Mellow Travels
An update indeed.
So here I am in Australia. I've moved in with Matt, Jessica, Maree, and Michael. All of whom are very decent people and are sufficiently bored with my Americanness and have accepted me as one of their own.
That doesn't stop us from making fun of each other's accents. And some of their slang/verbage is very different. For instance, Tic-Tac-Toe is called Naughts and Crosses. I learned that when Matt and I played a giant 3-d version of it at the Queensland state Museum.
I'm getting quite fond of the place. The first few days were awkward especially because I was doing so much so quickly. I moved into the house, got a cell phone, went grocery shopping, and toured the city within 3 days of getting to Australia from backpacking Fiji. I was overwhelmed to say the least. Because the culture here isn't that different, it isn't quite the magnitude of culture shock you'd expect from anywhere much different, but there is a residual value of it. They just do things a little different, sometimes backward. It's impossible to explain so many of the differences, but each trivial difference is a lot of fun in and of itself.
Today I went shopping with the house at Indooroopilly (pronounced IN-DOH-ROW-PILL-EEE) and they took me to the movies for free and then dragged me to a bunch of aussie mall shops and an arcade. I murdered Matt at air-hockey while the girls played DDR. MURDERED.
Yesterday, I went to the museum, as I said, with Matt and looked at Australian science and after to a pub for steak and beer. Aussie Matt is like a viking too, tall and decked with long hair and scraggly beard, but thicker, and could even probably drink Willie under the table (he's been in contests). His favorite joke: In the liquor store he asked the clerk what beer would an American like best and the clerk said "Mt. Franklin," which just happens to be a brand of bottled water here. HAR HAR.
Alcohol- I can buy it, drink it, swim in it, but can I afford it? 24 regular joe schmoe beers = $35 dollars. WTF, MATE?!!?
A bottle of Smirnoff = 36 bucks!
And they drink SO MUCH MORE THAN US. But, their beers are significantly stronger than ours (about 50% more alcohol and you can feel it, trust me). Matt makes fun of me. He can drink 18 beers and a bottle of vodka and be satisfied. I can be satisfied with 3-4 beers easily. The girls drank half a bottle of Vodka each and were tipsy. Jesus. I am in the land of giants.
School doesn't start til the 28th, so I've met very few Americans during my time here. I mostly just keep making Aussie friends. For the american I have met, they know barely any Aussies (so I'm counting my blessings).
As for the Anti-American sentiment, it's interesting. They see our TV, listen to our music, love our films, hate our government and feel cheated. So it's a complicated culture-clash. And they immediately assume I'm wrong when I try to defend the US for anything.
Apparently Australia invented everything we did, and we just took credit. I'm still looking into this.
Anyhow, I promise to write more personal updates later. Tell you how I'm feeling and such. I'll even write in a more witty style with funny quips and shit. Maybe not. I do this for you, not me. bitches. Love you.
So here I am in Australia. I've moved in with Matt, Jessica, Maree, and Michael. All of whom are very decent people and are sufficiently bored with my Americanness and have accepted me as one of their own.
That doesn't stop us from making fun of each other's accents. And some of their slang/verbage is very different. For instance, Tic-Tac-Toe is called Naughts and Crosses. I learned that when Matt and I played a giant 3-d version of it at the Queensland state Museum.
I'm getting quite fond of the place. The first few days were awkward especially because I was doing so much so quickly. I moved into the house, got a cell phone, went grocery shopping, and toured the city within 3 days of getting to Australia from backpacking Fiji. I was overwhelmed to say the least. Because the culture here isn't that different, it isn't quite the magnitude of culture shock you'd expect from anywhere much different, but there is a residual value of it. They just do things a little different, sometimes backward. It's impossible to explain so many of the differences, but each trivial difference is a lot of fun in and of itself.
Today I went shopping with the house at Indooroopilly (pronounced IN-DOH-ROW-PILL-EEE) and they took me to the movies for free and then dragged me to a bunch of aussie mall shops and an arcade. I murdered Matt at air-hockey while the girls played DDR. MURDERED.
Yesterday, I went to the museum, as I said, with Matt and looked at Australian science and after to a pub for steak and beer. Aussie Matt is like a viking too, tall and decked with long hair and scraggly beard, but thicker, and could even probably drink Willie under the table (he's been in contests). His favorite joke: In the liquor store he asked the clerk what beer would an American like best and the clerk said "Mt. Franklin," which just happens to be a brand of bottled water here. HAR HAR.
Alcohol- I can buy it, drink it, swim in it, but can I afford it? 24 regular joe schmoe beers = $35 dollars. WTF, MATE?!!?
A bottle of Smirnoff = 36 bucks!
And they drink SO MUCH MORE THAN US. But, their beers are significantly stronger than ours (about 50% more alcohol and you can feel it, trust me). Matt makes fun of me. He can drink 18 beers and a bottle of vodka and be satisfied. I can be satisfied with 3-4 beers easily. The girls drank half a bottle of Vodka each and were tipsy. Jesus. I am in the land of giants.
School doesn't start til the 28th, so I've met very few Americans during my time here. I mostly just keep making Aussie friends. For the american I have met, they know barely any Aussies (so I'm counting my blessings).
As for the Anti-American sentiment, it's interesting. They see our TV, listen to our music, love our films, hate our government and feel cheated. So it's a complicated culture-clash. And they immediately assume I'm wrong when I try to defend the US for anything.
Apparently Australia invented everything we did, and we just took credit. I'm still looking into this.
Anyhow, I promise to write more personal updates later. Tell you how I'm feeling and such. I'll even write in a more witty style with funny quips and shit. Maybe not. I do this for you, not me. bitches. Love you.