The land of kangaroos and koalas is where she was born. 

The place where Vegemite and meat pies reign was her home from the age of 3 until 13, when she moved to Texas. 

 Now 15-years-old, freshman Shruti Bhoyar’s life changed in unusual and interesting ways.

“So, my entire family is Indian, I was born in New Delhi, India specifically. I lived there for three years and then my family decided to move to Australia,” Shruti said. ¨I went from India to Australia because my parents just wanted a better life. They did like India of course, but they just thought for educational purposes a more western country would be better.”

¨U.S. as a country has more opportunities in terms of jobs and college (university) education, it has a higher acceptance across the globe,¨ Shruti’s mom Priya Bhoyar said via email. ¨We thought, as parents, if we moved to US, our kids (Shruti and her elder brother Anurag) could have a chance of better education and have more opportunities to explore their working careers.¨ 

However, starting over in a new school, in a new country, wasn’t elementary. 

“A lot of the teaching style is different but we don’t have middle school in Australia. We have kindergarten to year six, that is called primary school. Then from seventh grade to 12th grade, that is called high school. We don’t have anything in the middle. I think that’s really big,” Shruti said. ¨Also, the way we get to school is different. In Australia, we have public transport like trains and buses especially designed for school. There’s also commuters, so whenever you take the train there’s also business people going to work. My high school in Australia used to be an hour away so I used to take a train to school everyday. Now, I have to take the school bus. So I think those are the big differences.”

This year has added another layer of changes as Shruti decided to stay at home as a virtual student.

¨I chose virtual learning because I thought it would be safer for me,¨ Shruti said via email. “In Australia, I may have had to go back to school because that’s what my old high school is doing.¨ 

However, the differences between Australia and the U.S. extend well beyond education. 

“Oh my god! Smith’s chips, Smith’s is a brand and they have the best potato chips. All of them are great,¨ Shruti said. ¨Also Shapes, they’re like these little crackers, there’s pizza flavor and different flavors. They’re really good! I feel like there are so many snacks that I grew up on. I like stuff here too, like Cheetos. But you know it’s like that nostalgic stuff.”

One of the most popular food items in Australia is Vegemite, a salty spread made of yeast.

 “The thing that people do with Vegemite that Americans or foreign people do is that they take  a spoonful of it, you can not try Vegemite like that. You take a tiny bit and spread it on toast,¨ Shruti said. ¨It’s literally like trying butter for the first time and eating a spoonful of it, it’s going to stink! You spread it on a piece of warm toast and do whatever you want. But yeah, it tastes good to me but some people aren’t a fan of it.”

Although the majority of Austrlians speak English, there are many slang words, different phrases and pronunciations Australians might use which are dissimilar to the American language. 

“Mate is a really Australian thing but it’s not like ‘good day, mate’, we just say it as a polite greeting,” Shruti said. “We call football ‘footie’ because that’s just how we are. There’s just different words like ‘ute’ or ‘lippy’ which is like vaseline or lip balm.” Shruti said. “People always make fun of me for the way I say water, they always say ‘water’ and I can’t say that. Of course there’s the ‘tomato’ versus tomato. There’s also some words that are completely different, I call this ‘rubber’ but you guys call it an eraser. Or water fountain, we call that a bubbler.”

Best friend, Isabelle Engles, finds it amusing when communicating with Shruti  because of their differences.

¨One thing I love about having Shruti as my best friend is that she is not totally used to all the ‘American’ phrases so I have to teach her everything,¨ Isabelle said via email. ¨She also teaches me things at the same time. For example, we call McDonald’s ‘Macca’s’ now because that’s what they call it in Australia.¨

Although Shruti likes Texas, she also misses the experiences she had in Australia.

“I think there are great things about both places but I think I like Australia more because it’s what I’m used to and I knew what to expect. I feel like there are some things that I’m more comfortable with in Australia,” Shruti said. “I think that the public transport absolutely made a difference for everything because I was very independent in Australia and I would do anything and go anywhere by myself. In America, my parents have to drive me everywhere which I hadn’t done in years. It affects your social life a little bit so that would be one thing I would implement in Texas.”