How's it going everyone, Nate Hulings here!A few of us headed out to the Old Pine Koala Sanctuary a few days back, and let's just say "amazing" is one of many words to describe the adventure. Heather, Tom, and I all cuddled a Koala named David who was a little cranky by the end of our session and had to be calmed down with some food.

After the photo op with Davis, we headed towards the Kangaroo field and chilled with our Kanga homies. I was surprised how tame the Kangaroos were, and some of them were even carrying around Joeys. If I would have left Australia without seeing Koalas and Kangaroos, my trip would have been a slight disappointment.

Tom and a tired Kangaroo. (Photo by Nate Hulings)

Which one is cuter, be honest! (Photo by Tom Swenson)

It was a long day for both of them. (Photo by Nate Hulings)

--Nate Hulings

One of the reasons it's such a pleasure to hold class in Australia during January focuses on the strong cultual (and somewhat outrageous) activities that surround Australia Day.

January 26 in Australia feels like the 4th of July, New Year's Eve and Columbus Day--combined. Folks throw their steaks on the barby, celebrate their country's diversity and simply have a smashing good time.

This day traditionally marks the landing of Captain Arthur Phillip in Sydney, claiming Australia for the British Empire. Though it has often been criticised, it remains the most inclusive celebration of a national day in Australia, expressing the national diversity which has become such an important part of the Australian national character. It's a day when 600 Australians are named and honored for contributions to their country. In Brisbane this year, new citizens were sworn in at City Hall and the Australian and Aboriginal flags were raised at Roma Parklands.

Australian National Anthem
Australians all let us rejoice,
For we are young and free,
We've golden soil and wealth for toil;
Our home is girt by sea;
Our land abounds in nature's gifts
Of beauty rich and rare,
In history's page, let every stage
Advance Australia Fair.
In joyful strains then let us sing,
Advance Australia Fair.

Beneath our radiant Southern Cross
We'll toil with hearts and hands;
To make this Commonwealth of ours
Renowned of all the lands;
For those who've come across the seas
We've boundless plains to share:
With courage let us all combine
To Advance Australia Fair.
In joyful strains then let us sing,
Advance Australia Fair.

One of my guilty pleasures during Australia Day is to attend the traditional (26th annual) Coackroach Races at the Storey Bridge Hotel in Brisbane. This is not an event for the faint of heart... or average tourist.

Fourteen individual cocky races take place throughout the day. Nearly 600 Aussies surround the official piece of canvas which marks the legendary race track. For each race, about 30 cockroaches are given names like "Waltzing Mat Cocky" and "Cocky and Bullwinkle" (for $5, which is donated to Mater Children's Hospital), numbered (with white-out) and then placed in a clear plastic container.

Each race begins formally with the entrants being brought into the ring accompanied by marching bagpipers. The race officially starts when the steward lifts the gate (plastic container) and the roaches scurry about. The first lucky roach to cross the outside line on the tract is declared the winner. Unlucky roaches are smashed or thrown into the crowd.

It's a cultural experience that clearly demonstrates the sporting nature and fun-loving spirit of our host country. It also proves some of the most significant intercultural lessons aren't academic but just plain fun.

--joanne lisosky

This is Kat Jenkins, from Brisbane. That's me on the right. ;) I'm a Physics major who's been enjoying learning more about communication.

After watching "The Crocodile Hunter" on Animal Planet when I was younger, I knew there was no way I could go to Brisbane without taking a day trip to Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo. After a train and a bus ride from downtown Brisbane, we arrived at the zoo. We were not quite sure what to expect. We knew we wanted to cuddle with koalas, chill with crocs, and waddle with wombats, but what else was behind the entrance gates, we had no idea.

As soon as I entered, I could tell that this was different than any other zoo I'd been to before. There was less glass and more trees than usual, and the animals seemed to be within reach. Some of the parts of the zoo we could even walk right through the animal's habitats to interact with them.

Cosmo the koala at the koala demonstration.

