The answer I give to people in bars and in short car rides is:
It’s warm and I like that.
It’s got cool animals and I like that.
Depending on the volume of the bar or length of the car ride the convo may evolve:
It's different enough from the US that I feel like I'll be growing, but similar enough that I think I'll be able to settle down and drop anchor for a while.
Steve Irwin was an actual role model for me. He did something crazy, tackling crocodiles and promoting environmentalism, and made it cool and livable. I don't care if that's taking one celebrity's career extrapolating that and romanticizing Australia, it's my life.
Great bands, AC/DC, Cold Chisel, Wolfmother, The Angels, Rose Tattoo, bands that have done more with 4 chords than you’ll ever do with your children.
After realizing the progressive aggression in my answers, I thought I should really think about why I'm doing this.
It's still pretty much just because I want to.
The above reasons still hold true, but maybe I can fandangle a larger, more philosophical reason in there.
Maybe because I want to and because I am able to, then I have to go. That I have a responsibility to go. Like a pilgrimage. A lot, most, people don't have this kind of opportunity. Not the financial nor political means to go where they want to go. Since I do, then I should shed any sort of qualm that I may have with going.
Common objections and my responses:
Objection
|
Response
|
It's costly
|
So is life
|
It's dangerous
|
So is life
|
You're missing out on developing your career after college
|
No I'm not
|
You're leaving all your friends behind
|
They make friends in Australia and c'mon we have the internet
|
The point is that these objections shouldn't and don't matter because I still want to go and still can. And everything is expensive and dangerous and has opportunity cost and strains relationships. But you've got to do something. So why not do what you wanna do?
I wanna go to Australia.
