DOWN UNDER

Jag har äntligen skrivit klart en av mina tre uppsatser, och denna uppsats där jag jämfört sverige och australien, tänkte jag var intressant för er att ta del av. Så, enjoy people... 

 

From the moment I came to Perth I felt like home. The city and its people opened up their arms to me from the very first day. Perth gives me the sense of a big city that feels small, just like Stockholm, where I grew up. Cosy suburbs popping up here and there, suburbs of its very own character build up both cities. For example I can feel the hippie style in Northbridge, as I feel it at Södermalm in Stockholm. Stockholm and Perth has roughly the same size and population - Perth with its 5 386 km² and around 1,9 million inhabitants (ABS, 2012) and Stockholm with its 6 519 km² with around 2 million inhabitants (SCB, 2013). The sense of feeling like home is important for me, as I believe the reason for missing home is extremely strong when not liking a place or feelcomfortable about being there. I haven’t really felt homesickness, but it’s still been a culture change coming here, not really in a negative way, but of course things are different. By spending time in Australia I noticed things that are and aren’t as similar as they might look on the surface.

One thing I really like about Perth is the relaxed lifestyle. A swede, or especially a person from my hometown of Stockholm, can definitely learn a lot from that. Stockholm might have one of the world’s most stressed-out people, living a hectic everyday life, sometimes without knowing why, just caught up by the surrounded chaotic environment. I’ve read it is applicable to bigger cities in general to have a stressful environment (Psychology Today, 2012), but by living in Perth that is seen as a big city I have not noticed the facts. One can give an example of spontaneous walks, comparing my stroll around the city in my own pace in Perth with my strolling around in Stockholm is absent. Every time I come home to Stockholm after spending time abroad or in other cities of Sweden I find myself running to the train even if I have plenty of time. So Perth really dragged me back to the earth, helped me breathe and enjoy being present in every moment. Well… even if I still find myself annoyed by Australians coming late to appointments. That might be a thing a swede always will find inappropriate, as swedes are the very best of plan our day hour by hour and make a list to tick of. I’ve noticed that no one else of my study colleges does that, irrespective of where they come from. I guess that is a natural part of the diverse expectations of how to do or say things in a country. I would have loved to bring home the “take it as it comes-lifestyle”, but I am quite sure of that I soon will re-adopt to my hectic life, as many times before. So I appreciate the moment of living in a relaxed routine as long as I can.

The population of Perth is outgoing. I often find Perth people barbequing at the beach, visiting the beach after work, eating out in the middle of the week, celebrating many public holidays etc. The life quality is high and people are always kind and nice to you. I really appreciate, and still find myself surprised by, the standard phrase ”G’day mate how’s it going?” whenever visiting a store, supermarket or café etc. I’ve found myself talking to cashiers about the weekend, studies and even family. I’ve also remained talking to a cashier for half an hour once. It is rare in Sweden, it is like an unwritten rule to not do so and I don’t think swedes really think about it, until experience the opposite. But I believe that this is about to change. Swedes might be known internationally to be innocent and cold people. I can agree to a certain point, the elder generations might be a bit protective of personal space, but the generation that grow up by now are more outgoing, they travel the world and experience different lifestyles and culture, and apply them to their everyday life when they come home.

I experience that Swedes travel a lot more than Australians. Many of my Australian mates have never ever been outside the boarders, and some haven’t even travelled outside WA. It might be because it’s expensive, but another reason I think is applicable is that many Australians start university early, right after finishing high school, and after university they go on with their career and the time for travelling fade. In Sweden it is rare to start studying directly after high school, many youths take at least one or two year off, and many more work effectively to be able to travel for a longer period before starting university. I can count on one hand how many of my high school mates that went directly to university after fishing high school. Since myself graduated from high school until the day I started university I lived in Spain for half a year and volunteered in Peru and Bolivia. Travel always been a part of my life, I’ve been travelling since I was born and my family and me often go on vacation abroad. Swedes might have it easier for travelling as well, Europe welcome a travel friendly environment, it is easy to travel by plane, bus or train, and transfer from one country in north to another in south in just 4 hours. You don’t even come to Sydney in that amount of time. Therefore Europe gives a great opportunity and also diversity of destinations, for a cheap price.

