The next day Sjef and I arrived at Hutchins for our first day of school. We spent the morning deciding on our classes for the next three weeks. We then went straight into our first class, which we happened to be taking together. This class, which was called Australia in Asia and the Pacific, was a class that involved exploring and studying the role of Australia as a nation in the surrounding areas. This class was probably the most important class that we took because it allowed us to gain a perspective on this country that we had never been to before. The class was currently studying a tourism unit and we ended up going on an out of school excursion into town. We were supposed to pretend to be students who just graduated and were looking to go on a vacation. This excursion was very interesting because we were able to see how tourism in Australia relates to tourism in Asia and the Pacific.
During the weekend Sjef came and stayed with the Curtis family too. The first weekend we went to Port Arthur and went on a cruise were we saw some amazing scenery. There were extremely high cliffs and a light house on an island. Although the sights were stellar we all agreed that it was extremely cold. After the cruise we went to find a hot drink and returned home for the night. The day after this fantastic tour of the scenery, Mrs. Curtis took us on a hike up one of the tallest peak in Tasmania: Mt. Wellington. We spent a good three hours going up and down the mountain. The views on the hike up were spectacular, but unfortunately when we reached the top, the clouds were blocking the view and there were extremely high winds coupled with decent amounts of snow. These conditions made for a tough walk around the peak but we thoroughly enjoyed it nonetheless. Immediately after the hike we went to see an Australian Football Game in which the youngest Curtis boy, Josh, was participating. This was particularly interesting because we had never seen a live sports game of this sort so it was nice to get involved in a new sports culture.
As we progressed through our second week of school, we began to further establish connections with other students during and outside of class. We met a lot of great guys during this time and we are very glad that we were able to do this. Their classroom dynamic was a bit different from ours because some girls from the sister girls' schools came over to Hutchins to participate in the classes, while some boys would do the same at the girls' schools. On Wednesday of this week, we were taken to a great rendition of the Peter Pan musical who Sophie, the youngest of the Curtis family, was participating. It was very interesting to see the beloved musical with the thick Australian accents. Once the weekend rolled around, we went to see some more of the Curtis kids' sports games. After that we got to go to a wildlife habitat and interact with many native Australian animals. We saw Tasmanian Devils and were able to feed kangaroos from our hands. This outing was great because it was the first time I had seen most of these animals, particularly in Australia.
Hobart is home to a world famous museum the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA). MONA was an extremely odd museum of modern art that Sjef and I so thoroughly enjoyed that we went twice. There was a poop machine(which was as disgusting as it sounds) along with many interesting works of art that challenged the ideals and classical definitions of art. Along with the art their was an extremely nice restaurant where we enjoyed a fine meal with some excellent vanilla ice cream.
On the second to last day we went to the Mawson's Huts a museum where we reflected on the journey to Antarctica depicted in the all school read.
We would like to thank Mr. Gioia, the Warner family, and the exchange program at MBA for this fantastic opportunity to travel across the world.
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