Stuff White People Like. Carol Moseley Braun. Facial Hair.

If there's something I've learned both inside and outside the classroom in my college career it's that stereotypes can be both good and bad. It's popular belief that all stereotypes are evil, wrong, and useless. Well, I disagree. If not for these broad generalizations about people, our brains would literally explode, or at the best, be really unorganized. Now I'm not saying that these mental filing cabinets should be closed at all times, but rather reorganized based on new experiences, conversations, and friendships. Use your stereotype to start a conversation rather than to avoid one. Get to know a person based on their unique personality, not the way society views that individual based on skin color, eye shape, height, weight, hair style, vocal accent, clothing. All that said, some stereotypes are hilarious. I am a white person. Sure there's lots of stereotypes about white people, different kinds of white people, but rarely do you hear a stereotype for the newest generation of white people. A blogger out of Canada named Christian Lander formulated a slew of new stereotypes about himself and other white people. He came up with the idea while talking with a Filipino friend about the show "The Wire", stating that he didn't trust any white person who didn't watch it. Expounding on the idea both Lander and his friend then tried to figure out what white people were doing when they weren't watching "The Wire". "We said, 'Oh, they are going to plays, they're doing yoga, they're getting divorced,' said Lander. Now with more than 120 "things" that white people like, Lander's blog "stuffwhitepeoplelike.com" gets thousands of hits per day. Some of my favorites (nearly all of which apply to me...I'm so goddamn white) are #112 Hummus, #75 Threatening to Move to Canada, #47 Arts Degrees, #44 Public Radio, and #38 Arrested Development. Lander certainly has me pegged and most likely a good portion of my 20-29 year old friends. Lander says he does most of his research at Farmer's Markets, "keeping his eyes open".

Keeping on the topic of race and ethnicity, which is always a tricky subject to talk about, Carol Moseley Braun came to campus last week. She took part in a series of talks here at UIS. It was really interesting to hear about her experiences being both and woman and being black in American politics. She had so many great anecdotes and stories about her life and career. It was nice to hear about her on a more personal level rather than a professional one. They ended with a question and answer session and while most questions were tastefully worded and executed, one man stood up and made the entire audience feel uncomfortable and most likely, a little angry. The man told a sob story about his white family growing up in Illinois and being racially discriminated against because of affirmative action laws. His question was "How many more decades can we expect of reverse racism in our legislative system?", but it was one of those questions where it wasn't a question at all. It was a statement made by a misinformed and tragically unlucky individual who instead of taking initiative in his own life, decided to blame another group of people for his misfortune. Carol handled it was class and made her answer much more eloquent than the question that prompted it.

On to my last point in this post. Facial hair. Now that I've hit that stage in my life where no longer is my facial hair coming in patchy and uneven, I've decided to change it up quite frequently. It's the perfect canvas, if you don't like something just shave it off and then it'll be back in less than a week's time. Over the past couple months I've tried on a couple styles, with mixed reviews. While in Australia I kept "the chin strap" for a good part. I also rocked the full beard, mustache and mustache plus goatee. The mustache usually splits the crowd. Most guys think its "awesome" whereas most girls think it's "creepy". Since I've been back in the States I've tried the mustache again, not to much approval from my friend group. I'm currently sporting a pair of muttonchops, the most vintage (Stuff white people like #49) form of facial hair. I mean muttonchops were popular in what, the 1800s? Nothing says "I'm a civil war re-enactor" better than a pair of muttonchops. I have a slight feeling though, that they make me look like a tool. Oh well.

Break, Holidays, The Move, Broken Car

Even though I'm no longer in Australia, I still think my life is interesting enough to warrant a blog. I'm just starting to get my life back in order at UIS. This semester is going to be so good for me. I'm taking 18 credit hours, working 15-20 hours at the paper each week and hopefully putting in some time at WUIS. So, after my least semester in Australia, where I had class two days a week, lived 20 minutes from the beach and didn't have a job, this semester is going to be...challenging.

Break went well. Spent most of it sleeping or on the verge of sleeping. Adjusting back to life in the United States wasn't very difficult. The only problem was the outside temperature which went from about 80 degrees in Sydney to about 20 when I landed in Chicago. Spending time with the fam and home friends was good though. I feel like I've changed a lot but I still fit back in perfectly to my home life.