We went to a koala demonstration where one of the zookeepers, Adam, taught us that koalas sleep for about twenty hours a day. Wouldn't that be a nice life! After the demonstration, we all got a chance to touch and pat a koala. I hadn't realized before that there weren't all gray, but that they have white spots on them so they can blend in with the trees better. And yes, they are just as cute in person.

Watching the crocs at the Crocoseum.

Then we went to the the Crocoseum, where we saw a live show with snakes, birds, elephants, and crocodiles. We started with a few rounds of yelling "Crocs rule!" and "Crikey!" and a rememberance of Steve Irwin, whose presense is felt throughout the zoo even though he passed away this fall. The show was a chance to watch people interacting up close with "dangerous" animals, a chance to see macaws fly overhead (their colors are really amazing) and a chance to be in awe of a thirteen foot croc named Osmond who was fed right in front of us.

A portion of the mementos from the Steve Irwin memorial display.

After the show we had a chance to go see the memorial for Steve Irwin, which showed how much of an influence he's had on people everywhere. Families, schools, and zoos from all around Australia and the world had sent cards, posters, shirts signed with messages, and even plastic crocs to honor the Crocodile Hunter. The fence was 50 feet long and five feet high, covered with memorials on both sides. It was touching to see.

Perhaps the most surprising part of the zoo was the area where we got to interact with the kangaroos. At first I was reluctant and scared to just approach a kangaroo, but they're very friendly animals. They weren't the least bit afraid of us, but they also didn't even try to bite us. I think that it is neat that the Australia Zoo thinks it is so important to have real interaction with the animals to make people appreciate them more. They also give the animals space by having special rest areas for them to go to when too many little kids (or college students) come up to touch them.

Chelsea Gorrow, Shayna Doi, Jill Russell and Kat Jenkins jumping with Steve.

All in all the trip to the Australia Zoo was worth it. I learned a lot about the amazing animals of Australia. For instance, I didn't realize that Australia is the only country in the world with more varieties of poisonous than non-poisonous snake. I guess I can live without koalas in the US if that also means fewer dangerous snakes. I also had the chance to get up close to a kangaroo, something a bit more difficult to do at school in Washington. And something I'll remember for a lifetime.

After the obligatory stop in the gift shop, we hopped back to our bus and snoozed like koalas on the train back to Brisbane.

Hey all, Ashlee Parnell here writing from Oz!

I’m loving it here, I might just have to apply for a job at The Age newspaper in Melbourne and move here.

I wasn’t the biggest fan of Sydney when we first arrived, but I’ve come to love it. There are so many neat things to do!

One day last week two friends and I went on an adventure to Watson’s Bay. It’s about a 20 minute ferry ride from the city. It was so pretty! We ate fish and chips by the water and explored the area.

There were beautiful homes over-looking the water and small beaches. We got gelato (my favorite!) and found our way to a place called “The Gap,” which is a huge cliff overlooking the ocean. The view was absolutely amazing! There were trails up and down the edge of the cliff. From one side you could see Sydney and from the other, the Pacific Ocean. The ocean stretched on forever!

A shot overlooking "The Gap". (Photo by Ashlee Parnell)

The area was so beautiful but after talking to a group of locals we found out it’s actually quite dangerous at night. One boy even said he wouldn’t go to The Gap unless he was with a group of guys. I was surprised - it was such a nice area. But we had a fabulous time and got to see another part of Australia!

Chelsey Elliot and Ashlee Parnell at Watson's Bay.

I’m sad to leave Sydney but excited to see a new part of Australia!

--Ashlee Parnell

Hi, this is Heather Meligan reporting from Brisbane, Australia. When I went shopping for foods to make lunches with, I found myself embarking on a unique cultural adventure. I had planned on getting some fruit, bread, meat, chips and pop. I ended up with a package of chicken from the deli, some white bread, two containers of ripe strawberries, a 600 mL bottle of diet coke, and some Pringles. Thus far, everything I had wanted to find at Safeway had been easily located. Sure some of the brands were different in Australia, but the foods themselves were the same.

