Back in Australia

Hi Everyone,

   My journey home was long, but I made the trip without any problems.  I almost arrived back home before I had technically left Australia thanks to the time difference.  Yes, the customs and border patrol agents did let me back into the country, much to my brother’s disappointment.  I spent my first week home visiting friends and family.  It was so wonderful and uplifting to see my home again.  I miss you all terribly. 

My return home

  The next Wednesday, February 8^th, my Mom and I flew across country to attend a scholarship competition at Franciscan University of Steubenville in Steubenville Ohio.  I had a blast.  I have not had the pleasure of meeting that many intelligent teenagers in a long time.  Mom and I spent Wednesday evening chatting over coffee with students we know from the university.  From one of the junior year students I learned about Franciscan University’s nursing program.  I am very interested in the challenging courses the program offers and the ability to graduate with all the skills and fulfilled requirements for becoming a registered nurse.  This summer I will volunteer at one of the local hospitals to explore the possibility of taking pre-nursing my freshman year.  My other choice for a major would be economics.  Most people, when I have informed them that economics would be my choice of study, have commented “how boring”.  Yet an amazing economics class in high school, where we studied not only current economic theory, but also the history and future possibilities of economics, piqued my interest in such a far reaching field of study.

  That Thursday morning, I had an admissions interview with the admissions counselor for my area.  The interview was very helpful.  I not only learned more about the school and the requirements for my major areas of study, but I also got the chance to discuss the different aspects of the university with someone who had firsthand experience as a former student.  I was impressed by the counselor’s obvious affection for his Alma Mater, but also his understanding that choosing a college is a choice that each person must make based on what will be best for their own future.   

  After this interview, my Mom and I joined many other potential students and scholarship competitors on a tour of the campus.  The tour was a bit cold (I had forgotten how cold February is!) but very informative and funny thanks to the inserted comments from our tour guides.  It was especially interesting to see the fully operational TV studio in the basement of one of the buildings, where the university records its own shows for EWTN television.  And the huge library on campus would definitely be one of my favorite buildings.  After our tour, we were invited to lunch in the cafeteria.  And it was nice to sit and chat with some of the other scholarship participants who were on the tour.  When lunch was finished, we were given a look around one of the dormitories.  Franciscan University has separate dormitories for girls and boys.  After the dorm tour came the best part of visiting any university: the opportunity to sit in on classes.  I sat in on one of the history classes.  Being a lover of history and anything having to do with classical thought, I usually judge the competence of a university based on the history teachers.  History can be a very boring and unremarkable subject when taught by the wrong teacher.  But if the history teacher can teach a class while capturing the attention of the students, and teach history with a passion for the truth, then the school has done its job in selecting an appropriate teacher.  Dr. Doyle is such a teacher.  The day I sat in on his class we learned about the American Government’s different legal policies concerning the Native Americans, and about Custer’s last stand at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.  Dr. Doyle explained the nature of each of the government policies, while also emphasizing their relevance to American history.  Then we watched a video of Custer’s last battle.  Dr. Doyle explained that this particular video was the most accurate representation of the battle that he had found.  He also gave a running commentary about why Custer had run into such trouble in the first place and how his lieutenant and major failed to come to his aid when he ran smack into the Indian forces armed with superior weapons.  It was a very good class.

  The next class I had the privilege of sitting in on was a session of the university’s Great Books Honor Program.  This class was for the freshman, and the group was discussing part of Plato’s Republic.  For those of you who do not know me very well, I love reading classics. (I know that is weird, but I never claimed to be normal.)  I especially enjoy books about philosophy and works where the author discusses human nature.  I so enjoyed being able to watch this group of students discuss such a work.  I was very impressed that the guys in the class kept the conversation going and gave intelligent input.  Normally in such classes, I never hear one word out of the guys, and the girls end up running the whole conversation.  I have already applied and been accepted for the Honors Program for next year.  I am also highly impressed by the reading list for the whole four year course.  There are a number of authors I have already read and would like to discuss, and there are also many other works that I have not yet explored. 

  After sitting in on classes, all of the students and their families attended Mass in the university chapel.  As the name “Franciscan” might suggest, the school is managed and supported by a group of Franciscan friars.  The friars are teachers, priests, and spiritual leaders on campus.  Another fantastic aspect of the university is the religious fervor on campus.  There are three daily Masses and all of them are full.  I don’t know that I have ever seen that many young people at Mass before.   

  Every family then left to find their own dinner.  We ate at a local restaurant with another scholarship participant and her father.  It was a nice meal and we discussed what we had seen and what we liked so far about the university.  Later in the evening we returned to the school for the welcoming social for the scholarship competition.  That was one of the best parts.  It was amazing to me that there were so many intelligent, Catholic, youth in one place.  Past scholarship contenders who now attend Franciscan introduced themselves and mingled with present competitors to answer questions and talk about life at the university.  It was very interesting to get the opinions and recommendations on classes from current students.  Everyone was extremely friendly and helpful.  I was able to talk with a current nursing student who is taking the Honors Program (the two combined are quite a work load).  She told me not to be intimidated by what others might tell me, the work could be done if I really wanted to take nursing and the Honors Program. It was also neat to meet some of my fellow competitors and ask about what school they went to now, and what area they wanted to study.  Only the top 3% of each year’s applicants are invited to the competition, so naturally I was speaking with the best of the best. I couldn’t believe the amount of work some of the kids had in mind! 

