Almost to Syd...

The group (or most of us, at least) is leaving tonight on the red eye (12:15 flight to be exact) to fly into Sydney for the last 4 days of the trip. I am looking forward to it, but will surely miss the beautiful city of Perth and WA. The city kind of reminds me of Richmond, with a river running right through and a perfect mix of small buildings mixed in with taller skyscrapers. The people are so nice here (not too much like Richmond...) and are always willing to help, which is awesome.

Anyways, yesterday I was supposed to spend the day with Simon Jones of the Australian cycling team. That didn't go so well...but it turned out to be one of the best days I have spent here.

I arrived at the WAIS complex to meet Simon at around 10 in the morning. After speaking with the receptionist, I proceeded to wait for about 30 minutes for Mr. Jones (even though he told me to meet at 10...). But I figured, no big deal. We did the introduction stuff and then he basically proceeded to tell me that I have 20 minutes with him, so ask away. It caught me off guard; I was told I was to be there for the day and he would take me through everything having to do with Aussie cycling. So yeah, I asked him a few random questions, then left slightly dissapointed. Oh well. He did tell me that "There is no such thing as hope, just good plans." Maybe thats a british thing or something (Simon is from Manchester, England).

So Ian picked me up and drove me towards North Fremantle to the PT office of Kieran Bell (who we had visited a few day before). Kieran is a really nice guy, and we quickly became friends. I spent the next six hours or so helping him out with his appointments and learning the in's and out's of physio. The patients that he saw were all good sports about me being in the room and wished me luck in my studies. I definitely learned a lot from the day, and I am glad I was able to get in some more PT shadowing hours for my (hopeful...I mean planned) future in physical therapy.

Ian picked me up again at 5:30. We had a quick drink at the hotel restaurant (I had water!) then everyone said our goodbye's to Ian. Dr. Fairnie is a great man, and I hope to be able to see him again one day once he travels around my area in the states. Ian is a world-traveler, and seems to know just about everything, so he was a great guide and professor while we were here in Perth. Anyways, I came up to my room to pack up for Syd and then headed to bed. It's really funny to watch tv here, as at least 4 times a night (not even kidding) the channels here play the television show "Two and a half Men". I guess they like their Charlie Sheen comedy?

Today was a free day, so after sleeping in a tad and skype-ing with my girl we check out of the hotel and traveled down to St. George's terrace. We found the giant kangaroo statues and took some good pictures while there was a nice break in the recent heavy rain showers. We then took to the shops to get a few last minute gifts (a boomerang for myself) and walked over to the Western Australian museum and art gallery. We walked around most of the museum full of stuffed mammals and aboriginal artifacts then headed to the gallery. The art gallery had some great works and I enjoyed seeing all of that. I did take some nice under-the-jacket photos as cameras were not allowed in the gallery. Don't tell anyone that I did though...

The next few days will be spent in Sydney. The educational part of our trip is done, so we will get to do the whole "tourist" thing while in town. We will arrive early in the morning on Friday and have the whole day to do whatever we like. I plan on going to the Australian museum and Darling harbor while going around the city on the sight-seeing bus. Hopefully the weather will be nice! Saturday is the sydney harbor bridge climb (which will be awesome; again, hope for good weather) while Sunday is a day tour out to the Blue mountains and a wildlife park to hold some koala's. We fly back to the states on Monday!

Week 2

Forgive me for not posting in a few days.

Sunday:

Took the 7:30am train to Fremantle (it was cheap...only like a buck fifty) to meet with the surf school bus and hit the beach. We just barely made it, with getting there 2 minutes before the start time. We weren't the only ones late, however, so they were cool with it. After donning our wetsuits (not an easy task as most people know) we walked out in the cold sand to the water. I must admit, I was a little weary about being in cold water for 2.5 hours. All of that was gone once we hit the water and immediately felt nice and warm in the thick wetsuits. Our instructor, some nice guy from New Zealand, was really cool and helpful. As it was pretty much my first time surfing, he helped me out for the first few waves with a nice push and I gradually started to get the hang of standing up. I seemed to have a problem with putting my feet in the right place and thus perfecting the balancing act, though I eventually got the hang of it all and stood up maybe four or so times? I had an amazing time, and the weather and overall location was beautiful. I definitely want to go surfing again sometime soon!