After spending a week up in the suburbs of Chicago with friends for my 21st birthday and New Years I was ready to move back to Springfield. Apparently I was a little too excited because I rear-ended someone on the trip back. I was behind a guy at a stop sign at the corner of Hazel Dell and 11th Street just near campus. I thought the guy moved, turns out he didn't, I ran into the back of his truck and totally messed up my car.

So that's my life as of right now. I have my first Journal meeting tomorrow and then classes start on Tuesday. Not to mention, Obama inauguration, YAY.

Thanksgiving, Saying 'Goodbye', Sydney, More Goodbyes, Home.

Life has been moving in fast-forward for quite a few weeks now. Just a week ago I was still in Sydney, soaking up plenty of UV rays thanks to the hole in the ozone layer right above Australia. Alas, I'm now stuck back in the arctic tundra of central Illinois. It's cold, it's rainy, it's full of unprecedented amounts of Christmas cheer. I'll just give a quick recap of my last few weeks down under and my tiresome journey back to the place I call home.

As the days in Australia hit the single digits a cloud of melancholy came over the Village population. As each newly created and sustained friend boarded a plane back to their country of residence it was like a piece of my study abroad experience went with them. As corny as that sounds, it's true. However, we did manage to have one last dinner together with nearly everyone present. We had our own modest Thanksgiving dinner, put on by the Americans. Being a purely American holiday it was pretty difficult to shop for. I went to the store with some of my fellow countrymen and tried to find the staples of any good T-giving. Unfortunately, no canned pumpkin, no stuffing mix, a tiny turkey with no arms or legs was a whopping $42! Obviously, we were a disheartened bunch. But we were Americans. We come from the land of ingenuity, freedom and Pilgrims goddammit! Sarah, a resident of the great state of Maine, proclaimed that she would make a pumpkin pie from scratch. That's right, roast a whole pumpkin, scoop out the filling, blend it, mix it with ginger, cinnamon, and other spices, then bake the pies, all by herself! What a good little American! Then to the stuffing...we all agreed 'Who needs stuffing? We're gonna have pies!". Finally, the turkey. I suggested, "You know what looks like a turkey? A rotisserie chicken. Oh, and they're only $10? That sure is convenient." So with all of our forces combined, we managed to have a decent Thanksgiving in a country very opposed to the very idea. Why do Australians hate giving thanks? Beats me.

After that a couple friends and I took my flatmate Sanna to the airport to catch her flight to the east coast. Very sad indeed. It just got the ball rolling though, pretty soon everyone was loading their belongings into cab and shuttles and trekking back home or onto holiday destinations. I wasn't going home right away but spending a couple days in Sydney with friends. I think if I had gone straight home after leaving Perth it would have been a lot harder to adjust back to life in the States. Sydney was a nice little buffer between the dream world of Perth and the cold reality of Illinois.

Sydney was amazing. We did the biggest tourist-y things, but hell, we WERE tourists. The first morning I was all by myself and couldn't sleep the night before cause I was so excited. I was up at 7am and even though it was raining, I got my shoes on walked down to Circular Quay to see the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. I was so pumped. I was seeing the symbols of Australia. I met up with Bridget and Sheila (friends from Murdoch) later in the day and explored more of the city and the botanical garden. Ended up napping under a giant eucalyptus tree.

When I woke up the next day I called my good friend Amanda who was supposed to be flying in the night before. I made plans to meet her, hung up the phone and turned around only to see a good friend of mine from Perth. It was Monty! He had left the first of all of my friends to go travel by himself down the east coast of Oz for awhile. I hadn't made any plans to meet up with him, but there he was, standing in my hostel. I freaked out. He ended up getting booked into the same room as me and was leaving on the same day. We made it our job to explore the city. We met up with Amanda and Martin and went back to the harbour. Booked a package deal that included a high speed boat tour of the harbour and passes to the zoo. The jet boat was intense. The zoo was amazing. Such a good way to end my time in Australia, especially with some of my good friends.

