The Backpacking Culture

These first 2 weeks in Australia have been a fast-paced, crazy blur of events. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to realize that I'm actually here, on my own, trying to begin life in a new country. I've been staying at a hostel called WakeUp! which was formerly an eight-story department store. It's located in the CBD, or Central Business District, though it should stand for Central Backpacker's District. Where George Street and Pitt Street intersect, there are an overwhelming number of hostels, backpacker bars, and travel agencies. The streets are crowded with a strange mix of business people in their suits, Asians, and backpackers. We backpackers are like our own race over here.  

How do you spot a backpacker? Aside from the obvious backpack, there are other signs. Boys have unshaven faces, girls' hair is generally unkepmt, & footwear consists of teva sandals, white Converse, or flip flops. You can hear them swapping stories about their latest tattoo and telling tales of their recent travels in Thailand, Figi, or South America. Living in the hostel remindes me a lot of college without the books. I have seven roommates, mostly English, which tend to come and go, as travelers often do. People are constantly discussing money, how there never seems to be enough and how they plan to make their next fortune.  I recently overheard this conversation on my floor: "We should go down to the internet cafe and google sleep clinics / Oh yeah, I forgot we were supposed to donate our sperm today!" Everyone works hard to play hard. The hostel puts on a events each day and there is a bar located in the basement. Pop music blasts in the elevator and the lobby. The kitchen shelves and coolers are jam packed with boxes of cereal, pasta, and "goon" aka cheap boxed wine.  There are bookshelves on each floor with travel books and novels in English, French, German, and Spanish, leftover from backpacks that could no longer accomodate them. 

The backpacking culture is a wild one and while living in a hostel has been fun and provided the opportunity to meet amazing like-minded people, I'm happy to say that I'll be moving out over the weekend. The weather is just starting to warm up in Sydney and I've found a flat to share with two of my new pals, outside the hustle and bustle of the city and closer to the beach.