Aussie Kulcha!

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Woke up at 8am and a little sad I miss sunrise an hour ago because I can lay in my bed and see some of the beautiful Sydney skyline AND the Pacific Ocean. I definitely will not want to live anywhere other than a city after this! Don't really have any special plans for today (Monday). Everyone is at Orientation or their Internship, so I figured I will get some laundry out of the way since (apparently) the dryers take over 2 hours to dry your clothes. So, I figured I'd tell you guys a little bit more about Aussie Kulcha (aka culture, just trying to throw in the accent there... haha)!

1. No, the toliet doesn't swirl the opposite way! It actually just kind of flushes straight down. The funny thing about most toliets here is to flush them, there are two buttons on the top, one with a 1/2 moon and one with a full moon.... for when you pee.... and when you poop 😊

2. Guys don't buy girls drinks here like they do in the states, everyone here does something called "shouting," which is basically buying rounds. Like, one night in Sydney me and my friends were talking to these guys and I was just trying to be nice and buy this Aussie a drink, I didn't think he would take it, and he was like "sure! thanks!" and I was like NOOOO, this beer is like 6 dollars! Haha, but then he shouted back and bought me one.

3. So, on to Aussie guys. Guys here are GREAT... very good-looking and they dress like they do in England, very nice all the time. Definitely have a European influence in terms of fashion (and also everything else!) Anyways, guys will approach in bars in hopes of becoming your friend (unlike American bars, haha)... everyone here just wants to get to know you. They will ask you everything and anything upon first meeting and want your phone number... not for a date, but to hang out! It's great!

4. One thing that being here has shown me is that Americans are SO LOUD. Many Australians even like to point that out and/or stare. As Americans, when someone is talking, we tend to talk over other people and so it gets louder, and louder, and louder. Here, they actually are crazy polite and wait until the other person is done speaking 😊 Very polite, friendly people.

5. G'day, No Worries, and Mate are all words/phrases that are used ALL THE TIME here. They also say "TA" or "Tah", which is a shorter version of thank you. So, like, when I buy something at a store and am leaving they will say, "tah!!"

6. Sydney is pretty expensive. The mascara I buy at home is 8 dollars while here it is 18 dollars!! I heard that up by my university there is a store call the Big W, which is like Walmart. Thank God 😊 Last night we ordered 2 pizzas, which weren't that big, and it was 32 dollars!! Their bacon here is much like the bacon in England, it almost looks like ham. So far, most of the food has been really good. There is a HUGE Asian population here, so there are tons and tons of Thai/Japanese/Chinese restaurants, all of which have been amazing.

I have pictures up on facebook and will hopefully post the links to those (even if you don't have facebook) on here in a bit. Let me know if they don't work!! Hope everyone had a good weekend!!

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