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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 18, 1987)
HOUSTON • DALLAS • FORT WORTH • AUSTIN • SAN ANTONIO • CORPUS CHRISTI • BRYAN/COLLEGE STATION • TYLER • OKLAHOMA CITY • TULSA • TUCSON • ALBUQUERQUE CALVIN'S "DAY TRIPPER" SENDS HIM OFF IN STYLE Men who wear the Calvin Klein fragrance are privy to a world of distinctive style. And they know quality when they see it. That's why the "Day Tripper" duffle bag is perfect for today's man-in vogue and on the move. This signature bag is yours for just 18.50 with any 16.00 Calvin fragrance purchase. It's a roomy duffle, yet compact enough to fit in the overhead compartment. Ad justable shoulder strap and snap-shut handles. For your purchase, may we sug gest 3.3 oz. Calvin Klein cologne splash, 32.00; 4 oz. after shave balm, 24.00. Lion's Head, dept. 121/133. FOLEY T S ...OF COURSE y Lydia Berzsenyi, a junior * math major and At Ease assistant editorfor the fall semester, wrote this week’s stories about her recent one-month Australian vacation. r ravel agencies make an extra effort to advertise trip packages and vacation ideas at certain times during the year, especially directly before Christmas, Spring Break and the beginning of summer vacation. This year, I took the advice to “get away from it all” in a place I’d always dreamed of. But instead of going to one of the touristy hangouts like Mexico or Florida, I decided to really get away to a place which would take days to get to, where I would not dream of running into someone from Texas and where I could forget the horrors of school completely, at least for a while. So I bought a ticket on a plane bound for Sydney, Australia. It was a place I had fantasized about for years, and I saved my money for the trip for almost as many years. My last final exam finished at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, May 13, which left me approximately three hours to finish packing and moving out of my dorm room. My time was Ilimited because my plane was leaving Houston | Intercontinental Airport at 5 p.m. that evening and I still had several things to do. I was pushing it. But at long last, I found myself sitting in the plane bound for Los Angeles, ready to begin my journey to the land down under. Quickly, I tried to remember all of the instructions I had | been given by my friends and family members. But my || thoughts became jumbled, so I put everything out of my mind and went to sleep, thinking that if I slept enough I wouldn’t notice the time changes. Boy, was I wrong. Actual flying time was only 20 hours, but by adding the layovers in Los Angeles and Tahiti, the total traveling time was upped to almost 24 hours. The problem came with a little technicality called the international date line, which 1 crossed both coming and going. Because of the date line, I left the United States on Wednesday but got to Australia on Friday. On the way back to the States, I got the day back, which means I left Australia at 11:30 a.m. Sunday and arrived in Los Angeles at 10:30 a.m. on the same day. This time difference is the cause of some amusing stories, like the woman living in the States who found out on Tuesday that her granddaughter was bom in Australia on Wednesday, the next day. uring my stay in Australia, I discovered that innumerable differences exist between the two countries in every area of life. The school systems, the wildlife habitation, the driving habits and the dressing styles all differ from their American counterparts. Even the weather is different in Australia, which makes packing a bit difficult. While people were laying out in the sun in Texas enjoying the early heat of summer, I was inside packing sweaters and long pants, since summer months in America are winter months in Australia and vice versa. Being in the Southern Hemisphere, it gets colder as one travels south and warmer when one travels north. Furthermore, the water circles down the drain opposite the direction it does in America. Thus confused, I actually believed one jokester when he told me that in Australia, the sun rises in the west and sets in the east. (Don’t kid yourself— even Australia isn’t that turned around.) Turned around seems to be a common denominator in Australia with relation to America, including the driving. As opposed to American style, the steering wheel is on the right side of the car, but the car is on the left side of the road. This presents many complications to the visiting American, who is used to a slightly different order of things. It’s very bothersome to see a car zoom by with what appears to be an empty driver’s seat. Only a second glance assures one that the driver is just sitting on the wrong, rather the right, side of the car. Turning signals present another problem. Americans are accustomed to finding the turn signal bar on the left side of the steering column, or on the side closest to the driver’s door. Australian cars also feature the turn signal bar on the side closest to the driver’s door, but this puts it on the right side of the steering column. This technicality causes one to turn on the windscreen (the Australian equivalent of windshield) wipers every time he tries to turn left. Turning doesn’t provide nearly as much excitement as does going the speed limit. It is nerve racking to see speed limit signs saying 100 or 110 on the side of the road. Even though speed is measured in kilometers per hour instead of miles per hour, so that 100 to 110 kilometers per hour is really only 63 to 69 miles per hour, the speed limit still seems awfully fast. However, some aspects of driving in Australia are the same as in America, like the unfortunate tell-tale consequences of some careless drivers, namely the animal carcasses on the side of the road. The only difference from the American fatalities is the victim. Despite the signs proclaiming “Kangaroo crossing next 30 km”, “Wombat crossing next 9 km” and “Koala crossing next 16 km, ” the creatures are still slain daily by traveling vehicles, which sometimes suffer almost as great damage as do the animals. But there is still plenty of wildlife to be seen in the forests, the trees, the mountains, the sky and the nature preserves. Parrots and cockatoos travel in flocks of hundreds, and mobs of kangaroos rest peacefully alongside the sheep and the cattle. Koala bears are a little harder to find in the wild, but if one looks in the trees by the roadside, they can also be seen. ift^lthough the differences between America and Australia are uncountable, some things never change. The Australian people are extremely friendly, always anxious to lend a helping hand or to share a beer with a friend. People still escape to the beaches and the.mountains, although in Australia the two are often only a few miles apart. Most importantly, Australia is a land of national pride. It leaves a lasting impression on all who visit, and extends an open invitation to return, which many visitors do. This is one tourist who definitely plans on returning. Until the day when I again make that trip down under, G’day Mates! Down Under stories and photos by Lydia Berzsenyi