After our lesson, we dried off and took the train one stop into Fremantle and walked to the markets. We had expected some huge marketplace with tons of soveniers and the like, but it was not the case. Still, we had a good time looking at the different local vendors and I got a few gifts for those back home. We traveled back to Perth and I went down to the mall district to finish off my gift buying. That was pretty much it for the day.

Monday:

We traveled to Notre Dame University of Australia in Fremantle to listin to a lecture by Dr. Hamer, the dean of their PT school. While the lecture started off kind of slow, I eventually got into it and enjoyed the presentation. Dr. Hamer compared and contrasted the US system of PT schools and the system at their school and the whole of Australia. While the majority of american programs are graduate level and lead to a Doctorate of PT, Australian PT programs start right out of high school and lead only to a Bachelors. This at first seems quite strange, but after learning about their programs and classes it only seems like it is a formal matter of having a Dr. at the start of your name. Many of their classes seem to go along the lines of the classes at VCU, or at least at first glance. It would be interesting to see whether it is only a matter of salary difference and such between our PT schooling system and theirs. The group then had fish and chips at Cicerello's restaurant in Fremantle, a town landmark located right on the water. While I am not a huge fish eater (not whatsoever, really) lunch wasn't too bad.

After that was a trip to the PT office of Keiren Bell and Greg Borman. This was probably the best lecture since we arrived and I really enjoyed it. They spoke to us on how to gain the trust of a patient and diagnose and treat a patient with a few different techniques. We actually got to interact and pretend to diagnose each other, which was a lot of fun. Keiren is an avid cyclist, so we got to talk cycling for a while. He told me that he would ask around to see if anyone has a bike that I can use for a few days, though I doubt anything will come of it.

I then spent the rest of the evening studying and reading for my online class (HPEX 357) and watching some American TV on the few channels that are available. Aparrently they are fans of Desperate Housewives here?

Tuesday:

After traveling to Curtin Uni for the last time, we listened in on a lecture that outlined occupational health and safety. The lecturer, who's name escapes me at the present time, was a Singapore native who seemed to know just about everything there is to know about health and safety. His lecture was filled with visual pictures and a few videos of different accidents and events that he had studied for his Ph.D., which I enjoyed.

The group was then taken to the CSBP plant, a processing facility that deals with cyanide (for gold mining) and fertilizer. While we weren't really allowed to take any pictures and walk anywhere alone (due to the dangerous chemicals, etc.) it was nice to be able to apply what we had learned in the morning lecture on occupational health to an actual setting.

Tomorrow I will travel to the WAIS complex (like our olympic training centers, but for Western Australia) to spend the day with one of the Australian national cycling team coaches. Hopefully it will be a good time! Maybe I will get a free bike out of it or something...just kidding.

3&4

Lets see...

Yesterday started off at Curtin Uni with a talk concerning Australian and international public health. I thoroughly enjoyed the lecture as it went over Australian health and integrated it into the worldwide perspective. It was decided that malnutrition and global warming were the biggest health crisis in the world at the moment, which I was very surprised to hear. However, it does make sense, given that so many in the world are at below-poverty levels and/or don't have ready access to a nutritious meal on any given day. With the impact of global warming causing rising water levels, crops will and have been affected that supply millions of people in places such as India and China. Their was also talk on the Swine Flu and its affect on Australia as a whole. The state of Victoria (don't quote me on it) has had the most affected with something like 200+ having come down with the virus. The number is huge compared with every other state in Australia and thus officials have implemented mandatory quarantines for those traveling around the country that have visited Victoria. Apparently this was a move in order to starve the virus and allow time for a proper vaccine to be produced.

After lunch and a 40 minute car ride we arrived at the Western Australian Institute of Sport. It was a huge complex, with different fields and stadiums as well as a huge swimming/gymnastics center. It can be equated to our own American Olympic Training Centers, as the WAIS trains Australian olympic athletes as well as elite WA state athletes. It was a great experience to be there and I was looking forward to it after having wanted to visit an Olympic training center since I was young. We toured the faclity with Australian olympic team member and worldwide top-ten Javelin thrower Kim Mickle. Kim was really down to earth and genuily interested in our group and why we were in Australia, as well as showing us around the complex and answering our questions. I'll definitely look for her on TV when the world track and field champs are on in a few months!



