This week in Sydney was filled with adventures, where we learned a lot about new experiences and cultural norms here in Australia. On Tuesday, us Bucknell students were fortunate enough to meet with Mr. Tony Massaro, a Bucknell alumni and a partner at KordaMentha Real Estate. Tony told us his unorthodox and inspiring story of how he got into real estate. He first started out in the army after graduating college because he participated in ROTC during his time at Bucknell. Eventually, Tony followed his passion into real estate, which taught all of us to always follow our passions, even if they may not seem apparent at first. Another lesson Tony taught us was to travel the world while you’re young. In life, you can either have an abundance or money or an abundance of time. As you get older, the money might be there, but you can’t get back time and the gift of youth. So, it is important to spend your time wisely when you’re young. Tony inspired us to always work hard towards your passions and to explore the world, while we can. After our meeting with Tony, we decided to visit the Sydney Opera House during the sunset. Seeing the opera house at that hour was beautiful and it was amazing seeing how many people were there taking in the scenery.
On Sunday, we were also able to go on a boat around Sydney Harbor to watch the sunset and fireworks to celebrate Australia Day. It was cool seeing another culture, and it reminded me of how us Americans celebrate the 4th of July. After doing a little more research, I learned that Australia Day is celebrated to honor the anniversary of the first arrival of British Colonizers at Sydney Cove in 1788. This day is considered the founding of the first permanent European settlement in Australia. However, there is controversy over this holiday, as some Australian natives find that this holiday celebrates an invasion of their home and their communities. All in all, it was very interesting seeing everyone gather together to celebrate a national holiday in a foreign country.
Lastly, I wanted to talk about a smaller experience/interaction I had at the barbershop this week. The barbers were both British and Australian and when I told them I was American, they started saying how Americans are obnoxious, overconfident, and annoying. I let them keep talking and just laughed along to hear what they were saying. To rationalize with their opinion, one of the other barbers told a story of how the early American schooling system changed their tests to multiple choice to make the schooling easier and to raise the confidence of young Americans; ultimately leading to the overconfidence of Americans. I found this story interesting and when you put the pieces together, it does kind of add up. Now I’m sure that there may be some exaggerations on both sides of the story, but it’s funny how the world can perceive people differently. It’s difficult to point out or realize flaws when you live somewhere for your whole life, and it has become the norm for you. The culture here is much different than back in America and people act differently here too, which opened my eyes to how different places in the world have different lifestyles and tendencies. I just thought this conversation was interesting and some food for thought.