December 3rd was the longest day of my life. Got on the plane around 11:15am in Sydney. Landed in LA at 6:30am, on the same day. I only slept one hour out of thirteen. When we got to LA, I was barely coherent. Speaking of, LAX sucks. They're renovating their international arrival terminal so I was ushered through customs in an almost comatose state. Then of course, American airport security. I had to take my flip-flops and sweatshirt off to get through the metal detector. Yes, that's right, I had a bomb in the inch of foam in my flip-flop. NO! That's my freakin' foot! Then I forgot to dump the water out of my UIS water bottle. So I had to stand there and chug my water and hold up the whole line. I was not a happy camper and I had only been in the US for a half hour. Got to Chicago and my last flight of the day (to Peoria) was delayed. They couldn't find the pilot. Then, once they found the pilot, they had to de-ice the plane. I was delayed for longer than the actual duration of the flight. Made it back to my hometown and was greeted by the smiling faces of parents and one sibling. As I was catching up with the 'rents I saw my friend Kasey strolling over by the baggage claim. I was perplexed. Wasn't sure if I was seeing things because of lack of sleep or Kasey was just randomly at the Peoria airport for some reason. Then was surprised by UIS friends Zach, Evan, and Chris who came to make sure I got back into the country alright. It was so good to see everyone and even though I was smelly, tired and irritated by airports I was still giddy to see everyone. Once we got back to my house I immediately went into first grade show and tell mode. "Look at all these cool things I have and all these neat places I've been!" So good to be back in the company of those who know me too well.

Spontaneity. It's a good thing.

Road trips. A university students idea of a holiday. Pack up a car, get a map, and drive. This past week, Brittany, Amanda, Sanna, Martin and I did just that.

After the whole Margaret River debacle (it was only a debacle because there were so many people on it. It's so hard to do fun things with a huge group that has no leadership.) we decided that another road trip was in order. This time, there were to be no plans, just a leave date and an return date. Our first day we drove down to the tourist town of Pemberton. It's a really really small town that caters mostly to backpackers coming through the region. The forests in the area are incredible. Huge karri trees surround almost the entire town. A really cool place. We camped near a creek in a caravan park. To cut costs we borrowed a tent from a friend. The tent was made for three people. We had five people in our group. We were very cozy in the tent. Also, since we were further south, the temperature was a little chillier, especially at night. We froze that first night.
The next day we drove along the coast to a town called Walpole where we got coffee which made everyone happy. Right after we made our way to the famous Tree Top Walk. It's a steel structure that takes visitors up into the tops of these massive trees. The trees weren't karri this time but tingle trees. Because of the iron ore in much of Australia's soil, the trees take on a reddish tint. The treetop talk was stunning. We were nearly 40 meters off the ground at some parts! I can officially say that I've danced in the tree tops.

After that we trekked to a place called Greens Pool where the coast is not sand but massive rocks. We climbed around on a section called Elephant Rocks. Martin and I got adventurous and climbed on some of the more dangerous sections of rocks. The rocks were very steep with rocky gorges in between. Death traps for sure. We made it out alive though. As we were walking back a massive snake slithered across the path. Then it just sat there, in the path, staring at us. An Aussie man and his daughter came up and he told us that it was an Australian Brown Snake and that it was one of the most deadly snakes in the world...and we were all barefoot. We turned back from there and found a different path to the car.
Drove to Albany after to find a place to sleep for the night. Found a great caravan park that had a pool and a hot tub and really nice facilities. It didn't take much convincing for us to decide to stay there. We quickly changed into our bathers and swam and relaxed in the hot tub. We went into Albany for dinner and a drink at local bar. After we all walked out to the beach and watched the stars. So many shooting stars. It was amazing.

The next day we decided to explore Albany. We took the drive along the cape which Albany sits on and stopped along the way. Our first stop was a look out, but we traversed through the bush to the coast. We found a perfect place for jumping into the ocean. We all took turns jumping into the amazingly blue water. Just driving down this peninsula we stopped at some of the most beautiful places in the world, one right after the other. The Southern coast is just breathtaking.
After we had our fill of amazing scenery we started our trek back. We wanted to make it to Busselton to watch the sunset. The drive back was intense. Martin was driving ridiculous fast on these winding roads. Magpies were reluctant to move for our car so we had to brake constantly and then the bugs...We must have hit right after all these insects hatched because there were thousands of them. Once we hit them with our car they stuck to the windshield. Once the sun hit the windshield covered in bug guts it became impossible to see out of. It made the drive a little scary. We made it to Busselton just before the sunset and walked out onto the jetty (supposedly the longest wooden jetty in the Southern Hemisphere. It's almost 2 kilometers long!) and watched the sun go down. There was a lightning storm going on right along the horizon so we watched that for awhile as well. Hit the road after, only stopping to get Chicken Treat for dinner. Made it back to Murdoch around 11:30. Exhausted. Fulfilled.

