If you’re one of my American friends, I hope you’re excited to see all the things that make the US the best (too much patriotism? Nah, never). But first, you have to get through the things that Australia does better, and it may make you realize that the US really isn’t ahead of the game all the time.
If you’re Australian, or from anywhere else, I hope you enjoy the somewhat surprising but mostly goofy comparisons I’ve come up with between two of the best countries on the planet.
[Larissa, a student blogger on exchange at UQ from Germany, just wrote a similar post about encountering things she didn’t expect Australia, and I definitely got a chuckle out of it! Check the UQ Student Blog page for more interesting posts!]
Now on to the battle between Straya and the good ole USA.
(Click the pictures for some entertaining tidbits, especially if you’re planning to come on exchange in Brisbane!)
PART ONE:
Things Australians do better than Americans:
1. TIM TAMS
1. TIM TAMS
You may be asking yourself, What the heck does Tim Tam mean, and why do I keep seeing it on the social media pages of everyone who studies abroad in Australia? To me, a Tim Tam is not quite a cookie, but not quite a candy bar either. The closest thing America has to these scrumptious chocolate-covered snacks are probably Kit Kats, but I’ve come to realize that crunching on a Tim Tam is way better than breaking off a piece of that Kit Kat bar. There’s even a creative way to enjoy Tim Tams called Tim Tam Slamming which is simply biting off either end of the Tim Tam stick and using it as a straw (I haven’t actually tried it yet but apparently milk, hot chocolate and iced coffee are the best pairings)
One thing Australia will never do right, however, is OREOS. I haven’t seen a single package of Double Stuf Oreos, and you can imagine how hard I’ve been searching. The flimsy cookies here are not very suitable for my ritual of dipping them in peanut butter, but I’ll manage.
In the end, they’re just another chocolate cookie thing, but to me, they’re essential in Australia.
2. HEALTHY FOOD
In contrast to the chocolate I just raved about, I might as well tell you about some food options that are actually good for you, instead of just the ones that taste really good.
While Americans do have plenty of healthy food options, I think Australia does it just a little bit better. As much as I LOVE the Soda City Market in Columbia or restaurants that have health-conscious food options, there are so many more produce market options here throughout the week. I can get fruits and veggies for at least the whole week for less than $15! Although I do miss eating meals that my parents make at home or that the amazing chefs at Gamma Phi cook for us, living on my own has actually made me a somewhat decent cook (according to myself), and has made me appreciate vegetables more, which I’d qualify as a big step for me.
The healthiest thing about Australian food took me awhile to adjust to, and that is the portion size. Plain and simple, most countries serve small/normal portion sizes; Americans serve large/huge portions. Only after living in Brisbane for a couple of weeks did I truly realize how ridiculous we are with our meal sizes (& I learned why my stomach had been growling so much.) It sounds tough to an American, but you really do get used to it and grow to appreciate it here.
Image of Davies Park Market from Trover.com
3. GAP YEARS / TRAVEL
Australians (and Europeans, and most non-Americans, from my observations) are MUCH more well-traveled than Americans. Now don’t freak out if this is completely inaccurate to you because it’s just a big generalization, but I’ve found it to be true most of the time. From talking to international friends, I always knew that taking time off school or work to travel was common in Australian culture, but it didn’t really hit me until I got to know my housemates better and asked them about their travels.
I thought seeing parts of the North Island of New Zealand and then hopping over to Brisbane for a whole semester was a huge leap in regards to traveling- and it is!- but that’s nothing compared to where lots of Australians and Europeans have been. It’s all relative. I don’t think people who travel are better than those who don’t. It just seems like they have a different outlook on certain parts of life.
I love hearing about all the cool places my friends have been, and their stories motivate me to keep making plans to see more countries, even if it’s not for a long time. Time and money are definitely two big obstacles, but you can work them in your favor too! Backpacker culture is an interesting concept, and I think my generation is very lucky it’s become so prominent.
I’m SO grateful for the fantastic education system I’ve grown up with in America, but part of me wishes that gap years were more common. I think most of us know at least one or two people who took a year off to work or to attend community college before going to university and spending more money on their degree, but this is not even close to what Europeans, New Zealanders and Aussies experience, with most of them and their friends taking at least 6 months off after high school to work and travel. I would love to see how some of the dynamics of higher education, as well as students’ social awareness and their attitude about education change if our society was more accepting and encouraging of students taking gap years.
