Just like many travel blogs, I will start this one with stating that I haven't written in a while. It's been roughly a month. I haven't done so mainly because I live in a ubercool house now in West-Melbourne with three flatmates. In my first house I used to spent a lot of my time by my self in my room on my laptop, I now chill on the couch and watch family-guy - definitely an improvement.
201 Stanley St.
Day's are still crammed up with working and I love it. I am challenged every day and it is a great exhaust for my energy and creativity. It has already been eight weeks meaning a third of my placement, and my overall stay in Australia is almost over. These two months have given me plenty of time to meet new people and make new friends. Moving to a share house with other students played a big role in that. For me making friends in a new place works like the snowball effect; throwing epic house parties also helps heaps.
Sunset beaming on Docklands
On the days I am not working I try to meet these people and do snobby Melburnian things, like having ocean trout and an entire soft shell crab for brunch. This city provides me with endless opportunities to gaze away at stunning interior design, impressive menus and obviously the best coffee. Brunch is not some avocado mash spread on toast with a poached egg. It is having Brulée French toast with passionfruit labné, poached mandarin, macademia crumble and white chocolate ganache. . One obviously doesn't eat this at franchised high-street joint, no it is the indie cafe's hidden in Melbourne's laneways. Besides the jar-dropping food it is also the interior design that inspires me, it is very genuine. These places don't try to be hip, they define hip. Brunch really is at the core of each Melburnian, and I quickly starting to melt into one as well.
Hidden treasures in the laneways
This was something I didn't expect to happen so easily. Close to the only expectation I had of Australians was ‘laid-back and easy-going’ with a funny accent. Upon arrival it soon became clear that this stereotype, as expected, was not accurate. Expecting the unexpected worked out well here, mainly because the term ‘Australians’ was undefined to me. The obvious thought was: ‘Australians are the people living in Australia’. In my head an expression like this relates to an ethnic group; in this case Caucasians. This thought is derived from my own ethnic back ground: Dutch. Although there is a significant migrant influx in The Netherlands, the majority of its population are indigenous. Only relatively recent migrants have started moving into The Netherlands and integrating into the culture and country.
Street art never seems to stop amazing me
In the case of Australia, it is the other way around. The Indigenous community is very small and the migrant community forms the majority of the population. Migration to Australia started when the land was discovered by European conquerors around 300 years ago. Ever since, people from different corners of the world have migrated to Australia in large numbers. This makes Australia an ethnically diverse country without any ethnic majority. The ethnical diversity creates a religious and cultural diversity as well. Therefore making statements about Australians in general is very hard. However, as far as my experience can tell: Yes, Australia is quite ‘laid-back and easy going’. But this is, once again, relative. Compared to The Netherlands it is more ‘relaxed’ here, but compared to, for example, Costa Rica, it is less ‘relaxed’. This is why describing cultural differences is difficult; it is relative to someone’s heritage culture; because that is the benchmark.
Impressive interior design at The Vertue of the Coffee Drink
Culture remains to be very interesting to me, once again I discover new things about my own culture whilst living in a different one. It is generally known that Dutch people can be very direct, I have always assumed that this trait is not thát present in my personality. This very same trait faced me a couple of days ago whilst having a conversation with a co-worker. I was curiously asking questions about a topic and she deemed this to be very European; I had never realised. Something as simple as the way of asking questions can differ from culture to culture and it is something you wouldn't easily notice unless it is put straight into your face.
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