When moving to a new country, and in this case, an entirely new continent, it is expected that there will be things that will surprise you or that you might experience culture shock. Prior to coming to Australia, I expected to experience some culture shock, and I was not mistaken about my expectation. With that being said, it is not like it was difficult to adapt to Australian culture, especially because it is very similar to the United States in many ways. Below I will discuss four things that I was not expecting, not all of which are cultural shocks. It is important just to remember not to overgeneralize the information I am talking about and to keep in mind that this is simply my experience and things could be very different for others.
Language
In Australia, people speak English and the accent is very different from any American accent. I would not say that I found it difficult to understand people here, but in the first few weeks when people were speaking very quickly I sometimes had to ask them to slow down so I could understand everything. However, the main difficulty I had was getting used to the new slang and words used here. When a friend texted me “Meet me by Macca’s” I was very confused and had to Google what Macca’s was. After browsing for a few minutes and texting her to confirm, I figured out that Macca’s was McDonald’s. Another fast food chain here that surprised me with its name was Burger King, which is called Hungry Jacks here. Do not ask me why, but that is what the popular chain is known as in Australia. Another word that tripped me up at first was “thongs.” As someone asked me if I had my “thongs,” I looked at them weirdly with confusion going through my head. In reality, it was a very innocent question, and they just wanted to know if I had my flip-flops with me.
When I arrived in Melbourne, I used to pronounce the name of the city as most Americans would: Mel-burn. This was until I heard a person from the U.S. pronouncing it Mel-bin. I made a little bit of fun of them, claiming that they were already trying to have an Australian accent after being here for just two weeks. It turns out that it was me that they should have been making fun of. After asking numerous people, both locals and internationals, I came to the conclusion that my friend was correct in the way that they pronounced Melbourne, and that Australians will respect you more if you pronounce it Mel-bin, the “bin” is pronounced just like a trash bin. These are only some of the examples of words and pronunciations that surprised me, and it has been truly fun to learn this. Another thing that I always keep in mind is not to abbreviate a lot of words when I am texting, because people often have different ways of shortening words in text messages and the meaning can be lost with these abbreviations.
Relaxed Classrooms
As I previously mentioned in one of my posts, it really surprised me how casual the communication between professors and students is around here. Most lecturers and tutors want to be called by their first name and do not even want to be referred to as professors. Additionally, many of the instructors I have are pretty funny and like to make jokes during class, although I do not always get the jokes due to cultural differences. In terms of course work, I was surprised by how many classes require students to write discussion board posts. Moreover, when it comes to essays and written assignments, it was funny to me to see how statements are given and you have to pick one to agree or disagree with. Instead of selecting a topic and developing your own thesis and argument around it, I was told that I am supposed to use the statement provided as my thesis. Lastly, it shocked me how casually students walk in and out of class. Many people walk in late to lectures and walk out early. There is no break period between the classes, so if you need to walk far for your next class, you might leave the lecture a few minutes early to make it to the next one, even if the instructor is not done speaking. With that being said, many lecturers tend to start class five minutes late and end it five minutes early.
Sports
Sports are a big deal in the United States, and it is no different in Australia. Although many North American sports are popular here as well, there are sports such as Australian Rules Football, known as footy, that are not well known in the U.S. Footy is a big part of the culture here. The AFL, Australian Football League, is constantly mentioned and sadly I have yet to go watch a game. Once on a night out I even met one of the famous players, but shamefully did not know who he was. While I had heard about footy before, there is another sport that I had no idea about prior to coming to Melbourne: netball. When one of my flatmates told me she was going to netball practice I shot her a confused look and had to ask what it was. It turns out that many people also do not know about it, and I think it is popular here and in England. The best way I have been able to understand the sport is by thinking about it as a mixture of basketball and ultimate frisbee, even if these two sports do not seem like they would go together. I often feel lost when sports are mentioned here, but I hope to go watch some matches to familiarize myself more with that part of Australian culture.
Cafes and Restaurants
As I have mentioned in previous posts, the food in Melbourne is amazing. Here they are known for the quality of their coffee which I sadly cannot attest to because I do not drink coffee. I do know that there is a culture of bringing your own reusable cup when purchasing a drink, and many shops actually give you a discount if you bring your own. One thing that is truly different here is how early cafes and restaurants close. Most coffee shops close at around four in the afternoon, and it is common for restaurants to close at around nine or ten at night. With that being said, there are always other food places open late so you will never go hungry but I cannot go to a cafe in the afternoon to do work because before I know it, they will be closing already.
These are only some of the things that seemed different to me compared to the U.S. and Boston. I find it super fun to explore the differences and similarities between the two countries and look forward to next week when I will be talking about even more things that came to my attention since moving to Mel-bin.
