All posts by Gabrielle Ann Pagana

Assignment 5

Define lyrics of “Waltzing Matilda” song:

Waltzing Matilda Lyrics:

Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong,
Under the shade of a Coolibah tree,
And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boil,
You’ll come a Waltzing Matilda with me.

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda,
You’ll come a Waltzing Matilda with me,
And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boil
You’ll come a Waltzing Matilda with me.

Down came a jumbuck to drink at that billabong
Up jumped the swagman and grabbed him with glee,
And he sang as he shoved that jumbuck in his tucker bag
You’ll come a Waltzing Matilda with me.

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda,
You’ll come a Waltzing Matilda with me,
And he sang as he shoved that jumbuck in his tucker bag
You’ll come a Waltzing Matilda with me.

Up rode the squatter mounted on his thorough-bred
Down came the troopers One Two Three
Whose that jolly jumbuck you’ve got in your tucker bag
You’ll come a Waltzing Matilda with me.

Waltzing Matilda Waltzing Matilda
You’ll come a Waltzing Matilda with me
Whose that jolly jumbuck you’ve got in your tucker-bag
You’ll come a Waltzing Matilda with me.

Up jumped the swagman sprang in to the billabong
You’ll never catch me alive said he,
And his ghost may be heard as you pass by that billabong
You’ll come a Waltzing Matilda with me.

Waltzing Matilda Waltzing Matilda
You’ll come a Waltzing Matilda with me
And his ghost may be heard as you pass by that billabong
You’ll come a Waltzing Matilda with me.

Definitions: 

swagman- a man who traveled the country looking for work. A swag is a bed rolled up to carry things in.

billabong-an oxbow lake, or cut-off riverbend, found alongside a river

Coolibah tree- a species of eucalyptus tree that grows near billabongs

billy boil– a can that you boil water in

jumbuck– a sheep

tucker bag– a bag for carrying food

squatter-an Australian settler/farmer claiming “squatting” on land that they had no legal rights to

thoroughbred– a breed of horse

Matilda– bad slung over someone’s back

trooper-police

Waltzing Matilda Live Music from Australia Day 2009: I could not find a good video for the original but this one was from an Australian Day performance so it gets the gist of it being the unofficial national anthem across!

“Waltzing Matilda” is Australia’s unofficial national anthem. The title came from Australian slang meaning walking with a bag slung over a swagman’s back. So the swagman was walking around the bush finding work and somewhere to settle for a bit and he stopped at a camp near the river (billabong) and put his swag out under a tree. As he was waiting for his water to boil to make food he saw a sheep (jumbuck) walking by so he took it to eat. The sheep was not wild, so the squatter (farmer) that owned the sheep came up on his horse along with three troopers (policemen) to get his sheep back and most likely arrest the swagman for theft. The swagman needed to act quickly so he jumped into the billabong and drowned (suicide) to escape. His ghost still haunts the billabong he died in.

Not too sure why this is recognized as a national anthem because it actually is a very sad song but I guess the Stars Spangled Banner came from wars as well!

The Lost One’s

After a great day at the river experiencing the famous Wagga “5 o’clock wave”, Sam, Jess and I made some plans to go out to a pub and enjoy some “city” night life.

We met with the whole group and had a few drinks at the Vic Pub. After too much dancing and sweating we went down to the outside bar. She told me that it’s not the nicest spot to cool down because there are a lot of smokers and “feral” people. When I heard her say this I laughed and asked what she meant and after she tried to explain I concluded it was a “trashy” person. I thought that was a really funny word to use and another piece of lingo to add to my dictionary of Australian terms. It fits perfectly with studying animals over here,  like a feral cat or a “wild” cat.

