Australian in America

I’d like to think I’m a pretty good example of an Aussie. I lived 20 minutes away from the beach, I had a school uniform (though in senior years the teachers usually let our year get away with a cheeky bit of mufti – as long as we wore the shirt or jumper). I’ve been to Sydney and seen the bridge more times than I can count, often on day trips with school, and hand fed many kangaroos. I went on “maccas” (McDonald’s) runs while on my P’s (provisional license, the next stage up from a learners license), regularly went to a cute café with my best friend for breakfast, and quite often got swooped by magpies on my way to pick up lunch at my local fish and chips shop. I donned temporary tattoos of our flag each year for Australia Day, loved my Bunnings sausage sizzle and even now I probably say “mate” twice a day.

But when I heard I had a chance to live in the United States of America I was stoked – I’d always wanted to come here. I was on the bus to school when I got the call saying my father had gotten the posting to America and I squealed. On the bus. While it was full of students. Though I knew it was going to be difficult to leave Australia when right after we found out we were definitely moving, both of my older sisters announced their pregnancies. My mum and I stayed for five months after my dad moved so I could finish my last year of school, so luckily we did get time with both (gorgeous) babies. Since we moved over we’ve been using video chat to watch them grow and I’m so proud of both my sisters and my brothers-in-law because they are all amazing parents and are raising two gorgeous children – who I will get to see again soon!

So what are some of the differences between Australia and America? I think one of the pretty obvious things is driving on the right side of the road.  This doesn’t really impact me much because I haven’t been driving over here, but it did take me a couple of months to get past “WHO IS DRIVING THAT CA- oh right that’s not the driver’s seat” (whenever I saw someone driving with an empty passenger seat. Also I have to look both ways 10 times before and while crossing the road because I don’t even know what way the cars come from anymore. Which leads me to a road rule I find pretty weird. When a school bus stops, traffic on BOTH sides of the road have to stop a certain distance from the bus. In Australia a bus pulled over at a stop is an opportunity to finally overtake them. I fully understand the safety concerns for the children though – it’s just something I never even thought about.

One of the first days we were here we went to 5 Guys to get a burger and “fries”- as the Americans say – and I was super excited about the fact they serve an extra scoop of fries on top of the amount ordered. And the burgers are honestly so good compared to fast food burgers in Australia! However, I felt truly robbed when I realised they do not peel the potatoes before making fries. I was totally unprepared and even after almost a year here I will still rip off the ends of fries. I have seen a few places that have peeled fries, though I’m so used to taking the ends off it doesn’t really bother me anymore. Now for a little bit of a lesson on Australia – we call them hot chips, and they’re all peeled. The majority of the time hot chips are bought from a fish and chips shop with some chicken salt. You get bonus Aussie points if you try to eat hot chips near the beach and get them violently ripped from your hands by a swarm of sea gulls.

Something I really love here is the deli counter in Giant (an equivalent of Coles or Woolies back home). It does take a lot longer (like, a lot) to be served but they slice the meat up as you order it, and they ask if you’d like to try before you buy. This is how I got my first taste of turkey and I’ve loved it ever since! Once the person working accidentally made too many slices so gave me a handful of free turkey to eat while in the store. The rest of the supermarket is pretty similar to an Aussie until you look closely and realise all the brands and foods are different. And no offense America, but your confectionary aisle is pretty weak. Where are all the lollies? If any of you Americans go to Australia, walk up to the nearest supermarket, find the confectionary aisle and look at all the variety! And definitely grab some Caramello Koalas and whatever bag of Allen’s lollies you think looks yummiest.

I have also realised just how different the languages are. And I honestly didn’t expect much confusion when I moved over here, I just knew I’d have to say things like “ketchup” instead of “tomato sauce”. I mean both countries speak English right? I did an English course in the local college here and constantly got my work back with corrections on punctuation and spelling because I was writing the way I was raised. I did try to remove all “u”s from words like neighbour, but the one I kept slipping up on was putting a full stop outside a bracket or quotation mark (honestly it makes so much sense). And there have been many times where I’ve been heavily misunderstood even though I try my best to talk clearly, especially when ordering food. I also get a lot of excited people who complement my accent and ask “so you’re from (either England, New Zealand, or South Africa) right?” which is pretty entertaining.

There’s a load more random things that are different in America that I didn’t expect but I think I’ve written enough for now. If you have any feedback please comment below 🙂

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My Trip to Sydney

Last year I went on a trip to Sydney with some friends, 3 of us 17 years old and 2 of us 18. As we were splitting hotel cost between 5 people, we were able to afford a three bedroom hotel room at the Meriton Serviced Apartments World Tower for three nights for under $150 each. Although we couldn’t see the Sydney Harbour Bridge or Opera House, we were an 8 minute walk from Paddy’s Markets and an 8 minute walk from Darling Harbour.  We were on the 72nd floor so we had a pretty amazing view of the city. And let me just say leaving the curtains open and falling asleep to night time views of a city is amazing! We also had a supermarket near the base of the building, where we bought most our food so we didn’t need to go to any restaurants (unless you count KFC as a restaurant) which saved us each upwards of $30 for each day. Having a big breakfast is really helpful when trying to save money on food because you can usually get by on a snack during the day instead of spending money on lunch and dinner out.

