AUSTRALIA IS AMAZING!!!
There is so much to say about this amazing country and the amazing city of Sydney! Even though this is extremely long it hardly captures everything about the experience. I tried to break it up into little sections that all deserve some description and get some good coverage of different areas of life in Oz!
Family life:
The Guida’s are awesome! First thing we noticed: people swear a lot more here. Love it! It is just less taboo and more casual. I suppose they have caught on that God’s mighty hand will not strike you down for uttering profanities. Loss of faith or freedom from superstition? Obvi answer there. Anyway, I like how they just accept that everyone swears and don’t make it into some big deal like Americans do. Jess (the 15-year-old) says, “Mum, the girls at school are just bitches.” Jeremy the 8-year-old is always making fun of my accent sounding “shitty American.” In the morning Jess was still watching TV in her pajamas and Simone (the mom) goes “Jess get your bloody ass off the couch and get ready!” Hahaha Jeremy and I argue about which country’s sports are cooler but secretly I am already a big Rugby and Cricket fan.
The family also appreciates some pretty crude humor—the whole family watches the Simpsons and South Park! Plus this HILARIOUS Australian show called Summer Heights High. When I go back to the states I am ordering the DVD! Simone is like an American soccer mom—super spunky and ready to drive the kids to soccer and tae kwon do and school. Daniel is a lot like my dad, he loves to play pranks on people. He told us to watch Wolf Creek before we go to the Outback…for the educational value, ha. He also went with us to watch the movie Bruno last week! HILARIOUS! We were all crying from laughing so hard. Also at the theatres here you can even buy a glass of wine or a bottle of beer to go with your popcorn! 
Relaxed Culture:
Australians love to joke around. Their style of humor has been called “taking the Mickey out of you.” They are always pulling your leg, especially foreigners. Our professor Bernie told us with a straight face that we really need to be careful of drop bears while we are here. When we asked what drop bears are he said, “Koalas. Because what most people don’t know is that they are terribly vicious and will drop right onto you from the trees to attack.” We all nodded in horrified understanding until he finally started laughing at us for taking him seriously.
School:HUGE campus! Over 30,000 students attend the University of Sydney. Such numbers and the sheer variety of people makes Rollins look like a little cult. Everyone calls it “Uni,” as the word college translates more to high school. I now realize why they looked at me weird when I talked about my “college” back in FL—thinking I must be a dumbass to still be in secondary school @ 20 years old.
I changed my class schedule so it now looks like this:
Australian History
Australian Physical Environment
The Flora and Fauna of Australia
Australia’s Economic and Political Systems
Australian Aboriginal Studies
Transportation:
I have now learned how to ride the public transport systems! We always take busses and trains to get around. We do a LOT of walking. My 7-minute walk “all the way” across the Rollins campus is practically a joke now. It is amazing how many people I see in a day just getting on and off the bus. I still haven’t decided if it’s enlightening or disappointing to start noticing so many nuances of the human race, haha.
Technology:This is definitely not America in terms of addiction to wireless devices. The only place I could find internet the first few days was McDonald’s…not exactly a cultural center for Australian dining. The cheapest phone was also 60 bucks with packages at the lowest of $60 for 120 days for local access only. Getting in touch with the U.S. is quite a pain in the ass but we are gradually finding efficient ways to communicate with friends and fam back home. I am actually starting to appreciate life after my phone was surgically removed from me. Australians seem to be more present compared to Americans walking around with their blue tooth still on their ear in the grocery store.
Pop Culture:
The newest show that is all the rave with the Aussies is called Masterchef (pronounced Mawstachef of course). Professional chefs compete in different cooking challenges and are then eliminated each week until one becomes Australia’s first ever Masterchef! We watched the finale last night and Julie won!!! Personally I was rooting for Poh but ah well, Julie’s dessert was just beautiful.
Food:The food here is amazing! Our host mom is an excellent cook and makes these big family dinners with pasta and chicken and real parmesan (not the pre-shredded kind, weird)! The first night of dinner I was all concerned about having proper manners and everything. It only took a few minutes to realize people are a lot more relaxed here. Jeremy was picking meat up with his hands straight from the center of the table and the parents had their elbows on the table. Everyone was just talking and enjoying the food—no stuffiness. Most excellent. We went out for Indian food a few nights ago. Yum! I also tried Thai and ordered Chicken Pad Thai—delicious! Plus lots of gelato shops and the bakeries make amazing treats. Even the McDonald’s ice cream is better here! There is a prominent Asian culture here in Sydney (very reminiscent of Seattle) so we will be trying out some Vietnamese and Chinese and Korean food, too! Tawny and I are chocoholics so we also LOVE Tim Tams with Nutella on top and this snack called Milo. It is a chocolatey malty powder you put on top of milk but it doesn’t dissolve! You eat it with the milk using a spoon! I will def bring some back home with me. I’m sure my lil brother and sister will have it devoured in a week.