Sam told Jess that she needed some better air and went out front. For a little while Jess and I hung around the outside with the group. After about 45 minutes some people in our group started to leave and Jess and I wanted to leave too. We went out front to look for Sam but she wasn’t there. We looked around the entire pub (there were 4 bars, a mini casino, an outdoor patio, and about 5 other rooms to look) for her but still didn’t see her. We went back to the table where everyone was sitting and asked if they’ve seen her but they all said no. So we waited again at the table for a few minutes and more people left, so we decided to look around the place one more time. She wasn’t anywhere around the place, so we thought to maybe look outside and then check the night club down the street because our group was suppose to end there.

We walked to the night club and got on top of a platform to search the huge room for her, but she was no where in sight. We went back and circled the pub 2 more times but no sign of Sam. We went back to the table and found out that another girl, Denille, has also been missing for a while. About an hour and a half went by since we started looking, so we exchanged numbers with the host family still waiting for their “daughter” too. We told them we were going to go search the place one more time and then look outside by the food places.

After doing that it was getting to a point where we just did not know what to do. There was no possible way to communicate with Sam because we don’t have international plans over here. We told the bouncer at the front but he had no idea what to do. We had to resort to the police because it was just getting out of hand. The police were standing outside of the pub because there was some kind on incident so we went up to the police and told them everything and they just kept asking well can you call her? We explained to them multiple times the situation and why we couldn’t call her and all they had to say was “man that’s a tough situation”…DUH WE LOST AN AMERICAN!

Jess and I started to kind of freak out because we thought maybe she actually was in trouble. We were allowed to go back into the place and search for her for one last time before the place closed.

Finally, after over 2 hours of searching for Sam and Denille we had to call Jess’ parents. They rushed downtown to help but before they could get to us one of our friends, Bradley, came outside and said he found her. Sam came walking outside in a bubbly mood with no worries at all. Meanwhile, Jess and I were practically hyperventilating! She said she was playing pool the entire time…how did Jess and I not see her???!! She was right in front of our eyes.

Well I guess it was better to have found her right in front of us than something a lot worse! Maybe next time we will get a meeting place and time or have a working cell phone, but lets just hope something like that never happens again. It just was not “Sam like” to do something like that. Oh what a night!

 

“5 o’clock wave”

Yesterday Sam and I were taken to the “beach” in Wagga. It is similar to the halfway dam in Pennsylvania but a little smaller. It is located on the Murrumbidgee River, which i thought looked like the Loyalsock Creek where my cabin is located. It is barely a river compared to our rivers in the United States. I had to explain how big the Susquehanna River was compared to the Murrumbidgee River, I said width wise about 4-5 times the size!

IMG_1233

Our host family told us to make sure we don’t miss the “5′ o clock wave”. We both just sort of brushed it off and said “okay” because we didn’t really know what it was.

Later on some friends in our group met up with us and their host family mentioned “It’s almost 5, the wave should be coming soon”. So after hearing about this wave a few times I finally asked what it was. They told me that it was a wave that came around 5 o’clock everyday when the farmers let their irrigation water out into the river for the day. When I heard this I really questioned it and asked how it worked. I also asked them if they thought it was gross that they were swimming in a wave of manure and dirty water. They just said “no, it’s mostly water from crops.” Then I just took their word for it and asked how big the wave was. They answered “anywhere from 5-6 feet”. I thought wow…that is just so interesting.

It was 5 o’clock and some kayakers were floating down the river and they said, “Hey! Here are some people getting ready for the wave!”

It was about 5:15 and I said to them, “Shouldn’t the wave be here by now?” Then they all laughed at me and told me that it was a lie. It is an old wise tale that the people of Wagga always like to tell their visitors. As I was writing this blog I decided to search it and a ton of results came up about this myth.

Here is a result from wikipedia:

“The 5 o’clock wave is a fictional theory on the reasons for Wagga Wagga’s sporting success. According to the local urban myth, at precisely 5 o’clock arrives a giant wave which flushes a secret nutrient into the Murrumbidgee River following the release of water from the Blowering and Burrinjuck Dams. The wave is said to continue down river at high speed, and indeed visitors are told it is so powerful that surfers can ride it along the meandering river until it reaches the town of Narrandera.”

So overall, I was convinced that this huge wave was going to come and sweep me away and it was just some small town myth!

