My roomate Julia and Me in front of the iconic Harbor Bridge and Opera House
Greetings from Sydney!
For those of you who don't know I'm here for 8 weeks doing a Travel Writing program through Boston University. The course is structured so that we have six hours of class (OUCH), three days a week (berry naice, ai laike) where we're lectured on journalistic techniques and how to capture the essence of a place. Sharon, a lively Aussie sheila (ill get into Aussie terms a bit later on) teaches the creative writing portion while Sue Williams, teaches the journalism section. Sue has had some of the craziest experiences I've ever heard. Once while traveling through war-ravaged Uganda she was abducted from the train station by 3 Ugandan soldiers (for no reason) who dragged her across a patch of waste land to their hut where they played Russian Roulette for her life. "If the gun lands on you, we'll kill you," she recalls them saying. After several unsuccessful spins, the revolver finally landed on her and the soldiers happily prepared to shoot her. She ran through every possible threat and persuasion tactic her panic would allow ("My husband will avenge you" "Lady, we're the army", "I work for the UN" "We hate the UN") before she offered them all of the money she had on her and they agreed to release her. As she walked back towards the station, the men fired shots over her head. When she arrived back on the platform those who had witnessed her capture insisted she hide under a pile of dirt-caked blankets, caged chickens and produce because the soldiers would surely return for her. Return they did, but luckily never found her hiding spot (which could not have smelled good).
Listening to her stories made me restless to continue to travel and determined to pursue my own adventures (minus the whole Russian Roulette for my life business).
But back to class, since we have class only 3 days a week the Travel Writing clan (there are only 5 of us) is in the midst of planning 2 long weekend trips, one to Melbourne where we'll take a day trip to Phillips Island (home to a huge population of Fairy Penguins who supposedly "parade" at sunset and also a night zoo where you can pet Koalas) and another trip up to Cairns in the North to dive (both in the Great Barrier Reef and out of a plane).
Additionally, we leave next tuesday June 9th (my birthday!) to go on a 12 day research junket around small towns on the eastern coast. The towns we'll be visiting (notably Braidwood, Milawa, Bermagui, and Eden) are very small - so small in fact that none of them have traffic lights (Sharon's main requirement when choosing the sites). In these towns we'll be visiting some mainstream sites such as an aboriginal cultural center and the graves of famous bushrangers such as Harry Powers and Captain Moonlight (great name). However our main objective is to search for the heart of the towns we visit. Then we're supposed to generate a few good pitches for travel stories - anything from a profile on the owner of the Cukoo Clock shop we're visiting (so bizarre) to the inhabitants' opinions on infamous bushranger and Australian icon Ned Kelly. I don't have any breakthrough ideas yet but I'm hoping they'll come once I actually see the places and interact with the residents. Also, I'm open to suggestions so please throw them out.
On a completely different note, tomorrow evening a bunch of kids from the the Boston University programs (not just Travel Writing but the internship and film studies programs as well) are going to surf camp about 90 KMs south of Sydney. It should be totally ______ (insert surfer word for cool here. suggestions: gnarly, tubular, righteous). I have wanted to try surfing for eons so I'm as excited as a puppy who's just been given a new squeak toy (except my puppy, Nigel, who's utterly blase about everything, including squirrel shaped, ball shaped, and rooster shaped squeak toys. Cant say we haven't tried...). I'm a tad worried about getting hypothermia - this is the last weekend they're running it because it's winter here and the water temperature is plummeting - but hopefully the wetsuit will help. Also, I'm not exactly pleased about the whole Great White Shark situation but i figure if sharks are as intelligent as they are reputed to be they'll know to go for someone a bit meatier who doesn't know that the best way to combat an attacking shark is to rip at its gills, poke its eyes and punch its nose (thank you Worst Case Scenario Handbook).
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