If I would have lived here/stayed longer and had the money I would have loved to travel around Australia and it’s beautiful landscape. I’ve been travelling a bit on the high way roads in WA and the landscape make me remember home. The similarities I can see are that both Australia and Sweden are surrounded by a lot of untouched nature and unlived land. The northern parts of Sweden are sparsely populated with widespread forest, and in general the cities of Sweden are built up as clusters popping up here and there, with transit roads lead outside cities, very similar to as I experienced it in WA. Both counties have a lot of National Parks and keep out for their environment and urges people to be aware of the surrounded environment. Something that does surprise me though with Australia, a country that has such spread wildlife, is that there are no wild protection fences along high ways to protect animals and drivers. But apart from that the awareness of the environment are considered high.  It was when I saw a high way road sign saying “Keep the Scene Clean” I actually realized how clean Perth (and the little I’ve seen of WA) is. I’ve noticed it extra much around campus, it is always nice and clean and that makes it a great study environment as well.

The environment is also pleasant to enjoy, but I find it hard to hike, to go camping or make a fire wherever you want here in Australia as it must be at certain camping places etc. In Sweden we have something we call Allemansrätten – the right of public access, but this also come along with the responsibility to take care of nature and wildlife while enjoying countryside (Naturvårdsverket, n.d.). Allemansrätten is unique, and is not very widespread in the world, but very known among the Scandinavian countries. Swedes are extremely interested in outdoors activities and Allemansrätten provide a great chance to experience nature to its maximum. Swedes and all people in general visiting Sweden are allowed to for example camp in a pasture for cows as long as it does not disturb the farmer and as long as the campers care for the nature and pick up after themselves. It’s not many people that actually place their tents in a pasture but one can do (Naturvårdsverket, n.d.). In Australia you need to drive to certain places to camp, and these places might not be as cozy “as the place along the beachside…”.

Another thing I really appreciate about Sweden and really miss while I’m here (believe it or not!) is Swedish seasons. I totally love the warmth and the sun that arrived to Perth, but as much do I miss to put on my autumn-jacket and my favorite knee-high boots, and walk through a city of fallen leaves in beautiful colors. I will miss the first snow, the skiing over Christmas, the snowman making and the snowball throwing. Over here the seasons just flow into each other, and there is just two notable seasons, and that does not even include snow during wintertime. It’s kind of odd to talk with Australians about Christmas, you celebrate it in the middle of summer with barbeque on the beach, a swede beg for the snow to come and if it’s not the whole Christmas is ruined. The seasons are actually the biggest difference I can think up while writing this report, and I really appreciate season-changes when I have been abroad.

Well, as said in the beginning of this report I felt small on earth being a swede compared to the big Land of Oz, but with this much experience of travelling outside Swedish borders and the opportunity to be a exchange student, I grow. I grow with my experience. Perth felt like a home to me, and Australia is really one of my top favorite countries and one day I might come back, if someone sends me snow for Christmas.

Resources

ABS. (2012). Western Australia. http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/Products/3218.0~2011-12~Main+Features~Western+Australia.

Find the data. (n.d.). Compare. http://country-facts.findthedata.org/compare/87-178/Australia-vs-Sweden.

 Landguiden/Swedish land guide. (2013). Australien. http://www.landguiden.se/Lander/Oceanien/Australien?p=1

Naturvårdsverket. (n.d.). Right to public access – a unique opportunity. http://www.naturvardsverket.se/Documents/publikationer6400/978-91-620-8522-3.pdf

Psychology Today. (2012). Stress and the city. http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/mind-wandering/201208/stress-and-the-city. 

SCB. (2013). Befolkningsstatistik. http://www.scb.se/Pages/TableAndChart.aspx?id=159277.

UNDP. (2013). Human Development Report 2013. http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/HDR2013_EN_Summary.pdf

World Audit. (2012). Democracy table. http://www.worldaudit.org/democracy.htm.