For more information on the city of Wagga Wagga here is the wikipedia site all about it!

 

Assignment 4

We were recently assigned a new task by Dr. St. Pierre.

All 15 of us together have to create a 30 minute series of skits named “Life in Australia”. We have to make it sort of like Saturday Night Live and make it funny. It is suppose to be us creating scenes like we were showing people back in America how life in Australia is. We have to do this show the last night we are in Australia on a stage in the middle of the city of Sydney. We have to tape it for our professors to watch it back at home too so hopefully I can get a hold of it and post it on here or Facebook!

So far we have come up with some really funny skits to do such as a vegemite commercial, kangaroo scene, and a lot more. More details to come once the skits are prepared!

Home stay: Wagga Wagga

This blog post is all about home: notice they are italicized.

We arrived in Wagga Wagga yesterday for our home stays. I must admit I was excited to leave Dookie. The population was very small and there are a lot of farms, bugs, and annoying birds. I didn’t get to see the town of Wagga Wagga too much, but it looks really nice from driving around a little bit. We met our families at the botanical gardens in scorching 100 degree weather. My family, the King’s, names are Jeff, Jenny, and their daughter Jess who picked me and Sam up at the gardens and took us back to our new “home”. They also have an outdoor dog named Tessa, she is a golden/lab mix and so adorable; she makes me miss my dogs at home so much. My boyfriend bought me a stuffed bulldog and I sleep with her every night so that helps me feel a little closer to my bulldogs at home, minus their snoring at night.

Once we got in the air conditioning, me and Sam swam in their pool to cool off, which also reminds me of home. They made us a home cooked meal with bacon wrapped steak, potatoes, coleslaw, red beets, and salad (they actually used dressing, we thought Australia didn’t use dressings!). Red beets and coleslaw seem to be a popular food here as well because we have had them as an option a few times. The coleslaw here is a lot less “drowned” and more crunchy compared to America, but still really good! For dessert we had the famous Australian Pavlova for the first time and it was really good too. Jenny told us the ingredients consisted of egg whites, sugar, and fruit–simple!

One thing I noticed at the dinner table was that they ate a lot faster than we did, which I found really odd because I thought Americans were the “fast eaters with bigger portions” but I am second guessing it. After dinner, Jeff and Jess took us and Tessa to a dog park to meet up with a friend and his dog Rufus. Tessa and Rufus ran around the whole park, swam in a pond, played with other dogs, and even gotten into some cockatoo feathers. I wish that more dogs in America were like dogs in Australia. They never need a leash, they aren’t aggressive, and they listen to their owners (at least my one dog doesn’t do all of those things, the other one is just too lazy to run away). Maybe I should stop getting bulldogs, but I can’t resist their wrinkles! We walked around the park for a bit and talked and then came back and watched some cricket. They explained to us how to play a little but plan on taking us to a game soon. Did you know a cricket game lasts days? They play for 8 hours in a day and play for about 3-5 days. That amazes me, especially because it is such a huge sport and the fans are so enthusiastic about it, you wouldn’t believe they could possibly stay interested for that many hours. I think I will write a blog about cricket  after I watch a game aka 1/10 of a game.

I am really going to enjoy going to bed early and sleeping in for once this trip! These past few weeks have been draining, but definitely worth it. I am learning so much more over here than I would in an entire semester. I am so happy that I am here it has definitely opened up my eyes to the world even though I have traveled a lot. Living somewhere else or being somewhere for an extended time gives you such a great experience. I can’t wait to go home and plan my next trip!

