BU in Sydney: Back on this Side of the Ocean

I have been home and stateside for almost a week, and now that my hilariously backwards jet lag has stopped making me fall asleep at 2pm like a narcoleptic, I have had plenty of time to sit back and reflect on my time abroad.

At the beginning of my program, lovely BU staff member Caroline Hartevelt made a presentation on the effects of culture shock on the student psyche. Most of the stuff were things I already knew: your host country might not meet your expectations, there’s a period of adjustment, etc. But, what I didn’t know was that post-program, I would go through the exact same steps as I had abroad. After spending four months in Australia deciphering the accent, learning the jokes, and becoming knowledgeable of Australian beers (James Squire Porter for the win), there was a chance that my Friday flight back to America wouldn’t be as sunshine and lollipops as I’d hoped.

The biggest challenge that I’ve faced in the first week back home is unlearning the nit-picky aspects of Australian culture that took me practically my entire program to learn. Unlike other contributors to this section, I never had to struggle with a language barrier. But, the guys at Rolling Stone gave me trouble for all of the “improper” or “incorrect” spellings and punctuation marks that I would put in articles.

“You know there’s a ‘u’ in favourite, Yank,” my editor Dan would joke, “And what’s with all this use of the zed everywhere?”

As I am typing this article, it’s taking me all my strength to not add a “u” to words, exchange a “z” for an “s” or even recognizing a period as a full stop. Small tics like those are hard to purge right away, but as my summer journalism internship draws near, I know I need to save myself from general embarrassment and get my grammar in order. Nerdy? Yes, but it’s also necessary.

Another challenge I’ve come across is the lack of things I want right now. Example: I  can’t get Tim Tams like I used to, and that’s a problem. Tim Tams are delicious, malted-chocolate cookies from heaven that gloriously grace every grocery store in Sydney with an abroad-friendly price tag of under $3 AUD. My roommate Erin and I spent most of our downtime consuming Tim Tams, so I knew I had to get my act together and get as many boxes as possible. “Well, Lauren,” you say to me, “Why not just buy them in the store?” Because, dear readers, Tim Tams are only available in the US between October and March. Imagine the shock and agony I went through when I realized this terrible fact. I must now conserve a measly box for the entire summer.

I know grammar and cookies don’t seem like the major league, agoraphobic culture shock that haunts the dreams of most abroad-hopefuls, but I also deeply miss the friends and life I had carved out for myself in Sydney. Luckily, I have so much to look forward to this summer that it’s been able to soften the blow. Well, that and the new Old Spice commercial created by Tim and Eric, the gold-star genius behind Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!:

Maybe being back in America isn’t so bad after all…