When I lived abroad in Australia, there were so many things I missed about California, my home state.
My friends, family, friends…MY TUTUS!!! Obviously…
Within just 4 months of living abroad, I couldn’t help myself racking up the things I missed instead of falling asleep like I told my brain to do! Here are the top 10 things I missed about California when living abroad
Dave & Buster’s
Dave & Buster’s is a bar/restaurant/gaming paradise!! I have spent the past ten years of my life religiously playing, eating, and drinking at this funtastic place. Sydney didnt have this type of fun adventure where I could kick some zombie butt while kicking ass in trivia. Slot machines and general gaming lounges are at every corner down under, therefore kind of taking the place of any other type of adult gaming. Especially, if it doesn’t involve gambling.
Billiards to skeeball to Racing to Zombie killing. You name it, Dave & Buster’s had it.
In Australia….
Billiards to skeeball to Racing to Zombie killing…YOU NAME IT – and they all look at you like a DODO
Del Taco
Now, this one I knew was going to be an issue the second I decided to move here. Del Taco had quite the hold over me, especially at the 3 am hour…some might even call it my kryptonite.
Even though it is really bad… I mean like, really not good quality…most might even say crap. It was the love of my life when out late and I will defend it till us part ( or however vows go?) Carnitas Fries, macho burritos, Mexican pizzas, it’s a drunk Hot Messes dream.
I never found anything like it in Sydney. They had no fast food “Mexican” places I could even compare to. Most 3 am food consisted of kabob stands(which were beyond delicious) but not the fake Mexican food I needed before beddy time. Actually, the kabob stands in Sydney might have done the job… better??? Even better if they had Del Sorcho sauce 🙂
Trader Joe’s
Trader Joe’s is by far the best place IN DAAAA WORLD!!! I grew up going there shopping with my mom to buy chocolate and other stuff (but mostly chocolate). I always imagined that I would meet my future husband there, as we reached for the same coconut water simultaneously, you know, like in those rom-com grocery store movies?
Even though Sydney had many similar stores with unique items and quality items, none of the stores had Trader Joe’s price.
I’d have to meet a husband FIRST who is well off to be even able to afford groceries there, so it really works backward with this “meeting the man of my dreams at the market” scenario.
The Imperial Measurement System
This one kills me. Not because I necessary miss it in the sense I think about it when I am bored, just in the sense of I do not understand the new system therefore I feel retarded. I miss miles, and feet and inches sooooooo soooooo badly. I am starting to get use to the metric system, but it doesn’t come naturally whatsoever. I hear someone say kilometres and still think, “Yea.. no, no idea”.. It is still as foreign as any other language.
So typical for America to just be stubborn and use all the types of measurement that NO ONE ELSE USES!!!
AND Celsius? What the heck! Aint nobody got time for datt!!!!!!
Mexican Food and Mexicans
Mexican food, good Mexican food here is as rare as me placing a lid on correctly(so really, it’s non-existent). I know there a some good Mexican places in Sydney, not saying there is not, they are just harder to come by, more expensive, andddd
THEY DO NOT COME WITH FREE CHIPS AND SALSA!!! 🙁
And of course along with Mexican food I miss their awesome counterpart..
I miss just STRAIGHT UP MEXICANS!!
A very large percent of my friends back home are Mexican and it really is just weird to see nothing but white people every. I miss the taco guy, I miss hearing mariachi music, and I miss hearing the language.
I need some brown in my life
Medicine aka DRUGS
So medicine, lets get into this one shall we. Trying to get drugs in this country is ridiculous! And no I am not referring to our basic drugs that are illegal back home such as cocaine which will cost you a good 300 bucks a gram for horrible quality or pill that is made from sugar for all you know. No no, no drugs like that.. I am talking about legit medicine.
As I have already mentioned, many drugs such as Xanex are illegal here. Which is just insane since back in Orange Country Xanex is considered a major food group.
But I cant even get “normal” drugs over the counter. I used to take Tylenol pm to sleep back at home, I can’t find anything like it here without a prescription. The sleeping aid I got from the Pharmacist was equal to our children allergy medication back at home. So unless I was trying to fall asleep in a fabulous field of Daisies when I was FIVE, it was useless.
And when they give you a prescription, good luck trying to get a refill!