Sheep Farm Tour

On January 28th we had a farm tour of “Yarallah”, a meat sheep production. It was our first farm tour of the trip and we were all pretty excited about it. It took us longer than we expected to get there because we got lost traveling through the deserted dirt roads in Dookie. After finally arriving 30-45 minutes later, we met the owner Tom and his herding dogs Chleo and Kelly. All of our hearts melt every time we see a dog, you can tell we are animal science majors! Our hearts also melted when we saw Tom…lets just say he’s single and all of us college girls had our eyes locked when he was talking. So anyway, he gave us his talk about his lamb that are on trial for research right now using tags on them. The lambs go through a little obstacle before they get into one of the yards and have to be weighed on a scale. The tag is read by the scale and if they are under weight they are put back into the pasture and if they are overweight they go into a pen for slaughter. We walked through some of the pastures and watched him give orders to the herd dog Kelly. All he did was give one little order and sound and she immediately did what he wanted; it was really cool to watch her bring all of the lamb into then yard. It is so amazing to watch the farm operated by only one person and a few herding dogs. At times his mom will help him, but for the most part it is a one (and a half with the dog) show. We learned in class before going to the farm that in Australia the only way to be successful as a business or production is to:

  1. Own a lot of land
  2. Little labor
  3. The product must be (easily) transportable
  4. There must be a market to export the product

If these four things are now followed then the operation will fail. It is crazy because number 1 and 2 are about opposite in America! He owns about 900 hectares (2,000 acres)!!!!!

Tom then gave us a talk about shearing and wool production which he doesn’t really do at the farm, but he will sell some of his wool when he shears the lamb once a year just for some extra cash.

After about an hour and a half to two hours of learning about the lamb production operation he runs, he cooked us all lamb burgers. It was my first time ever eating one and it was SO good! Lamb is one of my favorite meats, too bad it isn’t popular in America :(.

Assignment 3: Phar Lap

Phar Lap Assignment and his importance to Australia:IMG_0807

Taxidermy of Phar Lap’s Hide 

Phar Lap was a cheap, underrated, but very successful horse in the 1930’s with an outstanding track record of 37 wins out of 51 races. Phar Lap played a very important role during The Great Depression. Known as “the wonder horse”, Phar Lap lifted spirits due to his inspirational background going from an underdog to a champion and legend within no time. Australia needed a hero, and Phar Lap was a perfect model for Australia to look at to recover from such a terrible slump. He won the Melbourne Cup 3 times consecutively and this brought hope for the Australians. For his last race he traveled to the west coast of America and it is believed that he was poisoned, most likely by Americans, out of jealousy to end his winning streak. Phar Lap currently has an entire exhibit in the Melbourne Museum praising him for giving hope to the ones who struggled during this stressful time. Even though he lived a short life he left a huge impact on Australia.

“You Only Have One Bucket”

So lately I have been thinking about things I want to do before I die…aka my bucket list. In the first week of classes as a small assignment we had to make a list of the top three things you want to do before you die. It was so hard to think of the top three. I have thought about a lot more since those three, and I have actually accomplished a lot of things on my bucket list as well.  One of our professors, Dr. St. Pierre, said “You only have one bucket, you may as well make it big” So here is my HUGE bucket list, little and small things. If there is a line through it, that means it is finished!

 

  • Go to Australia 
  • Go to Australia again
  • Go to Africa and volunteer helping preserve wildlife
  • Hot Air Balloon Ride
  • Rock Climb
  • Rock climb again and not be a baby about it
  • Ski in Colorado (I did when I was little so it doesn’t count)
  • Read the Bible (Started this already for the New Year)
  • Adopt a Child
  • Be a veterinarian
  • Be a successful veterinarian
  • Go to Penn State
  • graduate from Penn State
  • Go to Vet School (UPenn)
  • Road trip the United States
  • Go to every country in the U.S.
  • Own a wallaby
  • Own a beach house
  • Hold a snake and not be afraid
  • Eat Kangaroo Meat
  • Learn how to Surf
  • White Water Rafting
  • Donate my hair 
  • Drive the Great Ocean Road 
  • Run a Marathon
  • Get married
  • Go to Italy
  • Go to Greece 
  • Go to Mexico
  • Go to Puerto Rico
  • Go to Canada before I turn 21 (being 7 years old doesn’t count)
  • Go to the Dominican Republic 
  • Go to Jamaica 
  • Go to Paris
  • Go to London
  • Scuba Dive
  • Snorkel 
  • Swim with Sharks
  • Swim with Dolphins 
  • pool hop
  • Go to Disney World
  • Be healthy until I die
  • Be fluent in another language
  • Be a maid of honor (almost there! My sisters wedding is in 2015)
  • Go to the Vatican 
  • Meet Beyonce
  • See Beyonce in Concert 
  • Go to a  Dave Matthews Band concert (getting tickets for this summer!)
  • Go on a mission trip
  • Ride an elephant
  • Zip Lining
  • Get a six pack (stomach of course)
  • climb a volcano
  • do more than one pull up
  • Throw a dart on a map and go to wherever it lands
  • make a garden 
  • sing in front of people
  • be in a musical

