June 16th Blog Pictures

June 15th Blog Pictures

June 13th Blog Pictures

June 12th Blog Pictures

June 16th Blog

This journal is really hard to do because I don't know if I can narrow everthing that I've done in the past week to my top ten. My number one expierience was snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef. I chose this because I will probably never have the oppertunity to do this again and it was very beautiful. Also, due to coral bleaching, future generations may not have the oppertunity to see it. My number two expierience was going to the Blue Mountains. Even though it was foggy ands raining so you couldn't see anything, it was still breathtaking and the immensity staggarded me. My number three was walking around Sydney. I enjoyed this because I like seeing cultural differences in different societies. My number four was walking around in Cairns. I like being at the beach and Cairns was a perfect beach town. I also enjoyed the freedoms we got when we walked around. My number five was going to the Redwood forest. Even though the rain nearly ruined the expierience, the trees were so enormous that it made up for the lousy weather. My number six was luging. I loved this because it was a great introduction to New Zealand and the views and ride was spectacular. Number seven was O- going. I enjoyed this because it was a great oppertunity to do something that we can't do back in Illinois. My number eight was going to Rangitoto College. I loved talkig to the students and taking a tour around their campus. Number nine was swimming at night with my friends. We had some good times swimming and it was a good time to relax and unwind. Finally, my number ten choice was going to the Maori village. I found the tour to be very facinating and the food was great!

June 15th Blog

My day at the Great Barrier Reef will never be forgotten for the rest of my life. Just the ride there was amazing in itself. The boat ride there was especially fun because the ocean waves really rocked the boat. After the hour and half or so long boat ride there, we arrived at a permantly marooned pontoon at the edge of the reef. On the pontoon, they had a bunch of picnic tables and all of the snorkeling and scuba gear. I was so excited to get in the water so I rushed to put on my gear and me and my friends ended up being some of the first people out there. The first glance I made underwater was truely breath taking. The vivid colors of the coral and all the fish was almost overwhelming. For the first ten minutes, we swam around the perimeter, just to get used to snorkeling. We all then decided to go and get lunch so we could then spend the rest of the day out swimming. After a quick lunch of bread and other carbohydrate packed foods, we set off again. The first thing we did this time was stay near the pontoon and swam with the fishes. I then split off from my group and did some solo expeditions to some of the shallower portions of the coral. I saw so many fish and even some sea cucumbers and even a moray eel! After a while Mr. Schagrin and Mr. Ewen even caught a video of a shark swimming underneath me. After swimming for about another hour or so I got tired so I got out. On the boat ride home I just took a nap. That day was truely one of the better ones of my life.

June 13th Blog

I believe that I am a good traveler because of many talents and expieriences I've had in my life. First off, I've been traveling all over the country since I was a baby since I have family in all corners of America. For this reason alone I think that qualifies me to be able to do this trip alone. I know the ins and outs of security and traveling light so packing and repacking doesn't affect me. Also, I have very good common sense. I understand what to do and what not to do. Common sense also comes in handy when you are walking around a city that you've never been in before. The only thing that I believe would be hard to do by myself in this trip would be organizing the flights and getting the best deals on airfare. I would hate to play the websites waiting for the best possible deal so I would probably over pay for tickets. Another hard thing would be getting all the hotels in order. Whenever I travel with my parents, they usually cover all that so i have no idea how to handle that kind of stuff.

June 12th Blog

I have only good things to say about traveling so far in my journey. The top three things that show me that I have grown as a person. The first thing I can think of that shows me developing as a person is me actually leaving the States to travel basiclly by myself. This shows me branching out and becoming a more independent person. One example of this is instead of having my mom cook breakfast, I have to do it myself. This will help me later in my life in college and further on down the road because I will move out as soon as I can. The second way this trip is helping me grow is letting me try new things that I may not have the oppertunity to do back home. Some of the examples of this are O- Oging and holding a koala bear. Although I did not do the second option, I'm glad I was given that oppertunity. The third and last way I've grown is being in constant contact with my friends for so long. Although this may not seem significant, it really helped me learn more about my friends and what they really are like.

June 11th Blog Pictures

June 10th Blog Pictures

June 9th Blog Pictures

June 8th Blog Pictures

June 7th Blog Pictures

June 10th Blog

So far, I'm enjoying this trip, especially the nights and the mornings. Even though I'm not a big fan of waking up really early, once I take a shower and realize that I'm in New Zealand and that I will probably see and do things I will never have the oppertunity to do again in my life, I'm wide awake. The weirdest part of waking up that early is you think it's normal but once you go somewhere you realize everyone else who is sane is still sleeping. Also, the breakfasts have been very good. The breakfasts they give to you in the hotels have been very good and I find that i have been eating more than I usually do. Although I throughly enjoy the mornings and breakfasts, I think nights are the best. The dinners are always something different and it really gives you a good time to reflect on the awesome expieriences you've had that day. Another great thing about nights is the free time we are allowed. Lately, me and my friends have gone to the pool. It's a lot of fun because it lets you unwind after a long day and also nobody knows about the pool so we have it all to ourselves. All in all, I'm enjoying every minute of this trip so far.

