The last two months since school started have been much more frenzied than I expected. Maybe it’s because I incorrectly set my student-life expectations or I’ve become too accustomed to having a schedule and direction, but I’ve felt continually frazzled without actually doing or achieving much. And so, I could not be more thankful for this Thanksgiving holiday and chance to catch my breath.
A few things I’ve learnt since moving to the US:
- Pumpkins are a big thing (literally) here. I went to a pumpkin festival that was dedicated to all things pumpkin (pumpkin beer!), including a (the?) World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-off. The winner and runner-ups to this contest were massive and oddly-shaped. They also had bands playing American country music, which rounded out what I thought was a pretty stereotypical American day.
- People take Halloween as seriously as they imply in the movies. We went to a Halloween Party and were probably the only group that weren’t fully dressed up in some costume. Note: lesson for next year.
- I don’t think I’ll ever understand how American football works. It’s more technical and tactical than I gave it credit for, but because it takes so long for a game to finish, I can’t see myself having the patience to sit through and really learn it.
- Amazon is a pretty phenomenal and convenient service and I’m excited to see it roll-out in Australia.
- The standard of casual and semi-casual food offerings is underwhelming. I’ll never take the food in Sydney and Melbourne for granted again!
- Payment systems are surprisingly less advanced (in my opinion) than they are in Sydney. I can’t remember the last Australian credit card that didn’t come with contactless technology and every retailer seems to accept tap-and-pay but here, my new credit card is only as advanced as having a chip and I frequently need to sign for small purchases. Frustrating (and inconvenient).
- I learnt rudimentary Python. It was necessary for this class I’m taking, but nonetheless, there’s been progress on this front.
Lucky &New 