Berkley Center

After 28 hours of traveling to Sydney, Australia, I was excited to grab my luggage, find my apartment, and get settled into the Australian lifestyle. Unfortunately, I would soon realize that after waiting an hour at baggage claim, my luggage was still stuck in Los Angeles. There were 20 other people on my flight in the same situation; however, I felt different from them because I was the only one traveling alone. My bags would not arrive in Sydney for another three days, but I was able to reverse this off-putting initial experience by turning to my future roommates for clothes, toothpaste, and shampoo. I am living with 30 other American students in an apartment building about 20 minutes from the University of Sydney campus. I wanted to live with Australians in order to be completely immersed into their culture; however, it is incredibly difficult for exchange students to find housing in Sydney. Thus, several American programs have set up programs in which international students are able to obtain a place to live for their semester abroad. After learning that the majority of students live at home and commute to uni (the Australian word for university), I felt reassured about living what seemed to be far away from campus. A 20 minute train ride is much different from the 5 minute walk I was accustomed to at Georgetown; however, I was excited to embark upon a genuine Australian student experience.

Initially, I assumed that I would be treated with a bit of disdain from Australians because I have visited other countries where Americans are not welcomed. However, when an Australian hears my American accent, they immediately want to talk to me. Ironically, I always marveled at the Australian accent, but they admire the American accent since it sounds so foreign from their tongue. It is a breath of fresh air to feel so welcomed in another country.

"Australian Politics" is my favorite class at the University of Sydney because it has helped me gain a much better grasp about Australian politics. I entered Sydney without any knowledge regarding their government system. I am one of the two American students in my tutorial made up of 20 students; therefore, I figured that I would not have much to say compared to the Australian students. However, my professor enjoys comparing the Australian and American government systems for at least half of the class. The Australian students and even the professor treat me as the liaison to understanding the United States. I am excited to continue to explore Australia and learn more about the religion, culture, politics, and society of this country.

My preliminary assumption that Australians have the tendency to be quite liberal and accepting of all religions and lifestyles seems to be accurate. About 64 percent of Australians are Christian, 19 percent claim to not have a religion, 11 percent do not state their religion, and only 5 percent are either Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu, or Jewish. One of my classmates at the University of Sydney told me that Australia is one of the least devout countries in the developed world since numerous people do not include religion as an integral part of their lives. Even though the majority of the country seems to practice Christianity, none of the Australians I have interacted with have ever mentioned religion to me. One of my roommates here is Jewish, and she keeps kosher. She claims that it is easy to continue to practice Judaism here, as she goes to Shabbat services every Friday at a local temple and eats Shabbat dinner with a family that she met through the temple. Furthermore, our local mall supermarket has an entire aisle devoted to kosher products, which facilitates her shopping. It is reassuring that Australia is similar to America since both nations welcome people of all religions and beliefs. I am curious to learn more about the difference between Americans and Australians in terms of their culture, lifestyle, and religious tendencies.