The next morning, everyone arrived early for a buffet breakfast and the beginning of the competition.  All the participants were dress in their best business formal clothes, and everyone was nervous.  It was comforting to know that I was not the only one worried about the day’s events.  But the best part was that everyone had a positive attitude. 

The first event was a panel interview.  The over eighty contestants were divided into groups of twelve and led to different areas to begin.  Each student was given a ten minute interview with a panel of staff and faculty.  The second event was an hour long, timed essay session. And the last event, and by far the most fun, was the performance of a skit.  We were again divided into a different group of twelve, given a bag of props and instructions, and about an hour and a half to make a skit using all of the props.  We then came back into the main room and each group performed their skit for the parents and competition staff.  All of the skits were absolutely hilarious! 

  After the end of the scholarship events, the former scholarship participants held a pizza party for those current competitors who wished to stay and have some fun with the current students.  I was able to stay and had a great time.  I had the opportunity to experience an overnight stay in one the dormitories.  I stayed with two amazing Franciscan students.  They were extremely friendly and gracious in allowing me to hang out with them for the evening.  Both girls made it very easy to become one of their friends.  In the morning we went to Mass and had breakfast together in the cafeteria.  After visiting several universities around the country, these two roommates made me feel the most welcome and were very understanding and helpful when it came to answering my questions about the college.    

  Mom and I spent the rest of our time at Franciscan that Saturday morning browsing through the bookstore and sitting in the student building chatting with some of the other contestants and their families.  We then flew back home that evening. 

It was a very positive and educational trip.  I did find out the other day that I was not chosen as one of the two recipients of the full tuition scholarships.  It is slightly disappointing, but I am not very surprised after meeting all of the exceptional competition participants.

   I did get a few more days to spend with my family before flying back to Australia, but I probably should have stayed another week.  My poor body clock was very confused over the two weeks of travel.  I arrived back in the island country last Friday (Australian time).  I took a train out of Central station in Sydney to one of the outer suburbs to meet up with Barry.  Barry was working on dismantling some machinery he had bought.  Luckily for me, the daughter of the owner of the machine company, and his secretary, was kind enough to take me out to lunch with her and her family, and she showed me her horses.  That night, Barry and I stayed with a friend near Sydney.  I had a lovely night’s sleep.  I was very tired after the fourteen hour plane flight across the Pacific Ocean, and the time difference. 

Leaving Central Station

  Saturday morning Barry finished taking apart and loading the machinery, while I ran errands with my rescuer from the previous day and her two young daughters.  We went to visit the local museum and I learned all about the Flabbit.  Back in the early 1900s a local politician wanted to attract tourism and people to his small town, so he used his skills with taxidermy and created a Flabbit, a creature with the body of a rabbit and the wings and tail feathers of a falcon.  He sent in pictures of the creature to the Sydney newspapers, claiming that he had seen the wild creature near his home.  Soon he got his wish of incoming people, and the Flabbit lives on in legend to this day. 

  Barry and I arrived back at Jagumba late Saturday night.  Kathrin is currently gone for the week working as a substitute veterinarian.   On Sunday afternoon Caitlin, the young lady who wanted to buy Dakota, came up to go horseback riding.  We had a lovely ride down to the cabin and then up the other side of the river to the camp site.  Caitlin was once again a wonderful friend to have to chat with and take a comfortable ride in the bush.

  Monday morning, Barry and I went to town so Barry could get repair parts for one of the machines and I could stop by to retrieve some things I had left with Desiree and Andreas.  Basil, the kitten, is as lively as ever.  And Teddy was happy to see us as usual.  After lunch, Barry went to work on his machine, while I made pizza for dinner.

The garden beneath the weeds

Tuesday, Barry had to go into town for an appointment, so I worked in the garden and made cobbler out of the now ripe nectarines.  The nectarine trees small lovely and fresh nectarines are absolutely delicious!  I have also had the great pleasure of watching to two new foals that were born while I was gone.  Both are of brumby parentage.  One of the foals is from one of the brumbies Barry originally caught for the brumby catch, (I named the mother Rosa) and the other is from the older black brumby mare Barry caught earlier this year.  I know that the first one is a boy, but I haven’t been able to get close enough to determine the gender of the second foal. 

Rosa and her new foal

The old Black brumby mare and her new foal

  The rest of this week Barry has been gone harvesting trees to use for fire wood.  So I have been left to my own devices.  I have kept busy mowing the over grown lawn down at the cabin, taking down the netting from the nectarine trees, working with horses a bit, making dinners, cobbler, and homemade tomato soup, and other basic house chores. 

Storm clouds rolling in

The week started out cloudy with rain showers, but now it has turned into a very sunny and warm week.  The scenery is as beautiful as ever.  Yesterday Sambo and I rode around the goat fence and pulled two goats out.  And the dogs have been keeping me company wherever I go.  It has been a very restful and relaxing week for me.  Kathrin will return tonight, and this next week we will work on training some new brumbies for another festival show. 

Beautiful mountains in the setting sun

  Thank you so much for all of your prayers and good wishes.  I know that they have been an enormous help and they are greatly appreciated.   I look forward to seeing you all again soon.

Love,

   Hana

P.S. I hope you like the blog's new look.