded me of my other alma mater--UCLA!

The formal graduation garb is very different in Australia than in the US. These blue hoods were extremely tough to keep on my shoulders, but the blue hoods showed who was receiving their Master's and the white hoods showed who was receiving a Bachelor's degree. The hats were also different--the base of the hat was stiff and actually easier to keep on my head than our cloth ones.

Before the ceremony

My fan club

The graduate--of Hogwarts? Or the University of Queensland?

Inside the auditorium--UQ's colors are obviously purple (and gold)!

The processional for the Aussie ceremony reminded me of a Catholic church mass a bit!

We topped off the day with a final trip to the top of Mt. Coot-tha!

After the trip to Mt. Coot-tha, I had to face the goodbye I was avoiding most--saying goodbye to Brian and Cheryl. Luckily, I had already gotten all the tears out at my final presentation to Brian's Rotary club, but still it wasn't easy. Before I knew it, my my two big bags were packed (luckily I had already sent home two other full bags with Doug and my parents!!), my room was cleared out and emptied, and I was crammed on Morgan's lap hitching the scariest and most unpleasant ride in a 2-seater Jeep for my last trip to the Brisbane airport. 

Goodbye, Australia!!!!!!!

My last Australian adventure... for 2011!

For my last chance to travel around this beautiful sunburnt country, I headed south to Melbourne--not only to enjoy a break from the hot, humid Brisbane summer, but to round out this entire amazing Rotary experience with the girl I started it all with! Katie Stjernholm was a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar from a Rotary Club in the LA area and studied abroad to Melbourne, Victoria at the same time as I studied abroad to Brisbane, Queensland. We met at our Outgoing Orientation back in February 2010. Talk about coming full circle!

Melbourne was very noticeably different from Brisbane. Not only was the climate shockingly different after just a mere 2 hour flight, but Melbourne is significantly larger than Brisbane (Brisbane has a population of about 600,000 while Melbourne exceeds a population of about 4 million!). Most unique to me, though, was that Aboriginal influence was seemingly nonexistent in the downtown center of Melbourne, although I was only there for one weekend. Every street and building in Melbourne is named with a European name, which contrasts the streets and names of most places in and around Brisbane that are exotic, Aboriginal tongue-twisters. Though Melbourne was absolutely stunning with some of its monstrous historic buildings, I enjoyed living amongst Brisbane's more present native, authentic Aussie culture. However, I greatly appreciated all of the beautiful European architecture, as you can see below!

Some of the beautiful architecture around the city:

(Some similarities between Brisbane and Melbourne-- they both have a popular little hangout area called "South Bank")

The University of Melbourne was a beautiful juxtaposition of the classic, old English university look plus modern, cutting edge city:

The true "loo with a 360 degree view":

 Melbourne's nightlife, eateries, and awesome little revamped alleyways were all so "hipster"!

 We braved the cold arctic winds (literally, ARCTIC winds-- only Tasmania stands between Melbourne and Antarctica!!) to enjoy a summertime rooftop cinema:

This is a famous bakery window in the city. Yum!

 We took a sunny yet windy day trip to St. Kilda by tram:

Melbourne has its own Luna Park in St. Kilda, very similar to Sydney's!

We ended the trip with a dinner date to Chinatown where I sampled some of Melbourne's quintessential steamed dumplings. My verdict on them: cheap and delicious!

How to set the record for seeing the least of Fraser Island in the longest amount of time

Right after my last Rotary presentation in Australia  (#17 of 17!), Brian, Cheryl, my parents, and I headed north to Fraser Island! Fraser Island is famously the largest natural sand island in the world and that's really it... it is ALL sand. We did not see a paved road the entire time we were there. It is also known for being the last wild habitat of purebred dingos. What it is not so known about Fraser Island... is that the water to the East is the Coral Sea! Not one of the 5 of us knew that. Oops. No wonder it's so beautiful and tropical there!


To get to Fraser Island, we drove about 2-3 hours north to Tin Can Bay and Inskip Point where we caught a 15 minute barge to the island. Even just to get to the barge on the mainland, we had to deflate our tires, turn on the 4WD and trudge through soft sand! 

On the barge leaving the mainland!

Our 4WD was loaded with supplies... while Brian spent part of this barge-ride break scanning the manual for how to use the "sand driving" mode.

My dorky dad forced me to practice what the Australian Government posters stated for "What to do when you encounter a wild dingo." Apparently you have to stand tall, cross your arms and stand with your feet apart... and if you are with another person, stand back to back... and then you have to slowly back away in unison? Absolutely ridiculous. Luckily, we did not have to try this with any real dingos.

Once we made it to the island, we had about an hour drive up the beach. We spotted our one and only dingo as we headed to our hotel at Eurong:

After checking into our hotel, we took off for Eli Creek. This was mine and my parents' first encounter with gigantic horse flies, which bite! Luckily, none of us easily frightened Americans were bitten but they are the size of... say... an American cockroach?!... and definitely made us do silly dances--we constantly were having to move around and swat them off. 

Thanks to the camera's auto timer, we got some great group photos at the bottom of Eli Creek: 

Dad, Cheryl, Mom, Brian, and me!

Can you tell we're enjoying ourselves?! :)

Day 2 was filled with a bushwalk around Central Station and then a swim at Lake McKenzie! Lake McKenzie and the other lake we bushwalked to both had the brightest and whitest sand beaches and the clearest water. Apparently, Lake McKenzie is so crystal clear because it is a lake filled entirely with rainwater. It looked as though we were at a tropical beach on the ocean in say, Fiji, and not actually in the center of an island off the coast of Australia at a LAKE! The shallow water was so warm... I could've stayed there all day!

