Day 40: A Two-Week Recap & My Take on Serving Others

23 August 2014

It’s been about two weeks since my last post! (Where has the time gone?!) In the past fourteen days 

We Were Feeling Artistic @ Pallarenda!

so much has happened! Academically, I took my first quiz, completed my first two Physics Labs, wrote my first Biology paper, and  took my first Physics test. Monday, I’ll present my first group project. (Guess that’s why it’s called “Study Abroad” and not “Abroad Study,” can’t forget Uni!)

Still finding time to enjoy myself though. In the past two weeks I've gone swimming at River Way, Townsville’s “lagoon” swimming pool, been to Townsville’s Cultural Fest and tasted Torres Strait Islander food. Oh! And got lost for two hours with six other girls because the bus refused to stop for us on our way back home. (We got here though, just had to make a detour at

Townsville Cultural Fest

McDonald’s for 30 cent ice-cream first!) 

Friday we took a trip to the Pallarenda, which basically looks like our American beaches — very gray. Kessia refused to swim because it wasn’t “blue.” We got some great pictures out of it though! Plus I got to explain to one of the International Staff what food stamps and Welfare are. (Hopefully I got everything right!)

I love ending my weekend evenings at movie nights with my new friends.  Perhaps the most memorable one was last night when I asked my Australian friend Eva to show me the most American movie she had ever seen, and she pulled out “Sydney White,” a movie about sorority and fraternity wars. We have got to do better America!

River Way Lagoon

Volunteer-wise, I started tutoring through an organization called ARTIE, which helps Indigenous children succeed in school. It just happens to be at the biggest high school in Townsville. I’ve only gotten lost about twice at this point though!

This morning Kessia and I got up at 8am to work on the Neighbor to Neighbor initiative along with a couple of people from the bible study we go to. This organization helps elderly people keep up their homes. The guys did the outside stuff, but all these lovely Australians wanted us to do inside was wash their windows, dust their shelves, oh, and put a computer together, which Kes and I were able to do! (YES! Didn’t know we had it in us!) My favorite memory of the day was when the lady at the last house we did found out I was an American. She exclaimed, “You’re an American?! I haven’t seen one since the War!” It goes without saying that she was pretty happy to see me. 

The Strand

When I came to Australia I made a promise to myself to not just be a tourist. I didn’t want to just go to the attractions and see what Australia has to offer on just a visitor perspective. I wanted to give back, I wanted to visit the elderly, help the students, and learn about the Australia that you’ll never read about in a textbook or see in a movie. The same lady at the last house told us a story that has stuck with me all day:  “My mom used to work for an American once. One day there were about 52 orphans which the orphanage was taking to the beach. The American noticed them and asked who they were and where they were going, so my mother explained. Then the American told her to buy fish and chips for all the orphans and pack them into 52 little packets so each child could have one.”

New Places with New Friends

I think it’s pretty cool that this is what an elderly woman could remember about my country, and it made me feel so great to hear about my land caring for others. That’s what life’s about, no matter where you are, seeing the needy and helping out in any way you can. Even if it’s just a little packet of fish and chips for an orphan. This is what I’m determined to spend the rest of my life doing. Learning, and growing, and caring for others, no matter where I find myself. Because caring is the same no matter where you go. It’s the little things you know, that make the biggest difference.