Top 5 observations for Australians moving to the US.

Photo by Pascal Meier on Unsplash

Picture this.

It’s January 2020, we’re living in Adelaide Australia, we have a 3yr old daughter, I’m 5mths pregnant with my second child, my husband accepts a US job offer to move to Arizona and the company wants us to move over as soon as possible. Mad panic ensues. I count back the weeks to give us a ‘must leave by so I don’t birth on the plane’ date, then start frantically researching birthing centres, kindergartens, family-friendly neighbourhoods, and workshop ways to tell my Mother I’m moving her grandkids to the other side of the world.

We start putting all our plans in place, schedule farewells, and an impromptu wedding (we were only engaged at the time), then COVID explodes and all our plans disappear as quickly as toilet paper from the grocery aisles.

Fast forward almost 18mths and we finally landed in Tucson in May 2021.

Like anyone who sets up a home in a new country, there have been multiple occasions where I’ve either been delighted, dismayed, or perplexed by my new surroundings (sometimes all in 15 minutes). That’s one of my favourite things about traveling — discovering new cultures, understanding how things work, hearing different perspectives, and marveling at the little things.

Here are my Top 5 observations since moving stateside:

1. Americans don’t have potty mouths like us Aussies. Sure, we don’t go dropping F-bombs in every sentence, but phrases such as “oh for f*ck’s sake…. well that’s a bit shit… what the bloody hell is going on?” wouldn’t be unusual, nor frowned upon, coming out of any Aussie’s mouth on any given day. Americans by contrast seem quite demure in their cussing. My favourite is “oh cheese and crackers.”
2. I’m not sure if it’s America-wide or just Tucson, but holding a mobile phone while driving is a thing. Car swerving in front of you? Holding a mobile phone. Car sitting at a green light in front of you? Holding a mobile phone. Car not moving up in the school pick-up line? Holding a mobile phone. This is not something that seems to be policed in Tucson. In Australia, you’ll be fined between $350 — $1,000 and lose 3–4 demerit points (depending on the state) and police are actively on the lookout.
3. Speaking of driving, the most obvious difference is Americans drive on the right side of the road. Contrary to what you might think, it’s an easy switch. Walking to the left side of the car to get in the driver’s seat is far more difficult to master (it took me a good 6 months). But that ‘right side’ mentality also extends to being a pedestrian. In Australia it’s standard to move to the left when passing on an escalator, passing someone in the street, or when you do that ‘you go, no you go’ jig in the grocery aisle. We also walk up stairs and queue on the left-hand side. This principle works beautifully in America when you’re walking in the same direction. Walking in the opposite direction, however, has led to multiple head-on collisions.
4. Light switches are upside down in America. In Australia, you flick down to turn a light on, and up to turn a light off. We also write our dates day/month/year, not month/day/year. And we use the metric system, so have no idea how far a mile is or how much a pound weighs. I have given many blank stares at the deli counter when asked “how much would you like?”.
5. We have different versions of the Happy Birthday song. I have two small children, so there seems to be a birthday party almost every weekend. Imagine my surprise when we were singing to a friend of my daughter’s and at the end of the song when I enthusiastically yelled “hip, hip” I was met with a bunch of raised eyebrows and silence (not the “hooray” I was expecting).

There are loads of other little differences in the lexicon which still amuse me daily — it’s carrrrrrrmel not car-a-mel, it’s a trash can not a rubbish bin, it’s a shopping cart not a shopping trolley, and its a trunk not a boot.

But my favourite is calling a Golden Retriever x Poodle a Golden Doodle instead of a Groodle (look up the Aussie slang for doodle if you’re not following).

I still smirk every time.

Thanks for reading!