It's the small things

Although it feels like I’ve only been here a week or two, today was my one month anniversary with Australia. Since Australia is a Western culture and is English speaking, it’s easy to feel as if I’m not far from home. If you don’t pay attention to the small things, it would be VERY possible to go home without any Australian culture, which is not something I wanted to do.  But there are a lot of small moments/things that make me feel not at home (in a good way, of course)

1)      McDonalds is literally always busy. If you think Americans love their McDonalds, think again. There isn’t a time of day that I can walk buy a McDonalds without there being line upon line upon line.

2)      No one is ever at work. I’ve actually come to believe that like only 5% of the population must work here. The streets are always busy and at any time of the day people can be seen casually getting a beer. On my way to class and on my way home from class (anywhere from 10am-6pm) most of the balconies/patios I walk past have at least one adult lounging around.

3)      Australians are probably as nice as they come. I mean that in all ways possible. They are extremely friendly and are genuinely interested in others and what they do. Any time I have a question on campus or need directions, I’m not afraid to ask a random stranger like I would be back home. No one looks at you stupid and they always are way more helpful than they need to be. They are also extremely NICE looking. Everyone, the men and women, are just beautiful. It’s actually not even fair.

4)      Sweatpants don’t exist. I haven’t seen a single student on campus in sweats/athletic shorts and I’ve seen only two girls in leggings. One was carrying a yoga mat, though, so she doesn’t even really count. I don’t know how they do it, but people ALWAYS look put together and fashionable.

5)      Speaking of put together and fashionable, it’s obvious I’m an exchange student because I wear a backpack. All the girls use their purses and a lot of the guys have satchels/over the shoulder man bags.

6)      It was like 68 degrees out yesterday and I went out in shorts and a tank top. I was sweating. Everyone else was walking around in jeans and sweaters. I even saw someone with a hat on. What?

7)      The kids at the grocery store crying because they want candy and chocolate aren’t even bratty. They are just so cute with those accents.

8)      I look right and then left before I cross the street and every single traffic light walk signal makes a noise when it changes.

9)      People walk extremely slow. Like, painfully slow. I think I could probably get to campus in 10 minutes if I wanted to, but it can take me up to 20 minutes because of everyone else walking. It makes sense that they walk so leisurely since everything is just so much more relaxed and chill here, but I swear everyone must have to leave like an hour early to get anywhere at the pace they walk!

10)   AND….I only go to class twice a week. And we get “snack breaks” during our 1hr 45 min lectures. And all lectures are recorded and put online (yes, I DO still go to class). And my campus looks like Hogwarts.