Besuch aus Australien

G’Day! My name is Tyler Nash. I’m from Sydney, Australia, and I had the huge honour to be able to participate as a student of class 4C at the Stiftsgymnasium for the last 2 months.

My mum and I arrived in Austria at the end of March to stay in Kremsmünster for 2 ½ months, so that I can expand my German language skills, but also to gain some cultural experiences and to learn how schools from other countries are like. Luckily my mum Angela has some family here, her uncle Philipp and her aunt Michi, who is also the art teacher at the Stiftsgymnasium She has not only helped me to get into the Stiftsgymnasium, but she has also been a great support for us during our entire stay.

The first thing that came to mind when I started at the Stiftsgymnasiumwas, how modern and large the school is, and how much it has to offer with its’ high-tech labs, large football field, sport hall, volleyball court, basketball courts and swimming pool. I wish my high school would have all that, but living in a large city like Sydney has also its flipside by not having enough schools for the fast-growing population. Not to say that other schools in Sydney don’t own lots of sport facilities, but ours doesn’t.

Due to the lack of space in surrounding schools, our High School was founded only 3 years ago. Because of this it is still very new and has not much history to look back on like the history of the Stiftsgymnasiumin Kremsmünster. It’s pretty amazing to turn from being a student of one of the newest schools in Australia to now being one of the oldest schools in Austria. 

Another difference I have noticed is, that Austrian kids don’t have to wear school uniforms like we do in Australia. It’s hard to say whether it is an advantage or not because I like not having to think about what to wear each day, but then again, it’s great to be able to wear whatever you like to school. The Australian schools are also way stricter on HOW you wear your clothes (uniforms): For example, your button-up shirt has to be tucked into your pants properly and you can only wear socks that go over your ankles. You can’t wear any non-uniform clothes like black socks when the school uniform demands white socks, otherwise you get in trouble with the teachers.

The classes and the general school days also vary hugely from what I experience in Australia. My school is called ‘Cammeraygal High School’ which was the name of the Aboriginal tribe that the school’s area is set in. During the school day we must bring our computer to school for research, working and other school-related tasks. One thing that’s slightly different is the location of the lessons. All schools can do it differently in Australia but in Cammeraygal, all lessons are in different classrooms which the students have to walk to. Whereas here at the Stiftsgymnasium, most classes that don’t include special equipment are all in the same classroom. Lucky!

The timetable is only for one week in the Stiftsgymnasium while in Cammeraygal, we have a timetable for a fortnight meaning most subjects have similar number of hours and therefore is more evenly spread out. I’ve also noticed lessons here only go for 50min and have a 5 minute break between each lesson (not including the 45 and 15 minute break). In Cammeraygal High School, our lessons go for 1 hour each, the whole schooling day goes for 6 hours, not including 1 hour of break in total.

It is also nice to be able to walk to the Stiftsgymnasium and not be dependent on public transport. However, I am and when I go to my school, the distance is over 4km from my home. Unfortunately buses often don’t come on time because the traffic is so bad which makes getting to school more stressful.

One question I get asked here a lot is “Do you always go the beach?” and I respond with “Yes and No”, because yes, I go sometimes and it’s a very common pastime activity, but I don’t necessarily go as often as you think. In response I ask back “Do you always go to the mountains?” and they respond with the same answer as I did. So many countries around the world have their unique landscape which the locals are accustomed to and over time they take it for granted. I find this very interesting as it really makes me look differently towards activities I should be doing in Australia.

However, one thing I’m doing a lot here is goalkeeping which I take very serious. This is because I like to try my best and perhaps later in life, I can play for a professional soccer team. I used to play Cricket too, but I recently broke my finger playing the sport and because I want to make sure that I can continue goalkeeping I have given up playing cricket. Despite that I’m happy to play Cricket in the park or on the beach with friends. I also enjoy bodyboarding when the waves are big enough to do so. It’s so much fun but can be quite dangerous too since the waves are very powerful and can dump you onto a sandbank quite easily and can lead to a concussion.

I’ve also noticed that there are way more smokers here than in Australia. The reason for this is because the government has made laws to increase the prices of cigarettes to at least 30 Euro. Since then more and more smokers have now quit smoking because they can’t afford the cigarettes anymore. Also, there are not many public places where you are allowed to smoke in Australia such as near soccer fields, public baths, beaches, parks, even in restaurants. I wish it would be the same here in Austria too and maybe Kremsmünster can take this idea aboard.

However, in terms of recycling rubbish Austria has one of the highest rates in Europe. Rarely have I seen pieces of rubbish lying on the floor and have never seen any pollution in the beautiful lakes of Austria. It’s fantastic to see how much this country cares about rubbish and I would love to know how you do it because in Sydney alone, littering has become a major problem and the government has been trying to come up with different solutions but unfortunately nothing is as effective as it should be. As a result, many unique and wonderful places are dying such as the Great Barrier Reef, which is the biggest reef in the world.

I could go on and on about the differences of the two countries because they’re two completely different lifestyles! However, if you really want to find out more you should come on down to Australia and just explore your surroundings because there’s nothing better than just going to a completely different part of the world and just do as much exploring as you can!

Thank you everyone for giving me this chance to attend this wonderful school. It means the world to me and I will never forget my time with 4C and all the fun we had. I would also like to thank the Kremsmünster soccer club and Klaus Thaler and Thomas Guntenberg for making me a part of the group. Also thank you to everyone in the school including 4C’s main teacher, Christine Kraxberger, for including me as a student and making this experience a positive one. Thank you all!

Tyler Nash