Tomorrow will mark 2 months of my time here in the States and what an experience it has been so far. As promised in today’s edition I will explore how to speak and be American and gain the locals trust through use of common vernacular, slang terms and behaviours that are common here.
Let’s start with the basics, I have already been called out when I referred to flip-flops as thongs the old el classico when you think of things that they say different. I can no longer just chuck on my trackie dacks because here you wear sweat pants and a sweat shirt. One of the smaller differences which has really thrown me is when you say thank you to people here it is not uncommon for them to say “aha” or “yes” in reply to your thanks instead of a ‘you’re welcome’ or no worries which I am used to. Then as you would expect certain words cause confusion simply because of my smooth accent, words such as “thirteen” or even my name itself have caused unease because of the way we enunciate the “t” and “d” sounds, it is quite comical when two people can be saying the same word but they don’t think they are because of the accents – this has happened in the case of my name several times. And to finish a sentence here you place a period at the end not a full stop and brackets are called parentheses, this one I just think is ridiculous but nevertheless you endure.
Scones here are called a biscuit, see saws are referred to as teetor totters which really grabbed my attention when I figured it out and if you say to someone I want to get new ping pong bats they look at you like you’re crazy as they only use paddles here. Don’t get me started on the rule differences for American 8 ball pool (billiards) it’s as if they just make it up as they go. I’ve had to get used to walking on the opposite side of walkways around campus but even when you do that someone will probably still try and run into you as the rules of the universe states. I have although successfully ridden a bike around campus roads on the right side and have not been honked or crashed yet so that’s a win!
From the Volleyball side of things, tomorrow we will begin practicing every day Monday-Friday and have 2 sessions of yoga away from the court to taper off from our 6 weeks of heavy lifting that finished up very well. I know that with practice every day the challenge to keep niggles and muscle soreness away gets ten times harder but I think with the motivation to keep improving amongst this team I will get my point of relieving and rolling in to make sure I can maximise my improvement in this first training phase.
The academic/college side of things is chugging along with midterms scattered around for everyone and papers/projects due amongst your normal classes. Some of the guys in the team who are doing difficult majors do a good job of making it seem quite manageable around practices etc. My roommate however who is an aerospace engineering major does not make it seem easy and studies very hard and often he is up till the early hours of the morning… on weekdays! So as long as you don’t do aerospace engineering you’ll be fine. However it all really depends on how well you want to do at school and it is definitely more than possible to do that and play your sport; because that is why you come here so you can do both at the same time.
Part of college as hard as it may be, is living without your mum; or as they say “mom”. You have to shop for clothes by yourself and do your own laundry and then wash your sheets and make your bed; who I am kidding with no one complaining about my bed being made it does not magically make itself each morning. So don’t worry all you boys reading this because if you come to college you can leave your bed untouched after you sleep and no one will tell you otherwise. However girls do tend to notice the smell and appearance of your room much more than other guys so you have to be strategic about when you clean/vacuum etc.
Well I think I’m about out of things to say right now, once you get into rhythm here its much like anywhere else the weeks blend together and there’s not much more to tell you. Although I’m sure with practices starting every day the weeks will feel a little bit longer and the weekends that much more of a blessing. Well next weekend at least because after that we have four weekends in a row with practice matches and after that stretch is the famous thanksgiving holiday here which I am looking forward to as I’m told it’s a 5 day weekend simply for eating. Eating food cooked in a home not the dining halls here on campus so I am looking forward to it immensely.
Once again I hope this gives everyone a detailed insight into college life and everything that goes with it. Stay safe and enjoy the sun as it starts to heat up in Melbourne as it has only just started to get cold here but I now own winter boots and a winter jacket so I am ready for winter! I’ll leave you with a common and interesting American sign – off.
“Best”,
Darcy Taig
Let’s start with the basics, I have already been called out when I referred to flip-flops as thongs the old el classico when you think of things that they say different. I can no longer just chuck on my trackie dacks because here you wear sweat pants and a sweat shirt. One of the smaller differences which has really thrown me is when you say thank you to people here it is not uncommon for them to say “aha” or “yes” in reply to your thanks instead of a ‘you’re welcome’ or no worries which I am used to. Then as you would expect certain words cause confusion simply because of my smooth accent, words such as “thirteen” or even my name itself have caused unease because of the way we enunciate the “t” and “d” sounds, it is quite comical when two people can be saying the same word but they don’t think they are because of the accents – this has happened in the case of my name several times. And to finish a sentence here you place a period at the end not a full stop and brackets are called parentheses, this one I just think is ridiculous but nevertheless you endure.
Scones here are called a biscuit, see saws are referred to as teetor totters which really grabbed my attention when I figured it out and if you say to someone I want to get new ping pong bats they look at you like you’re crazy as they only use paddles here. Don’t get me started on the rule differences for American 8 ball pool (billiards) it’s as if they just make it up as they go. I’ve had to get used to walking on the opposite side of walkways around campus but even when you do that someone will probably still try and run into you as the rules of the universe states. I have although successfully ridden a bike around campus roads on the right side and have not been honked or crashed yet so that’s a win!
From the Volleyball side of things, tomorrow we will begin practicing every day Monday-Friday and have 2 sessions of yoga away from the court to taper off from our 6 weeks of heavy lifting that finished up very well. I know that with practice every day the challenge to keep niggles and muscle soreness away gets ten times harder but I think with the motivation to keep improving amongst this team I will get my point of relieving and rolling in to make sure I can maximise my improvement in this first training phase.
The academic/college side of things is chugging along with midterms scattered around for everyone and papers/projects due amongst your normal classes. Some of the guys in the team who are doing difficult majors do a good job of making it seem quite manageable around practices etc. My roommate however who is an aerospace engineering major does not make it seem easy and studies very hard and often he is up till the early hours of the morning… on weekdays! So as long as you don’t do aerospace engineering you’ll be fine. However it all really depends on how well you want to do at school and it is definitely more than possible to do that and play your sport; because that is why you come here so you can do both at the same time.
Part of college as hard as it may be, is living without your mum; or as they say “mom”. You have to shop for clothes by yourself and do your own laundry and then wash your sheets and make your bed; who I am kidding with no one complaining about my bed being made it does not magically make itself each morning. So don’t worry all you boys reading this because if you come to college you can leave your bed untouched after you sleep and no one will tell you otherwise. However girls do tend to notice the smell and appearance of your room much more than other guys so you have to be strategic about when you clean/vacuum etc.
Well I think I’m about out of things to say right now, once you get into rhythm here its much like anywhere else the weeks blend together and there’s not much more to tell you. Although I’m sure with practices starting every day the weeks will feel a little bit longer and the weekends that much more of a blessing. Well next weekend at least because after that we have four weekends in a row with practice matches and after that stretch is the famous thanksgiving holiday here which I am looking forward to as I’m told it’s a 5 day weekend simply for eating. Eating food cooked in a home not the dining halls here on campus so I am looking forward to it immensely.
Once again I hope this gives everyone a detailed insight into college life and everything that goes with it. Stay safe and enjoy the sun as it starts to heat up in Melbourne as it has only just started to get cold here but I now own winter boots and a winter jacket so I am ready for winter! I’ll leave you with a common and interesting American sign – off.
“Best”,
Darcy Taig
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