Easy Cruisin' with the Bats

Hi there!

Last week in my first blog post ever, I didn’t really introduce myself, so I’m taking this time to tell you a little about myself.

My name is Gabi and I’m a sophomore in the College of Communication and Information studying to become a journalist. I was born and raised in Knoxville and now that I’m going to UTK I can add that I will also graduate from Knoxville. Despite living in the same house my entire life, I absolutely love to travel and usually get lost wandering around trying to find new places to see. I’m an avid reader and writer. I’m actually a writer for The Daily Beacon, UT’s student newspaper. Which, I am currently working on my very first Vlog so feel free to check in to see what I’m covering on there! I speak four languages: English, Polish, French and fluid sarcasm. Coffee is the best drink, hot or cold, and I truly believe chocolate can solve any problem you have. That, or hugging a dog. 

Anyway, now onto the blog.

So, for those of you interested in joining the CCI Global Scholars program, you’ll also be participating in a Cultural Communications class which is awesome! One of the assignments we had this past week was to go out somewhere in Sydney by ourselves and just sit down to observe your surroundings. This assignment really shows that in two weeks of being here, you really do become comfortable in being in Sydney. For my observation, I was originally going to go to the Custom’s House by Circular Quay and watch the tourists lingering about and people going home at the end of the work day. Instead, I ended up sitting in Hyde Park which was a really interesting and great experience that ended with bats.

Before I get to the bats though, I wanted to just talk a little bit about Australians. Australians are the nicest, friendliest and most laid-back people I have met. On Australia day, when Victoria and I were heading back to Urbanest, we didn't know where we were going so we asked people and everyone pointed us to where we needed to go and even offered to walk with us so we wouldn't get lost. While doing my observation in the park, I had this feeling of ease too. I felt like I could just lay down in the grass and take a nap and be completely fine. Back home, I always felt comfortable in the park, but taking a nap by myself wasn’t really something I did feel comfortable with doing. I think it’s because the people around me were giving off this message of ease that I honestly felt it too. It was also interesting to observe how people did just take 20 minutes from their commute home to lay down in the grass to nap or sit down with friends for a quick chat before continuing onward.

Being here in Australia has also made me realize what I really like about my own culture back home. I love the fact that people back home in the South talk loudly, but they also take the time to ask about your day. That while walking down the street, people will ask “How are you?” and it’s normal to start a conversation with the cashier while checking out of the store. You really don’t notice the small details about your culture that you’ve come to love so much until you are in another country. This program has already shown me that culture is such an important key in how we communicate and learning about Australian culture is interesting, but it has also taught me about American culture. It’s a great experience overall, and if you have nothing to do at home or just want to procrastinate before doing homework, go out somewhere and observe. You don’t have to be in Sydney, Australia to notice these little things.

Now, onto the bats. So, towards the end of my observation, I was so focused at observing the people around me that I hadn’t really paid attention to what was happening above me, until one flew right over my head. As the day was drawing to a close, I happened to look up after feeling something above me and the sky was full of bats just hanging out in the park in the middle of the city. It’s so completely normal here that most people weren’t even paying attention to the bats. So, yes, bats flying around a park in Sydney during sunset is completely normal and also kind of awesome.