Sydneysider 2018

Before coming to Australia, I had to visit the Australian Department of Immigration and Border Control’s website. My purpose then was to apply for a visitor visa, but I was pulled in by the site’s pleasant visual display and its quickly accessible information. I eventually ended up on a webpage detailing how to become a permanent resident in Australia, one who remains a citizen of another country but has a permanent visa to live in Australia. Permanent residents can then become Australian citizens through a separate process. I was mostly interested in this because I am a permanent resident in the United States, and have undergone the process with my parents to apply for this status. My curiosity was piqued in the differences between the two countries’ policies. However, this all occurred before I came to Australia and I quickly put the topic of immigration out of my mind unless it directly involved me and my visa.             I...

Student loans and debt are an ongoing issue within the United States. According to US News, the average Bachelor’s degree holder takes 21 years to pay off his or her loans; However,  under federal income-based repayment options, any remaining debt will be forgiven after twenty years. Still, numerous stories across the United States have shown it takes some people 25, maybe even 30 years, to pay off their loans. A Bachelor’s degree adds tremendous value towards one’s career in America, but we typically find people spending the early years of their adult life on plan to pay off their loans instantly. After earning a Bachelor’s degree, an entry-level job is standard, with an average salary that may increase over time. This might make the early years of one’s career quite difficult in paying back student loans, along with the students who take it a step further to pursue graduate programs. Here in Australia, there appears to be a unique difference in both the student loan and appli...

As we have arrived in Cairns I was wondering more and more about how Australians view environmentalism, especially as one of the world’s natural wonders is right in their backyard. The Great Barrier Reef is being severely affected by climate change and as a result is slowly dying. After being in Sydney where it seemed like the city was trying to be especially environmentally conscious I wondered how it may have translated to preserving and saving the reef. While we were on the boat out to the Great Barrier Reef I got the opportunity to talk to a marine biologist about the reef and some environmentalism. I thought she might have an interesting perspective on how Australia affects the marine life. She provided me with a lot of information about the reef itself and the process by which it is dying. I initially heard her talking about how at deeper depths in the ocean the reef has more or less begun to recover from the adverse effects of climate change. While, the reef in the shallower ...

As a class, throughout this trip we have explored various forms of Australian art from different authors and time periods—analyzing poetry, paintings, and songs with the depth of literary analysis.  Because our coursework has a strong focus in English, this class is able to view art through an academic lens.  As such, our approach to artwork as American college students made me wonder how Australians themselves view Australian art.  The man I chose to interview about this topic is named Brian Bozorg.  He is the shopkeeper of the Gannon House Gallery in the Rocks, a shop that sells Indigenous artwork.  Brian, though not an artist himself, definitely sees the importance of art.  He views it as a creative work that depends on one’s imagination, as something very beautiful to look at.  He also said art was a means of expressing yourself politically any way you like, for people will receive a message better if it’s visual.  Our class has seen this exp...

Having always lived in a country where the drinking age is 21, the drinking environment and culture in Australia was noticeably different as soon as I stepped onto the plane in Los Angeles. The legal age to purchase and consume alcoholic beverages here, like much of the world, is 18. This, was not news to me, however upon entering a local bar in Sydney a large sign declaring their fairly new law caught my eye. It gave very specific instructions about when bartenders could serve drinks throughout the night and how many. No more than four drinks or any kind of shot can be served after midnight and no more than two drinks can be sold to a customer after 2am. This new policy has the intention of decreasing alcohol related violence and the number of people going home too intoxicated. It was first enforced in July 2014 following a fatal assault of a teenager outside of a bar (Nicholls, 2014). I have never seen such specific serving laws anywhere in the United States and was very curious a...