The American Presence

We have had class for two weeks now and one thing is becoming apparent, America is very watched and talked about both good and bad. In two different classes we have discussed Sandy Hook. In one class we talked about everything from the capture of Bin Laden to California mud slides. I am not completely surprised but I did not expect the presence of America to be this thick. It is not in a bad way usually, the discussions are very intelligent and factual if they are criticizing our country it is usually a valid argument, and much more intelligent than the made up stuff you see on Facebook. I am not sure that I have ever heard anything about Australian events in class at Tech; it almost makes me feel guilty. The current Prime Minister of Australia is Julia Gillard, heard of her? I had not till I came here. She seems to be very unpopular at least in Victoria. The issues that surround her are much like those that follow American presidents, money and government power, but we do not hear about the Australian government in the States do we? See where the guilt comes from, most Australians can talk about Obama care, gun control laws, and the housing market. Not just the professors, my peers in the dorms even.

They are shocked to hear that my family owns guns and that we target practice in the pasture behind the house! Only one guy here shoots guns and he had to go through a very intense process to be able to do that and even then him shooting or getting ahold of a handgun is out of the question. Australia has very intense gun control laws, it is near impossible to own one. I have only been here a month and I have learned to appreciate and respect my home country so much. In one of the Sandy Hook discussions the professor referred to the assault rifle that Adam Lanza used as a machine gun. I am not sure if he was confused or enhancing the story I found it difficult not to correct him.

After an Australian citizen turns 18 they can vote, no they HAVE to vote. The county fines its citizens if they do not vote. Take that one in for a minute…

We have had a few experiences with our professors on being American. Lauren and I both wanted to make a point to introduce ourselves to our professors, we had been advised to many times and thought it a good idea. If they knew we were international students we thought it would be easier to ask them for help if we needed it and we are nervous that our writing style will be different. Lauren got to experience this first. We just had our first strategic communication lecture and I was rushing to another class so Lauren was alone to introduce herself. The professor just looked at her and did not seem to really care that she was American the only real response that she got was when she called him “Sir” he told her to call him by his first name and never sir. Lauren is especially keen to saying “Sir” and “Ma’am” it is a habit and an act of respect but it is not welcomed in Australia at all. In another class she said “yes Sir” to a professor and girls across from her sort of snickered and the professor immediately said “no, John please.” John, he is our making the news professor. He is a very tall, big man. He has long, shaggy white hair and dresses in jeans and tee shirts. He is the stero-typical college professor. The way he talks, the way he walks, and the way he teaches. He is both of our favorites so far. He makes a genuine effort to remember names. His teaching style is very liberal. Not politician liberal, think more Oprah not Al Gore. He was our last professor to meet and we were not at all keen to introduce ourselves at first. After our first lecture he asked the people living on campus to stay after class to talk about switching to a later tutorial time. Lauren had to leave a few minutes early to go to a meeting so I was alone. I was afraid him realizing that I was American would be a bad thing after my animal science lectures, so I tried really hard to hide in the back. I was almost home free but then he looked at me and asked if all of this was good with me.

My eyes got big and trying to say as little as possible I let out a very cheerful and short, “Ya!”

“Ya, where are you from?”

“The States.”

“Oh really where at in the states?”

“Texas”

“Where in Texas?”

“The Panhandle.” (Explaining where I am from in Texas is proving to be very difficult)

“Oh ya, San Antonio I have been there!”

“Oh ya that’s really cool!”

As I said early this professor has ended up being our favorite but this was a very interesting first encounter.

Ok, My animal science professor. This is a big one.. Simply put he hates America. Eight minutes into our first lecture he was already bashing how much America spends on our pets! This was my first sign. Also, really ironic because my brother and his fiancé are making dog food targeted at people that are willing to spend more than average for their dogs per feeding. With most every discussion he compares something to America, negatively.

This is the picture he choose to show us what a turkey looks like..

I introduced myself him after class. I thought this would be really important because he uses a ton of slang and I had a lot of trouble following him. He gave me the same blank stare that Lauren got. I had to do all of the talking and got zero response. He only nodded his head when I said thank you and left. 

A random note about Aussie English, Lauren and I sat through half of a class talking about “State Inquires” before we realized an inquire is an investigation. Another thing about my animal science professor, he is a vegetarian those of you that have taken animal science at Tech or WT have to be dying right now.

I hope I did not leave anything out and I hope that y’all could follow what I was saying! This was a hard blog to write but I hope y’all found it to be interesting! Sorry we have been short on blogs lately! We are working on it!