Aussie Arrival

We arrived in Sydney on December 28^th and spent the day on a walking tour of the city.  We learned a lot about the history of Australia and how it has developed.  In his book The World is Flat, Freidman spoke about the concept of Globalization 1.0.  Australia was born from this Globalization 1.0, because of its interconnectivity with Britain.  The first people to come to Australia were convicts, and later Australia became part of the spice trade, which brought new ideas and products to the country.  In order to reach globalization many factors are necessary.   In the article, “The World is Spiky,” Richard Florida refutes Friedman’s belief that the world is flat, because he believes that countries are uneven judging by their population, light emissions, and patents.   An internet connection can completely change how fast a company develops and how they compare with other countries across the globe.  Australia is “spiky” in the Eastern Coast, near Sydney, but the rest of the country remains fairly flat.

On December 29th, we went on a long walk along the coastline.  There were beaches along the way which were very interesting to observe.  We stopped at Bondi beach and spent the afternoon there soaking up the sun and playing in the ocean.  I was amazed at how much diversity was present at this beach.  I could walk toward the water and hear many different languages being spoken.  Numerous nationalities were present, including Swedish, Norwegian, American, Australian, and Indian just to name a few.  All age groups were present, but I would say the most prevalent was 20-30 year olds.  I assumed that many of these visitors were tourists, because this time of the year is very common to vacation in Australia.  Since it is summer in Australia, almost all Australians are “on holiday.”  They treat holidays much differently than we do in America, and almost everything shuts down. 

In Sharp’s article, “The Typical Australian,” he lists many stereotypes that people hold about Australians, including being fit, tan, courageous, lazy, proud, independent, and street-friendly.  Although Australia is a very diverse country, I believe that most of these stereotypes are true.  I have seen very few obese Australians, and even if many lay on the beach quite a bit they probably exercise as well.   Also a lot of them are proud to tell you they are from Australia and are extremely helpful when you ask them for directions or recommendations.  The beach trip ties into Friedman’s concept of Globalization 3.0, which emphasizes the individual.  As individuals we each have our own backgrounds, but are given many opportunities.  Even someone from across the world has the opportunity to come to Australia and hang out on the beach with many others.