New Friends

3/13/2012

Today in our Australia class we had a panel of Australian’s come in and answer questions. It was interesting to hear some of what they had to say about Australian’s and their culture. One interesting thing that they talked about was voice inflection. Australians tend to end their sentences on and up, as if asking approval for their thought or idea. Americans tend to end sentences on a down, making things more of a statement. So without even realizing it, Australians can deem us arrogant just by the way we change our voice. When we end on a down it makes things seem like it has been decided and there is no more discussion.

After class I had some time to kill before my next class. I went to a little café called The Bakehouse with a few Aussie girls, Rahil, Vicki Julie, Hannah, and others. Rahil was one of the first girls I met at orientation. We’re kind of buds now. I had already packed a lunch but I wanted to get a drink so I went and I got an Iced Coffee. Not what I was expecting. It was more like a milkshake, with lots of heavy whipped cream, very little coffee, and no iced involved. It was bizarre. But I’ve come to notice that everything here is just thicker and richer than in America. It was really delicious but I do NOT want to know how many calories are in it.

Sarah had brought her guitar to school today so we ate lunch and sang random songs acoustically. Then I went to class and hung out with the people in there. The following class was canceled so I got to go home early. And on my way home I did the unthinkable:

I befriended a school girl! 

There is a handful of girls that I see at the bus stop everyday and I have started recognizing them. Anyway, I sort of struck up a conversation with one and she was delightful. Her name is Gabby, and I got to hear a little bit about her life before I had to hop on the bus home. 

After talking to Gabby I was feeling pretty good. I saw a guy who was wearing a Lakers hat and a Lakers dog tag necklace, so I figured he was familiar with L.A. I decided I was going to try to talk to him. I mean, I just made friends with a school girl. I was on fire. 

The conversation went a little something like this:

Me: “Oh, are you a Lakers fan?”

Random guy: “What?”

Me: “The Lakers, are you a fan?”

Random guy: “Oh…uh…hmm mumble mumble"

And that was the end of that. He basically just looked at me all confused. Which made me confused. If you’re going to wear the merch., you best be able to talk about it brah. 

The Lakers thing was really my only talking point and since he wasn't having any of it, we just sort of sat awkwardly across from each other for the remainder of the ride. Luckily my stop wasn't very far. But it was a pretty uncomfortable 4 minutes.