Expat shares her five biggest culture shocks since moving to Australia
A British expat has listed the five biggest culture shocks she experienced since moving to Australia.
Robyn Turner, who now lives in Melbourne, has been adjusting to her new life in Australia over the last five years.
In a funny TikTok video, the personal trainer said there are five things she never knew existed until she relocated to Australia - including people walking bare feet in public, lemon lime bitters and 42°C days.
“This is Australian things that sent me into a coma when I first moved here from the UK,” she said.
The first thing of her list that caught her by surprise was people walking around bare feet at indoor public places.
“People walking around the supermarket or any other store in bare feet, shocked me,” she said.
“You would never catch anyone that wasn’t on a beach with bare feet in the UK.
“It doesn’t appeal to me but I mean, you do you, I just won’t look at the floor.”
Robyn said she was confused when she couldn’t find an aisle dedicated to alcohol inside supermarkets.
“I had no idea this wasn’t a thing,” she said.
“I was first like, ‘Where do I go and buy some wine from?’ and someone was like, ‘the bottle-O’ and I was like, ‘What’s a bottle-O?’
“I had no idea, shocked me to the bones.”
The third overwhelming thing she couldn’t handle was the scorching weather, especially summer days that reach high temperatures of 42°C.
“When I first lived here, I lived in Sydney and it wiped me out,” she said.
“Absolutely killed me.”
@r0bynturner Australian things that sent me (a brit) into a coma #australiatravel #sydneytravel #uktoaustralia #britinaustralia #melbournetravel #backpackingaustralia ♬ original sound - Robyn
Despite the culture shocks, she expressed her approval for lemon lime bitters, a popular cocktail in Australia that consists of lemonade, lime cordial, and Angostura bitters.
“This surprise was in the best way possible,” she said.
“Thank you for introducing me to lemon lime bitters. That is amazing stuff, it’s like liquid gold.
“You (Aussies) are the ultimate gatekeepers not letting the rest of the world know about it.”
Robyn said she also couldn’t get enough of espresso martinis after her friend introduced the cocktail to her.
“It’s so good,” she said.
Her video has been viewed over 600,000 times - with many agreeing with her culture shocks.
Images: TikTok