As the sun rose on the Monday morning that commenced Week Five of our Aussie adventure, we began a new journey. Leaving Sydney behind, we traveled the East Coast of Australia for two weeks, encountering no internet, bitter cold temperatures, and an overwhelming amount of love. Here is everything that happened, beginning with our trip to the Capital - Canberra.
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| "Lake" George - you can see some water in the distance! |
Jane and Joe picked me up at home on Monday morning, and after an incredibly surreal goodbye to Sarah P (who was heading off for holiday with some friends in Europe, no big deal) we picked up Sr. Rosemary and enjoyed the relaxing three-hour drive to Canberra. We stopped at an old country café for lunch and coffees, and even made a stop at “Lake George” (well, what used to be Lake George - it's a tad dried up now.. even a flock of sheep have found home there). Upon our arrival to the capital city in the late afternoon, we made our way to Australian Catholic University’s Signadou Campus. "Signadou" was founded by the Dominican Sisters in the 1960's and means "Sign of God" in aboriginal tribal language.
We took a tour of the campus, and Sr. Rosemary recounted stories of the "Dominican Days" (the staff is now run by lay faculty). During our wanderings we happened to meet Matt, the president of Signadou's Student Center (kind of like PC’s BOP), who was super friendly and showed us some of the posters from the events they put on last semester! We then made our way back to the administrative offices and met with Dr. Patrick McArdle, the Dean of Signadou - the same man we met back in the States in April! It was really great to see a face from home, even if America isn't exactly his home.
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| ACU's Signadou Campus! |
(Recap: After being awarded Fr. Smith Fellowships, Fr. Robb informed us that Dr. McArdle was attending a few conferences in the New England area in April and wanted to stop by Providence to meet Joe and myself, as well as Clare and Cayla, the two Fr. Smith Fellows heading to Sydney and the Solomon Islands after us! We had dinner at a local eatery on a Friday night and Dr. McArdle talked about Australian culture and history with us for hours - it was the very first moment where the reality of Australia became... well, a reality!)
After catching up and debriefing him on our four week journey, we made our way over to ACU’s Campus Ministry office where we met Nick Seseljia, the ACU Campus Minister! Nick took us under his wing and brought us to the Center for Youth and Young Adults for the Diocese of Canberra. There, we met Daniela, Mary-Rose, and Liam, and enjoyed lots of laughs. Again, just like when we visited the JPII Center at Sydney Uni three weeks ago, I felt like I was transported back to PC’s Campus Ministry Center - the funny jokes, the teasing, the zero productivity (just kidding... kinda). Another taste of home, and I was beginning to like Canberra - against all of Sydney's warnings.
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| Casual mosaic in the hallway |
Daniela was kind enough to take me and my luggage to my homestay for the week, which was with the lovely Nick and Jess, a young newlywed couple! We enjoyed some delicious lasagna and hummingbird cake prepared by Jess, and chatted for a good while about everything from food to college to the Catholic Church. When I got on to raving about PC, I learned that when Nick was in uni he actually studied abroad for a semester at Boston College! He said he remembered going to a PC vs. BC hockey game, but his memory of our mascot wasn't as clear ("It's a Phantom, right?") (I guess if you Google "PC mascot" he wasn't too far off). We followed up dinner with a viewing of Master Chef (One of the most popular shows Down Under, modeled after Top Chef) and Kath & Kim (an "Aussie Staple" that kind of makes fun of Aussie lifestyle – think of pretty much any NBC comedy).
Tuesday began with a refreshing shower, followed by some coffee and toast with Jess and Nick. Nick was then kind enough to drive me to the Youth Center, but first took me on a tour of all the unique Embassies around Canberra! The American Embassy was a cute, red-brick building complete with a white picket fence and an overzealous amount of security. At the Youth Center I met up with Joe and Nick, and we made our way to ACU for the day. From there, Nick introduced me to some of his friends taking the Religious Education course that I was scheduled to sit in on - one of whom was Matt that we met the day before! - and before I knew it, I was sitting in a classroom of 40 future teachers, taking notes in a college course. We spent the class discussing Catholic Social Teaching, a personal favorite of mine! It was really funny being back in the college classroom setting - besides the larger class size and the presence of a TA, it didn’t feel too different from PC. Mike and Matt really helped this by introducing me to everyone as their “exchange student friend, so be nice."
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| Fun Fact: Canberra was designed by an American architect! |
After class I met Jane, Sr. Rosemary and Joe at the café for lunch and we chatted about the presence of Catholic parishes in US communities. It has been phenomenal having Joe with me during this trip, not only because he's a great friend, but because despite our similarities we have very different backstories. From our families (he is the oldest of six, I am the youngest of two), to our hometowns (he is from rural Maryland, I'm from suburban New York), to our schooling (he attended an all-boy's Catholic high school, I attended a co-ed public school), to our interests (he is studying biology, I avoid science like the plague), we have different perspectives to bring to the table that really highlight just how diverse America is. We may seem similar - white, Catholic, students (heck, we've been mistaken for siblings on this trip more times than I can count) - but we have had very different experiences in our lives. The amazing thing is how we have anything in common with these diverse experiences and different upbringings. God is pretty awesome like that.
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| The Australian War Memorial |
After enjoying our coffees, we went to visit the Dhara Dooleridge Center at ACU and met Christine, the director of aboriginal students at the university. After chatting with her, Joe and I bid farewell to Sister and Jane for the evening and met up with Nick, who gave us a little tour of Canberra! He took us to the War Memorial, where the history geek in me relished in the ancient artifacts and the Australian perspective of the World Wars. Afterwards, we drove over to the Youth Center and met with Liam, Daniela and her sister Marie, who volunteers at the center. We made our way to Liam’s house (where Joe is staying for the week) for some tea and pizzas, and then went to the cinema! Liam and his roommates were great, and he even showed off some of his musical talent by playing some tunes for us on his electric fiddle! The night concluded with more tea, good conversation, and great company – in my opinion, the perfect ending to a wonderful day.
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