June 11th Blog

Today, I had a blast in Sydney. Flying in was really fun because when you fly in, you pass over the bay with the opera house and bridge. I liked seeing the famous landmarks from the sky. After we landed, we immediately went to our next hotel, the Travelodge in Sydney. After quickly dropping our luggage off, we started a walking tour of the city. We traveled from the hotel to the city's main park named Hyde Park. In Hyde Park we saw a cool war memorial and fountain to commemerate the fallen soldiers of World War I and II. After we took our photographs, we walked to a mall. The mall was very high- end and I didn't like it because there was nothing to buy because everything was so expensive. After we were all done shopping, we went up the Sydney Tower. We spent a lot of time up there because Alec told us a brief history of the city. We also took many pictures up there and bought many souveniers. After we all got down from the tower, we walked over to the bay and got our first up close encounters with both the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Bridge. we stopped at a little point and took many photos and shopped a little in the surrounding stores at the Rocks. I really enjoyed today because of all the exciting places we went to and all the cultural expieriences we had.

June 9th Blog

Today started out terrible, but ended on a good note. Our day started out horrible because we had to wake up very early and get our bags checked in by the teachers downstairs because we were leaving Roturura. Another reason that today started out bad was the weather. All day it was very overcast with a constant and soaking rain. Another reason why we woke up so early was we were going to the local Redwood forest before we left town. The most miserable part of the day was walking around the forest because it was cold and wet. Granted, the forest was beautiful and I'll probably never see anything like that again, but the downpour nearly ruined it for me. The Redwoods were very tall and majestic. After our excursion, we headed back to the hotel to take a shower and then get on the bus so we could make our way to Auckland. On the bus ride there, we stopped for a bite to eat. we then finished our journey to Auckland. When we arrived in town, we quickly unloaded our luggage and then got back on the bus to make our way to Rangitoto college. The students preformed a haka and we then ate some food they prepared for us. After eating and talking with our penpals for a while, they then broke us into groups to teach us the haka. After learning and preforming the haka, we had time to take a tour of the campus. we then said our goodbys and left to go back to our hotel.

June 8th Blog

I had so much fun today. When we first woke up, we were treated to our first New Zealand breakfast which consisted of pancakes, hasbrowns, and other delicious food. I even ate vegamite on a piece of toast with butter. After we were done with our breakfast, we went outside our hotel and took pictures of the beautiful sunrise. The sun looked so great over the water along with the steam from the geothermal vents. After we took our pictures, we the took a "duck" tour around Rotutura and various lakes in the surrounding area. The trip was extremely beautiful and interesting but the only downside was the it was very cold out so we were all shivering. After the duck tour, we were dropped off in a Maori village called Waka. Inside the village, we saw the Maori people living a unique life dealing with the geothermal vents and using them to their advantage. The tour we went on brought us through the village to the many baths and pools the villagers cook their food in. We also saw the houses and meeting places of the Maori. The tour was very informative and afterward we sampled some of the local cuisine (it was delicious!). The Maori and the Native Americans are alike in many ways, they both have a deep love of nature, the white man took most of their land when they arrived, and they are still around today. Also, both the Maori and the Native Americans both blame nature events on Gods.

June 7th Blog

Getting on the plane at O'Hare, I had no idea what to expect in New Zealand. I thought all I was going to see when we flew in was green pastures and beautiful, tall mountains, but since we've landed, I realize it's so much more than that. Stepping off the plane in New Zealandwas an expierience in itself. Everything from the stores to the mannerisms the locals used was unique. Since I've never been out of the country before, the trip through customs was an adventure because of the encounter with the drug- sniffing dog. When we started driving out of the ariport in Auckland, I was freaked out when we were driving on the wrong side of the roadin a right handed driving bus, but I think I've gotten used to it so far. The area aroundAuckland is spectacular; the rolling hills, the fruitful farmlands, and even the rivers and streams are breathtaking. When we made our pit stop in Hobbiton, I loved walking around the shopsand eating the local foods while talking to the locals. After wwe finished our journey to Roturura, I realized that I didn't like this town. It smells like rotten eggs, there's too many tourist shops, and the hotel's dirty.
The first culture shockI had was the driving. It seems that people in New Zealand drive crazier and more reckless. In Hobbiton, me and my friends almost got hit by at least three cars! Although it was partially our fault because we weren't used to looking for cars in the other direction.