Night Life:
Kings Cross! This is the Church Street (downtown Orlando club hotspot) of Sydney. Dancing, bars, adult shops, and even prostitutes—the whole nine yards of night life in the city! Techno music, however, has given me ADHD. I don’t know if I can handle just jumping up and down hours on end for any more weekends. When we did try to dance “American” I think we rather scared the Australian boys…or excited them too much to handle at a dance club…maybe we will stick to jumping around…
An Australian bartender got my number and actually texted me later THAT night! What?! The American rule of men not contacting a woman until at least 3 days later is moot here. Instead when there is interest they just show it. Honest, up-front courting? I don’t think I even know what that is.
Go Sydney for being pretty chill with the LGBT community, too. We live next to Newtown and they are extremely gay-friendly, almost all the shops have rainbow stickers in the window. Next weekend we are all going to a drag show!
Alcohol:
Of course a 20-year-old young lady is going to have a good time in Australia where the legal drinking age is 18. The culture around drinking here is soooooooooooo much better than America. I am definitely not in the binge-drinking capitol of the world (basically any college campus in the whole of America save Utah where the Mormons are too righteous to consume at all). It is illegal to serve anyone if you can tell they are intoxicated (which if that is a law in America it is about as efficient as the laws against jay-walking). They take drinking safety more seriously here, you go out to enjoy a few drinks and a buzz with friends while talking, eating, dancing, or watching sports. I’m not a beer fan but Australians sure do love their beer! A middy is a small cup of beer and a stubby is a can of beer. I think a pint is called a schooner? We took a fake test in one of my classes and this was one of the questions:
Which option describes your ideal summer afternoon:
a. drinking beer at a mate’s place
b. drinking beer at the beach
c. drinking beer watching cricket/footy (Aussie rules football)
d. drinking beer at a mate’s place while watching the cricket game before going to the beach
The Aussies informed me that the answer is most definitely D.
Beaches:We have been to Bondi, Bronte, Avalon, Manly, and some other beaches that are just gorgeous! I love how the hills ascend up from the bays and the houses are all dotted along it with incredible views of the water. Kids also make angels in the sand. I tried to explain we call them snow angels and do it in the snow but Terina just shook her head and said “No, no you do them in the sand.” haha
American:
We have gotten many different responses from people about being American. When we are lost the fact that we are American is apparently an excellent excuse for ignorance. Conversely, when we are out at night we have been hailed as superheroes—in a bar they cheered for us: “enforcers of democracy and the free world! Cheers!” Cheers, indeed!
Shopping:
The malls are built upward. The one closest to us average and it is 4 or 5 stories up. The escalators aren’t steps, they are ramps so you can push your shopping cart up it—or ride your bike on it if you are as inclined as the man today was! Tawny and I went to the used store the other day to get some stuff for the Outback trip (the red dirt stains everything!). I also got some new books to keep me entertained—Deception Point by Dan Brown (love him!) and Dangerous Consequences by Pamela Rochford (what the Aussies call a “bodice ripper,” let’s just say I haven’t waited for the Outback trip to start reading that one!).
Politics:The politics of Australia is obviously way cooler than my own country. I had to actually ask someone before I was told that the Prime Minister’s name is actually Kevin Rudd. This whole time I was under the impression K-Rudd was some weird aboriginal name or something like Kayrud when in actuality it is a nickname with the such modern hipness that resonates of Britney Spears’ ex K-Fed. It’s too bad B-Obama just doesn’t have as cool a ring to it as K-Rudd. Point, Australia.
Lingo:
Ranga=redhead—because they look like an Orangutang bahaha
FOBs=Fresh Off the Boat (Pacific Islanders)
Have a top day!=morning saying as we leave the house
Have a good sleep!=saying before going to bed
Thong=flip-flops (knowing this would have come in handy much sooner!)
Sights:
Opera House!We also went to the botanical gardens across the bay!
And today went to the Museum of Sydney for our History class and got to watch videos of the construction of the Harbour Bridge!
Well, that’s it for now. Tomorrow morning we fly out to the Northern Territory for 5 days of camping in the Outback! Uluru and kangaroos here we come!
E-mail or comment me if you want to hear more about something or have any requests for me to check out an area and report back on it!
It’s still unbelievable I am really here! I am having “heaps” of fun taking this experience all in! It’s breathtaking to wake up each morning with the sun shining through my window and realize again that I am waking up in a suburb of Sydney, Australia clear across the world. :)
