Australia: The Path to Knowing is Realizing how little you Know.
A mural in Burlington, Vermont.
“There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out.” – Russian Proverb
G’day Mate (or Madame)!!!
This post is more information about why I am doing what I am by looking at a study abroad trip to Australia, when I was a sophomore at Michigan State University.
From Tiny Michigander to…
Rewind some…I grew up in a tiny, little town in the middle of Michigan. Carson City. A blinking yellow stoplight was the center of town and a McDonald’s first arrived, when I was in high school. My high school didn’t offer a lot of Advanced Placement courses and most people around town had spent all their life in Carson City and weren’t interested in leaving.
So, Your a Transplant…
“Transplants,” is how a woman described my family, because my Mother and Father had grown up elsewhere.
Fast forward… to my second year at Michigan State University, where I enrolled in an exchange program with Monash University, which was just outside Melbourne, Australia. Melbourne is the second largest city in Australia and if you ever go, it is pronounced Mel-bin. If you say, Mel-born, people laugh a little.
Down Under…
I rented a home in Melbourne with Tom from Chicago, Allison from Michigan State, and Josh, who grew up in New York City. We lived 15 minutes by tram (similar to a trolley) to the center of the city.
Monash University hosted many exchange students from all over the world and would plan courses and trips to acquaint us with Australia and also to bond us with each other.
Mr. Bumpkin…
In my five months, I learned some from Monash, but I learned so much more from the people I was around. Books, bands, movies, theories, religions, and ideas were thrown around and discussed, while most I had never heard about. I felt like such a small-town bumpkin!!!
When I left, I was motivated and hungry to learn about the world!!!
Some great man said a quote like, “The first step to true knowledge is realizing how little you know.”
Australia was my first step.
What is yours?
Create Our World,
Ben.
“Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing it is not fish they are after.” – Henry David Thoreau
Tags: adventure travel blog, australia, Benjamin Jenks, create our world, hitchhiking, roadtrip around the USA, study abroad
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