Why am I here?

In America, I am able to experience a lot of different cultural experiences. However, they are all Americanized. So they are normally very appealing to tourists and are there to make money. It is interesting to see the highlights of other cultures, but I wanted to experience another culture for myself first hand. I chose to come to Australia because my father study abroad here during his high school years. For me, studying abroad was one of my first steps in becoming a global citizen.

It is hard to recognize the troubles of the world when you only hear about them from the news, experiencing things first hand is a real eye opener. I cannot say that I have experienced a lot of the troubles that are plaguing the world here in Australia. There was definitely a drought going on when I arrived, and that is something that is a probably for many farming communities.

Australia is pretty similar to home. There are socioeconomic classes, there are places to go and shop, there are restaurants, there are people that are better off than others, and there are people that struggle to make ends meat. The JCU campus has a large international student body, so the other students are quite used to interacting with people from other countries. I was hanging out with a large group of people from my frisbee team, which is made up of Australian and international students. Some of the people on my team are American, and I was listening to them talk to the people from other places. One girl in particular was saying things to the other international students (who are from England and Norway) that were somewhat offensive. She wasn't really paying attention to the reactions of the people she was talking with, and the room got sort of quiet. It was pretty awkward.

I've encountered this situation a few times, coming from all different people. A lot of the times, people are not sure what to say so they say everything that comes to mind - and often times those things are based off of things we heard from others. Stereotypes that are already present in our mind influence the way we interact with other people, and the culture that we are raised in dictates the way that interaction plays out. People are uncertain of the cultural rules in new places, and this leads to uncomfortable situations. This helped me to remember that all people are ignorant of other cultures unless they truly experience the culture themselves. And, pretending to know about them or spewing stereotypes is extremely uncomfortable for everyone present. Everyone is ignorant, and it is better to admit that ignorance and to learn than to ignore it and push forward.

Why am I here?

One of the goals I set out to achieve during my study abroad experience was to become more culturally aware and a “global citizen” (Zemach-Bersin 2008). I have tried to experience a lot of the culture of Australia through exploring, talking to Australian people, and learning about the Indigenous peoples in class. 

I have noticed that as an American at JCU, I am treated the same as any other student because most people on campus are used to encounters with the large volume of study abroad students that flood the campus every semester. However, I was in for a change when I began volunteering at the local hospital. One uncomfortable situation I have experienced in Australia that could be considered ‘productive discomfort’ would be my first few days volunteering at the hospital. 

My hospital volunteer shirt and tags.

Most of the volunteers and patients I met had such a high opinion of Americans and were very curious, much more than what I had encountered at uni. I was the object of attention, which made me quite uncomfortable as many people liked to point out I was American at random. I was asked so many questions ranging in topic from politics to education and the inevitable discussion on guns. Along with these topics, the people I was speaking with had this assumption that all Americans were wealthy and privileged, which also made me quite uncomfortable being from a working class family. I answered all their questions to the best of my ability, but I was not very good at explaining everything. Because I am not very knowledgeable on American politics or education (with the exception of what I learned while in K-12), I was very uncomfortable and learned that I should be more aware of my own country’s practices. I also explained that not everyone is an “advantaged American” (maybe when traveling to other countries or in certain areas of the States) because I grew up in a working class home where we all learned the value of hard work and I am paying for college myself (Zemach-Bersin 2008). I noted that people are in serious debt because they attend college and are unable to get high paying jobs with benefits/insurance. These discussions led to the Australians telling me all about their education, healthcare, insurance, and political systems-quite the learning experience for myself.

In the end, it has been and still is a learning experience for me, even though I have been asked many questions that are difficult to answer or make me uncomfortable. I can truthfully say that I have become more of a ‘local’ as my time here has increased but I still encounter situations, mainly with new people I meet in the hospital, that are learning experiences for both parties. I believe I have become an “internationally conscious and self-aware American” based on my experiences in Australia that have allowed me to become more knowledgeable about other cultures and about myself as a person (Zemach-Bersin 2008).

Zemach-Bersin, Talya. "American students abroad can’t be ‘global citizens." Chronicle of
     Higher Education 54, no. 26 (2008): A34.

Why Am I Here?

As part of a field trip that the Arava Institute took the students on, we visited the Hebron River valley.  This area, located within the municipality of Jerusalem, has beautiful hills covered in a thin green with parts of the rock exposed.  The students were lead to a part of the valley where we could look down at the river flowing below.  It became clear as a distinct smell hit our noses that this river was heavily polluted with sewage.  Ascending up the sides of the hills surrounding the river were Palestinian owned homes.  The state of these homes contrasted sharply with beauty of the region.  The trash from these homes sat in huge piles falling down the hills at the edge of groups of homes.  Our guide told us that the people here pay taxes to the state of Israel; however, they were not receiving municipality benefits such as sewage treatment or trash collection.  The inequality of Palestinians and Israelis became clear as the guide told us that Jewish areas within Jerusalem received all of these municipality benefits.  As our group was observing the river, a 14 year old boy who lived near by came and stood with us.  He spoke to me and with the help of someone in the group to translate Arabic to English and vise versa, we had a conversation.  One of the things that he said to me was you are very welcome here.  This phrase struck me.  This boy was living in a polluted, economically disadvantaged area, but he was still very hospitable and willing to share his home with us.  

