Fremantle Prison Tour

Hello!

These are pictures from the Fremantle Prison Tour that we took last Thursday. It was a "Torchlight Tour" so everything was in the dark, and all we got were little flashlights! The Fremantle Prison is the largest convict built structure in Western Australia and is the most intact convict establishment in the entire country (Thanks to my brochure) The prison was decommissioned in 1991 but was used as a place for incarceration and brutal punishment for 140 years.. The place was CREEPY! The cells were so small.. my camera flash made it look like it was nice and bright in there, but it was so dark you would run into people! The tour guides had little pranks all throughout the tour to try to scare you..they would jump out of cells or things would fall from the ceiling.. The picture with the hanging rope is where over 150 men were put to death.. and ONE woman for poisoning her step-children! The photo with the large wooden beams is where convicts would be beaten with a paddle and then salt would be poured all over their wounds. EEK! The photo with BLOOD on the wall made everyone jump... it was all over and we really hope it was just put there to scare us, but our tour guide informed us that it was real! In cells you could also see fingernail scratches all over the walls like they wanted to get out... Ah! The tour lasted about an hour and a half and I think we were all happy to be done with it! Our cleaning lady informed us that her husband stayed there for TEN YEARS for stealing his moms car...

The last two pictures are on Cottesloe Beach. Bob, Jake, Martha and I went there for a couple hours and just relaxed! This is the beach where Heath Ledger's ashes were put into the ocean because it was his favorite beach in Australia...

School has been extremely stressful so far. The first couple of weeks have seemed like finals week back home! I have so many big projects or papers due, and it is so hard to concentrate!

Film Class- Next week we have a 30 second montage that is due. You can choose any word and somehow show it in 30 seconds with a song in the background. You have to use different camera angles and edit your video... I have already shot the video with the help of my friend Jake who was my actor. I had to rent out a camera and a tripod and basically taught myself and pretended like I knew what I was doing... Now in class we are learning how to use Final Cut Pro to edit film. It is so confusing but it is nice because we use Macs..the australian students in my class have never used one before so they are still stuck on figuring out the computer! We also look at films and analyze the different lighting, angles, sounds they used. I am not sure about the professor (in australia, they are called Lecturers) She really doesn't know what she is doing and I think she is just a fill-in. We keep asking her questions about the cameras or various things, and she has NO idea. She has to ask our teacher's aid who just graduated from Notre Dame. She is kind of like.. well here is a camera.. oh and you have to edit it too.. okay go do it! Its due next week! Bye! Everyone is very frustrated in my class....

Print Media- Next week we have an article due where we have to interview a professional journalist. I interviewed Kelly Smith, who was the Editor in Chief of the Record when I started writing my freshman year. She now is a reporter for a newspaper in Fargo, ND. This article is 30 percent of my grade! This is how school here works... in each class you basically have about 3-4 HUGE assignments that make up your entire grade. So if you do bad on one thing, you are in trouble! So I will have to write that article soon!

Senior Seminar- we have already had one paper due, and another 4 page paper due on thursday. Along with that, each week we have to read around 200 pages in the novel, Dirt Music, and more pages in an ethics book. Most of the papers are on tours that we go on, so they aren't that bad!

Theology- YIKES. This class is way over my head. The lecture each week is three hours long and its just hard! Our first oral exam is the end of september and that is the first thing we are graded on. We just walk in, he gives us one question, and we have to answer it the best we can. Ah!

Australian History- I LOVE this class. It is so interesting what we learn! We have a 3000 word research paper due in a week.. where you have to have 5 books, 3 journals and other sources as well.. I definitely need to take a trip to the library sometime soon.

I was feeling ambitious and took a run on the coast- (this only lasted two days) it was sooo beautiful. I just took my ipod and there is a path that goes right along the ocean for miles...  I will have to do it again soon because it totally clears my mind and helps me remember why I am here!

In about a week we will be taking a "Field Trip" to Caversham Wildlife Park, where we get to feed Kangaroos and hold wombats! We also are going to a famous chocolate factory with free samples.. this should be good!

LOVE

abbie