As I sit here at the Starbucks in Broadbeach while writing this blog, I take a look around and embrace the Australian culture I find myself in every day. I remember my first few weeks here, I was a bit dismayed that I had not effortlessly been able to reflect on how amazing it was to live with the beach at my finger tips.
Here I am with only a month left, laughing at how quickly that changed. The “blessed”, or “I am a lucky lady” thoughts spiral through my head from the time I wake up to the time I go to bed. And this is due to the fact that I have been able to accept what “normal” is in the Gold Coast; even though it was not normal to me at first. When you pick a random place to live, let alone a 15-hour plane ride from home, you expect the lifestyle and their culture to be different from the one you are used to.
In Australia, I found myself believing that the Gold Coast and the United States had more in common that anticipated. Now that my time here is closing in on me with every blink of an eye, I realize that while there are a few similarities between my two homes, I have just adjusted to the culture and every day patterns.
I automatically walk on the left side of the side when passing by strollers, buy my coffees with the 2-dollar coins I manage to scramble up, and measure my food intake by looking at the kilojoules. This observation of the Australian lifestyle has become a normal lifestyle to me because it is the lifestyle I live.
Would you want to live in a place that constantly seems foreign to you? It is a majestic feeling to walk the streets of Broadbeach and know where the closest ATM is, or where I can find Tim Tams in the local grocery store.
I have 100% immersed myself in the Australian community, as a Peppers resident, a Bond ‘Uni’ student, and a Broadbeach gal who likes to have a good time at Jupiter’s casino on Tuesday nights. The observation and acceptance of the local culture has allowed me to call Australia home, for the time being.
“You will never be completely at home again, because part of your heart will always be elsewhere. That is the price you pay for the richness of loving and knowing people in more than one place.”
Brittany Goldstein is a student at Indiana University and a TEAN Featured Blogger. Brittany is currently studying abroad with TEAN on the Gold Coast, Australia.
