St. George Down Under

Assimilation

March 28, 2009 at 11:08 pm (Uncategorized) (assimilate, assimilation, australia house parties, macquarie, sex, sexuality, The Ranch, UBar, virgin)

This past Friday was a wonderful day, which was somewhat of a surprise to me; I wasn’t expecting it to be much. I had been planning on visiting the Blue Mountains, but those plans were dashed due to the fact that I had to submit a paper that morning at 9am.  I woke up at 8 to get the paper turned in on time, then returned to my room and fell asleep until about 11:30.

As I was walking to class to turn in the paper I  was so comforted… it was finally raining! My Aussie friends think that I’m a bit crazy because I’ve been hoping for rain. In Eugene this time of year it rains about three times a week, so to be in a place where it doesn’t rain for weeks, with incredible, sunny weather just puts me on edge. I’m not kidding! I feel a little stressed and annoyed, and when it rains and the air gets all thick and cool, ahh…I am at home.

I met Mona on campus at around 12:30 and had a burger and hot chips. Normally these would be mundane details, but I’ve got to explain the hot chips! Yes, it is true that they are just french fries, but man are they good! They put some kind of garlic salt on them, along with a bit of sugar, and the tomato sauce (ketchup) is sweetened with sugar as well. Those are some of the best fries I’ve had!

After eating we tossed the disc a bit. I attempted to teach her forehand and she surprisingly got it down quickly! She was having such a great time with it, saying “Oh, this is so much fun!” and being shocked when I threw an inside-out or any throw other than a straight-forward backhand or forehand. It was great!

She had to leave after a little bit, but my friend Reese texted me and invited me to the UBar (University Bar) at three to have a beer with a coworker of his. I had one beer while they downed 4 or 5, and talked about everything with them. It was cool meeting Ashley. She’s a kindred spirit. She’s incredibly open about everything, almost as if she’s one of the boys, but hot, and able to speak about anything with ease. Oh, and she has a bf, so yeah. (Thanks Reese! You introduce me to all these babes, who just happen to be taken. UGH.)

As they kept drinking the conversation naturally turned to one of sex and sexuality. As they were talking they would look at me, in a sort of “You know what I mean?” way. After a few of these looks I said, “You know, this will probably blow you away, but I’m actually a virgin. So…”

“I can see that”, Reese quipped. He has been somewhat surprised of my lack of experience with drinking, therefore the lack of sex made sense. I wasn’t made fun of or bagged on. They just said things like, “Sometimes I wish I’d have waited,” and kept on repeating, “That’s hard. That’s hard.”

At one point I was advised to continue to wait, as I had made it this far. I thought that was quite profound. How rare is it for people to say something of that nature, instead of trying to tear you down by talking about how amazing sex is and how weird you are for being a virgin. These people are true friends. (They did end up saying, though, “You should lose your virginity to someone in Australia!!! That would be so awesome!” Yeah, to somebody I would probably never see again. Awesome.)

At around 6 or 6:30 Reese and Ashley decided that they had had enough. Reese wanted to drunkenly throw the disc around so we walked out to the lawn area. Boy did it pain me to play catch with them, let me tell you! I attempted to teach Reese how to throw a forehand, but his throws just kept on blading into the grass. It was a new disc before last night, but alas, not anymore. After a while it started to get dark and a little chilly so we headed inside.

At this point it was about 8:00 pm and the stomachs started to growl. We headed to The Ranch, a hotel/club/grill for a bite, and Reese proceeded to spill a full beer on himself. His American cousin Sean met us there. He’s a pretty cool dude, and it was good to have a fellow American there to join me in saying, “You say it like THAT? That’s now how you’re supposed to say that!” The plan was to go to a birthday/house party, but as the pasta wasn’t sitting too well with me I felt as though I should head back. I thought about it a bit more and decided that I should go to the party even if I felt like crap. I hadn’t been to an Australian house party yet and felt that I needed to go. (Once again, another example of my personal transformation. In the past I would have played it safe and went home, but I thought, “If I don’t go to this I will regret it. And what’s the worse that can happen?” I’m proud of myself!)

Ashley and I at The Ranch.

The party was pretty lame (as Reese had warned) but it nevertheless was an awesome experience. Sean is from the East Coast so it was cool going to a party completely representing America…West Side and East Side! They were pumpin’ Kanye’s Late Registration, so there was a comfort factor in that, and I met a few people that I will be seeing again next week at Reese’s 19th-birthday blowout. There were a few people dancing, but it was mostly a party of talking and drinking. I had some wonderful homemade Sushi as well, and even though I felt physically terrible from the pasta it was still a good time.

Reese, Ashley and I at the party.

The dynamics of an Australian house party (at least this house party) are much different than what we have on campus in America. Here virtually no uni students live on campus, therefore most “house parties” are at a parent-owned residence. This was the case last night. The girl’s mom and dad were there, as well as her grandmother! 

Another difference is the drinking age. It was very weird for me to see people younger than myself walking around with beers in front of parents and grandparents, but, as it is legal, apparently it is also chill. I don’t know if it is the people or the culture, but it also seemed as though getting drunk wasn’t the point of the party, which many times is the case in America. Though I have heard my Aussie friends say, “Let’s get f***ed up tonight!” It must just have been the people…I’ll report back as I go to more Aussie parties!

Looking back on that night, that experience really made me feel as though I’m assimilating with the Australian people instead of just being on campus and playing the role of a tourist. This is why I am here. It is fun to go to the zoo, take a million pictures of the Opera House and go to the Rocks, but you learn so much more and it is so much more fulfilling when you immerse yourself in legitimate Australian culture. These experiences are what make truly lasting memories.

Oh, and I also rode shotgun for the first time in Oz. It was very weird as I felt I should have been driving, sitting on the left side of the car. Trippy!