I’m 16 years old and I was born in Athens. I came to Australia on 26 April, 2012, and I can easily say that my life has changed since that moment. I can’t really say if my life is better or worse now, but my daily routine and my lifestyle have changed, a lot.
Those who haven’t lived in Greece, or those who have lived in Greece but for a short period of time, have to understand that Greece is way more different than Australia in many ways. The first thing that confuses me is the fact that many kids of my generation (teenagers that are born in the late 1990s) don’t want to go out with their friends (maybe to go to cinema, to play football or when it’s summer to go to the beach together) because they’re too busy playing video games.
On the one hand, I can understand the way they feel because of the distance, everything is so far and you definitely need a car to go somewhere, but in my point of view this is just a poor excuse. If you want to go out with your friends you won’t care how far away the football pitch is, or the coffee shop is; the only thing you care about is going to meet your friends and have a good time. I surely don’t want to offend anyone’s lifestyle and how Australian citizens spend their day, it’s none of my business, I’m just looking at the differences.
Another thing that is different is the daily routine. In Australia the daily routine is, you wake up, you go to work, you go back home, you eat and then you sleep. Although in Greece, it’s a bit different. Even when you come back or go to work, you will always try to go past your friend’s/nephew’s/grandma’s house to just say hello, or maybe drink a coffee together, maybe you won’t have anything specific to say to them, but you can just knock on their door and say “Hey, I was just going past your house and decided to come and say hi, how are you? How’s your family?”.
Another difference, even though I don’t really mind, is watching football, especially the Champions League. In Greece you watch the game at 9.45 pm and then go to sleep, or drink a beer with your friends because your team won and you want to celebrate. In Australia you have to wake up at 4.45 in the morning to watch the game. Sometimes it’s funny actually because after that you can just go to work or school and tease your friends because their team lost.
Unfortunately Greece has many problems as well, and things that many people don’t like. Even if it sounds unpatriotic, you sometimes feel sick because of the Greek citizens and you just want to leave the country, and this is because Greeks are not polite. Most Australians I know are very polite and always say thank you when you do something for them and of course they’re patient.
In Greece it’s the exact opposite. I understand that the situation in Greece is different (maybe because of our financial situation, maybe because they believe that they’re under a lot of pressure because of our politicians, or maybe because they have their own problems), but probably all Greek citizens have the same problem, maybe they feel that they’re under pressure as much as you but that doesn’t mean that you have to be disrespectful towards them.
My point is that Greeks are unfortunately not really patient or polite, and if you make one or two mistakes they/we will get mad at you (even if this is while driving, or while playing a sport). I can easily say that I have the same problem, I swear a lot when I’m angry (and I’m angry often, I don’t know why) and I’m also not really patient. Maybe some people here in Australia find it funny, but some others find it annoying and disrespectful. Another huge problem is that Greece at the moment has no jobs, unfortunately in Greece you can’t live comfortably, even though Greece may have one of the best universities in Europe, you can’t really find a job after that, and you have to go overseas to live a good and comfortable life.