The Hebron River.  The pipe takes the village’s sewage and adds it to the river.  

Palestinian homes built on the sides of the hills.  

This was my moment of productive discomfort.  I was in a situation that was both physically and mentally uncomfortable, yet I could learn a lot from this moment.  Like Talya Zemach-Bersin stated in her essay,“American Students Abroad Can't Be 'Global Citizens'”, the global systems of “inequality, power, privilege, and difference” were present in this place.  As an outsider, I could merely observe and take my experience back with me hoping to combine it with tools and knowledge about how to combat inequalities both in Israel and in the United States.  

Why Am I Here?

Becoming a "cross-culturally immersed global citizen" is something that sounds like the ideal achievement of a study abroad experience (Zemach-Bersin, 3). However, I do agree with the author that becoming this type of citizen is a very complex process and is not fully attainable within the boundaries of education.

In my opinion, an individual cannot learn everything that is necessary to be a global citizen, but instead must experience it. I thought that learning about Indigenous Australians and about other facets of Australian culture would allow me to be a better global citizen. Granted, it has helped and has opened my eyes to a lot.

However, I think that I have grown more as an independent person living in a different country and experiencing different lifestyles, hardships and other changes daily.

I faced one generally negative experience here that could be labeled as "Productive Discomfort."

In Townsville, there is a beautiful public pool that screens movies for free often, so I decided to go with some American and Australian friends. We were greatly enjoying swimming and watching the movie and all was okay.

Townsville Public Pool

We had left all of our belongings on a table because the lockers were full and everyone else had their belongings on tables as well. However, one of my American friends got out of the pool to use the bathroom and everything she had was gone. Someone took her entire bag including, her phone, GoPro, wallet, keys, and even passport (she was using a different bag than usual and did not realize her passport was in there). We were not on any sort of organized outing and were just 3 Americans and an Australian alone in town. We knew that it was vital to handle things calmly and without getting upset. We found a security guard and called the police to file a report. Fortunately no one was hurt, and everything important was replaced. Weirdly enough, no one else had anything stolen.

We made the necessary calls to cancel credit cards, and lock her iPhone but we knew that it was a long shot that anything would be returned. Fortunately, the passport, IDs and keys did eventually turn up and the thief took basically just some cash, the phone and GoPro, but that was all replaceable.

For me, this was a huge learning experience. It would have been easy to call the International Student Emergency line or get emotional, but we knew that we did not have a lot of time to make decisions and needed to act quickly and with intelligence. For me, this was a very important learning experience and I not only learned about how to be safe with belongings in a public place, but also how to handle unexpected incidents.

Zemach-Bersin, Talya. “American Students Abroad Can't Be 'Global Citizens' American      Students Abroad Can't Be 'Global Citizens'.” The Chronicle of Higher Education. Commentary          54.26 (2008): A34. 

Reading Between the Lines

Since I've gotten to England there have been a fair amount of miscommunications, both ones that I'm responsible for and ones born from people here stereotyping Americans. Coming into the UK I wasn't actually anticipating a ton of cultural differences, and most of the ones I was expecting were related to things along the lines of politeness. However since I've been here there have been a lot of moments where little cultural differences have started to accumulate. I'm queer. I'm bisexual but I say 'queer' as it's more inclusive and more feels more true to how I feel. Speaking to members of the LGBTQ+ community in America I've never had an issue telling people I'm queer, it's a fairly common term and no one is particularly surprised by it. So imagine my surprise when I told a girl here I was 'queer' and she completely panicked telling me that that was a slur and extremely offensive to members of the LGBTQ community. Although I had prepared myself to deal with the larger UK community before I came I had completely neglected to look into communities that I belonged to. As a result of my ignorance I risked greatly offending people when I was only aiming to say something that would have been completely acceptable in the United States. I did my research and changed my terminology to suit where I am, but the initial shock of realizing I couldn’t use the terms I was familiar with was an adjustment. 

There’s still some confusion regarding general slang on both ends as well. My flatmates will throw phrases like posh (I thought I knew what that meant—I didn’t) and chav into conversations and there’s always a moment where I have to adjust to what’s actually being said. Apparently there is a lot of tension between the North and the South here. Most of it is friendly, none of my Northern flatmates actually have an issue with the Southern ones minus friendly banter, but when not referring to someone they know words like posh and chav are far from flattering. Contributing to the confusion on my end is the fact that I have a habit of referring to my friends by pet names (as long as I have their permission to do so it isn’t uncommon for me to refer to someone as honey, sweetie, babe, whatever), which isn’t done as much here. While it’s common for people to use pet names at the checkout line, or in situations where they don’t really know you, it isn’t as common between friends. One flatmate recently told me that the first week I was here and I was referring to him as sweetie he was a little off put by the random names. He assured me that know that he’s used to it it’s fine but I hate that I was making him uncomfortable without even knowing it. I’m used to people telling me if they don’t want me calling them something (especially because I usually ask first) but because he didn’t want to offend me he didn’t say anything. I’ve gotten used to triple checking that my behavior is okay at this point.

