American who lived in Melbourne lists the ‘bizarre’ things that confuse her about Australia

An American YouTube star has shared “bizarre” habits she picked up during a stint living in Melbourne — but are we really that unusual?

Yeah, nah — okay … she’s right. Kinda.

Us Aussies do have an interesting way of expressing ourselves, but it’s what makes us so unique.

Just ask American nutritionist Emily Keefe, who lived in Melbourne for 12 months, and devoted an entire 10-minute YouTube segment to “weird Australian habits I never realised I had”.

In her defence, she made it clear how much she loves Australia, especially the word “reckon”, but rightfully pointed out some of our flaws, such as our really slow Wi-Fi.

Emily Keefe has more than 33,500 subscribers on her YouTube channel. Picture: YouTube/HealthyEmmie

The Boston local experienced a culture shock when she moved from her hometown to Melbourne last year to work as a schoolteacher.

The 24-year-old, known as Healthy Emmie on YouTube, said she didn’t realise the “unique” habits and Aussie slang she had picked up, until she moved back home.

“I spent a year of my life in Melbourne, I learned that I picked up a lot of Australian habits and I didn’t realise until I came back to the States and I was making a fool of myself,” she said in one of her latest YouTube videos.

“So today I’m going to share with you guys the Australian habits I picked up while I was in Australia.”

Emily loves it here but has struggled with some of our slang and ‘habits’. Picture: YouTube/HealthyEmmie

TOILET

She began with the word “toilet”. Apparently that’s weird to say in the States?

“In Australia, instead of saying ‘bathroom’, everybody says ‘toilet’,” Emily said.

“Being a teacher, I would get asked every seven seconds, ‘Miss, can I go toilet?’ and because the word ‘toilet’ was just the word that was being used, it was the word that I started using.”

She said it was just an “awkward” word and no one uses it in the States.

“I don’t know it just feels weird coming out of your mouth,” Emily said. “I got so used to using in Australia that when I got back to the States people were like, ‘Is this girl good?’”

She was really confused that we use the term ‘toilet’ instead of ‘bathroom’. Apparently it’s weird to say ‘toilet’ in the States. Picture: YouTube/HealthyEmmie

RECKON

This is one Aussie word she loves. It’s a pretty good word.

We use the term as a synonym for “think”. For example, “Hey mate, you reckon you can pass me that schooner?” or, “What ya reckon about this?”

Emily says it’s a “perfect” word.

“I love this word. But where I’m from Boston like ‘reckon’ — that’s not a word but it’s the perfect word,” she said.

“I was talking to my dad about Australian taxes and I was like ‘how much do you reckon I’ll pay?’”

Emily admitted she couldn’t think of a better word to replace “reckon”.

“You know what? I’m going for it, the word ‘reckon’ is officially in my vocabulary.”

She wasn’t done praising it too. “Thank you Australia for having such an incredible word.”

RELATED: UK woman lists what Aussies consider bad manners

She loves the word ‘reckon’. Yes, it’s a word to us. Picture: Instagram/ HealthyEmmie

WALKING ON THE LEFT SIDE

Any Aussie who travels overseas can understand the near-death experiences of colliding into people.

We walk on the left hand side of the footpath — the same side we drive on.

But it’s not the same in other countries.

“So if you’re passing somebody in the United States, you would pass them and stay on their right — but in Australia, you would pass them the same way that you drive,” Emily explained

“So going on my runs, I’d be passing people all the time and I would always move to their left because that’s what you do in Australia.

“It’s amazing I didn’t get concussions and broken noses from all the people that I’ve almost collided into when I came back to the United States because I was so used to running on the left side of people.”

Emily said it would have been ideal had she been running towards a handsome man.

“I would be like, ‘Oh my God, I’m so sorry, I just got back from Australia’. But that never happened.”

She can’t understand why we have such slow Wi-Fi … neither can we Emily. Picture: YouTube/HealthyEmmie

BAD WI-FI

Ah, yes. We will even admit this is something that really lets us down, even though we invented it (embarrassing).

“Australia I love you, I love you, I love you, this has nothing to do with you, it’s not you, it’s me and it’s my dependency on good Wi-Fi,” Emily explained in a calm manner.

“Australia listen you’re amazing, but the Wi-Fi in Australia sucks, I’m sorry I love you Australia, you’re incredible I’ll say it till the cows come home, but the Wi-Fi is a no-go.”

She said to get any “good” Wi-Fi she had to travel 45 minutes to her nearest Apple store.

PEDESTRIAN WALKING

We are have a particular crossing sound we are used to hearing to alert us that’s it’s time to cross. However in America, this sound does not exist.

“I got so used to hearing the sounds that when I went back to the US, I was pressing the crosswalk, I was just standing, looking around and I would miss my opportunity to cross because there’s no crosswalk noise in the United States,” Emily said.

“When you hear the noise (in Melbourne) that’s when you start to walk but when I came back to the United States and that was no more, I was not a crossing woman.”

Emily, has now returned home to Boston. Picture: Instagram/HealthyEmmie

DRIVER’S SEAT IS ON THE RIGHT-HAND

We drive on the left side of the road, therefore the driver’s seat is on the right side of the car.

When you’ve lived here long enough, and head back to your country, you would often find yourself chucking (throwing/doing) an Emily.

“Over and over again I would walk to the wrong side of the car to get into the driver’s seat in the United States because I was so used to the driver’s seat being on the other side,” she said.

“I also will admit that when I first pulled out onto the road in the United States, let’s just say I wasn’t on the right side.

“But that took me a little while to start walking to the correct side of the car, I was so used to going to the left side of the car to get in to drive the car — but it’s not how we do it in America.”

Onya Emily. Come back again soon, hopefully will have our slow Wi-Fi sorted by then.