Ordering a Regular Coffee
In the morning, all this American girl wants is a freaking coffee. Not a latte or macchiato. JUST A REGULAR BLACK COFFEE. Here in Australia, you cannot go up to a place and ask for a coffee they will look at you like a retard in confusion on exact what it is you are asking for. A regular coffee back at home is called a long black here, but even then it still isn’t the same – its about a quarter of a cup full- an espresso with some water. When I try ordering an Americano, nope still doesn’t work. Now that I work, and I work a lot, there is no more time to waste trying to “try” and order what I want. I recently got down to it, literally. I went down to one of the cafes below my office building and spilled my sob story on my oh so important coffee problems.
The three boys heard me out on this horrible struggle of mine and from now on, every time I walk by they are ready to hand me my beautiful regular coffee. Hopefully spit free:/
In N Out
Everyone knew this one was coming. No one moves out of California without thinking if their life would reallyyyy be worth living out the taste of In N out. Delicious double doubles with grilled onions, animal style fries and a chocolate shake. Nothing tastes quite like it and nothing hits the spot more on a hungover Sunday afternoon (after church of course 😉 )
I have yet to find a hamburger here in Australia that I really am fond of.
Which is probably a better thing.
Unlimited Mimosas Brunch
Okay, without thinking I am an alcoholic, just know, that unlimited mimosa brunches are a very very popular thing back in the OC an LA. It is the star feature of everyone’s, “Sunday Funday”. Which involves waking up at 10 am, going to the local bar/pub and for 20 dollars getting all you can drink mimosas + meal and let the road of recovery from the night before begin! In the morning, nothing beats some delicious eggs benedict with a glass of champagne mixed with some fresh squeezed orange juice.
NOTHINGGGGGG!!!
Naked Photo Hunt
This one will be foreign to many of you, so just bare with me and hear me out before you think I am a freak! This is a game, a quite popular game now, in which, I have excelled at for the past 7 years of my life. It has not only been one of my best friends at any bar, but it has also been the gateway to making many friends. Naked photo hunt is a game on video gamers we have at most bars back at home. The screen is split in half with the same picture twice, but there are 5 differences one needs to find in order to move on to the next round.
This could be a nipple, this could be some bangs, a heel, whoo knows???
But I always find out one nipple and one belly button at a time 🙂
Ba Ba Ba Ba Bacon
If I would of known that the bacon we have in the states was different then the bacon here, I would of made sure to smuggle some in my bra!!! Though Australia has bacon, duh, they have pigs, it is completely different slice.
The taste – ehh
The texture- ehhh
It doesnt even COMPARE to our crispy goodness.
I mean, look how beautiful it is….
Australia’s…..
Exactly.
1. THE LETTER R
This is something I never pictured myself ever saying ever in my life time, but my friends, it is true. As much as I absolutely LOVE AUSSIE accents, and still have a very strong weakness when the men say stupid things in my ear, it has came to a point where all I really really want someone to pronounce the letter RRRRRRRRR. Aussies just don’t pronounce it, its like its not even there, its completely neglected,.
It gets NO LOVE : (
Everything is SISTAA, PRESSURAAAA, Dinnaaaa LATTTAAA, Freshaaaa. I need some ERRRRRR everyone once in a while you know?
So that is pretty much the top things that are missing in this lovely Aussie life of mine.
There are plenty of things that almost made the list but I ran out of time to include them. Don’t worry, I am sure there will be much more to this list the longer I am away from good ole Cal-i-forn-ia.
It is good to miss things, I believe.
Makes you think. Makes you feel. Makes you look deeper into yourself on exactly what it is about things you miss verse things you do not.
Missing helps you learn about yourself. Helps you cope. Helps to be stronger. Makes me feel alive. But most importantly it makes me appreciate the small things, like this list. Small things you never even think about until you miss them. Small things that really are big things like gratitude and appreciation for my friends and my family, as I know, I am only so lucky to have so many in my life to miss <3
This fellow SoCal-raised gal was in Sydney last year and ALL I WANTED was a black iced coffee. No one warned me that they wouldn’t know what the hell I was talking about. It was like torture.
AH YES! Someone who understanndssss 🙂
I’m pretty sure Caitrin and I have your photo hunt score beat at the daily dose 🙂
Nope!!!! I do not believe it! 🙂
I thought I was the only one that missed the letter “r” while living there. When you pronounce it they look at you like you’re from a different world. I feel you on the coffee predicament too, we just want COFFEE!