Margaret River, Fremantle Festival and Things I Miss from Home

My life has been in fast-forward for the past 3 weeks. Ever since Halloween, it seems like time has decided to move extra fast, as if it wasn't pushing the limit anyway. It seems like just a few days ago that I first arrived here in Australia and now my adventure here is in its last weeks. Although, while time has been flying, I've managed to make the most of it with some really great friends I've made here.

The weekend of the 8th of November some friends (17 to be exact) and I made it down to the wine-growing region of Western Australia known as Margaret River. Beautiful coastlines, massive waves and a relaxed atmosphere centered around the consumption of wine made this the perfect holiday. We rented cars and booked a huge house with ocean views right outside the town of Margaret River. Just a short drive to get groceries or petrol. We went to the beach, did some spelunking in the cave systems, did our self-guided wine and beer tour through the region, made pit stops at a chocolate factory and a cheese factory. At night, we made the most out of having a massive beach house all to ourselves. I think I could get used to this kind of lifestyle. Sanna, Brittany and I swam up the Margaret River aways. I always seem to forget I'm in Australia and dangerous things lurk around every corner. As I was swimming I couldn't get the image of crocodiles out of my head. Not to mention the giant "coastal death adder" we saw on the road on the way to the house. It was probably 5 feet long. No more walking around in bushes for me, thank you. Death adders are not my friend.


The whole region of Margaret River is breath-taking. Massive karri tree forests spring up along the road. Rolling hills are covered in grapevines and peppered with palatial mansions. Strange that such a place exists in a country known for its vast deserts and arid climate. As exams are underway here now, this trip was a sort of farewell to everyone. In the next couple weeks the people who I've grown to enjoy and treat like family will go their separate ways. Sad in a way, but all good things must end.



Today was the Fremantle Festival on the cappuccino strip in Freo. The main street was closed and stages were set up for live music and other attractions. Freo is full of energy on just a regular weekend, now the entire focus of Perth was upon the village. The parade that went through town was intense. Usually, parades are nothing more than fire trucks, the VFW, and candy-throwing. That's not how they roll in Freo. This parade was like a social justice Mardi Gras. Floats passed through the street with messages like 'Save Freo Beaches' and 'Equal Rights for All'. Such a diverse group of individuals. Aboriginal dancers began the parade strutting like the emu. So many colors in the costumes of the participants. Happiness and hopefulness radiated from the entire spectacle. Fairies frolicking, children smiling and waving, musicians playing. Such a great way to spend a day.
While Fremantle does feel like a second home now, there are so many people and things I can't wait to get back to in the States. I'll just do a short list.

-Family (immediate and extended)
-Friends (you know who you are)
-Driving (both on the right side of the road and just driving in general, I miss my car)
-Papa John's Pizza (Australian pizza is so so bad, they have Dominoe's here and they say it's the best, if you thought Dominoe's in the States is bad, the Aussie version is 10x worse)
-Homemade chocolate chip cookies (technically I could make them since I have an oven, it's just laziness)
-Seasons (Sure, it's great having sunny day after sunny day, but the leaves never change here, it never snows, plants rarely bloom. It gets old real fast. Not to mention trying to study when it's always perfect weather makes for a big distraction)
-A good gym (The Murdoch gym is like a closet compared to the TRAC)
-Having an income of some sort (It's sad to constantly see money go out of my account and never in)
-Backgammon (I didn't bring my board cause there was no room in my bag! ARGGH!)
-General Tso's Chicken (Yum)

It's such a bittersweet experience to come home cause there are countless thing I'll miss from Australia as well.