There are so many more but those are the many I can think of right now. I sincerely want to keep a list in my journal and keep crossing things off from now on. I wish I would have done this a long time ago because some things that I have done just don’t seem as important because I have done them already. Ever since I came to Australia I have been inspired to live my life fully and do things that will make me happy. I have dreamt my entire life of being a veterinarian but I also want to live my life to the fullest and accomplish great things so I am hoping to still be a vet but work around that (own my own practice and take off when I want to…haha I wish!). I look at my life before I came to Australia and wish that I would have done more. For example, the lazy weekends I have spent I wish I would have traveled somewhere. But now I have the determination to live.  “I will sleep when I’m dead” is what my sister always says. I always try to do that but I really value my sleep too, maybe I will listen to that now.

 

P.S. My sister called me shortly after I published this and thought it was funny. I asked why because I put a lot of thought into it and she said it’s funny that I have things crossed off, especially things like “go to jamaica, punta cana, etc”. Just to clarify they aren’t exactly places on my bucket list, but I have done those things already, and traveling to as many countries as possible is my goal so they count! 

Homesick

Lately I have been feeling homesick. Last week I got my first feeling of distance when we left The University of Melbourne. We did not have wifi for a few days and not being able to talk to anyone made me feel like I missed home. Traveling in general always puts me into a slump. Leaving places make me sad even when I am excited to go to another place, especially because I always feel like I forgot something. I didn’t forget anything though for this trip, thank goodness.

Today has been the worst of it though. These past few weeks have been so amazing and fun, but they also seem to be taking a while. I am counting down the days til I go home, see my puppies, family, friends, and boyfriend. I am most excited for Valentine’s Day and the surprises my boyfriend Ryan has planned (if there are any at all…).

Don’t get me wrong, I love it here in Australia and I want to move here for some time or at least come back. I even have thought about job opportunities here with animals but I will get to that in another blog post!

I thought 5 weeks would be perfect, and it is, but the work and traveling is pretty tough. We had an exam last week for 3 hours on 3 topics. We have a presentation this Thursday, which I am working on right now and it is getting hard, and an exam next week. Not to mention all of our blog posts we have to do everyday and assignments.

I think these next few days will go by quickly, and then we will be at our homestays in Wagga Wagga which should help me with homesickness, especially because they have a dog! After Wagga  Wagga we will be in Sydney for our last week, which I am extremely excited for and hoping for some surfing lessons too!

A few of us have even put a list of things we miss about America:

  • Ice cold water
  • good cereal
  • sauces (honey, mayo, etc)
  • trash cans
  • no bugs
  • wifi/phone
  • large cups at restaurants for water
  • homemade cooking
  • tv
  • beautiful sounding birds (the birds here are SO ANNOYING and loud but so gorgeous)
  • green grass
  • rivers
  • some people miss ketchup but not me
  • scrambled eggs
  • salad dressing
  • cheaper prices
  • home, friends, family, animals, etc.
  • comfortable beds without bugs
  • orange juice, teas, etc.
  • deserts with sugar in them
  • smaller spiders
  • normal tampons
  • good toilet paper
  • water i trust
  • keurig coffee (the instant coffee here sucks)
  • American money
  • AMERICA.