Trying to find our way...

Fraser Island has a pretty unique landscape

The beautiful first lake we saw at the end of our bushwalk

Minor bushwalk to the lake

Crystal clear waters at Lake McKenzie!

Our own private beach!

  

Relaxing afternoon swim

It was after leaving Lake McKenzie when the hilarity ensued. We were trying to get to Lake Wabby before catching the 5pm barge back to the mainland. However, because there had been abnormally little rainfall that month, the sand on even some of the "main roads" (still referring to unmarked sand paths) had not gotten a chance to harden and pack down... so the Springers' brand new Range Rover got bogged!! 

Side note: This current "getting bogged" experience actually occurred after we had a near-bogging experience when trying to go to Kingfisher Bay before Lake McKenzie only an hour or so earlier. The roads were so soft and sandy on that route, too, that it forced us to forego lunch at Kingfisher Bay Resort and head on to Lake McKenzie (which was ok by me, since I wanted as much time at picturesque Lake McKenzie as possible!!)

Getting stuck in the sand in the middle of Fraser Island luckily turned out to be a funny tale to tell since everything turned out okay in the end! We managed to free ourselves without having to pay lots of money to get towed or helicoptered (?) out of there, without either of the old men with us (hehe!) hurting themselves, AND without even missing our barge--which turns out, the 5pm barge really departs at 4:50pm and does not wait for anyone!

However, the process of reaching the happy ending to the "getting bogged" story left us with sore tummy muscles for days  from laughing so hard. I'll try to give a recap as best I can:

So we were driving along on some very, very turbulent and bumpy roads... all 5 of us in the car jolting and jumping around... when somehow in a softer patch, we slowed to a halt and just couldn't get through. Brian tried to kind of ease through the soft spot, he clicked some buttons and turned some things and we all held our breaths... until we realized we were just completely stuck. We all got out of the car, and put our brains and our brawn together to try to get us out of this little pickle...

After the men of our group tried everything from letting out the tires more and digging the tires out to driving over the floor mats while pushing the car, Cheryl managed to find their handy-dandy travel book on Fraser Island and flips to the section on "What to do if you get bogged". Cheryl started reading aloud for us all to hear, "Driving in Sand: The number one rule for driving in sand is to maintain momentum.  The moment you hesitate in the middle of a difficult section, you’re likely to be dragged to a stop. So, if you see a daunting section coming up, line up the path you want to take and stick to your guns till you’re out the other end. It’s always an exhilarating experience.” ...Oops. Too late for that.


Cheryl continued reading, "Oh ok here. Getting Unstuck: If you get stuck, don’t panic, and don’t keep spinning the wheels or you’ll just dig yourself in further." Oops. Already did that a few too many times, too.


"If it doesn’t look like the underbody is resting firmly on the sand (yet), clear some sand away from the front and rear of the wheels. Of course your passengers have disembarked by this stage in order to lighten the load.  Passengers can help by pushing, but only if there are enough of them to make a difference (sand is a formidable anchor)." Well... we just learned that 3 women and 1 man does not make enough people to make a difference on a Range Rover. And lesson #2 learned was that yes, sand is indeed a formidable anchor.


Cheryl continued, "A Troop Carrier with 10 backpackers has a distinct advantage here! If this doesn’t work, grab the shovel and clear away more sand, also from under the vehicle, and lower the tyre pressures." Been there, done that for the last 20 minutes. I think whoever wrote this is getting his jollies knowing we'd all be reading his excerpt just a few steps too late.


"If this doesn’t get you free, you’ve probably spun the wheels so deeply into the sand that the underbody is resting on the surface and the tyres will never get the traction they need." Again-OOPS. I think some words that need not be repeated were going through all our heads! 


Cheryl read on, "Use anything you can to provide a base under the tyres – floor mats, dead branches or other vegetation (never live), anything else lying around.  You should now be able to drive out.” Ahhh! We had already tried the floor mats and driving over towels and everything!! NOW WHAT?


Finally, after we had gone through the entire chapter a few times and we were feeling quite confused about whether to laugh or cry about the situation, the section's last sentence proved to be of some help: "Once you’re moving, go for it!"


With us all chanting, huffing and puffing, and cheering one another on, we finally got the Range Rover out-- Brian just kept going for it once we got it moving! We had lost our flip flops and random supplies in the thick, soft sand but we just kept yelling for Brian to "Go go go! We'll catch up with you later! Don't stop!" We all chased him down and around the corner of trees to where the sand was somewhat more solid again and where it was safe enough for him to finally stop.


Albeit sweaty and tired, we climbed into the car and let out some laughs and cheers of victory! We were quickly off back down the path to try to catch the last barge of the day with less than an hour to go. Just as we are making it down the road to some familiar landmarks and we had gained our confidence in the mighty Range Rover again, the car speakers let out a simple, concise, mocking little "Sorryyyy" in a computerized female British accent. NOW THE BLOODY CAR IS SORRY?!!!! I don't think I've ever laughed so hard in my life. 


And so, it was several funny road trip misadventures like this (and a few accidental tours of some parking lots) throughout our 2 days on the island that led to my mom's quote to sum up our whole hilarious trip: "I think that we set a record on Fraser Island of the least seen in the longest amount of time." 


Our last lesson of many learned from this trip-- seeing every single sight doesn't matter so much when you're with good company!