-Being able to drink legally (The age here is 18. I only have one more month once I get back until I'm 21 though)
-Soy Crisps (Best snack food in the entire world)
-Kebabs (Chicken, Tomato, Lettuce, Sweet Chili and Sour Cream...I'm in heaven)
-Playing Rummy nearly everyday (I have an addiction, luckily I found people with the same one. It's a support group)
-Having class 2 days a week (best schedule I'll ever have)
-So many cool accents in one small area
-Friends (It's sad to say it but most of them I will never see again)
-Living so close to the beach (I don't think I've ever turned down a trip to the beach if someone suggested it)
-Tim Tams (They are going to be for sale in the US, but only caramel and original. My favorites are Double Coat.)
-Always having something to do or see (Perth is an amazing city and I'm proud to have called it my home for the past few months)

So it's just a few more days and then I'm off to Sydney for a week and then back home to good old Peoria, Illinois, heart of the Midwest and ready to start another chapter in my life.

Obama-rama

Since Australia is 15 hours ahead of the US, I didn't have to stay up late the night of the 4th to witness history being made. I was still in my pajamas after committing myself to the TV for the morning and afternoon, watching election coverage. These campaigns and this election were not just for the United States, the entire world looked on with morbid fascination. Australia was no different. Three out of the five channels we receive in our flat were showing non-stop election coverage, complete with Australian experts on the American governmental system. Also, with no responsibility, and no 'Florida incident' hanging over their heads, the Aussie pundits could make outrageous comments with no fear of repercussions. The host was unapologetically in favor of Obama. They called the election for him about an hour and a half before the American media did. My flatmates and I watched the TV for hours that day, feeling the same hope as countless other Americans in the country and overseas. McCain's speech was eloquent and incredibly humble. Obama's was inspiring and moving. It gave me chills the entire time.

Once it was finalized, we Americans knew that we had to celebrate. There's a bar on campus here called The Tavern so some of us went to the bar to watch election aftermath and have a beer. There were people from all over the world at the Tav and while the election may not have affected them directly, they appreciated the historic nature. Obama is the embodiment of change, which we certainly need after 8 years of idiocy. I can't wait until January 20th to start getting our country back on the right path.

The most isolated city in the world.

Australia and I had our three month anniversary the other day. It was nice. I decided to spend it in Perth. I don't usually make the trek into Perth unless there's something big going on there or I feel like being alone. It takes about 40 minutes to get there and that's if you manage to time it right and catch the bus and train, whereas it only takes 25 minutes to get to Fremantle from campus. Perth is a great city though. All the people I've met in the city have been so nice and helpful. I think it's because of Perth's claim to fame of being 'the most isolated city in the world'. The tourism industry isn't as big here as in other places of Australia, so people here aren't sick of giving directions or answering stupid questions asked by outsiders. Usually when I talk to people I get questions like "Oh, where in the States are you from?" or "How long are you here for?". Even the cashier at Kmart will say something when he/she hears my accent. Which brings me to another thing...some people actually enjoy American accents here. Personally, I think my accent is a little bland. Plus, the people here have been hearing American accents forever, in movies, music, television, news reports. I figured they'd be tired of them by now. I met this Aussie girl in one of my classes and we got to talking about accents and she said that whenever there's Americans in her classes she can't pay attention because she just listens to them talk the entire time.

I had the last tutorial for one of my classes today. It was my Global Media class, which sucks because it was my favorite class. The class itself was a big eye opener for me. It's so fascinating to study globalization in another country, especially one so influenced by America like Australia is. The class was made up of a ton of different nationalities. About half were Aussies, but the other half were made up of myself ("token American" which I was actually referred to as during class. "Can we get the opinion of the token American?" in reference to Fox News.), Malays, and Singaporeans. I've learned so much about the world and the media in that one class. The discussions we had during tutorials were incredible.

Anyway, back to Perth. On our anniversary I decided to walk up to Kings Park by myself. It was a beautiful day and I just took my time walking through the massive park. Situated on a tall escarpment, Kings Park is a part of Perth history. It's half beautiful gardens and scenic views of the skyline and half protected bushland. You could spend an entire day following the trails in the park. I read a plaque that said that when the area was inhabited by only the Nyungar Aboriginal people, they hunted by chasing groups of kangaroos off the steep cliffs of the escarpment where Kings Park sits. Pretty clever way of hunting, no need for weapons, gravity does the work for you. After I had my fill of beauty courtesy of Kings Park I took the train back, made myself dinner and drank some coffee. Perth and I had a great day together on our anniversary. I only have a month left here so I've got to make it count.