ALWAYS AN AUSSIE

AUSTRALIA

“The people are immensely likable— cheerful, extrovert, quick-witted, and unfailingly obliging. Their cities are safe and clean and nearly always built on water. They have a society that is prosperous, well ordered, and instinctively egalitarian. The food is excellent. The beer is cold. The sun nearly always shines. There is coffee on every corner. Life doesn’t get much better than this.”
― Bill Bryson, In a Sunburned Country

These pages are pretty much me wallowing in my homesickness-ness. If I continue with this whole metaphor of being in a serious relationship with Italy… well these pages would probably fit in right about the time when…

After some increasing problems with Italia (but no big fight, don’t worry), I took myself off to think. You see the problem is, I had been in a long-term relationship before I met Italia. Let’s just call this past lover Oz. Oz was seriously a great guy. We were together for a long time and were very happy. But I had always dreamed of something else, some adventurous lover that would sweep me off my feet and take me on a gallant adventure. Someone who would show me a whole new world and introduce me to new experiences (I had a huge crush on Aladdin growing up, so he could be to blame for this). When I met Italia tho, this is exactly what happened and I promptly forgot all about Oz. Italia and I formed an incredibly strong connection, very quickly; it truly was everything I had hoped it to be and more. But I had never really ended things properly with Oz when I left him, arrogantly assuming we would get back together at some point in time. Now I find myself thinking of him again everyday, I just can’t get him out of my head (cue Kylie Minogue). I’m in love with two very different men and I have no idea what to do about it. But right now, without making any big scary decisions about the future, I just want to remember Oz and bask in the nostalgic memories of everything we had together.

Wow, sometimes I wonder if it is healthy how often I think in metaphors (and how far I take them).

It’s strange tho, the way you think and feel about your country after living away for a while. Now that Italy has also become a home for me, and I have become relatively accustomed to living the Italian life… it somehow makes my memories of Australia seem more exotic. ~~No wait, Australia could never be described as exotic~~. Now the image of a guy in boardies and thongs bending over an esky full of beer, showing everyone his plumbers crack has just popped into my head… because well, that is an Australian image. But now that Italian life has become quite ‘normal’ for me, my memories of Australia hold a familiar strangeness to them.

In the last nine months I have heard plenty about what non-Aussies think of Australia. It can be very interesting to hear what other people think of your country (UNLESS YOU ARE AMERICAN – HAHA – jks…). I’ve been surrounded by Italians, all of whom love Australia and inevitably say three things when they hear I’m Australian: “Sydney,” “belle spiagge” (beatiful beaches) and “canguro” (you better be able to translate that one yourself). Plenty of Italians tell me I’m crazy for wanting to live in Italy and I even had an Italian host mother earnestly beg me to return home for the sake of my future and that of my unborn children (deadset true).

Since I’ve been OUT of Australia and away from Australians, I’ve begun to notice (and appreciate with a new vigour) all the unusual things Australians do and say, aswell as the wonderful uniqueness of our country. I’ve made friends from all over the world and it’s only when they ask what on earth I’m talking about, or comment on my pronunciation or the word I’ve used, that I notice I’ve said anything particularly “Australian.”

These youtube clips about Australia and Australians are hilarious and sum it all up better than I can. Watch and enjoy 🙂