Food and Cultures

There are many differences between the food in New Zealand and the food in America for a variety of reasons. The first reason is the cultural differences of the two countries. In New Zealand, for example, their indigenous people survived on mainly seafood while the indigenous people in the Americas staple was grains and other farm able foods. In the Americas, we also have influences from the Mexicans and the South Americans which give us many of our favorite foods like tacos and other spicy foods. We were also influenced by the many different cultures that live in The United States. We get nearly all of our food from that mix of culture. There are also many differences between the ways we cook our food compared to the ways the New Zealanders cook theirs. It seems that in New Zealand, there is a lot of slow cooking meals that are supposed to feed a lot of people for a long time while in America, we cook for one meal on one day. As I said before, the New Zealanders rely on a wide array of seafood's because they live on an island. In America, on the other hand, we eat mostly farmed foods because that's what our country is most suited for. In New Zealand, they emphasise a lot on family and large get together while in America, we barely see our family because we are very spread out over the country.

Rabbit Proof Fence

In "Rabbit Proof Fence", the Aboriginese faces many injustices. The first is unfair trials when the English unjustly prosicuted them for stealing sheep. The next thing they did was the Europeans frequntly seized control of the Aboriginese land and the only way they took it was by threatening the natives with guns and superior technology. The white man also forbid the natives to practice their own religion and forced them to practice Christianity to keep them form uniting and rebeling. Another unjust thing the forigners did was keeping Aboriginese slaves and forcing them to work. In the story, a British journalist states in one of his articles on the Australian issue, "Black servants, I find, are very serviceable in this colony; on them we depend for labour, as we can never afford to pay English servants the high wages they expect, besides feeding them so well. The black fellows receive little more than rice - their simple diet."(16) One of the worst things they enforced was the exilation of half white children from the Aboriginese. They did this because they believed the hybrids were smarter than the natives and would start an uprising. All of these examples are in clear violation of the UN's human rights. I believe the white man trying to civilize the Australians mirror the attempted civilization of the American Indians in the 1800's. We also forced our religion onto them and forced many of the children to white schools in an atempt to blend our races together. We also took nearly all of their land and forced them into reservations across the country and further west. I don't beleive that the relocation of the mixed race kids was for their own betterment, I think the white man was afraid of the mixed race kids because they were "smarter" than the native population. Also, they might have been afraid because the mixed race kids could've belonged to both white and the Aborigines at the same time.

Great Barrier Reef Environment

Video 1

1. Polyp is the beginnings of a coral reef. Polyp needs to have hundreds of other polyps to be considered coral.

2. Coral is sensitive to ocean water temperature.

3. Coral bleaching occurs when the zooxanthellae in the polyp ,eaves because the ocean temperature is too high.

4. Scientists believe coral bleaching is happening more than ever because of the climate change happening right now.

5. Three things we can do to reduce coral bleaching is to recyle, avoid uneccesary car journeys, and saving energy.


Video 2

1. Fish: 1,500 species
Hard Coral: 360 species
Soft Coral: 1/3rd of the worlds coral species
Sea Birds: 22 species
Shore Birds: 32 species

2. climate change is responsible for the warming oceans

3. Flooding increases pollution in reefs and the sea birds have less to eat because the fish move away.

4. Three ways to reduce climate change is to take public transport, open windows, and drying clothes on a line instead of in a dryer.


Video 3/4

1. two benefits from using this media to teach kids are they are onclined to watch it because it's hip and they can share it with others. Two downsides to teaching kids using videos is that they can not share the point very specifically and they can only be viewed if you have internet connection.

2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzRHGLH9sGA&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFsC4sGzMJ8&feature=related

Great Barrier Reef

1. The Great Barrier Reef is considered the largest living creature.

2. Calcium Carbonate is the compound extracted to make coral.

3. The red algae is credited for actually building the coral.

4. The Great Barrier Reef became a national park in 1975.

5. Around 33% of the reef is protected from fishing.

6. Scientists beleive that the current reef is about 20,000 years old and the acient reef is about 500,000 years old.

Savor the Trip, Don't Tweet It

Elliot is concerned that people are using their technology too much on vacations and thus removing themselves from the things they are seeing on the trip. "Vacation meant leaving the world you knew for a world you didn't". He wants us to limit our use of cameras and phones so we can live more in the moment than knowing every little thing ever (FB). I want to go Australia because i want to expierience the wildness of the country. I also want to report back to my friends and family at home about how those nations really are. /i thought about either facebooking or texting my expieriences back home the moment they happen. I know I won't facebook or text during the trip because i want to give my friends the suspense of not knowing what I'm doing. Yes, I think that we should ban our phones and facebook from the trip. I think we shouldn't bring our phones because one, it's one less to worry about and we can't even use them over there. I also think we should facebook because it will distract us from the trip of a lifetime.

