AUSTRALIA -BRISBANE

Australia! Quite hard to integrate. Quite hard to understand. Quite a bigger cultural difference than I first expected. Quite hot. Quite  high humidity. Quite good people. Quite friendly people. I like the Australians.

During my stay in Brisbane, there was a lot that was unfamiliar for me. There are a lot of Asian people who travel in groups that makes it nearly impossible for me to enter this bubble and socialise with them. I absolutely can understand them, if they do not want to change the language just for one guy when they already have their friends but for me, it was difficult. That is still unfamiliar because we (I mean where I a from)  would not exclude someone, we would try to integrate the person or whatever.

Punctuality became unfamiliar. The new familiar is unpunctuality. The Australians or in general here in Australia not everyone is punctual and ready on time. In my opinion it is very important to be at least 5 minutes before an appointment start ready there. It is better to wait 5 minutes by myself then let others wait for me. That is my cultural background, I learnt it from my parents, and it will hopefully come back when I am in Switzerland back again😊

The first five to six group meetings, classes, dates or whatever, I was there five minutes before the appointment. I waited more than five minutes, because the people there have no Swiss watches😉 for example: A group meeting was defined to start at 2pm. I was ready at 1:55pm with my laptop, filled water bottle and so on. The other guys arrived between 2pm and 2:10pm and they had to fill their bottle, to go to toilet and stuff like this. At this time, I was already in a bad mood because I thought I could do better stuff than waiting for them. I asked them after a few times, why there are not on time. Their answer was: What? We were on time! I realised that punctuality is a flexible term which can be understood in different ways. I thought then for myself, that I have to change my punctuality to “unpunctuality”, otherwise I am all the time in a bad mood during the meetings or appointments. It was easier than I first expected, I just realised how easy it can be to just take time and not rush for any meeting. I started to be most unpunctual in our group. Quite an achievement😊 I think it just needed some time to adjust the lifestyle and go with the Australian style and living it like they do. In the end, it is same but different. There was also a good technique to stay unpunctual. I do not wear my Swiss watch anymore😊 It helps to forget the Swiss punctuality.

The unfamiliar became familiar. When I first arrived, it was a nightmare. I really do not like to wait for people when we defined an exact time. Nevertheless, I get used to the unpunctuality and I am very happy with it.  However, I hope that the punctuality will come back as soon as I am back in Switzerland, otherwise the Swiss people are not happy with my unpunctuality.

To sum up, I just realised how happy I am in Australia. It needed time to adjust, but it became familiar. I start to like Australia, Brisbane and the lifestyle here. It is a shame that I have to go back, as soon as I get the feeling of home.

Cheers

Luc Fitzi