On my impressions of the Australian People

...or Stereotypes Down Under


Though the interractions I've had with Australians have been relatively few, there are a number of generalizations that I feel reasonably qualified to make about Australians--at least Australians from New South Wales. Namely, like our stereotype in the Mid-West they are friendly and helpful. People on the bus and clerks at stores have noticed my accent and asked which part of Canada I'm from, when finding out that I'm from the northern middle of the US, they don't seem too disappointed. One especially helpful piece of advice that I recieved from a like-aged bloke on the bus was that in order to beat the heat, my best bet is to freeze my underwear at night. I am taking this into consideration.

Almost immediately after finding out that I'm from the states, the next reaction seems to be, "Oh! Isn't Obama wonderful? Did you watch the inaugeration? We all did here!" I've said before that if Obama does nothing else, he has given the American people hope again, and I feel I must amend this now to the people of the world. It would seem that he has a global following and I wonder how this will play out. I am excited to see what happens.

Perhaps the most striking thing about Sydney is that I hear languages other than english being spoken far more often than I hear english--in my dorm hall, in the busses, on the streets and throughout the places we've been visiting. It's wonderful and, frankly, makes me feel really cultured. There is definitely a high population folks from Asia here, and I've heard it refered to as an "Asian Invasion" which I don't think sounds too kind. Co-travelers have also made the observation that, "They have Asian people like we have African-Americans!" Which, historically makes sense. While I'm talking about ethnicity, I have seen more lebanese restaurants here than I have ever seen in the US--granted, Stevens Point isn't exaclty known for having a high Lebanese population.

One night, a small group of the crew met up with one of the RA's who was excited to talk to us and answer our questions. Something that I've found to be really unfortunate is to realize is that those trashy reality TV shows that I hold so dear are what the world ends up seeing of the United States. I think that is highly unfair for this to be the basis of opinions, but it's not like we're spitting out anything classier at the moment. Though because I don't use another nations' television to form my opinion about a nation--what if I thought every British town was like Royston Vasey? or filled with people like Hyacinth and Onslo? It would be ridiculous--I can't imagine that this is how everyone sees us. She also came of as quite boisterous and as the kind of girl who was very comfortable starting conflict, so that may have something to do with it.

I've also met a woman from Wara wara--an aboriginal community whose members come to the college every so often for some sort of certification. She has been more helpful than any of the lectures in discussing Aboriginal issues and what it means to be of that culture. As I mentioned before, it's the same all over. Issues like alcoholism, teen pregnancy, obesity, apathy, alienation from any culture, etc. that I see/hear about among american indigenous peoples run rampant amongst these people as well. Neither government seems to have come up with a solution, though the Australian government has apologized.

So, to sum it all up I suppose, the people here are nice and interesting.