I just got back from Australia, and I immediately was asked to write a blog. Now, my exact thought when I saw this was “...my sleep schedule is going to be too screwed to make it”. However, in this household we rise and grind so I did it anyway. To start off, I really do miss the ISS. The first day we got there, they handed me my nametag and I went to meet my group. To be honest, they scared me a ton– I mean, I’m pretty sure I was one of the youngest at the ISS. They gave us these amazing tote bags and Sydney University water bottles, as well as a notebook. Additionally, from Higher Orbits we got a sling bag and some other fun trinkets, as well as a Higher Orbits themed notebook. My goal for the week was to fill the notebook with as many notes as possible from all the lectures.
I fell into step pretty quickly. I met both my roommates. One of them was from Japan, and the other from Australia. We got along fairly well– breakfast time was from 7 to 8:30 A.M., and we all decided to wake up around 6 A.M. to get ready. Whether or not that was to try and get a head start on the showers, I’m not quite sure–all I know is that if that was the goal, it definitely didn’t work. We also met our groups. I was put in the Blue Group, and our mascot was a little blue penguin named Percy. Unfortunately, they had also separated all of us Americans in the color groups, which meant I didn’t get to see my friends as much. However, we still sat together during meals and made plans for the weekend together.
Throughout the week, we had multiple experiences. Our second lecture was definitely one of my favorites– in it, Professor Katie Mack explained how the universe may end. They settled on the four likeliest things to end our universe; the large crunch, the heat death, the big rip, or the vacuum decay. My favorite way was the heat death. In this theory, the universe creating infinitely new galaxies speeds up, causing multiple galaxies to rocket away from ours at such a speed that we will not see any new galaxies altogether. Eventually, all our stars will die and the black holes created will evaporate. A pleasant way to start the week! When we got back, I got more of an opportunity to explore the dorms a bit more. I figured out there were four common rooms– two on each floor. I figured out the ones on my floor were usually used either by people studying or they were entirely empty. With that in mind, I set out upstairs. The first time I spoke to people, I found them playing poker in one of the upstairs common rooms. Naturally, I did what anyone would do, and I joined the game, using sugar packets as chips. I didn’t win anything, but I was able to add a second goal to my list: teaching as many people as I could my favorite card game, Egyptian Rat Slap (or, as I found, Egyptian Rat Screw).
In the weekend between the two weeks, they let us go free wherever we wanted with a few caveats: we had to inform them where we were going, we had to have a full plan, and we had to have at least three people with full contact info including names and phone numbers for easy contact. Some people decided to use it to just catch up on rest. To be honest, we all sort of needed that, but I decided to go out anyway. With the other Americans and a couple of our Australian friends (Archie and Ari), we assembled a plan to go to the nearby mall on Saturday. That’s where I learned something truly amazing: the claw machines there aren’t rigged! I won quite a few keychains and almost broke a few machines by dropping the prizes wrong. We also went shopping at the mall, where I learned something else amazing. This, of course, was the fact that they have escalator rules. Yes, escalator rules! Apparently, you’re supposed to only stand on the left side of all the escalators– or lifts, as they called them– while the right side is for people quickly trying to get up said escalator. I’m not quite sure if I just live in a bad area, but every escalator I go on is just that. An escalator, and you stand wherever.
On Sunday, Michelle took us to see the musical everyone loves, which is obviously Cats: The Musical. We had made the plan earlier in the week to spend some time together, and that was what we had settled on. In my opinion, Cats was one of the best musicals I’ve seen. Most of the time, when I watch musicals, I always want to audition promptly after. This one was no different– I think it would be absolutely phenomenal to go act on that stage, with those lights. During halftime, me and the others went and got merchandise from the stand. I got a jacket and a CD, both of which I still wear and use frequently.
On Tuesday, they had the talent night. I signed up to do emceeing, and all of the acts were amazing. Each color group had an act to do, as well as each country, and my group decided to have a mini band and have people dancing along to it. The band consisted of a few people– me, a boy from the UK named Evan, and a boy from Singapore named Kylan. We played three songs, and everyone seemed to love it. Some other notable acts were by Kylan, who did amazing magic, and a mini band who played Sweet Child O’ Mine. The U.S. group decided to play a little trick– we signed up to sing the American National Anthem, but midway through the opening notes, it transitioned into the opening song for Hamilton The Musical. Around the end of the talent night, the ISS director Chris called the people who played instruments back up, and they played the final song.
By the end of the week, however, we were absolutely exhausted. My favorite part looking back at all my notes is seeing how neat they were at the beginning of the two weeks, and how they turned into pointless scribbles by the end. Additionally, by the end of the week, I had added a new section: song lyrics and little notes in the back of the book. Occasionally, I would flip back and write whatever was going on in my head in order to focus on the lecture, and that helped me improve immensely.
The second to final night, they had the gala, where they gave us all awards and took our photos. Chris had hyped it up all week, saying there was a donut wall and a chocolate fountain. After the gala, they allowed us to walk around and speak to all the people who helped fund the ISS. I met a lot of amazing people and professors. Although the donut wall was a bit more like a donut board turned vertically, the chocolate fountain was amazing. We also were able to take a bunch of pictures and talk to past ISS students, which I think was amazing.
Finally, on the last night, they had the disco. We danced to music for the rest of the night and a couple people from talent night reprised their acts. We also watched the ISS 2025 video, where we saw a bunch of pictures from the past weeks and cried, and some people were also given extra awards from the staff members. At the end of it, my group got together for one last time and signed each other’s group photos that we took on the first day as well as some of the awards people got.
In conclusion, the ISS was a beautiful experience, and I managed to leave with a full notebook of notes as well as multiple photos, notes and many other things. I also was able to accomplish my goal– I had taught a total of seven people Egyptian Rat Slap (and convinced them it was Slap instead of Screw) by the end of the week, as well as make a bunch of overseas friends that I still text fairly frequently. I can’t wait to go back for the 2027 ISS gala as a past student and be able to see some of my friends again, and I’ll be sure to treasure this experience forever.
Written By Stellar Student Abigail Asinas