What are Americans' views of life in Sydney? What's different, what's the same?

Question

http://www.thismodernworld.com/Sydney.html has a nice summary of some differences experienced by the author. Comments?

Answer 1

I visited the area 3 times for an extended period of time. Here'ss the blunt analysis:

-Aussies in general are much more relaxed about everything.
-They are very similar to in their mannerism. (I said I would be blunt mate)
-They are similar to Canadians in their sense of humor, opinions, etc.
-They are much more similar to the Brits than any other country mentioned here (compliment - I love the Brits)
-They are in general much more active outdoors.
-They rely on personal contacts for work, friends, support, etc. much more.
-They have a lot of racial issues comparable to the deep rural south in the US (come on, it was in our lifetime they rescinded the "White Australia" immigration policies).
-The life styles, opinions, standard of living, cost of living, styles and tastes, even the National park system, etc. are extremely similar.
-I could not imagine anyone but the most hard nosed stubborn mule of a person from either country taking more than a few months to fully assimilate into the culture of the other.

Answer 2

From what I understand there are the primary differences in using C instead of F (Americans always use farenheit not celsius). Personality wise from those I interact with they are a lot more laidback then most Americans, but are very similar. Their clothing style and food choices do differ from Sydney to America (they don't have Hershey's chocolate lol) but do have the basics. Being an American I think it would be very easy to convert to being Australian, Australians are so warmhearted (those that I interact with of course). It is hard to really compare the two

Answer 3

Excuse me but Im English(immigrated to Australia when I was 3,born there,my parents were born and lived there for quite a long time and m relatives lives there)but I feel quite offended by you saying that Australians and British people are alike!I HATE Australia(no offense,its jsut not my type of country you know)and I want to go back to England but im stuck here.It would probably be the same in any other country than England tho too.So yeah I jsut get a bit offended by that.Australians are WAY different to Brits trust me i've been living here for 11 years.

Answer 4

In the US it's normal to runover a dear or a squirrel, Americans think that in Sydney you'll prbably runover a Kangaroo or meet crocodile Dundee in a pub or something ;)
http://experienceportugal.blogspot.com/

Answer 5

I see it as very similar except when I go into the "outback" I don't usually have to worry about coming home alive. I get the impression that it is one dangerous place to live.

Answer 6

Soooo good I read it twice!