Great write up! Love the list part and the summary end! 🙂
Your TUTUS? I’ll take that as meaning ballet tutus. Since the idea of you having a collection of Desmond Tutus is just too weird at 5 in the morning.
So let’s talk about coffee instead. Admittedly, I only know about coffee in America from ten days spent in LA. But I’ll shoot my mouth off anyway and say that for all the Starbuckses and Coffee Bean and Tea Leafs I visited, the best coffee I found was in a small place across the road from Von’s in Wilshire Boulevarde. Elsewhere the emphasis was on quantity rather than quality – a ‘regular’ sized coffee was about two cups’ worth. Filling, but not much of a buzz.
As for Rrrrrrrs – say the following ten times each morning before breakfast: Brrrrrrooooome, Esperance – omit the second ‘e’, so it emerges as ‘Esprrance’ – Canbrrra, and Turramurra.
If symptoms persist seek professional help.
I feel like dropping by your place and taking you out for a true blue Australian experience. Well, you can’t quite put that in a bottle because there’s a lot of diversity in our culture. I didn’t catch where you are living in Australia but certainly our cities are multi-cultural but with probably more of an Asian or Mediterranean feel.
While you can get homesick without your faves from home, part of the point of travel is to experience a different culture and to leave home behind. I did a stint in Germany and it was hard to be so cut off from home, especially as there was no email, skype etc back then…just expense phone calls.
My husband lived in California for 3 months. I asked him some of the things he missed: there was decent chocolate, milk that wasn’t so thin it was transparent, an Aussie BBQ with proper steak, he found the bread was very sweet. He also complained about the coffee over there but said he did find something strong enough.
Here is a list of things you should try in Australia:
1) vegemite.
2) Tim Tams.
3) Aussie BBQ
4) Pavlova
5) Lamingtons
6) Mango
7) Macadamia nuts
8) Great asian food
9) Milk bar style hamburger.
xx Rowena
I have tried most of those things and love it!! 🙂 I am yet to be homesick (luckily) but as you can see, just some things here and there is what I miss. But Australia definitely has some better things here than home, which I will write about soon 🙂
Thanks for all your support 🙂
Hello,
Thank you for liking my inspiration, encouragement post on The Road to Getting Published. Love your blog! I miss Florida and my family, too. Getting back there to see everybody at least once a year helps….and vitamin D — after being indoors for too long in the dead of a cold Colorado winter — beats depression. You hang in there; it will get better, I promise.
Ellen
Hahahahaha.
Going down the list I was like “Where’s In-n-Out?!?!”
SO surprised there isn’t Hi-Chew there. There has to be! It’s so close to South East Asia. Perhaps at an Asian supermarket/snack shop?
Also equally surprised about the coffee. Like what?! Disappointing. …I suppose you could always go to Starbucks and the like. That’s the same no matter where you go. Ha.
xxo Carly
http://www.sundaylovexo.com
I love Cali but what steals my heart the most is the chill vibe it’s a different way of living
Just stumbled on to your blog. As an ex-pat living in NZ I have a craving for things back in the States, but look here (http://www.hi-chew.com.au/where.html#ttl_08). Hi-chews can be found in Aussie.
Awww amazing thank you!! 🙂
Hey, I’m from the UK and although I think technically we are meant to know about the Metric system (being European and all) we don’t and we don’t use it really. Our signs are all miles and I don’t get km…. so don’t feel too bad.
haha thank you for the encouragement 🙂
Hi! I just found your blog and saw you’re from California! I’m visiting right now and I will definitely miss In n Out!
Thanks for the “like” on my last poem. I liked the “20 Ways Your Life Changes” post of yours a great deal and I’ve been around the world without getting to Australia though. I’ve always admired the country from afar. Great list!
I heard about the things you’ve highlighted, here, from Aussies on my travels. I’m glad you’re acclimating well. It would have been cool to cross paths with you when you were still in SoCal; your sense of humor is sharp.
Take care of yourself and have a blast. The lack of contact with friends is a bit of a bummer, I do agree. It’s humorous how relocating a few time zones can alter a friendship – but it does make you evaluate if the bond was real from the outset. Be well, Michelle.