To start off I thought it might be a good idea to give people a brief overview of Where I'm headed, When I'll be there, and What I'll be doing while I'm there.
The Where
In the broadest sense I am headed for Eastern Australia. My main port of call so to speak will be Byron Bay. Byron Bay is located about 90mi or so south of Brisbane in Australian state of New South Wales. As my program is to focus on different environments however, I will be spending a large part of my semester traveling all over the east coast of Australia. My course mates and I are even supposed to make a short trip to Tasmania, the remote mountainous island off the southeastern shores of Australia. I am really looking forward to being in the outdoors (it'll be a nice break from the congested concrete jungle of New York City). I am also excited about skipping winter (The seasons are reversed in Australia as a result of its being in the Southern Hemisphere).
The When
This is the short part. My course is scheduled to begin on February 1st and end on May 15th. I am looking to spend some time on my own afterwards and make sure I make the most of my twenty-two hour flight and six month visa.
The What
This is perhaps the most....how to say it...creative part of my trip. The course I am attending is titled "Australia: Sustainability and Environmental Action." Sounds good right? The thing is, I am a Theology Major. Now before you start making too many jokes about my scholastic intentions let me explain. My interest in Theology has always had less to do with what I call the "celestial mechanics" of the faith and more to do with how religion is carried out on a day to day basis. I am intrigued by how religion can influence the way someone interacts with the people and place around them. In this way I have become interested in exploring the links between theology and ecology, how can one's spirituality inform their land ethic? As it turns out, this is actually a growing scholastic field of Theology called "Environmental Theology." Coincidentally one of the foremost Environmental Theologians is a Fordham professor, Sister Elizabeth Johnson. This has made it much easier for me to get the Theology Department's approval for my study abroad endeavors. It plays out something like this: two of the three seminars that make up my course will count as electives and the third (which is an independent study project) will involve my spending a month putting together a 20-40pg paper that will deal with the links between Theology and Ecology. Now, as I get further along in the research process my focus should narrow considerably.
In any event that is the Where, When, and What of my upcoming trip to Australia.