Before I left, I remembered that I would need mustard for my chicken sandwiches. When I went to the aisle with the spreads on it, mustard was nowhere to be found. For five to ten minutes I stood there thoroughly perusing the aisle’s contents. I was positive I must not be seeing something that was surely right in front of me. Vegemite, jellies and jams, peanut butter, honey, and a variety of other spreads stood before me on the shelf. I became frantic, as I had a limited amount of time to search with people waiting for me outside the store. Eventually, I gave up searching and decided that it must not exist here in Australia.

I found it! (Photo by Jill Russell)

Later I realized I hadn’t seen any ketchup or mayonnaise either, and decided those also didn’t exist here. When walking to dinner that evening I recounted the story to one of my classmates, mentioning that I couldn’t possibly live in a country where mustard didn’t exist. That was how I found out that it was located on the ethnic foods aisle. This was the last place I would have thought to look for mustard! It made me feel like a true foreigner to discover that mustard is considered an ethnic food here. When I think of ethnic foods I usually think of Hispanic and Asian foods.

Ketchup and mustard are now ethnic food. (Photo by Heather Meligan)

I never thought that term would be applied to a food I considered to be a standard commodity. As a first time international traveler, this is an experience that I will not soon forget. In the future when I travel to other countries, and can’t find what I’m looking for, I will be sure to look in the ethnic foods aisle.

--Heather Meligan

Hello from Sydney, this is Alexandria English. On our very last night in Sydney, it was very much a girls night out. Eleven girls out of the group washed the sand out of their hair and got ready for our last night out on the town. We had gotten up bright and early to get tickets to the must see show at the Sydney Opera House, Stomp as performed by the Lost and Found Orchestra. It was an amazing spectacle. With 50 plus performers and a choir joining in at the end, it was a perfectly synchronized event. Everything on stage had a purpose and was made out of random materials. The trumpets were road cones, drums were huge plastic containers, and the chimes were made out of pipes. Through the event they swung from the ceiling, used waterglasses as a background for a symphonic melody and entranced the audience. Stomp was performed in the large auditorium in the Opera house and is stunning. The construction of the room made the sounds from the performance resonate perfectly through my ears.

Not only were we blessed to see Stomp performed but only a few nights earlier we watched an interesting show called The Beast of Taylor Mac. It was a hilarious story of a man who does stage performances as a drag queen. His play consisted of small songs and stories about his life and current affairs. With a wardrobe that represented “The War On Terror”, you know it was good. He sang songs about Vice President Cheney’s wife and her risqué novel, as well as a song called “If you see something, say something”, which described what would happen if you were to leave your bag unattended in an airport. Although he had us falling out of our chairs, he touched us with songs of how he has been hurt in the past for who he is. Very much a touching perspective in an alternate side of life we don’t normally see.

Both of these performances were incredible. Giving myself and the group a new perspective on the arts as well as being able to say that we watched two performances at the Sydney Opera House! Our last night concluded with a fireworks show outside of the building bringing one of the girls to tears, making it one of the most memorable moments on this amazing journey. I feel so fortunate in having these experiences and opening my eyes to so many new things. Hopefully one thing we all learned was to be able to dance to the sound of our own beat.

--Alexandria English

Jill Russell, here! While visting the Australian Film Television and Radio School, we were struck with awe at the fact that such an elaborate and modern school could be fully subsidized by the government. I mean, it just seems totally un-American that the government would fund a school for media. In my American-bred mind, the thought of governmental interference in media is terrifying.

While Steve Aherns talked about the history of Australian radio, I was kept on guard about the whole idea of this school. I kept thinking, “OK. Government subsidized…what’s the catch?” We quickly learned that there was no catch. The Australian government is totally aware of something that our government has yet to understand. The media are very powerful entities.

Steve Aherns, the director of radio at the school, lectures the class on the nuances of Australian radio. (Photo by Nate Hulings)

In America, our culture and our history has taught us to seek freedom from governmental control. In Australia, the government finds media so important, so crucial to its culture, that it willingly allocates money to create a school for the cream of the crop to harness their skills, ensuring a very hopeful future for Aussie storytellers.

--Jill Russell