The Face

Last night I was at dinner with the dudes, celebrating Brian completing a crazy busy week of projects, papers, and exams (yeah sometimes you actually have to study while abroad, just be ready for that). Anyways, we were telling stories and laughing pretty loudly because Brian is from New York and that’s just his normal tone. A girl came up to us and asked if we were from America because she could hear our American accents across the room.

She loved our accents. To me that’s still crazy – Americans are supposed to love Australian accents (and I do), but American accents are still foreign to Australians so I guess it makes sense. We were all elated from the weekend so we invited her and her boyfriend to join us. We hung out with the two of them for a long time at Kuleto’s, long past the finishing of our meal.

It’s the little things like this that I love most about being abroad. I love being at dinner and enjoying a meal with two random strangers we met there. That’s awesome. It shows how interconnected this world is. It doesn’t matter that I’m 9,000 miles from home, people are still inviting me into their homes out of their love and compassion. The southern hospitality I’m used to in Texas is being supplemented for the time-being by the southern hemisphere hospitality in Sydney. It’s all about the people – nights like this remind me of this though.

The best part of that story though comes at the end. As we were paying and preparing to leave, the girl’s boyfriend asked me if I was sure I was not from Sydney. I asked him why and he said, “Well, it’s the face…and the way you talk.” So not only did he think I look Australian, but more importantly, He thought I had an Australian accent! That’s crazy. It was the best thing I’d heard all the month. The native Sydneyite ? (Sydonian ?) thought I was a native Australian as well! He thought I dressed Australian and spoke Australian and carried myself as much. So not only have I been able to bring a little Texas culture and vibe with me everywhere I travel in Sydney, but I’ll also be able to bring back to Texas my newfound Australian persona.

Today marks 5 weeks before my return. At dinner we were talking about how quickly everything has seemed. I am excited to go back to Texas obviously – I’m gonna really enjoy spending time with my brother in July before we head off to college and I begin my senior year. But as much as I am looking forward to that, I’m looking forward to these next 5 amazing weeks that lie ahead of me here in Sydney. Especially with Vivid right now (I’m a huge lights and fireworks fan – I am to fireworks and lights as the dog from Up! is to squirrels). So, as my mindset before I departed America (read California Waiting) was to focus on the time I had left in America, my mindset these last few weeks in Australia will be to focus on the time I have left in Australia and make the most of this amazing opportunity.