Australia Blog – Part 1
I just arrived in Adelaide on Sunday, and it's felt like a whole new world out here. Right out of the airport gate, I was surprised to discover Angela (Patrick's mom) and Julia Chukwani (the exchange coordinator) waiting for me. They didn't have to wait outside of the airport: in Australia, anyone can come straight up to the gate! When I left the airport, I made my next blunder: getting into the right side of the car, until I realized that there was a steering wheel in front of me. Then, of course, was the adjustment period for driving on the left side of the road rather than the right. Although this was not my first time in a country that drives on the left, (e.g. England, India), it was still something I was not readily used to. I also needed to acclimate myself to the sudden change in season, and consequently the weather. Instead of the sun setting at almost 9pm, it set at just after 5, and the weather was cold and rainy (very different from the burning Australia weather I had imagined). But at the same time, it was nice to be away from the burning California sun, or even worse, their own summer weather, which apparently goes up to 110˚ (or 45˚ C, another of the units which I was not used to).
The next day was Monday, my first day at school. After experiencing Athenian's non-existent dress code for the last two years, I found the school's formal uniform very strange (and uncomfortable). I had to wear a formal shirt, sweater, blazer, and a tie! (I didn't know how to tie a tie, but I do now!) We had to spend the entire day in dress shoes, which was not the most comfortable.
The first students I met from Westminster were on the train to school. Learning names was made infinitely harder when everyone was in the exact same clothes, and when I met everyone at the same time in a large crowd, so it took me a little while to get the names down (and there are still a large portion of which I have not learned yet).
I will be the only exchange student at Westminster throughout my stay, which is quite different from the experiences of the Athenian exchanges, who usually bond quite closely together. In a way it is a good: rather than staying in the bubble of other exchanges, I am forced to go out and completely immerse myself in the Australian culture.
The number of American stereotypes I would proceed to hear after meeting students for the first time was mind blowing. The first thing that everyone would ask me after Patrick introduced me as "his American" was whether I owned a gun or liked Donald Trump (often before my name), and they were very disappointed to discover that I did neither of those things. Their image of America represented that of the Deep South, and less so of California, though someone did think that Detroit was in the South. Fascinatingly, they were much more well-versed in American politics than their own: they were aware of the Mueller report and Russia investigation, but couldn't name their own prime minister that had been elected in a surprise victory not five days before. Additionally, they had never heard of the only little piece of history I knew about Australia: The Emu War (a military extermination operation they lost to the emus in 1932).
The amount of slang they used right from the beginning was very disorienting. It seems as though Australians are so lazy that they shorten every word to its first syllable and add "o" or "ie" to the end.
Here's a little Australian slang dictionary:
Servo: Gas Station
Arvo: Afternoon
S'Arvo: This afternoon
Barbie: Barbecue
Choccy Milk: Chocolate milk
Bottle-o: Liquor store
Macca's: McDonald's (This is the official name now!)
Thongs: Flip-flops
The next day was Monday, my first day at school. After experiencing Athenian's non-existent dress code for the last two years, I found the school's formal uniform very strange (and uncomfortable). I had to wear a formal shirt, sweater, blazer, and a tie! (I didn't know how to tie a tie, but I do now!) We had to spend the entire day in dress shoes, which was not the most comfortable.The first students I met from Westminster were on the train to school. Learning names was made infinitely harder when everyone was in the exact same clothes, and when I met everyone at the same time in a large crowd, so it took me a little while to get the names down (and there are still a large portion of which I have not learned yet).
I will be the only exchange student at Westminster throughout my stay, which is quite different from the experiences of the Athenian exchanges, who usually bond quite closely together. In a way it is a good: rather than staying in the bubble of other exchanges, I am forced to go out and completely immerse myself in the Australian culture.
The number of American stereotypes I would proceed to hear after meeting students for the first time was mind blowing. The first thing that everyone would ask me after Patrick introduced me as "his American" was whether I owned a gun or liked Donald Trump (often before my name), and they were very disappointed to discover that I did neither of those things. Their image of America represented that of the Deep South, and less so of California, though someone did think that Detroit was in the South. Fascinatingly, they were much more well-versed in American politics than their own: they were aware of the Mueller report and Russia investigation, but couldn't name their own prime minister that had been elected in a surprise victory not five days before. Additionally, they had never heard of the only little piece of history I knew about Australia: The Emu War (a military extermination operation they lost to the emus in 1932).
The amount of slang they used right from the beginning was very disorienting. It seems as though Australians are so lazy that they shorten every word to its first syllable and add "o" or "ie" to the end.
Here's a little Australian slang dictionary:
Servo: Gas Station
Arvo: Afternoon
S'Arvo: This afternoon
Barbie: Barbecue
Choccy Milk: Chocolate milk
Bottle-o: Liquor store
Macca's: McDonald's (This is the official name now!)
Thongs: Flip-flops
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