Today we visited the Parliament House and the United States Embassy building. I had a little bit of a hassle getting through security into the Parliament House because of the small umbrella I had in my bag, but otherwise, everything else was smooth-sailing.
It was very interesting to learn about the Australian government versus the United States government. The two governments are very similar, as in they both have a House of Representatives and a Senate and similar manners of electing officials for their respective branches. However, they are also very different. The United States government is part of a democracy with a President. The Australian government is part of monarchy with a Queen and Parliament at equal share for the title. It’s interesting how the two are so similar yet so different at the same time.
One fact I learned about the Parliament house that was the most interesting fact I have ever personally heard was about the Senate room. First of all, in Australia, all exit signs must be green, like all must be red in the U.S. However, in the Senate room, because the room is decked out in shades of red, they allowed the Exit signs to be red just to match the rest of the room. How funny! Definitely made my day.
After the Parliament House visit, we traveled to the U.S. Embassy. Here, because security is so strict, we were not allowed to bring in much. We were forced to leave our cameras on the coach because taking pictures was forbidden, unless in special circumstances that did not apply to us. But what made this trip so interesting was not until later this evening when Charlie traversed to each of our rooms to tell us of the news of Osama bin Laden’s death which happened literally one hour after we left. I can only imagine what would have happened if we were still in the Embassy when it happened. Yikes!
Honestly, it may have been a tad boring at times, but learning of the government of where I will be living for a month was definitely beneficial. It will definitely help me at some point in the future unbeknownst to me now.
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