Exchange

It was at times live these that Kristian’s homesickness reached an intensity in which he could actually feel physical pain. It wasn’t that the pain was agonising, just a dull ache...like the final stages of a cold that you just can’t shake. He had survived his contract so far by keeping busy all the time, while this was easy on the farm it was as soon as he clocked off that his thoughts returned. He tried to socialise with the locals yet despite their friendliness they clearly saw him as an outsider and he didn’t make it any easier with his distinctive Norse looks and accent. His struggles to keep up with their rapid slang and inside humour didn’t help his case either...the Australians were an interesting lot. 

He still had another 4 months worth of his uni/work contract as part of his exchange program with the University of Norway and the University of NSW in environmental science. As part of his final year he had to partake in field study of his own choosing, considering his options had been either in Sydney, the big smoke or rural NSW he had chosen the most familiar to him...or so he had thought.

A remote farming community in outback Australia was almost comically different from the rural Norweigen countryside in which he had grown up in. Rolling emerald seas and jagged slates of midnight rock had been replaced by copper coloured soil and clumps of olive shaded scrub or a solitary gum. The neat white washed cottages with their carefully tended hedges and flowers had been replaced by worn down yet proud farming cottages that were straight out of the pages of an Australian history textbook, complete with brick chimneys and multicoloured sheets of scrap and rusting metal.

While at home after a hard days work he would join his friends in whatever activity they were doing before settling in with his family for the night in front of a roaring hearth and hot cocoa...here the locals seemed to do only a few things things; work, drink and sing at the local pub, smash about in their various vehicles, and then go home. While he enjoyed a drink as much as the next man the lager here was so vastly different from what he was used to that he found himself struggling to settle in to the pub routine, despite his best efforts.

He could feel the scalding afternoon sun burning his pale skin despite his sweat soaked long sleeved clothing. Despite the fact that it was only early Spring and the sweet smell of cut hay had only just begun to tinge the air the temperatures were already in the mid forties, compared to his homeland...these were apocalyptic like temperatures, well so he thought.

The bone melting heat coupled with his homesick state had Kristian lying down on the cool kitchen tiles of the small, renovated old farmhouse he shared with a couple of other farmhands. They were all 20+ years older than him and while friendly and hospitable enough didn’t seem too invested in making anymore buddies. He could be doing uni work...he did have a whole scientific case study report to do after all. Yet it was a Friday night, shouldn’t he be hitting the pub with the other hardworking locals?

The faint yet distinctive sound of happy hour started to drift through the stifling air towards him despite the fact that he had shut all the doors and windows and tightly as possible to keep out the insufferable heat. His roommates didn’t seem to be bothered by the intense temperature and had headed off just before 5pm in their sweat and dirt stained clothes towards the town’s lone pub. As he lay there feeling sorry for himself the reality of his situation seemed to fall into place. Here he was in another country, a land full of boundless possibilities. He was young and at the start of what was looking like what was going to be a rewarding and promising career, and he was lying on the kitchen floor complaining about the heat.

Rolling his eyes at himself Kristian stood up with a muffled grunt as his stiff muscles protested at the movement, a day of helping with the livestock was starting to set into his joints already. Shaking off his fatigue he inhaled deeply and walked out the front door. Despite it being early evening the overly bright sun was still high in the pale blue sky as the air embraced him like a warm bath. Following the untrained yet spirited sounds of the local musicians he scuffed his mud clad steel caps amongst the vividly red soil road as he approached the much loved roadhouse.

Nodding at the locals who sat either with a guitar or a pint in their hand he muttered a ‘g’day’ as he entered the cooler atmosphere of the establishment with a sigh of relief. The vibe was comfortable, relaxed...yet held a distinctive roughness, a certain edge that clubs back home lacked. In fact, the vibe of the bar itself was much like Australia itself...both as a country and a nation. 

It was stunningly beautiful and charismatic in it’s own way, a little rough around the edges, a little isolated but it had a good heart...they had a good heart. So brushing aside his nerves Kristian summed up all the willpower he could and stepped up to the stained sticky bar where the pub’s owner looked at him with a kind of cautious trepidation. It wasn’t hostile, more curious...which was fair. As a norweignen exchange student he stood out more than ‘ snow in February’ as his friendly yet rarely around roommate had stated. While he had originally been seeing this as a bad thing...it was time to make this a good thing, yes he wasn’t a local and yes he was different but he came from a proud line of Norse warriors and while he may not be in the midst of fierce battles he could fight a more modern day battle. It was time to push his ego and anxieties to the side and get on with the day.

So with a silent inhale he nodded at the barkeep and with a brief smile said smoothly.

“Whatever’s on tap mate and that doesn’t taste like piss.”

He had heard one of the farmhands say that before and it always seemed to go down well. With a chuckle the barkeep nodded back with a brief smile and turned around to fix up a pint. Next to him one of the cattle ranchers that worked with him swivelled on his stool and flicked a menu towards him.

“ Ya wanna share some wings?”

Swallowing back his surprise Kristian responded as calmly as he could. 

“ Sounds good mate.”