Melbourne, Australia

March 14, 2007

Step 1: Get There.

I will be spending the next seven weeks in Melbourne, Australia doing my Interactive Project for WPI!! I couldn’t be more excited to go there!! The gorgeous beaches, crazy accents, extreme sports, unforgettable wildlife, and the Great Barrier Reef are just a few of the many aspects that made me choose Australia as the destination for my Interactive Project. Knowing that I would have endless opportunities for adventure and a once in a lifetime abroad experience make me ridiculously excited to head down under!!

The Project:

While in Australia, I will be working with Lynn Worobey and Nick Simone, both of whom are Juniors pursuing degrees in Biomedical Engineering and Aerospace Engineering respectively. The three of us will be working with CSIRO, Australia’s National Science Agency in their Education Centre in Melbourne. They have asked us to adapt their existing hands-on science programs for students with disabilities. The underlying goal of the project is to develop a set of adaptations that can be utilized by any hands-on educational science program across the globe. Incorporating inclusion and universal design into these programs is an important and challenging goal for our project team.

We have spent the last term researching available literature on informal learning, different disabilities, and the necessary adaptations to include students with disabilities. Beyond research, we have spent the past seven weeks interviewing special education coordinators, science teachers, and museum exhibit designers to learn more about modifying different programs to include everyone. These programs are intended to encourage all students to pursue careers within the science, technology, and engineering fields regardless of whether or not they have a sensory impairment.

Leaving the States:

I would be lying to you if I told you it was easy for me to say goodbye to all of my friends at WPI (Shout out to all of my favorite people! ) , but I know that I am about to have one of the greatest experiences of my life! My dad is flying down to Australia with me and spending my Spring Break there with me in both Sydney and Melbourne. My family is all really excited for me and they’re expecting great souvenirs, I’m sure! Although I know it will be different without all of my best friends with me, I’m going to Australia with 23 other WPI students and 2 WPI Professors, so I will have plenty of people that I know around while also having a whole city full of new people to meet!

The Flight:

The flight to Australia is quite possibly the longest flight of all time; flying to the other side of the world takes about 15 hours from the Los Angeles International Airport. My dad and I happened to take the even longer route, flying 12 hours to Seoul, Korea first and then having a 12 hour layover there and then heading off for another 10 hour flight to Sydney, Australia!! We left Boston in the afternoon on March 3, 2007 and we finally arrived in Sydney in the morning on March 6, 2007 (3 days later!). Finally stepping off the plane and into sunny Australia was such a great feeling!

Sight Seeing:

Sydney is a fantastic city!! I spent two days there and my dad and I walked all over the city and saw SO much! We took a tour of the Opera House and crossed the Harbor Bridge, which were both everything I always thought they would be. We also took a cruise around Sydney Harbor and went to a few museums. It really is a fun city and I highly recommend going there if you ever get the chance!

We flew to Melbourne on the night of our second day and I like the city of Melbourne even more than I liked Sydney! It is a huge city with so much to do! The past few days in Melbourne, I’ve been wearing shorts and tank tops because it has been so nice and warm outside!! All of the WPI students are staying in a new apartment building right in the Central Business District of Melbourne, which is right downtown where everything happens.

Right by the apartments that we’re staying in there are the Queen Victorian Markets and it is "the most awesome place in the world!" (Nick Simone). All of the local farmers bring their fresh fruits, meats, and vegetables and sell them for pretty cheap and everything is delicious! They also have acres of other people selling their goods, such as boomerangs, didgeridoos, sweatshirts, and all kinds of other things. All of the WPI students tend to go there at least once every two days. We love it!

The beaches here in Australia are unbelievable! The water is so blue (and actually warm!) and the views are amazing! Our Professor took us to his favorite beach, which is more of a locals spot, so it’s just a gorgeous beach and it isn’t too crowded, which was perfect.

The best part of being here in Melbourne so far is that there is always something going on! There’s a big festival going on right now called the Moomba Water Festival (I have no idea what Moomba is, but it sounds cool). During the day, they have water skiing and wakeboarding competitions and also a Bird Man competition, which were all really fun! They also have all kinds of carnival rides and food and other family activities! At night, we went to watch the fireworks and it was hands down the best fireworks show I’ve ever seen in my whole life!

Things I’ve learned so far:

1. "How ya goin’" = What’s up?
2. The proper response to everything is: "No worries!"
3. The toilets do not actually spin the other direction; they don’t even spin at all.
4. Tea Time is twice a day.
5. No one has vacations, they have holidays.
6. They have cute possums instead of squirrels.
7. You don’t call anyone, you ring them.
8. Australians are quite possibly the most easy going people on the planet.
9. Sitting on the beach in the beginning of March is AWESOME!
10. Aussies love Americans and they have been so nice and helpful to all of us!
11. Cell Phone = Mobile
12. Sunscreen is a MUST!