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So my friend "Jane" is considering moving to Australia. She currently works in Charlotte,NC and grew up in North Carolina/went to college here all her life. She works for large business firm in the city but decided she wants to just transfer to her company branch in Australia.
She is planning on visiting Sydney for a month to help one of her best friend who is also moving from the US to Sydney to get a master's degree in Sydney.
All of our friends and her family think Jane just going through this phase right now. And we are telling her it wont be an easy transition because the culture is different and all of her friends and families are back at home. But Jane has been looking into renting and even getting her visa and talking with her boss about transferring.
So is Australian culture very different from American culture? Do you think it will be an easy transition? (fyi, I had a friend that lived in Australia for a year for work... he loved the people and the culture, and he said that he would stay there forever, only thing holding him back was his friends and family). Jane will know no one, except for that one friend in which she is helping her move in September.
I have visited the US a bit over the last 10 yrs.
Yes we are different over here but NOT that different that its a "big" transition.
I live in Canberra where we have lots of American friends through the embassy & here on exchange with the US military, they all love it. One family is considering coming back to retire here.
We have better working conditions which most Americans like, 4 weeks annual leave a year, more public holidays.
If she is working for a big company she will make friends there, I have worked in Brisbane, Sydney & Canberra and have always made friends quickly through work.
She will have a great time, even is she doesn't cant she just move back home?
I lived in Sydney on a work visa for a year in the early 90s and they had to throw me out of the country. Sydney is a cosmopolitan, multi-cultural, beautiful city with warm and welcoming people. In the early 90s, EVERYONE went out after work for a drink, sometimes dinner and the work week was 9-5 with an hour lunch. At that time, no one sat at home watching TV; everyone was outside either socializing, playing sports, etc. I've been to a lot of cities and Sydney is near the top of my list. Hope I can take my daughter there someday ...
Australia would be my first choice, after Canada, if for some strange, unexpected reason I had to leave the US. Just saying. Yes, I will take first-world infrastructure coupled with a very low population density any day, thank you very much.
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
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I think a month-long visit will help her decide whether it's really for her, although other things could crop up later. If you're set on it, I don't see anything reason not to at least girl it a burl.
There really is no transition period moving to Oz. Trust me on that one. Minor niggles only. I had to get used to driving on the other side of the road (just follow the car in front of you), the higher prices for pretty much EVERYTHING, less choice (clothing) in shopping, Target not being the same quality as the US, expensive (slower) broadband with pricing based on how much you use (I have an unlimited plan in the US), lack of good Mexican food (slobber), a lack of Jews (at least in South Australia) which meant that for years I had no bagels w/ lox and matzo ball soup and lived with people who thought I had 2 heads when I'd say things such as "Oy, I'm schvitzing it so hot here"
From a people standpoint she will just have to get used to understanding new expressions or words such as 'forthnight', 'reckon', 'she'll be right'. Also she will need a thicker skin as people will tease her.. if she can throw it right back.. she'll be right. I'd gotten comments such as:
- "we get points for running over a yank, double if they're a New Yorker" (I'd laugh and call him a Yiddish expletive and tell him to google that word)
- "are your people so stupid as to vote for Bush twice" (I'd sing O Canada)
It was all good natured ribbing and I threw it right back, had a beer, and join in on the next topic of American transgression. LOL. (NOTE: When Obama got elected, I notice far less political ribbing)
Yes Oz is beautiful.. but its really people that make a country. For me it was my chemist who'd tell me to slow down, have a seat and talk to him, the bus driver who made me a copy of his Greek CD without me asking, the waitress that would bring me ketchup and tease me by saying "we won't deny a yank their national dish", the doctor that called me at home Friday night to check up on me when I was sick (I've never had that experience before), the Customs agent at Adelaide Airport who gave me updates on my favourite "border patrol" show.. and countless acts of friendliness/kindness that I experienced when I lived in South Australia.. that was my Australia, and it can be hers. If she has a chance to go.. she'd be nuts not to go (okay Sydney is not my favorite city). If I didn't have such severe allergies to eucalyptus trees.. I would never have left and at times, I still call it home.
Tourism Australia should pay me.. scrw Oprah!
Last edited by minibrings; 05-21-2011 at 03:20 AM..
/\ OMG. This sounded so hokey. I woke up at 430am on a Saturday with insomnia and it was raining out (5 days in a row) so I must have been missing the Aussie sun in a bad bad way. Sorry.
There really is no transition period moving to Oz. Trust me on that one. Minor niggles only. I had to get used to driving on the other side of the road (just follow the car in front of you), the higher prices for pretty much EVERYTHING, less choice (clothing) in shopping, Target not being the same quality as the US, expensive (slower) broadband with pricing based on how much you use (I have an unlimited plan in the US), lack of good Mexican food (slobber), a lack of Jews (at least in South Australia) which meant that for years I had no bagels w/ lox and matzo ball soup and lived with people who thought I had 2 heads when I'd say things such as "Oy, I'm schvitzing it so hot here"
From a people standpoint she will just have to get used to understanding new expressions or words such as 'forthnight', 'reckon', 'she'll be right'. Also she will need a thicker skin as people will tease her.. if she can throw it right back.. she'll be right. I'd gotten comments such as:
- "we get points for running over a yank, double if they're a New Yorker" (I'd laugh and call him a Yiddish expletive and tell him to google that word)
- "are your people so stupid as to vote for Bush twice" (I'd sing O Canada)
It was all good natured ribbing and I threw it right back, had a beer, and join in on the next topic of American transgression. LOL. (NOTE: When Obama got elected, I notice far less political ribbing)
Yes Oz is beautiful.. but its really people that make a country. For me it was my chemist who'd tell me to slow down, have a seat and talk to him, the bus driver who made me a copy of his Greek CD without me asking, the waitress that would bring me ketchup and tease me by saying "we won't deny a yank their national dish", the doctor that called me at home Friday night to check up on me when I was sick (I've never had that experience before), the Customs agent at Adelaide Airport who gave me updates on my favourite "border patrol" show.. and countless acts of friendliness/kindness that I experienced when I lived in South Australia.. that was my Australia, and it can be hers. If she has a chance to go.. she'd be nuts not to go (okay Sydney is not my favorite city). If I didn't have such severe allergies to eucalyptus trees.. I would never have left and at times, I still call it home.
Tourism Australia should pay me.. scrw Oprah!
A health question, would most rational Americans want to move to the Aus type health scheme for the USA if they tried it for a year ?
Doctor ringing, had much the same when the wife and I had a bad dose of influenza and rang the chemist to have some drugs dropped off because we were both too ill to go and get them.
Woke up to find the doctor checking me out
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Yes, I will take first-world infrastructure coupled with a very low population density any day, thank you very much. 