Overall, I am not trying to say I hate it here or I want to go home now, but I am missing a few things about America and especially some people. I even missed my boyfriends birthday and forgot to say Happy Birthday because of our time difference….ooops! I am loving it here, but all I can say is I LOVE AMERICA.

Kangaroobie

We left the University of Melbourne on Friday morning, the day after our big exam. The city was fun and a great experience but I can only handle so much hustle and bustle at once. The group traveled on our coach bus along the Great Ocean Road. If you have never heard of this road it is indescribable. The 200 kilometer road was the first coastal road built in the south of Victoria, Australia after World War I. The workers built it completely by hand and were employed by the government through a program during The Great Depression for the unemployed. I tried to stay awake, but the winding roads made my stomach churn. I don’t think I have ever been that close to actually being sick while traveling. We stopped at a few sight seeing spots such as The Twelve Apostles and ship wreckages.

After sight seeing and all of the motion sickness, we arrived at Kangaroobie. Kangaroobie is a campsite we stayed at for the night. Most of our first reactions were a little skeptical and unsure of how this camp was going to be but after walking around for a few minutes we all had high hopes.

First, we had dinner and ate their homegrown beef from the commercial farm the owners of the camp run. We had some down time to relax so a few of us crowded around my lap top screen and had our eyes glued to an exciting episode of Dexter. If you have never seen Dexter and want a good series to watch, watch it. We thought we were going to watch a movie on the big projector screen they had but instead we had a surprise pick up from the owner of the camp. All 15 students, and the owners adorable dog, piled into a caged truck (for animals) and were driven out to a field of beef cows. Along the way we spotted some wild Kangaroos hopping across the field which was such a great experience to see even though we have seen so many in zoos. We stopped in the field and fed some of the cows. Most of them were pregnant but some had calves with them and they were soooooooooooo cute. Afterwards we stopped by and fed some pigs too!

To finish the night off  we went back and watched the movie Gallipoli.  I didn’t watch the movie because I fell asleep after two minutes but I heard it was really good. I also heard that Mel Gibson was in it and was looking pretty good in his 20’s.

Before we went to sleep we went outside to look for the Southern Cross, a constellation that can only be seen in the southern hemisphere. This star can also be seen on Australia’s flag. The stars were breath taking. I have seen some beautiful skies in my lifetime considering I live in a small town, but this was a lot different. The constellations are different in the south; nothing like Pennsylvania. Unfortunately we can’t take a picture of the sky, but take my word for it!

The next morning I did not want to get up because it was the first time I ever slept through an entire night; I felt like a baby. I finally convinced myself to stand up and it was worth it. We were taken to a ropes course which was so much fun and challenging. As a team we had to go through the course without touching the ground. At first I thought it would be a piece of cake but the ropes showed me otherwise. It took all 15 of us about an hour and 22 touches/ falls to get rough the short course. I made it almost all the way until the end before I fell and thought I died. I was holding onto a rope and balancing on wobbly tires until I fell backwards 6 feet to the ground and did a complete backflip with the ropes twisting around my head. As I was landing I hit my head off of a tree stump. I blacked out for a second and brought my head up as I saw Arianne’s, a friend on the trip, jaw drop. The Irish lady in charge ran over to me and asked if I was okay and I shook my head yes. She asked me my name and I answered her, “Gabby” as tears filled my eyes. I felt shocked and embarrassment more than anything at the time and I tried to keep back the tears but I couldn’t help it with the shock. I finished the course and didn’t touch a rope after that.

Once we got back and loaded the bus I started to feel groggy. I think I got a mild concussion. I have never had one before but I am positive the feelings I had were symptoms of one.

Anyway, after a shocking experience I was ready to leave. Kangaroobie surprised me with its amazing scenery and outdoor fun. Every place we go to no one  ever wants to leave but I think I had enough after that point. Onto Halls Gap, our next campsite spot in the Grampians.

(I will try and post pictures later but I don’t have access to my pictures yet because we barely have wifi!)