College starts at 8.50. I live in a suburb. This means I have to wake up at 6.30, to the sound of a Kookaburra, in order to catch the bus that arrives at school at 8.00. Why? There are no other buses (4 per day). The bus driver tries not to run over too many wallabies and I come down form the hill to town. I wait until the class starts having breakfast at college: free breakfast from 8.00 to 8.50 in the main hall! Then classes. I could choose between so many different subjects: would you like to join ‘house and design” or do you prefer “hairdresser”? Eery lesson last 100 minutes and every week I have Line 2 off; this means I have 300 minutes free per week to study, or whatever I want to do. (I can leave the college at any time, there’s no permission needed). After morning classes I go in town or to the school cafeteria to have lunch with friends. I still wonder how my college can have more than one thousand students (there are at least 4 colleges) when the population in town is a hundred-thousand. And Launceston is the second largest city in Tasmania. In the main land they make fun of us: we’re so isolated! I finish school at 3.40 and then, guess what? I have to wait half an hour for my bus if I want to go straight home. The first day at school I was taken aback, the way they dress it’s completely different from ours back in Italy. In the main land they usually wear uniforms, but not in Tassie: everyone just wears anything. Anything, really. Actually it’s pretty hard to decide what to wear because Tasmanian weather is completely unpredictable. They say you can have four seasons in a day, and that’s so true! Yesterday I got sunburned and today I wear my winter jacket!
After college I hit the gym (I waited until I gained half of my body weight) and my host dad still thinks that hot chips are good for you.
If I ask to go out during the weekend, and if my host sister wants to do something, the answer is: “I already went out last Saturday, I think I will stay home for the rest of the month, I’m so busy!” or it could be “Sure mate, what about a barbie?” That’s why they’re called the” lay back people”. If they go out once in a month it’s too much, but they can have a barbeque anytime. (We had one while it was snowing!) . They are actually so relaxed, they never worry: She’ll be right, mate!
But this makes me wonder: If they really are the “lazy country” why does every teenager have a job?
Australians spend a lot of time with the family, compared to what I was used to. During weekends teenagers usually stay with relatives more than going out with friends. They normally go to the shack at the beach (there are so many different animals just around the corner, and penguins at the beach) or have a barbeque (again?!?) in a park. There are free bbq areas everywhere!
Legal age for drinking is 18, but at 16 they drive! Maybe they there are no parties very often, but as soon as there is one in town the police will be there! Another interesting fact about Australia is that you can have any type of food! They don’t really have a big cooking tradition and, as it is so multicultural, they eat Indian one night, than Chinese, sushi, Mexican: everything! They also have many “pizzerias”. The classical pizza is ham, cheese, tomato sauce or bbq sauce and pineapple! At the beginning the Australian culture could seem similar to the Italian and European one, but there are so many different aspects!
It’s completely another way of living, and it’s worth to know it.
Francesca Perotto (4F)