6/10 - The final Weeks

These last few weeks in Lismore have been full of lasts, as places often are. Everybody is finishing up the remainder of their school work and getting ready to head home (well...except Madison).

Since my last blog post I went on a trip to Sydney with some friends and we saw the opening weekend of the Vivid festival. I had finished up the last of my music and art project before we left and I'm happy to say that I got exemplary marks on the music and art project alike :) (the grades were posted yesterday).

During the trip we went and saw the lights at Darling harbor, then saw the Opera House the next day after a visit to the Australian museum and the Museum of contemporary art. The Australian museum had a really amazing mamoth exit with a preserved mamoth specimen on display, which was pretty neat! But the true gain from that trip was that Madison bought a little grabber thing with a shark head and named it Calvin. Of course, since I was the one who had the backpack, I carried him around some. Making me the bearer of not one or two, but THREE travel buddies.

I felt pretty special.
Anyway, my friends humored me by letting me wander the museum of contemporary art where there were some pretty cool exibits. There was one painting where the artist used a dice roll to randomly determine each characteristic of each for he dot placed on a painting. It was pretty rad. There was another piece where an artist took heaps of pages out of an astronomy textbook and blacked out every word that wasn't the word "star". From far enough away, it looked like a black sky with just a few white-dot stars, which was pretty cool. There were some other ones and I can go on because I love contemporary art, like the clock that had its seconds set slightly faster so that the day was only 18hours long instead of 24, or the performance art of a guy measuring the entire distance of a walk through a temple with a needle. But like my friends, this talk of weird art may not be all that interesting to you ;)

The next day, we didn't have anything planned except going to Bondai Beach which took all of 2 hours to really explore. So I bought a ticket to a theater production that was happening just down the road from our hostel and spent my night that way. The show was called the Walworth Farce and it was SOOO COOOL. I mean, it might just be that it's been a while since I've seen a theater production but MAN. It was one of the best shows I've ever seen I think. It was all about the stories we tell ourselves and how we bend reality to justify our actions and it conveyed that through this beautiful show within a show happening, two stories unfolding at the same time.

UGH. I loved it. And I wish I could see it again honestly.

But anyway, we headed home the next day and it was back to reality (ope. There goes gravity).

Over the next week we (kindof) wrapped up the DND campaign. We would've kept going a little longer had I not planned another trip that I've begun to call my Ausie City Tour, but more on that in a bit. I finished my last project in Sound Production which I ended up getting an A on! A relief really because the previous projects did not have very good marks. I also studied for the Sound Production exam and did....decently...on it. I mean, I didn't fail. But looking at my grade, I'm a little scared that nobody did well on that exam. Regardless, it looks as though I will at least pass the class and that was my goal since this class was really chalanging for me.

The last thing I had to do was finish up an Outdoor Ed paper that involved designing and justifying your own outdoor program. I spent two days writing it and ended up getting so enthralled by some of my sources (it really only took me so long because I'd end up reading a source because I found it interesting, not because it was really relevant to my paper) that I checked them out and are reading them now. They are about the ethical issues in experiential learning programs and are quite fascinating.

Right. Where am I now? I've been pittering out this nonsensical blog post on my phone because I'm travelling and didn't bring my laptop. I'm in Adelaide right now! And after that I will be spending some time in Melbourne and then Sydney again as a part of my Ausie City Tour. Then I'll be back to Lismore for two days and then back to the States! I was hoping to make it up to Cairnes as well but it just didn't end up working out.

I arrived last night and didn't feel like paying for a taxi to my hotel so I walked an hour from the airport to my hotel. It was in good fun, and I only missed my turn once...well, twice technically...of the three turns I needed to take....BUT I PROMISE I'M COMPETANT DONT BE WORRIED MOM I MOSTLY KNOW WHERE IM GOING.

Tomorrow I head out to Melbourne where I'll be spending 4 days visiting museums and art shows and improv shows and libraries, oh my! And even though I've already been to Sydney I'll be spending four days there as well where I'll be catching the end of Vivid and the Sydney Film Festival! I've currently got tickets to see 7 movies and a percussion ensemble concert which I am beyond stoked for!

The biggest downside of this trip though is that I mostly didn't get to say goodbye to a lot of the people I've met over the course of the session. I get back the 18th and most people will be two days gone when I return. So, you know, if any of y'all are reading this, I've enjoyed getting to know you and if we're lucky I'll see you again! I hope you have a good life and don't forget to be awesome!