We came home and immediately headed out to get some dinner and walk towards King's park for the sunset and views of the city at night. I will sum it up in one word...beautiful. The city was gorgeous and the views of the skyline and surroundings were spectacular under the night sky. I now understand why so many pictures of the city of Perth are taken from King's park at night! I then totally crashed into bed and (hopefully) slept off the remaining jetlag.

Today we were at the South Fremantle football game to watch and observe their trainers and PT. I was more interested in the game after having figured out the rules and will definitely check out the supposed American aussie rules football clubs! Tomorrow is a free day and I will spend it surfing at Leighton beach then browsing the Sunday markets at Fremantle. G'day!

Days 1&2

I have a lot to say after neglecting to blog last night. I was (and still am) dead tired/getting over jetlag so I said why bother. But I will try to sum it all up thus far:

Day 1 in Perth:

We traveled to Curtin University and sat in a lecture by Kim Collard. He is an amazing Aboriginal man who I have huge respect and admiration for even after a short time. He spoke to us about Aboriginal history, culture, health issues, and overall status of the ethnic group within the country of Australia. It was an awesome lecture and I learned so much that I never would have known about Aboriginals. Mr. Collard taught us about the Aboriginal "skin colors" rules and how wide the disparities are between natives and white Australians in just about every aspect in this country. It's really a shame, and makes me feel as if I should learn more about our own native american populations and the possible disparities that exist in our own country. After that, we toured the University (I equate it to a W&M type campus) and then had lunch in their cafeteria. I paid almost $18 aussie for a small plate of rice and shrimp and a water. So expensive!

The group then traveled back to the city of Perth to go on a quick bus tour led by our guide/aussie prof. Dr. Fairnie as well as a stop over at Kings park. Kings park is a huge park located on a hill overlooking the city skyline. Most of the pictures of Perth city proper are taken from the park; its a beautiful place with manicured lawns and many trees representing each soldier from Perth that died in the first world war. We then went back to the hotel to grab our umbrellas and rain jackets (after getting caught in the daily Perth winter rainstorm) and then headed to an island on the Swan river inhabited by wild Kangaroos. It was really cool to be able to see wild kanga's that really had no care in the world and would let you step right up to them. It started raining cats and dogs, however, so we quickly headed to the nearest bus stop and hopped on the free CAT bus to travel to the Perth mall district (shopping). I did manage to find a few bargain gifts for those back home but won't disclose of those finds here...

Dinner came and we ate at the posh hotel restaurant with a nice guy named Micheal. He is a corporate wellness director and owner of a major wellness company here in Australia. It was an intriguing talk that included Japanese acupuncture (he studied for 4+ years in Japan as an acupuncturist) and his beliefs that corporate wellness is an organic, company wide program as opposed an individual goal. Perhaps he needs to go to the USA and open up a few locations! We then bidded each other G'day and headed to bed.

Day dos:

After an early 7:00am start we all headed in the van to the Clontarf Foundation, a local school that serves to teach aboriginal boys from years 8-12 that aspire to play aussie rules football for the school and further their education. We helped hand out their breakfast of beans and toast and then sat down and talked with the guys for a while. I met one nice student named Roy, an year 11 boy that is a "rover" for the football team (whatever that means...). All of the kids wanted to know whether us Americans wore bullet-proof vests everyday and shoot people in the streets. Apparently they watch a lot of hollywood movies!

Next up was the Western Australian food bank, an organization that provides free breakfasts for over 12,000 underprivileged school children in the state of WA. We toured their packing facilities and learned all about their programs, including "skip rope, not breakfast", a program that encourages students to skip (jump) rope for prizes and certificates as opposed to skipping breakfast. After that we headed to the beaches near Fremantle and hopped out to dip our feet in the Indian Ocean, then drove to Freo' to have lunch and go to the South Fremantle football club in order to watch a training session and talk with their physical therapists. I have never seen a game as peculiar as aussie rules football, that is for sure. However, it was an interesting session and we got to meet Peter Bell, a famous ex-pro footballer. After dinner we headed back to the hotel and here I am now. Tomorrow is not such a busy day, with class all day at Curtin Uni ranging on a few different topics. I am definitely enjoying my time here and still agree that Australian's are the nicest people I have ever met!

Time to go sleep off some jet lag.

G'day.

FInally

I am here.

Internet access is not great at all here...and is costly. I don't have my laptop up and running yet (I am on some computer terminal) so I can't upload all my photos yet.

