A day in the life of an Australian

Even after being in Australia for nearly three weeks, it sometimes can be hard to notice the cultural differences. After spending a day with an Australian family, seeing them interact with one another and how they speak, I have come to realize just how huge the cultural gap can be at times.

Though we speak the same language, there are so many different terms, places, and slag terms that I have yet to learn that made it easy to get lost in conversation. I found that a lot of places are named after people with unfamiliar and sometimes Aboriginal names so when asked about these places, I had to have them repeat the question and then, in some cases, have them go into more detail about the question they were asking. When it came to keeping up with them as they spoke amongst each other it was hopeless.

            Between their accents, how fast they spoke, and their slang, I was pretty lost. And honestly, I was pretty stunned. I never expected to find myself unable to communicate below 100 percent with Australians since we both speak English. After a day with an Australian family, it was easy to see that even though we did both speak English, it could easily be considered different dialects of English since we both had such a hard time understanding one another.

            We swam for a bit, gossiping with Georgia, one of the three kids, about her friends and asking causal questions about the culture of America compared to Australia. Georgia seemed to be the palest out of her family, encouraging sunscreen and not laying out. But her little sister spent a good amount of time on the porch sunbathing. Before coming to Australia I learned about the hole in the ozone layer above it, making the sun much more dangerous. Since I have arrived, I have kept a thick layer of at least 30 SPF at all times to reduce any damage from the sun.

            One of the main differences in speech I noticed was the different phrasing. A gas station back home is a ‘servo’ here. Being excited in Australian term is being ‘keen’. There is no A/C in regular houses, which didn’t bother me but I found interesting with how annoyed Georgia seemed to be considering she had gone without it the majority of her life. Her siblings and parents seemed to not mind it at all, and I figured that would be because Georgia was the only one to really live with A/C for a while in America.

             All in all, it was an awesome experience. The layout of an Australian house was more open than an American house and they had more fans and screens in the doors and windows to compensate for no A/C. Honestly, I prefer the Australian way of life. Less preservatives in the food, no A/C so it’s extremely environmentally friendly, and the hospitality reminded me a lot of home in the south; very open and welcoming.