When in Indonesia i asked numerous Australians where is the best place for someone like myself, who loves style and culture, but needs to be near the ocean. They all responded with Melbourne, in the state of Victoria. Luckily my friend Bonnie, who had lived in Canada for 2 years had recently moved back to her hometown Melbourne. With a couch to crash on and a one way ticket to Australia i was set to go on my epic Australian adventure.
2 months later i am still living with Bonnie and her two male room mates. The topic of discussion in this journal entry is the culturally differences between North America and Australia.
1. There is a huge coffee culture here, its one place that does not have Starbucks growing like weeds on every corner. You cannot order a regular black coffee here, they give you a weird look and ask if your American with pity, better to ask for a long black with a side of milk. Unfortunately there is also no Tim Hortons :(.
2. It is not a requirement to tip here. Employers pay their employees fair wages. enough said
3. They drive on the wrong side of the road. I can even count the number of times i've walked to the passenger side of the car only to realize that in fact I'm in Australia and its the drivers side.
4. Footy is the national sport. No Canucks riots in Australia.
5. Theres no Ketchup here. theres tomato sauce (same thing) and actual tomato sauce is called pasta sauce. wierd!
6. Lots of mispronunciations. words such as basil, H, oregano, depot are all pronounced different.
and thats about it so far. Ill post more as i remember them.
-Jypsie Shore
