Melbourne becomes new home

A week after the last week of classes, I have reached a point where I have lived in Melbourne for so long that life back in sunny Los Angeles seems foreign. I have grown accustomed to looking the wrong way for cars coming down the road, counting my coins to pay four Australian dollars for laundry and going from stall to stall in the mornings to pick up groceries at Queen Victoria Market. While on the phone with my mom walking back to my apartment from school, she asked where I was going. My instant response was, “I’m going home.” Acclimation took some time, but now I think I have reached a point where the experience has felt less like an extended trip to a new country and more like a move to a new home.

Through its eccentricities and novelties, Melbourne has delivered as the most livable city, a title it was given by The Economist. Though the weather here has been far from perfect, and I remain indisposed at the thought of my tram ticket, I still believe the months I have spent here thus far have exposed me to a lifestyle that at first seemed alien.

I have had almost too much time to learn the ins and outs of the city. I can recite the streets in tandem throughout the central business district and point out where great sandwich joints, coffee shops and stores sit. I have a gym routine, surprisingly, and probably one with the least amount of money I will ever spend going to the gym. L.A., on the other hand, is full of expensive workout crazes to which I have effectively sold my soul. When I travel on the weekends around Australia, I get excited to return to my bed in Melbourne. Though the people I have met are hard to part with, the amount of comfort offered in the city will make me miss Melbourne almost as much. The laid-back and carefree nature of Australian culture stands in opposition to my usual on-edge personality; my excitement to constantly be doing something and inability to sit still is an anomaly in Aussie life.

This at-ease nature presents itself in a variety of situations. The other day, a block away from my building, the police apprehended a man bearing a meat cleaver in the street. The area was immediately quarantined, but the police response departed from what the response would have been should the same episode have occurred in America. Instead of using force to subdue the man, the officers waited for the situation to calm down. While this instance marked the success of a non-violent police force, I shudder to think if other examples would have had a similar result. I’m comforted by the fact that crime rates here are relatively low.

I’ve also noticed that Australians are notorious for their abbreviations. In fact, if the word is longer than four letters, the Australians have probably come up with an abbreviation for it. At this point I am waiting for my name to be abbreviated. Friends have joked about just how extensive the list gets; little did I know that the humor reflects reality. Several store clerks or baristas address customers with, “How you doing s’arvo?” The translation is, “How are you doing this afternoon?” believe it or not. Abbreviations also apply to food including “spag bol” for spaghetti bolognese, “breky” for breakfast and more. I have picked up a couple here and there, but hopefully when I leave this habit stays behind.

I noticed several of my other habits have changed to match Aussie lifestyle. At home, I am accustomed to getting the majority of my work done at night time, and my favorite place to study is coffee shops around town. Eateries, especially cafes, here are notorious for closing early, with the latest closing at 5 p.m. Though the coffee is incredible, it is unfortunately only available at 7-Eleven after that time. I have flipped my schedule, frequenting places earlier in the day to get work done, and have found places to visit regularly.

In these next weeks of studying for exams, I’ve come to realize just how difficult it will be to part from my lifestyle here. It is difficult to balance missing my actual home with fearing just how much I’ll miss my Australian home. I struggle to even talk about the idea of returning to Los Angeles, but it comes closer each week. In anticipation, I plan to spend my final weeks abroad enjoying as much as I can of Melbourne.

Nika Shahery is a junior majoring in international relations and policy, planning and development. Her column, “Aussie Adventure,”
runs Thursdays.