Growing up around the Globe: Second of three parts

Next stop on our tour around the world: the beach.

Peter McCheseney, a junior in business from Sydney, Australia, said for the 20-something-year-olds living in Australia, everything that has to do with snow and skiing would be replaced with the beach and surfing. The cares of the northern hemisphere are kept at bay from the Australian paradise.

“We often referred to ourselves as ‘the lucky country.’ We have all the blessings of a First-World country, very developed country, but we don’t have the world problems of the most dominate state in the world,” McCheseney said. “We’ve got tropical rainforest, desert, snowy areas, the beach and we are removed from the problems of the world.”

Although Australia is only slightly smaller than the United States, it has less than one tenth of the population. Australia is shared by 20 million people, whereas the United States is home to more than 245 million.

A college education in Australia is very important in order to be successful and graduating with high marks is often considered harder than it is in the United States.

“In my first year in study abroad, my first semester, I got straight A’s with a 96 percent. [In Australia], that got changed to 70 percent and all C’s,” McCheseney said. “I was so mad because that would affect my overall GPA, and so I said ‘What is this? You must have made a mistake.’ They told me I could appeal it if I wanted to, but it’s a well-known fact that U.S. universities grade a lot easier than Australian institutions do and so we adjusted it down.”

In return, students from the United States that study abroad in Australia get their grades adjusted up when they get back. McCheseney is in the process of an appeal, arguing, “What’s the point of going to study abroad to the states if it’s impossible to get A’s?”

Although the Australian government does provide an educational financing system, much like the student loan system in the United States, if you were a student in Australia, you would most likely be able to pay for school on your own since a minimum-wage job in Australia pays around $300/week. McCheseney said the minimum-wage system is not a flat rate, like it is in the United States, but rather a system that creates a minimum rate based on the type of job you work, the hours you work and your age.

In Portugal, minimum wage is half that much, at about $600 per month, but for college-age students, there is little or no credit. Silvia Rosa, a master’s student in wildlife science, may be one of the few students at Utah State with absolutely no credit and no debt.

Rosa is from Portugal, and although she said the United States is exceptionally productive, she has never been in a country with so much debt.

“In Portugal, we get credit when we’re stable; we don’t venture ourselves into crazy money adventures … We can’t borrow money; we stick to what we’ve got,” Rosa said.

Rosa said if you are unemployed in Portugal, you may be eligible for money from the government called an employment salary, because there is no severance in companies.

“If you are unemployed and linked to the Center of Employment, you are paid by the government until the first job becomes available and you are required to take the first job,” Rosa said.

Rosa said although Portugal is one of the poorest countries in the United Kingdom, they are a much more passionate society than you can find in the United States.

“The agitation is part of the culture in Portugal,” Rosa said. “Portugal is more passionate about everything, more reactive. We react to everything, it’s never a ‘not-my-problem attitude.’ People are happier in the way you speak and talk, more sarcastic, but more sincere.”

Rosa said she appreciates the organization of the institutions in the United States. Paying bills is much easier here. Rosa said in Portugal, to pay your phone bill, you have to go downtown the phone company; you cannot pay bills online or by mail.

“You can drop them off at an ATM, but that’s not as efficient,” Rosa said. “We’re more chaotic, but I love it.”

Rosa said students in the United States need to travel more and experience other cultures.

“Go and travel and live in other countries, don’t just be a tourist,” Rosa said. “You don’t know what you’re missing. That’s why I’m here.”

Joao Pinho, a marketing major from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, said he traveled to the United States because it is a great country, but thinks that “Americans worry too much about being successful instead of worrying about being happy.”

Pinho said few students in Brazil have full-time jobs outside their majors. College students focus on internships and having a good time, he said. Although school is still important to the students in Brazil, Pinho said it was hard to get used to the notion that 75 percent on a test is not a good grade.

“People in U.S. take school more serious, which I think it’s a good thing,” Pinho said.

Comparatively, the students in Japan take education very seriously and, perhaps because of this, the college graduation rates are higher than anywhere else.

“In the United States, the entrance to the college is easy, but graduating can be tough. In Japan, it is harder to get into college, but easier to graduate.” Kohayakawa Tomoaki, a second-bachelor’s student majoring in international studies, said.

“In Japan, 95 percent of students graduate college,” he said.

Tomoaki said the social scene in Japan is one of the things that is much different than it is in the United States. You don’t have to do much to find something to do on the weekends.

“If you want to hang out with people, you wait until they come to your place,” Tomoaki said. “But in the United States, you have to approach people.”

Tomoaki said students in Japan spend more of their money on entertainment and socializing and rather than drinking to get drunk, Japanese use drinking as more of a social event.

“Here, they just drink beers,” Tomoaki said. “But in Japan, they eat and drink together more.”

An average night out on the town in Logan usually costs one student a little more than $20 for a nice dinner and a movie, but that type of activity usually doesn’t happen every week.

Tomoaki said in Japan, students spend between $35 and $40 per night eating, drinking and enjoying some karaoke.

“A movie here is what – 5 or 6 bucks?” Tomoaki said, “In Japan it’s about $15.”

Friday, we will conclude our focus on foreign students with a look at three more students from around the world.

-ETippetts@cc.usu.edu