Lunch with Locals

When you are abroad you learn about other cultures. Sometimes you learn through observation, sometimes through conversation. Sometimes locals are happy to share their culture with you while other times they want nothing to do with you. During our first few hours in Cairns we at Mr. Wolfe’s café and the waitress there was not only willing to share her culture, she was also interested in finding out more about our culture. I think my favorite question came when she asked me where I was from because she couldn’t figure out my accent. Being from St. Louis I found this really entertaining because I have never really considered myself to have an accent, and having her ask me that really got me thinking about how Americans are portrayed in the media. We are presented with a lot of people who have strong “Australian accents,” however I have met people with varying degrees to no accent at all. So if that accent is what we are presented with, does that mean that we are always presented with something like a New York accent, or a Southern accent, and that is what people consider an “American accent?” While I do not know the answer, I really did enjoy the ability to not only analyze another culture, but also my own while abroad.

-Michael