As of right now, I have been in Australia for a month. The first week in Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef was so fun, and I got to meet so many of my friends then. Later I came down to my host city of Sydney, which is so beautiful, clean, and refreshing. I have met so many incredible people so far and have just had the best time. One cultural thing I have faced is not anything huge (since this is an English-speaking country), but driving on the other side of the road is quite confusing and everything is switched. The moment I stepped off the plane in Brisbane I noticed I was running into people so much, and I was so confused as to why. When I arrived in Cairns I realized it was because they drive on the left side of the road, so they walk on the left side of the sidewalk. Our instincts I’ve known my whole life to drift to the right were totally switched which really threw me off, and the amount of people I’ve run into is uncountable. I have not been homesick, or really missed America since I’ve been here which is good! Another cultural difference is it’s really hard to find toiletries for some reason. Target is not targeting like back home, and stores are just lacking and don’t really seem to have what you need, which I did not expect coming here. Overall the people are so kind, and everything runs so chilL and smoothly here. It’s very efficient and clean (especially public transport!), and overall a much more liveable city than the majority in the US. Another great thing is that the conversion from US Dollars to Australian Dollars is really good right now so the price that is shown I actually pay about half of that which is really nice, and definitely a big change from home where everything is so expensive.
