Yesterday I sat through the most boring class since I have gotten here. The topic of this particular Intro to Sport class was "professional sports broadcasting" which was all about rights to broadcasting and other things that put me to sleep. Instead of sleeping, I wrote out a list of 15 American restaurants that I really miss including Lou Malnati's, Portillo's, Olive Garden, Sullivan's, Chili's, and Noodles and Co. (to name a few.) My first dinner at home is already planned - deep dish pizza from Lou Malnati's!
Obviously, I am still having the time of my life, but now that I've been here for around six weeks, I start to think of the little things from home. Actually, food is a big part of my life! But anyway, I've taken note of many things here in Australia that are different from home.
1) the date. Today is March 2nd, 2010. Except they write it 02/03/2010. Not really a huge deal, except when I am half asleep in my first class of the day and really can't tell if it is February or March for a good twenty seconds.
2) driving on the left side of the road. It is still hard to get used to looking the correct way to cross the street. Normally I just look both ways about five times before stepping foot onto the road - they don't really yield that well here! Except at crosswalks they stop for you, but us Americans get scared to cross and then we have a stand off to see who goes first, and always - it's us.
3) no pennies. Australian currency does not include pennies, and sometimes things are still $19.99 for example. (There is no tax added onto goods here.) So you just pay $20. They will either round up or down, considering what the price is marked. I really haven't looked into this at all, but it does seem kind of silly. However, even without the penny, I still carry a big chunk of change around because not only do that have 5 cents, 10 cents, 20 cents, 50 cents, but they also have 1 and 2 dollar coins. It's a big deal to drop your change over here!! It's not hard to have a pocketful of change over here that is worth 12 bucks.
4) no tipping at restaurants. There is no need to figure out the tip when dining here. At first, I thought this was a good idea. "Oh, yay! Just paying for the meal." But really, in America, waiters and waitresses work for their money! And the majority of the time, they give you great attention so you give them a good tip. Over here in Australia they do not need to give you that extra attention for a tip. Sometimes, it's hard to get their attention. For example: a group of us went out for breakfast in Sydney last Satuday. The waitress only came to our table three times. Once to take our order, once to bring our food, and one time in between to check on the water. Very different from service in the states.
5) water conservation. They said that we should try to conserve water here during orientation week, and even mentioned 4 minute shower timers in the showers. Also, they mentioned this right before our "professional performance program" in which a lady basically tried to sell us beauty products and how to shower properly, which includes rinsing your hair for a good minute after washing and another minute after conditioning. (This lady REALLY bothered me.) Well, there are no timers. And, I haven't been timing my showers in the least. Take that Lizzie Wagner and your tips on how to bathe!
6) "First Years." This is not really different from America, but something I have forgotten about. First years here at school are equivalent to our college freshmen. Considering I am in all 100 level classes, I am surrounded by "first years." I find this both amusing and annoying. They are all very full of energy, but you can tell they are the age still where boys are very immature and girls really care about what boys think. Also, in class, a few of their girls were referring to their "12th year formal" which is equivalent to our senior prom. I haven't thought about that in years!
7) spelling. They call the letter "z" "zed." This is fine except they never use the letter z in any of their words. "Organise," "utilise," "organisation," etc. This is something I have to get used to for my four papers that are each 50% percent of my grades!
Mostly clouds, rain, and thunderstorms forecasted for this week... that means it is time to be productive!! I hope.
Cheers!
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It' alright Steph. I think their alphabet down there is weird. They even spell Aluminum as Aluminium, werid. When I was down there i chose not to change my spelling because i wanted to represent my Americanness, it was also because i was stubborn. Have you drove down there yet?
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