Sydney through my eyes

When I first arrived in Sydney, the things here weren’t at all that I had imagined. In my imagination, Sydney should be a big city like Shanghai. But Sydney was different—yes, the downtown area has a lot of tall buildings, but if you leave out of the city center, there are not any tall buildings there, only short houses. Instead of dense high-rises, there are houses, parks, and trees everywhere. It felt more like a collection of small towns rather than one massive urban sprawl.

I lived in Ashfield, a suburb not too far from the city center. This photo was taken from my window, we can see that there aren’t ang towering apartment blocks, just some short homes with red-tiled roofs, and there are lots of trees in the photo. Some of these trees were so tall they completely shaded the houses beneath them. I remember that I basically can’t see any houses shorter than trees in China, except in the countryside.

Another thing that struck me was the air. The air in China is relatively turbid and not as comfortable as the air in Sydney. Especially the fresh air in the morning in Sydney. Maybe it’s because there are fewer factories, or maybe Sydney is closed to the sea and there will be some sea breeze blowing. Even in the middle of the city, there is also fresh air, and you can find many plants there, and you can even find that some wild animals can coexist peacefully with humans. Once, when I was eating in the restaurant, there was a pigeon parked next to me. I think the biggest reason that Sydney has good air and environment is there aren’t any tall buildings.

One thing I noticed after coming to Sydney is that the payment methods are different in two countries. In China, nearly nobody carries cash and bank cards anymore, because it’s too easy to lose them in somewhere, and now most people like to use WeChat Pay and Alipay. You can pay for anything through these two methods anywhere just using your phone, this is very convenient. But in Sydney, things are different. People here mostly use cards and cash to pay for some things, I felt strange at first, because I think it is very troublesome. When I first arrived here, I often forgot to bring my bank card and cash, so sometimes I can’t buy any things, this has a big influence on my life.

I think that transportation is another big difference. In China, subways are the main way of transportation, especially in big cities, like Beijing. They’re fast, reliable, run frequently, and they are very cheap. But in Sydney, trains are the main way to go out. At first, I thought that the trains were similar, but I quickly realized Sydney’s trains are very slow, and they often stop working without any reason. This situation affects my plans very seriously. In China, I never see that subways have stopping working, they are always on time, but one downside is that there are too few seats available.

Housing in Sydney is also very interesting. From the front of the houses, the house looks very small, but when you see the house from the other side, they’re very long. Almost every house here has a backyard, which is very nice, and I think relaxing here is a good choice. But in China, most people live in apartments, so except the house in the countryside can have a backyard or garden.

The third photo was taken when I visited the Sydney Opera House. I think the Sydney Opera House is an iconic building in Sydney. It’s like a pile of huge white shells stacked together. From this photo, we can see that the weather was very good that day, but I think the temperature was relatively high that day, and it was a bit tiring to be exposed to the sun for a long time. However, there were still many people who went to visit it. In addition to the Sydney Opera House, I also visited many places in Sydney, which made me see a different city. In my impression, the locals in Sydney gave me a very polite feeling. For example, when someone accidentally touched me on the road, he will apologize to me. Also, I have never seen anyone cutting in line here. I remembered that once I went to buy a computer, I asked the shop assistant many questions about computers, because I didn't know much about computers. He answered all the questions I asked, I might buy the wrong computer without help from him. I also found that people in Sydney have a very regular lifestyle. They wake up early and go to bed early every day, and they all leave work on time. Once, my friend and I went shopping at Kmart. When we entered, the staff told us that they would finish work in five minutes and urged us to hurry up and not delay their departure. And at night, you hardly see anyone on the streets of Sydney. But in China, most young people come out for activities at night and play with friends, especially in some big cities where many young people stay up all night.

I need some time to change myself to feel more comfortable in Sydney, although there are some big differences between the two countries. Especially the difference of time, at first, I get to bed very late every day, on the second day I can’t have a good state for class. Fortunately, the courses in the first few weeks did not have any important content, mainly to help us adapt to the new environment and meet new classmates. As my English is not particularly good, my classmates will help me understand what the teacher is saying. But I find that they both have good things, such as China has an advanced technology, and Sydney has more free life and good environment. That’s Sydney through my eyes.