A couple weeks ago, Mike and I made the short trip to Canberra, Australia’s national capitol, for a Fulbright “enrichment” event. The trip was organized by the Fulbright commission to bring all the current American Fulbrighters in Australia together to meet and greet, plus answer any questions we have about the program.
My first impression of Canberra was that it seemed awfully remote for a capitol city. Though it is Australia’s largest inland city with a population of around 350,000, it is hard to find a place in town that feels particularly busy. Canberra was chosen as the site for the Australian capitol in 1908, as no compromise could be reached between Sydney and Melbourne’s claim for the capitol; consequently, the city is located midway between the two larger cities. (For more information on the city’s history, see Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canberra)
The first night we were there, the Fulbright commission hosted an informal dinner for the Fulbrights to get together and say hello. There are about 19 2009 scholars in total, plus a few 2008 scholars who are still working on their projects. The group was far more diverse career-wise than I was expecting. Our experience ranges from people who just graduated from college in June to the Senior Scholars, who are experienced professors at universities across the United States. I felt like a somewhat unique case, in that the vast majority of people there are currently enrolled in a Master’s or PhD program, or are just finishing up.
Anyway, the following day we had information sessions with the Fulbright staff in the morning, followed by a tour of Parliament in the afternoon, which family and friends could come to as well. We also got to view the day’s question and answer session, which was something else. It was essentially like watching the Presidential debates, only Congress gets to come and everyone gets to yell exactly what they think of each other.
That night, we had an award dinner at the Old Parliament House, which included Fulbright alumni and U.S. Embassy representatives as well. All in all, it was an enjoyable evening. Mike and I both got to talk to a lot of interesting people, a few of whom spent some time in Seattle as Fulbright scholars in the U.S. Pictures from the event are attached: http://www.flickr.com/photos/usembassycanberra/
The following day, we had further information sessions, followed by a trip to the National Museum of Australia, and, finally, afternoon tea at the U.S. Embassy. I have to say, being an ambassador (or working for one) sounds like a pretty sweet gig. You get to live in a really nice house and meet all kinds of interesting people. I’m sure there’s a downside, though it didn’t come up. The new ambassador to Australia, Jeff Bleich, was just nominated during our trip, so we got to meet the Charge d’Affaires, Dan Clune. Everyone seemed to be excited about the nominee, who apparently knows Obama fairly well.
Anyhow, it was a great trip all in all, though I doubt we’ll make another trip to Canberra anytime soon.
