Australia vs Poland – what surprised me when I moved to Oz

Australia vs Poland – what surprised me when I moved to Oz

       I came from Poland and this what I found surprising in Australia. I have been living in Australia for a couple of years now. I absolutely love it for its amazing weather, beach, and outdoor lifestyle.

  • Greetings/Small Talk – In Oz people greet each other even when they don’t know each other. In Poland people don’t talk to strangers nor really ask people they barely know how they are doing or what they have been up to recently. Polish folks keep to themselves. So when I came to Australia I was impressed how people great each other and spark conversations not knowing each other at all.

In Australia, small talks literally happens everywhere, whether you are ordering your coffee or attending a job interview. This is something that can be a little bit odd for Europeans /Poles, however I personally love the friendliness of Australians.

Watsons Bay, Sydney

 

  • Outdoor lifestyle – Australia is blessed with fantastic weather. Sunshine all year round creates a great outdoor vibe. For example, people tend to spend a lot of time at outdoor venues and bars drinking beer. In Poland, our weather is not so fabulous most of the time, so we have more of an indoor lifestyle. A lot of Aussies are very active in sports: surfing, boogie boarding, and stand up paddle boarding are all very popular water sports.

Polish girl in Sydney

 

  • Honesty – Polish people are very straight forward, however in Australia you keep a rather positive outlook, putting on a happy face. Australians might think Polish people are serious and intimidating at times, but always being so honest and speaking your mind is a strong cultural norm in Poland. In Australia when asked, “How are you?” you should reply, “Great!” But if start saying things are not that great, no one really expects that kind of answer and won’t know how to carry on the conversation.

 

  • Food – There is a big difference in the cuisine from Australia compared to Polish or even Eastern European food norms. Not all that long ago I couldn’t have imagine having salad for a dinner or lunch meal. Having lived most of my life in Poland, I ate a lot of meat, potatoes, and cabbage, which was quite standard. Here in Australia we have a big influence of Asian fusion cuisine with a lot of Asian grocery shops and amazing affordable restaurants, not to mention the quality of seafood which is excellent. These days my diet consists mostly of different kinds of salads and greens. The warmer climate of Australia makes eating lighter food much more realistic than compared to Eastern Europe.

yummy food

 

  • Multiculturalism – I remember after coming to Australia, I met people from all over the world. I absolutely loved it because that was something very different from Poland, where there is strong homogenization of society.

girls in australia

 

  • Friendships – There is a slight difference in friendships style here in Australia than compared to Poland. The most common style is to have a lot of friends, but not many close friendships. It is the opposite in Poland where you usually have 2 or 3 really close friends.

Multiculturalism

 

 

  • Work culture – One thing that is very different from Poland to Australia is the work culture. On a regular Friday in Australia, you will socialize not only with your colleagues, but with your managers and sometimes your bosses as well. It is quite common to be going out for business lunches with managers.

 

 

  • Laid back attitude – In Australia, a laid back attitude flows through many of aspects of life; you can feel an overall positive and no fuss approach. This is something very different to Poles, as we tend to be rather serious and not that positive (probably because of the gloomy weather).

Nielsen Beach Australia

 

  • Walking in flip flops everywhere – This was one of the first strange things that made me think how exotic Australia was. I arrived in August which was the middle of the Aussie Winter (Sydney, approximately 15C). I noticed people wearing jackets, scarfs and… flip flops. You would never see that in Poland. It is very common here to walk in flip flops everywhere, even to work, and then just change your shoes.

 

  • Handsome men.. 😉

 

 

 

This post is also available in: Polish

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