Flight to LAX was alright. We then got on the Qantas A380 to Sydney. It seems like I was on it ages ago, but it was amazing! THe plane was huge, and it was weird to know that people were on a level above you as well. We werent allowed to go upstairs, which was dissapointing. So after 15 hours of watching movies/sleeping we arrived to people coming on to check for swine flu. 4 people or so got quarantined (sp?) so lets hope I do not come down with it. THat took half an hour. Keep in mind our layover was only 1 hour to go through customs and immigration as well as transport to the other terminal. So, long story short, we did not make it. Lines were long as anything and frustrating after such a long flight. We were then booked on the only available Perth flight for the day at 4pm. It was 9am at that time...so we said hey lets go into Sydney and check it out!

IT was awesome. Like a postcard, to be honest. We saw the bridge and the opera house, located on circular quay or whatever they call it. The clouds parted and it was a perfect (and unreal) few hours of sightseeing and jet-lag.

We then got back to the airport and made friends with 2 aussies at this surf related shop in the terminal. THey were really cool and gave us a lot of advice!

AFter another 5 hour flight we arrived in Perth and came to our hotel. I then proceeded to take the best shower of my life after having been traveling for over 40 hours.

I am running out of time on this computer (I put in a $2 aussie coin for half an hour...not bad) so I will leave this til next time. I have much more to say, for sure. Btw, everything is SO expensive here. We do get almost 2 aussie dollars to our dollar but it really is unreal. For example, it was 18 dollars for me to eat a simple ham sandwich and a sunkist at the airport. And you might say, sure, its the airport, but its like that everywhere thus far!

Tomorrow is orientation and a tour of the city!

On my way...

I'm about to leave for the airport. All packed, ready to go. I think...

My bag is just on the 50lb. limit. Which sucks, because I limited what I packed and wanted to have some more room for souveniers. But you only go to Australia ever so often, so I will pay whatever overweight charges I might have to get souveniers back home.

Anyways, I will post again when I have access to the internet. A few of my study abroad classmates are taking their computers on them (they have the new small little computers) so I might be able to get on theirs in between now and Perth.

If not, I will be there after 30 hours of flying time, + 2 days.

See you down under!

T-2 days

So since it is just now Friday, I only have about 2+ days til I head down under.

I am very excited, and to be honest, quite nervous/anxious. Time seems to have slooowed down in these days leading up to Sunday. However, I had a lot going on today which helped out with that. Tomorrow is packing/riding/date with my girl, then the always awesome CSC pro cycling race on Saturday. Then whattya know, it will be time to head for Dulles...

However, I am a little bummed about a few things. Mainly because of the whole not having the internet unless I go to a wi-fi spot problem (no, not because I can't check facebook every 2 minutes, but because of my online summer class). Also, the fact that I really have no idea as to whether my "international" cell phone will work, or even if the plug outlet adapters that I bought will function. And come to find out, my flight to LAX has been late the past few days running. Pray that I make my connection to Syd! I am very grateful for the chance to go, of course, but tend to be a worry-wort. But heck, I shouldn't worry right? It's AUSTRALIA. I did happen to search and find four or so wi-fi spots around the hotel in Perth (Comfort Hotel), so that is some good news on that front.

Oh, and that whole packing thing. I really should get on about doing that! I do have a list and have bought all the little things I might use while I am away. I just need to first unpack from coming home from school and Texas...then throw all I need in the suitcase. I plan on taking only about a weeks worth of clothing in order to save space/weight and just wash clothes there in the hotel. They might charge up the a** to wash a load, but I would rather save more space for the koala and penguin that I am supposed to bring back...

On another note, I have been emailing a few bike shops down there to see if they could hook me up with a road bike to train on while I am in town. In case you didn't know, I am the President of the cycling team at VCU, and absolutely love to ride and race my bike. One shop has a possibility and a few others directed me to a place where you can rent a road bike. I might take advantage of that... (or, like I planned, use the time there to crosstrain and rest my legs) Either way, it was interesting to read their reply emails (calling me "mate" and saying "cheers"), with such kind words and willingness to help me out! I am so excited to meet the Australian people and find out in person how welcoming they really are. The guidebook that I have (see previous post) claims that the Australian's are the nicest people in the world, and I am looking forward to finding that out.


Here's a pic of downtown Perth with our hotel (near the long grassy park and water) in the background...