Most of the trip was spent wandering between the hotel, Paddy’s and Darling Harbour. The first full day in Sydney one of my friends and I took a ferry around Darling Harbour that dropped us off at Luna Park, which is a MASSIVE recommendation by me. However, trying to pack lightly for the day became a little hard when I paid for the ferry ticket and received $12 change in coins (thank god I had a small zip-lock bag so it was easy for me to take the coins out of my pocket to go on rides!). The unlimited rides pass is amazing for anyone who’s a bit of a thrill seeker, but entry to the park is free for anyone who just wants to enjoy the fun atmosphere. Unfortunately, my two favourite rides (the Flying Saucer and Music Trip) were gone, but I faced my fears and rode the Hair Raiser! The views of the Sydney Harbour Bridge from 50 meters in the air were probably amazing, but I kept my eyes shut tight from about 20 meters up both times I rode.

On the way back to the hotel that night we walked by the Sydney Entertainment Centre where the YouTube FanFest red carpet was underway. For some reason unknown to us,  we were let into the restricted bleachers and were able to get to the front to see all our favourite YouTubers pass by (all my photos from this suck because I only had my phone as a camera and it couldn’t handle the low light). Later we realised we were let in because we were still wearing wristbands from Luna Park and the people with tickets were given wristbands for the bleachers, whoops.

Unfortunately there weren’t any big new movies playing in the Imax theatre while we were there, but we did find an arcade in the Harbourside Shopping Mall called Kingpin Bowling. We bought a pass that got us a game of bowling, a game of laser tag, and half an hour in the arcade. We started off with bowling while a group of little kids played their game of laser tag. I’m not sure if I’d call the bowling amazing or annoying because all the pins knocked themselves over as soon as they were placed on the lane (so amazing when it happened to me, annoying when my friends got the bonus points haha). After a few times we told the staff who were very helpful and moved us into a new lane. Laser tag was pretty intense as expected, alliances were formed, friendships were destroyed. All good fun.

My advice for young people wanting to spend a couple of nights in Sydney: as long as you have close friends who you trust to pay their share, the more the merrier. Being in the serviced apartment made the trip so much more enjoyable and it gives you the option of making your own meals in the kitchenette. Timing is also important, because year 12 graduates almost a week before the end of term we were able to during the last few days of school term and catch the hotel just before the holiday rates kicked in.Apart from those few highlights we really did just spend most the time wandering the streets and soaking up the Sydney views. Next time I holiday in Sydney though I think I might be a little more adventurous and do the bridge climb, which I’ve been wishing I could do for years but didn’t have the money for at that time. The only thing I really would have changed about that trip is take more photos! We all had our phones but for some reason we just barely opened the camera apps.

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Introduction

So let’s start with a little bit about me and where I come from. I was born and raised in New South Wales, Australia. For most my life I lived in a coastal town two hours south of Sydney, and I definitely consider it home. During my senior years of high school I was able to drive around with my friends to local spots which I will always love even though they aren’t spectacular or special. I love music. I’m a little bit of a mixed bag with genre though, there isn’t one particular kind of music I listen to, rather my mood decides what songs I want to hear. Ancient history always captivated me in school; learning about ancient societies and knowing the structures they built still stand today seemed almost unreal. I also love to draw, being the token “artist” in the family. But I think me being artistic is about more than putting graphite on paper. I also love to decorate cakes, I love taking photographs, I like making posters. And above all, I love to travel. I want to see the beauty man and nature have created in this world through my own eyes.

Where have I travelled so far in my life? My first international trip was a cruise around the pacific islands when I was 10. The second trip I went on was a few nights in Singapore and just over a week in Thailand, May 2011. Unfortunately, we don’t have many photos from the trips – I didn’t even bring a camera. (Because these trips were so long ago and the photos are limited I will not be posting full blogs on any of them). [UPDATE: I just remembered I kept a daily journal for Thailand that I could use to write a Thailand blog. And then I remembered I left it in storage in Australia and can’t get it back for three years. Haha whoops]. I really did enjoy living in the moment on these holidays. However, I don’t believe stopping to take photos affects the trip in any way, it just preserves the memories made. The lack of photos from the trips make them seem more distant than they are, and I really wish I had more photographs from them. Therefore, I do believe the Pacific Islands, Thailand and Singapore have made it back onto my bucket list. And now about how I got the opportunity to live in America for a while – having a navy parent really has its benefits. As soon as I graduated high school I hopped on a plane and moved right on over to the United States of America to my fathers new posting. From here I have so far visited eight states, (Maryland, Washington, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, New York, Alaska), and British Columbia, Canada.