Photo by Jordan Condon from a day sailing trip at Wellington Point. Just get on my level and accept this boat sailing off into the ocean as a metaphor for travel and exploration.
4. DANCING
This one’s an interesting one and one of my favorites. At bars or clubs in Australia, let’s just say people dance differently than they do in America. They’re not as pushy, and the guys don’t worry about trying to get a girl to dance with them or vice versa. We all just dance. However we want to. This is SO much fun because we’re just all having a great time together and dancing how we want to dance. Sidenote: there are also bars where you can take a break from the dance floor and just sit outside and enjoy the night. Plenty of options for everyone.
Click for some fun info about night life in Brisbane!
5. DRESSING NICE
This one may be something Australians do better than Americans, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I enjoy it. People in Australia and New Zealand (including LOTS of exchange students from South America, Asia and Europe) all dress much nicer than an American would on a typical day. For example if I’m sitting in my apartment and I want to walk over to the café to grab lunch, I generally would wear a tshirt and running shorts or cropped leggings and an athletic tank top or sorority tank. MAYBE denim shorts and a somewhat nice top if I’m REALLY feeling put-together that day. Here, that last outfit I mentioned is pretty much the minimum all the time. The only way you really get away with wearing more casual clothes is if you’re going to the gym, but boys would never wear a tshirt to a bar. In fact, they can’t even get in to most places if they aren’t wearing long pants and “proper shoes.” Girls will usually wear dressy shorts or a skirt with a nice top (although some people are a bit too fancy for me), or a dress somewhere between a sundress and a cocktail dress. And we have to wear appropriate shoes as well. No flip flops allowed, my friends. However one of my favorite twists to this rule is that most of us just wear tennis shoes or keds/converse instead of the crazy heels that a lot of girls like to wear.
6. SIMPLE LIVING
One thing that’s usually good (& only occasionally annoying) about Australia is that people generally live more simply- old fashioned than we do in the USA. At first I wondered why we have and use a lot of extra things in America than they do in NZ and Aus, but then I quickly realized how refreshing it is that most people just don’t care very much about material things. Hardly any refrigerators have ice makers or automatic water dispensers, having the latest electronics and fancy things just isn’t as big of a deal. Dryer sheets don’t even exist here.. Oddly enough, they’re more environmentally progressive than we are in a lot of ways. EVERY outlet has an on/off switch to cut the power when you’re not using it, every toilet has two flush options in order to conserve water, and most cafes and restaurants (even boat tours) use glass/reusable cups much more than they use paper ones. The only annoyances I’ve noticed in regards to simple living are 1) we rarely have ice in our water glasses/water bottles, and if we do, it melts right away anyway and 2) outlets are much harder to come by on campus or in restaurants and cafes than they are in the US. I don’t know how factual this actually is, but it seems to my friends and I that outlets are much more scarce in Australia than in America. However, these things are easy to get over when you weigh the cons against the pros of how amazing Australia is.
Clothesline at our share house.
7. SAFETY
Any students who want to visit America, don’t freak out about this one, it’s just a simple fact. I generally feel safe in America… IF I hang out in a good neighborhood, remain aware of my surroundings, and travel with somebody all the time. And, yes, I carry pepper spray on my keys, which I’ve learned is VERY strange to everyone except Americans. What can I say? You can never be too careful, and my mom taught me well. In Brisbane, however, none of that is needed. The one downside of that safety is that deceives us into thinking nothing bad will ever happen, so we still have to be careful. Just take normal precautions of a uni student like having a travel plan for the night, always watch your drinks, and tell your friends where you’re going if you leave.
To me, it’s incredibly sad how concerned with safety we have to be in America, but that’s just the way it is, and I think my friends and I are smart enough to know how to stay safe when going out places and traveling. In Australia, as I’ve learned, safety isn’t really an issue (unless you’re gonna go out and surf in the ocean alone where there has just been a shark sighting). Safety is a prime example of a major part of our society that’s so different from other places. It’s pretty relieving how safe it is in this country (& New Zealand!) compared to America and lots of other places nowadays.
One of the “dangerous” things that can happen to you in Sydney would be getting hit in the head by one of these falling hill’s fig branches. Tree failure is not a good thing, people!
move on to part two to see what America is doing the best . . .
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