Reading Meaghan Amor's "Coming to America: A Victim of Culture Surprise," certainly brought back memories for me. This past summer, I had the privilege of serving on a Royal Australian Naval ship as part of my Navy ROTC training.

With a small packet describing little more than the geography of Australia, I was flown directly to Sydney. I quickly realized just how clueless Americans are about Australian culture. Meaghan's experience wasn't all that different from my own. . .only in reverse.

Food in our countries really does differ, doesn't it? It didn't take long for me to be introduced to the Aussie meat pie (If you don't think about what's in them, they're actually quite good). As for pizza, I've always liked pineapple pizza (they sometimes offer it at the downtown Pizza Hut lunch buffet, if you're craving it).

But it was weird when I was in Hobart, Tasmania, and the officers from my ship ordered a peach, banana and pineapple pizza (strange but good). If it makes you feel any better, like your incident with the waiter laughing at your pizza order, I asked for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on board my ship, and the whole crew was talking about it (for the Americans reading this, to Aussies "jelly" is gelatin). Have you tried Reese's Peanut Butter Cups yet? Australia doesn't offer nearly the variety of candy (sorry, "lollies") that the U.S. does (not necessarily a bad thing). On the other hand, America doesn't have Vegemite (definitely not a bad thing).

Beyond food, though, didn't you find the language barrier hilarious? Well, maybe not. I found that Australians have a much better understanding of our slang because of all the movies and TV programs we send over. I wasn't nearly as prepared for your slang. Down under, you call appetizers "entrees," sweaters are "jumpers," sweatshirts are "sloppy jo's," and you use a variety of terms that I think you made up just to baffle Americans. ("Fairdinkum?" "Ooroo?")

Unfortunately, Aussies get the worst of our media; I was shocked to see that you had "Studs" and "Baywatch" over there, but no one had ever heard of "Saturday Night Live." At least you did get Wayne's World at your cinemas. (Too bad no one in the theater knew what Grey Poupon was.)

I must say that though our cultures differ, that is exactly what made me like Australia so much. You guys are far more laid back than Americans. (It was great picking up a candy bar and not finding any nutritional information on it.)

In two and a half months, I saw Hobart, Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra, Mackay, as well as a few other places. I hope to see the West Coast on my next visit. Meanwhile, I hope you don't form your complete impression of the U.S. from Pennsylvania alone. Believe me, if you want real culture shock, try hitting the southern states!