In the Beginning

New Zealand, Australia, and The United States of America all have backgrounds that are similar in nature. First off, all the country's in question were founded by Great Britain. The first country is Australia and it was originally founded to be a prision for all of Britains most dangerous convicts. The convicts originally landed near Sydney and stayed near the coast because the Outback was so inhospitable. New Zealand was discovered by Britain and was made into a prision and farmland. United States on theother hand was founded because Britain wanted more wealth for the epanding empire. All these colonies obviously broke free of the iron fist of the british empire.

What came first...?

1.) I beleive that there are many reasons that every culture creates their own creation stories. I believe that humans have a natural tendency to try to explain things that they don't have an explaination for, whether we explain it as supernatural or it just happened that way. I beleive this has something to do with being insecure, or even feeling vunerable when we don't understand things in life. I also believe creation myths have a place in the world today. Look at the debate between Creationists and Evolutionists, this is still a hottly contested debate that has lasted decades.
2.) The different creation stories from the two different cultures reveal much about their views and priorities. Forhe Maori's, they emphasize heavily on the family aspect of life and how important the women are in the culture. They talk a lot about the creation of women and how they relate to the family. The Aborigine's on the other handdeeply respect the insects and animals across their land. They speak very detailed about the creation of animals before the humans. In the Aboriginal story, they state "Then she created fish, snakes, lizards, and frogs."
4.) The stories create multipule eternal problems in the world today. First off, the Aboriginal story explains how the heck a platypus came to be which helped the Aborigine's explain that. Also, both the stories explain how humans came to be and where the sun and moon comes from.

Why we travel

There are many reasons that I travel, and they are pretty much the same as Lyer’s reasons. When I travel to new places, I watch the people and try to learn as much as possible from them. I also expect them to be doing the same to me, monitoring me and trying to learn about my heritage from my appearance and body language. I try to represent where I come from and what I represent the best I can when I’m out and about. Iyer’s quote “I travel to see new eyes, not new destinations” is a deep quote that applies to many people, especially me. He is talking about his quest to meet new people throughout the world. He is talking about not only seeing new, beautiful places, but the people that make them beautiful. His other quote means that what makes traveling exciting is not the actual traveling part, but the unknown component to the travels. Where will I sleep tonight? What will I do tomorrow? Who will I meet next? On our journey, we will be meeting indigenous people who will increase our understanding and appreciating the country we will be in. I most certainly believe that travelers have the responsibility to transfer their experiences in life to one another. It’s a given that the person from the different country will have new experiences that you might never have a chance to do, so you might have to live those experiences through them.

Blog 1- The Beginning

Hi, my name is Joey Stasiak and I'm a 15 year old sophmore at Grayslake North highschool. I love to be outside doing things like fishing, hiking, and biking. Although I like to be outside, I also enjoy the occasional video game.

I signed up for this course because of many things. First off, I love traveling and I have been doing it ever since I was born and I'm planning on doing it for the rest of my life. Ever since I was a baby, I was traveling to either California or Illinois to visit family, and when we moved to Illinois, we would be traveling to all corners of this great country. Although going all around my own home country is fine and all, I would still love to take it one step further and go where many Americans have never been before. In Australia, I plan on learning as much as I can about their rich history and culture and then then bringing all of that knowledge back to the States with me and telling others of their culture so they can understand the country better. Also, when I'm in Australia, I plan on telling many people over there about our culture back home so we can both drop stereotypes and get along and a single human race.

While traveling abroad, I hope I will learn many important life skills. I want to see if I can live off of very few items for an extended period of time and learn to roll with the blows. Never before have I been away from my house for longer than a week or so and always I have had access to luxeries. While in Australia, I know I will encounter setbacks that might ruin my trip for me and others if I'm not prepared for them. I'm usually the guy that if things don't go exactly as planned, I get disappointed and discouraged. I hope to change that and learn other skills that will help me farther down the road to make me a better person.

Many things interest me about Australia and New Zealand than many other countries. First off, I know relatively little about the countries histories than I do about other countries. I do know that they started as prisons for the English in the early 1800's and that alone is very interesting. I'm very interested in the world and how it works, that's just me though, and I love learning things that many other people don't know. I also want to learn a alot about the Great Barrier Reef. I know many people claim to be interested in it but I think just seeing it will be a very eye- opening expierience that I am looking forward to.

I think that learning about where you are going before actually going can help in a bunch of aspects. First off, we will only be in Australia for 12 days or so before we have to head back. That gives us only so much time to explore the enormous country. I know that a lot of Australia is a desert "Outback" and so that would eliminate as much space as possible in order to hit the major landmarks. Also, we want to be able to see as much of the countries cultural aspects as possible so we should go visit tribes and other ethnic places.