Culture Shock

Surfers Paradise

The first stage of culture shock is sort of a honeymoon stage where you love everything about the country, complete euphoria. Then comes the shock part of it and homesickness. I definitely went through the honeymoon stage and definitely had a day of the shock part. There was one day where I just hated everything; the expensive prices, the not so good food/lack of food, the obnoxiously loud birds, the dirtiness of our apartment, the cold showers, and the fact that we hadn't even stepped off campus yet and explored. I was getting extremely antsy and irritated.

While these things are still annoying, it has also settled in how completely beautiful this country is and how nice the people are. We finally stepped out of our little bubble and went to the beach and it instantly made me feel so much better. The water was so clear and blue and the city was so much fun to walk around. I can't wait to get out and explore some more.

For now, here are some fun differences I've noticed:

My Kangaroo friends

• They use very proper phrases on their signs. In America a sign would just say "no smoking", in Australia it says "smoking doesn't belong here"
• Their cigarette packages have pictures of mouth cancer and people who have died from smoking on them. This would never happen in America. But surprisingly it does not deter the Aussies from buying cigarettes. 
• A bed comforter is a "doona"
• School is "uni"
• "Hey" is "what?"
• They don't understand our sarcasm at all...say something with a serious face that you are joking about and they will give you a weird look.
• They think it's gross that we snack so much...it's not my fault I can finish an entire normal sized bag of popcorn by myself..
• They don't eat cereal either
• The yolks of their eggs are orange instead of yellow because they don't feed their chickens chemicals like we do
• When they try to do our American accents, they sound like their from California: "fer sure man"