Culture Shock: An Australian living in the US

In 2005 I went to the US with my family on an exchange program. We lived in Chicago, San Jose, Salt Lake City, Provo and San Diego; and visited many more places.

The experience was much different to what I expected, not withstanding some 6 previous short visits to the US. Most Australians think that our culture is about half way between Britain and the US. I thought that too. Now, however I believe Australia is mostly European in its culture.

Following is a table of comparisons, of large and small things.

Australia USA
Bacon Pork Loin (20% fat) Speck, or sliced Belly Fat (80% fat)
Sugar Cane Sugar High Fructose Corn Syrup
Common oil Canola (Rapeseed) Palm Oil
Best Selling Car Toyota Corolla 4 cylinder Ford F150 V8
Driving Side Left Right
Voltage 240 120
Language Commonwealth English American English, Spanish, AAVE
Basis of most visits to other countries Tourists Military
Religious Observance Low High
Universal Health Insurance Yes No
Average Waiting Time to See a Doctor 4 hours 4 weeks
Coffee Cups in Coffee Shops,
when eating in 		China, Porcelain Always styrofoam or paper
(except two places)
Indicate to change lanes Always Rarely, even for the police
Approach to Illegal Immigration The Pacific Solution Government – blind eye, Minutemen – vigilantism
Number of Illegal Immigrants thousands tens of millions
Refugees admitted 42 per 100,000 29 per 100,000
Murders per year 150 15000
Obesity 25% 39%
Standard Dinner Plate 10 inches 12 inches
Measures Metric Imperial
Common Soft Drink Size 375ml 600ml
Bread Wheat, Yeast, Water, Salt Anything but
Number of Biscuit Types hundreds Four – all cookies
Dream The European Dream The American Dream
Percent of time I spend speeding 5%, and only to 10% over the limit 90%, often by more than 25%
Number of times booked for road infractions 8 0
Meat Pies Beef, Chicken, Vegetable Chicken only
Sausages Plain beef, pork and chicken. Many types of continental and Asian sausages Hot Dogs, Bratwurst or Polish
Social Safety Net Comprehensive Minimal
Average Mileage for Cars 20.5MPG 24.7 MPG

The result of these differences was a discomfort that grew through the year as our knowledge of the differences deepened. We gave up eating bread and bacon, and started shopping at organic and foreign food stores. We found that most restaurants were chains, and most chains were supplied by just one supp
lier, Sysco. So, we could either choose to go out and eat at Sysco, or source our own much wider array of groceries and cook at home, which we mostly did. The result was a 2kg net weight loss for the year.

We lived well in the United States but were constantly worried about what could go wrong. Two movies which illustrate the very fears we had are Fun with Dick and Jane, and Crash.

Toward the end of my stay I read a book by Jeremy Rifkin, the famous American social commentator, called ‘The European Dream’. He argues the American Dream is about “rags to riches”, self reliance, risk taking and exploitation of resources. The aim is material wealth. The European Dream is about quality of life, diversity, community and sustainability. The aim is quality of life, which is partly attained through sacrificing some income for more leisure time and a caring community. It seemed to me that this book explained much of what I experienced. Australia is mostly European Dream, except that we share with the US pioneering ideas about exploitation of natural resources, which for both countries at one time appeared unlimited.

It feels good to be home again. It seems others share my view. The Economist Intelligence Unit ranked all five major Australian cities in the top 11. The first US city is at 26. The Pew Global Attitudes Project for 2005 listed Australia and Canada in first place for most desired country to emigrate to, with the US in tenth place.

By Greg Luck

As Terracotta’s CTO, Greg (@gregrluck) is entrusted with understanding market and technology forces and the business drivers that impact Terracotta’s product innovation and customer success. He helps shape company and technology strategy and designs many of the features in Terracotta’s products. Greg came to Terracotta on the acquisition of the popular caching project Ehcache which he founded in 2003. Prior to joining Terracotta, Greg served as Chief Architect at Australian online travel giant Wotif.com. He also served as a lead consultant for ThoughtWorks on accounts in the United States and Australia, was CIO at Virgin Blue, Tempo Services, Stamford Hotels and Resorts and Australian Resorts and spent seven years as a Chartered Accountant in KPMG’s small business and insolvency divisions. He is a regular speaker at conferences and contributor of articles to the technical press.

2 comments

  1. Your experiences mirror my family’s in very similar ways (we spent a year in Northern VA), I’m glad you took the time to comment on them, I always told myself I would and then forgot the more time I spent there. One thing sums up my view of the US: excess. Everything is exessive; cars, wealth, poverty, celebrations, consumerism, etc. While I enjoyed it (and would happily do it again), they have a warped culture that made me glad a had AU to come home to.

  2. Your comments are interesting, and consistent with others who have lived and worked in foreign countries. We all have assumptions about other countries, and even after multiple short visits we may not really understand the cultural differences. Many Western cultures are broadly similar, but when you get down to everyday life in another society, the multitude of small differences can pile up on you.
    I hope your experiences living in the US were positive, on the whole.

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