Personally I’ve also felt like it’s hard to really get to know people here like you can in America. I’ve gotten to know my flatmates and their friends because I’m living with them and it’s common to talk to the people you’re living with. In addition I drink with them and due to the huge drinking culture here that is a sure-fire way to make friends. However, I haven’t really met people outside of the people in our building. It simply isn’t as common for people to hang out across distances, at least not in their first year. I don’t think the more reserved nature of the country is something I’ll be able to fully adjust to before I leave.

Reading Between the Lines

Communicating well with people in your own culture is often times difficult, especially when trying to explain abstract ideas or feelings. Communicating those same things to people of other cultures can prove to be a very difficult task indeed. When I first came to Australia, I was worried that I would offend people through my actions - perhaps by doing something that is normal in the states, but frowned upon here. However, I had no reason to worry. The people here are not as coy as they are in the states. At home, people use flowery language when dealing with hard subjects in order to easy any discomfort. Here, they are very blunt and could be interpreted as rude sometimes. 

The colloquial way of speaking is quite abrasive, and a little off-putting at first. They also really like to shorten everything. Instead of McDonald's, it's Macca's. Instead of spaghetti bolognese, it's spagbol. Sometimes it is hard to keep up with all their shortened words! They also throw around insults like we do compliments, but the insults are actually compliments. Words that are extremely offensive in the states are used as a way of expressing fondness between friends, or as a way of just calling to someone. The way that we say "you", they use other things that are slightly more offensive. Some words I was not used to, and was pretty offended at first. It was something that I had to recognize, and then get used to. A little bit of culture shock, I think. 

Here in Australia, they have a lot of habitual responses. For example, when I was traveling, I would get stopped a lot trying to pass through customs because the reader has a hard time matching my face to my passport. Whenever I would go to the desk, I'd always apologize and they would respond with "that's alright". It's their way of saying, "it's okay" or "don't worry about it". It's a pretty general blanket response, and it's usually always meant in a good way. Sometimes they will say "cheers" or something like that, if you are closer with them. Strangers tend to say "you're alright" or "that's alright". I think it is interesting, and it's sort of grown on me. I've found myself saying this sometimes as well. 

Communications here are also extremely important if you're living on campus. The colleges - which are what we consider dorms - are very close. People from the same college tend to stick together, and there is a lower rate of association with people not in the same college. One reason is because the colleges are really spread out across campus and it's easier to associate with people in the same college than have to go to the other side of campus just for a few hours. Another reason is the inter-college competition called Fisher Shield. It pits the colleges against each other in a large amount of different events, and it is really intense. In George Roberts - where I stay - we always get ready before any game by painting our faces and just getting up a general hype. Some colleges encourage their residents to not associate with other colleges. It's a really intense competition for the Fisher Shield. It's comparable to how hyped people get between OSU and Michigan. 

Some painted GR folks. 

Here, less students have cars than I am used to. And since I have a car on campus at Allegheny, I am not used to not being able to go to places when I need to or want to. I either have to take the bus or ask a friend for a ride. There are things on campus, but they close early. Most of the stores here close early, compared to what I am used to. During the week they close around six, and on the weekends they close even earlier. I am used to be able to running errands in the evenings, so it was hard to plant around that at first. I have gotten used to taking a bus around, and the bus drivers around here are always really friendly. 

Resetting Our Goals

Development is a word that is often used in order to draw people's attention. It's a buzz word for a lot of funding, it gets people interested depending on what follows, and it is very confusing. Rist talks about this a lot in his piece. He mentions that "development" has a lot of different meanings across cultures and times. The word "developed" can describe a plethora of different things - developed countries, developed intelligence, developed goods, etc. All these meanings create hundreds of facets to this complex word.

Australia is a pretty developed country. They care not only about the present, but also about the future. The government and the people of Australia are taking measures to ensure that the environment is cared for, and that their living methods are sustainable.

However, while Australia itself is a well developed country, there are a lot of aspects that could still use some work. The relationships between the native tribes and the rest are not as well developed as they could be. There are a lot of obstacles that they must overcome in order to find the voice and respect that they deserve.

The idea of whether development itself is a good or bad thing is also in question. Some development is frowned upon - like research with stem cells - and other development is applauded - like America electing a president of color. The definition of development is elusive, and malleable depending on the specific subject in question. Hopefully, the world will continue to develop in a positive manner in a sustainable and benign way.