Some big cultural differences between the U.S. and Australia were how they handled the COVID situation, their outlook on work-life balance, and how involved they are with environmental issues. To begin with, many have heard repeatedly how advanced Australia is in nipping out the COVID-19 virus. They shut down their international borders early, had strict and mandatory stay-in-place procedures, and any outbreaks that did occur, did not last very long. Through my own research, Australia is one of the leading nations in economic growth post-pandemic. The country also had very few COVID deaths, something that I thought would have been substantially higher like the U.S.
Going into the course, I was unaware how well Australia had been doing during the pandemic. I was also shocked at other factors I did not know about the country, such as the huge housing market bubble in the metroplex areas. Some sources, I found, stated that the housing market was a ?boom? while others stated it was a ?bubble? waiting to pop. Australia has some of the most expensive housing in the world, putting the United States rent to shame.
Another aspect I learned about Australia was their view on work-life balance. We had a presentation where a family from Australia stated that the country is very family oriented. Maternity leave in Australia is up to 18 weeks paid while the United States has little to no pay and 12 weeks. The family also stated how friendly the community is around them and how that had helped during the pandemic.
Lastly, Australia has come to terms with their own environmental issues. The aboriginal people have become more prevalent in society and the Australian government has over the years begun the reconciliation with these peoples and their land. Australian society is now starting to see that it is not just humankind taking whatever in sight, but that the land is connected to humankind. We must protect nature at all costs, and it was nice to see how Australia is escalating in cultural and environmental protection policies.
In the end, there were three other takeaways I came across from my peers? presentation about Australia. First and foremost, Australia does not have a lot of fast-food restaurants. If they do, it is pretty expensive to dine there. The reason behind this is because Australia is a very healthy country, meaning that most people cook at home or have fresh food at restaurants. Next, Australia is the smallest continent and largest island ? the sixth largest country by land area. Lastly, Australia is home to thousands of native species of animal and plants not found anywhere else in the world. Nonetheless, some of my favorite moments included cooking traditional shrimp on the barbie and visiting the zoo virtually. Attached are some pictures from both!
Juliet the wombat! She was the cutest animal from the zoo visit in my opinion ??
Our team’s finished dish! We won best shrimp.