The Dusty Foot Philosopher

Well I suppose as you all know where I am going and why I'm going there, the next thing to answer is WHO am I?

I'm a 21 year old, female, diabetic, student... and I hate talking about/describing myself, so this will be short.
I love golfing, being in water, hard liquor and potatoes of any kind.
I have several best friends and I don't believe that you need just one.
I love being Canadian, and I'm super excited that my last day in Ottawa will be Canada day.
I have a small, but very tight knit immediate family, my parents, my brother and I.
My parents are still married, and I'm quite proud of them for that.
My birthday is August 9th, making me a Leo and all that comes with that.
I crave sushi, potato chips and candy on a regular basis.
I take a ridiculous amount of pictures, I want memories of everything, but I'll never call myself a photographer.
I have 2 tattoos, one in honor of my trip to Australia (a compass on my left foot) and the other is a phoenix on my ribs to remind me that great things can be born out of the fires of life.

Things I would bring to a desert island, The movie Gladiator, a DVD player, the book A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry and my dad because he's really good with survival stuff.

I truly believe that the best company is a good book and a comfy chair.

Punta Cana, Dominican 2011

The title of this post comes from an awesome song by K'Naan called The Dusty Foot Philosopher, which to me means a well travelled person with a distinct view on life. And that's me. I move on and move up.  I believe that any situation, good or bad can be fixed with a hug and a laugh. No one should ever take life too seriously, no one gets out alive anyways.

Here is the song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch

Tomorrow marks 1 week til take off!!

The Destination

"Follow what you are genuinely passionate about and let that guide you to your destination."
Diane Sawyer
Diane Sawyer was one smart lady. And I truly believe in these words. That's why Melbourne Australia has become my destination. I'm genuinely passionate about learning. Learning anything, and everything (except math...gross!) I'm that loser kid at Wal-Mart in August ogling the school supplies and begging my momma to let me pick out a pencil case. I get the same feeling before the first day of school as I do on Christmas eve... I'm one of those nerd kids that just loves school. So when I was at that student exchange fair all those months ago I searched for programs that would allow me to learn what I was passionate about.
Communication Studies, with a specialization in Image, Politics an Persuasion and a minor in Philosophy is the title of my undergraduate degree- as you can tell, I have to take a breath in between to say the whole thing! But that's because I'm really interested in all this stuff.
The program I'm about to start (on July 25th) is called a Master of Arts in Global Communications. It focuses on policy and global governance (which means how all countries function together and which over arching rules can be applied to all the diverse nations of the world). The plan is to slowly correct the imbalance of the Communication industry on a global level. This can be understood in 3 easy points:

1. Those countries with communication technologies (satellites, cell phone towers, internet access etc) are limited to those with the cash flow and development to create them (i.e. the rich, developed nations)
2. Those without communication technologies (i.e. developing nations and third world countries) have to rely on the developed countries to support them- for no small price
3. EVERYONE should have equal and fair access to communication technologies because it improves EVERY OTHER ASPECT of community life (democratization, industry, food production, international relations)

Well now I'm wildly off topic... back to Diane Sawyer. I'm trying to tell you about my passion (listed above) that has now led me to my destination, the following:

Melbourne Australia

a city of about 4 MILLION people!!!

It is the capital city of the province of Victoria

There is a bay on the edge of the city called Port Phillip, which is kind of cool because the town I grew up in was a Port also.

Melbourne was the birthplace of television in Australia

La Trobe University

La Trobe has several campuses in the area. Mine is called the Melbourne or Bundoora campus (awesome name if you ask me)

The campus, much like Carleton (where I did my undergrad), has a lot of green space and a river flowing through it.

Also like Carleton, one of the near by shopping centers to La Trobe is Greenboroughs (Carleton's is spelled Greenboro).

Carleton Ravens= La Trobe Eagles.

The campus also has a wildlife perserve, which I cannot tell you how awesome I think that is!

This is a pretty cool link that shows what the campus is like

http://www.latrobe.edu.au/virtualtour/

Now that you and my destination are accquainted, I suppose the next post is to get to know me...

Two Weeks Til Takeoff!



Greetings!



Convocation Ceremony- Carleton University Class of 2011 (The fam)



And so begins the preparation in a state of excitement, chaos and panic. My flight leaves July 6th and 6:45 pm for Australia. Well, that's not entirely correct, 5 hours to LAX, 2 hour lay over, then 15 and a half to Melbourne, but rest assured I will get there, July 8th at 8:20am.

For now, I have two weeks of saying goodbye to old friends and selecting lucky items to pack.

But let's back track a little, because we're missing the beginning of the story. This whole journey actually began months ago. I was visiting my school's international exchange fair with my best friend who had the genius idea that we should move to Australia next year. Naturally I was in agreement. Forgetting that I'm a woman of my word, while I picked up several school calendars and read and researched for the perfect Master's program, I'm pretty sure my BFF went for a beer.



My BFF



Weeks later when I was packing up my many applications to Canadian and one lucky Australian school, my BFF was dutifully by my side to aid in the imminent mental breakdown.

The foreign name of La Trobe naturally caught his attention. Surprised I'm sure, because clearly his off-hand comment of world travel was entirely unintentional, my BFF appeased me anyways with a "good luck, I'm sure you'll get in somewhere"...

And then I got accepted.

Apparently the guest list of our Australian adventure was now down to one, obstructed by tyrannical student debts, the cost of flight being astronomical and then there was the issue of not knowing a soul down under. And thus, here I am, writing the first blog post months later, 2 weeks prior to take off.

The goals for the year- get my Masters (obvs), stay in contact with my friends, post a lot so my mom doesn't panic, adjust to the ridiculous time change, and experience the land of Aus!

Ladies and gentlemen please fasten your seatbelts until the captain has turned off the seatbelt sign...