So it's finally arrived. I'm almost done here, and it's become a time for reflection. I've began to realize the inevitable, I have to go home soon. I've found myself in a bizarre situation. I'm excited about the prospect of going home to all of my friends and family but at the same time I've experienced so much here and made so many great friends that I'm reluctant to leave it all behind. \nIt was while pondering my return to the land down under that I came to realize that there are a lot of things that I have gained from this experience. And knowing that I'll have to give everybody a word-for-word description of my time here upon my return, I have developed a top four list of things I learned as an Aussie at IU.
4. The Aussie accent is a \npowerful tool that can be used to your advantage.\nIt never occurred to me before how well-liked Australians are by the rest of the world. I mean, sure we're laid back, we drink beer and have BBQs, and our major religion is sport, but the reception that I received here has been overwhelming. I now have a whole bunch of IU students running around saying 'Aussie' things and trying their best to imitate the accent. If only I had the time to organize a short course in how to talk Australian, chances are that I wouldn't be working for minimum wage to pay for my time here. Being an exchange student is something that I recommend that no student should pass up the opportunity to experience.
3. American college life is an entity unrivaled anywhere in the world.\nI've mentioned before that my knowledge of life at college in the United States prior to my arrival here is limited to the bombardment of TV shows and movies that make their way to Australia, and now five months later I realized that college life is quite possibly the most bizarre but enviable lifestyle. \nThe athletes are campus celebrities. And don't even get me started on the peculiar ritual that involves freshman running around in a mad scramble to gain entry into a house that is filled with people exactly like them, in an environment with less privacy than the residence halls.
2. Most Americans have no idea that the rest of the world refers to them as 'Those damn Yanks.'\nMy whole life I've been so used to calling Americans 'Yanks' that it caught me by complete surprise when I was informed that Americans had no idea that everybody else in the world calls them that.\nJust for the record, it's not said in a derogatory sense; it's just the rest of the world's way of rebelling against the fact that the United States has such a powerful influence over world issues. \nIt's ironic considering the majority of Americans have a lack of knowledge about anything other than what's happening in their neighbor's backyard. For example, I've fielded some pretty stupid questions in my time here but last week someone asked me if Australia was an English-speaking country. This is not as stupid as it sounds considering that when I arrived International Services had me scheduled to take an English Proficiency Exam. I'd once heard that one in five Americans couldn't identify the United States on a map of the world. Whether this is fact or just a social comment about the patriotism of this country I have yet to establish.
1. Saturday's a rugby day.\nThis wouldn't be a farewell column if I failed to pay tribute to the members of the IU women's rugby team. As an exchange student I could of quite easily been fated to a life consisting of class work and sitting in front of the computer waiting for e-mails from home. Instead, I joined the rugby team. I showed up looking for some fun and instead I was confronted by opponents twice my size, leading me to utter in fear and my pregame ritual, 'I don't want to play, I don't want to start, I quit.' \nBut I survived the bruises and the practices, and I had the opportunity to travel, party and proudly tell my parents that I'm a 'hooker'. Sure I've been made to 'Shoot the Chew,' practice in the snow and I've heard 'a dingo ate my baby' to the point I've wanted to tackle my own teammates to the ground, but the friends that I have made are quite possibly the reason why I'm leaving with such reluctance.\nAnd I think that I've left my impression on them too; practice is now training, the team's official chant is 'Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi,' we make other teams 'suffer in their jocks,' and when asking for a beer it's said with an Australian accent.
It is with this that I must conclude by saying goodbye and thank you to all of you who have been a part of my life here at IU. I've always been a proud Aussie, and I always will be, but I have to admit that you guys have at least in some part won me over, and now part of me will always belong here at IU. I came here an Aussie determined to change some of those 'damn yanks', but I'll leave here glad that while I've had an effect on them, they've changed me too.
