9/11 in Australia
The news in Australia recently has an added an interesting dimension to my trip lately. Not only is today the fifth anniversary of the September 11th attacks not far from home in New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C., but Steve Irwin was also killed last week in Queensland. Watching the massive responses to these events on Australian television has, at the same time, reminded me I'm a foreigner here and that Australians don't react to tragedy very different than we do in the U.S. We are all human, after all.
A newspaper headline about Steve Irwin's children, dated 6 September, 2006
Speaking of being foreign, I thought of something over the weekend that I thought I should share. I've been lucky enough over these past six weeks to meet people from all over the world. Whether it's sitting around comparing accents, languages, or favorite movies, I've been fascinated by pretty much every aspect of these interactions. Since I go to a university at home with an enormous international student body, it's occurred to me that I could probably meet people from many of these same countries at Rutgers. This got me to wondering what's been different about meeting so many internationals in Australia, as opposed to in the U.S. and I finally figured it out.
We're on the same level here. Despite coming from places as diverse as the U.S., Zimbabwe, Germany, and Singapore, I can relate to the huge international community here in a way that is impossible in the States. Details aside, I am just as foreign here as that guy from Pakistan or the girl from Canada. This is something I am definitely not accustomed to and is, I think, the best part about being abroad.
I'm leaving for Thailand on Friday and, since I'm still working on accepting I'm in Australia, I have no idea when it will hit me that I'm traveling to THAILAND! Probably not until long after I get back... I'm still working on uploading more photos from here and internet connection in Thailand will be hard to come by. In the meantime, I've been enjoying the JYA site as it is and I think it looks fantastic. I'm prouder and more excited than ever to be a part of it.
Cheers guys,
Jason
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