Submitted by Kenneth Schnabele on the 2020 winter session study abroad program in Sydney, Australia sponsored by the Department of Business Administration…
During my time in Sydney, Australia, I went to a wildlife park called “walkabout park”. There, I learned a lot about the Australian wildlife as well as the Australian native people called the Aborigines. At the walkabout park, I was able to pet kangaroos, wallabies and emus. The best part was holding a snake and getting a picture with and petting a koala bear. The snake holding was a unique experience as the snake was very strong. The snake felt like a long muscle wrapping around my arm. It was a little scary because the snake was slowly moving up my arm trying to get to my neck which was a very weird feeling. The koala bear I pet, sleeps about 20 hours a day and their fur may look soft, but it is rough. A big surprise I found out when I went to the park was that the bush fires almost impeded our trip to the walkabout park. The fires were very close to this sanctuary and they almost had to evacuate the park due to the fires. This just shows how bad the fires have been over here, but thanks to the recent rain a lot of the fires have been extinguished. I have learned that the Aborigines have actual been on the Australian continent for about 50,000 years if not more. They were a very advanced culture that created natural Neosporin, as well as advanced communications with cave drawings. This was by far one of the best experiences of the program. Understanding another native culture as well as learning about the other animals was neat.
