Day 10: Updates, What's Ahead, and My Take on the American Dream

24 July 2014

Food from the Dining Hall

So I haven’t written in a while because I’ve had a bit of writer’s block. I mean, yes, everything’s quite different from the Americas, but nothing has happened that’s been particularly interesting. I've just been living, learning, growing and doing. 

I’ve met a couple of new friends, one named Kessia (pronounced “que-sea-uh”) from Mauritius (an island off the coast of Madagascar, they speak French) she's pretty great. We went bowling and laser tagging on Tuesday with a bunch of students from Uni which was a lot of fun. Yesterday Kessia and I went to a Young Adult Bible Study hosted by my “Australian Church” as I like to call it. Church at this point has become such a comfort for me. It’s like everything is so different and new but Christ is the same, the Bible is the same, and that’s a great revelation. 

Bowling and Laser Tag

A majority of my time has been spent in orientation. I get to learn how to study, AGAIN. I’m thankful for the refresher, but I am so ready for classes to start next week! Looking at my syllabi, it looks like things will be a bit different from Uni at home. For starters, there aren’t as many assignments. Most of my classes have only four assignments but they are much bigger and worth much more of my grade. It seems Australians really value time management skills! I am quite excited for the new challenge. 

I've also noticed what I call the “American Dream Syndrome” everywhere I go. I mean, I love my country, but I never realized how high we put ourselves in terms of other nations. I’ll give you some examples:

• Our country code is #1, and Australia’s #61.
• Our websites are just .com, .org, etc. All Australian websites end in .au to differentiate between American websites.
• Americans primarily watch “American” TV shows. (ie American Ninja Warrior, American Idol, America’s Got Talent, etc). Australians watch the exact same shows! Television-wise American TV shows dominate. 

The Bird That Stole My Lunch Today

Before I left I had no idea why anyone could despise our country, after all, we welcome everyone. But as I pay close attention, it’s things like these that have started to bother me. None of these examples are terrible in themselves, but when you start to stack up the evidence, it begins to look pretty incriminating. One of my lecturers made a comment today, “America is the center of the Universe.” Although I know she was joking, she might not be far from the truth. In a society where we pride ourselves on being open-minded and over prejudices, have we raised a country in which we think we are better than everyone else? This is a very dangerous ideology as you can see throughout history. I need not remind you of the dictators of nations who tried to control the entire world. (I am not insinuating that we as a country are trying to take over the world or anything! Just thinking out loud!)  

I feel as a society, it’s important for us to visit other countries and to live with other nations. It opens our eyes to the fact that America isn’t the only country that has a lot to offer. It helps us to see past ourselves and to embrace the other thousands of places people live. 

Study other languages, read about other places, and GO! See how the other half of the world lives, you might actually like it.