Hello again! Adapting to living in Sydney has been a fun and interesting experience. Although the United States and Australia both speak English and on the surface seem to have very similar cultures, this is definitely not always the case and some things are very different compared to the US. There are definitely some things that I enjoy more about Australian culture than the US. First, Australian culture seems to be very centered around being environmentally friendly and people are holding themselves and others accountable when it comes to picking up trash and trying to recycle as much as possible. Also, there are not many plastic items available to buy such as plastic utensils and they are instead wooden which is better for the environment. I definitely appreciate how aware everyone is about wanting to try and improve the environment and keep their city clean and I wish US cities would follow this approach. 

When it comes to the deep culture of Australia, I think that I have overall assimilated well, but I think the way that my internship organization makes decisions was very surprising to me and I am not completely used to it yet. For instance, my office is a very open environment and a lot of the teams bounce ideas off of each other which is nothing I am not used to. However, where I was surprised was when our CEO or COO would be asking the rest of their team for their opinions and advice on ideas or how to go about completely something. This was something I had not seen in any of my previous experiences working in an office setting as my experience has been that even if the team has recommendations, most of the time the upper management makes the decision based on what they want regardless of what the other employees are thinking. This difference in culture that I have experienced really makes me feel appreciated for what I am doing here as an intern and that my voice is being heard and acknowledged. 

Being able to navigate cross-cultural situations while I have been in Sydney has not been too difficult as many people who live in Sydney are also not native to Australia, but everyone is very welcoming and accommodating regardless. However, I am definitely much more aware about how I act and people I am traveling with act in public as I do not want to offend anyone and want to show that I respect their city and culture. Overall, getting used to living in Sydney has been a great learning experience and I am excited to keep exploring the area!