One cultural experience that stands out to me now that I am back in the USA is the prevalence of acknowledging country in relation to indigenous Australians. An acknowledgement of country essentially involves paying respect to the indigenous people who inhabited the land prior to colonization. These acknowledgments focus on the specific community that occupied…
Category: Australia: TEAN at Newcastle
Australia: Newcastle – Blog Post #2
JDRAKE Something that has excited me about living in Australia for a semester is the opportunity to learn how modern society interacts with penal colony infrastructure. Engaging with europeans back home in Florida, a common observation was how young the U.S feels. After living in Australia for a while I can see what they mean….
Blog Post #2
One thing of many things I’ve noticed while in Australia is the difference in the way they perceive and utilise their time here. The first example of this I see in restaurants, stores, bars, and clubs too. Coffee shops usually close from 1 to 3 pm. Other stores, like pharmacies or big box stores, close…
Blog Post #2
One thing that I have found to be very different are invitations. In the US someone may invite you to join them in an activity that they are planning to do, for example they might say “Do you want to go to the store with Carl and I?” However, while studying over here in Australia…
Blog Prompt #2
One of the first things I noticed about the people and culture since arriving in Australia is that people here have a much more positive and easygoing outlook on life. I have heard it from both my program staff who have lived here for many years and Australian friends that the Australian outlook is well…
Blog post #2
One thing about Australia that interests me is the emphasis on public transport, especially the public buses and trains. I learned about this mostly through using the public transport and asking various people for advice on how to travel to certain places. For example, I am going on a trip to the Blue Mountains soon,…
TEAN at Newcastle, Australia – Post #1
JDRAKE In thinking about which core tenant of US culture I wanted to focus on I landed on an interesting dichotomy. I believe there can be two categories, US culture and American culture. The US culture tends to encapsulate how the world views Urban Americans (upper class) as opposed to middle and lower class Individuals….
pre-departure
1. One major aspect of the USA’s culture is emphasizing individualism over the collective. Essentially, US society tends to value and favor the actions that benefit and accentuate the individual, rather than a collective. Cultural individualism largely manifests in people’s behaviours, such as the choices that they make. For example, someone would likely decide to…
Pre-departure
I grew up on St. Thomas in the United States Virgin Islands and have been in the continental United States for school for a few years now. So, the culture I was raised in is very different from the one here. This has given me a unique perspective on some of the attitudes and values…
Pre-Study Abroad Post
An aspect of U.S. culture I want to explore, especially during my time abroad, is the culture around work. Our economic system in the United States is capitalism, so that means work is an integral part of how our society works. Because of capitalism, we have to work to buy the things we want and…