Being on the other side of the world does mean that I didn't have to put up with all the s*** that comes with being from a swing state (my apologies to whoever lives in 116 indigo terrace in Williamsburg, aka my last registered address as an independent in VA); however, it does not mean that the election doesn't reach me.
While diligently procrastinating, and meandering around the vast expanses of facebook, I happened upon an old friend from the College of Bill & Gary. Not only was he living in Melbourne, working on a law degree at the Uni, but also in charge of the local chapter of Democrats Abroad (didn't know that was a thing until today). Not only all of this, but ALSO, his club was hosting a meet-up to watch the election at a pub!
I'll be honest, I was expecting 6-7 nerdy poly-sci guys gathered around an ipad, debating exit polls. And well... there was that, but so much more too! There were easily a hundred people overwhelming the small wait-staff. There were lots of ex-pats, but excited Australians watching too. There were local news teams covering the people watching the coverage of the election. I'll admit that Australia doesn't have a lot of dramatic national news to report on, but I was still shock that there was so much buzz. Every news station on Australian TV was covering the US election. It was surreal to hear an Australian accent talking about Kaine taking Virginia (yay). In fact, I've been reflecting lately about how Australia is kind of like being in a dream, in the way that dreams can be very real, and you think that you're awake, going about your day, but then something's a little off. So, being in Australia feels just like being in the US, except things are just a little off. Like, the cars are coming from the wrong direction, and when you flip a switch up the light goes off instead of on. Well, this whole event just exacerbated that feeling. It was a US election with US candidates, and I was drinking beer, and there were people yelling things at the TV as if it was a sporting event.... all normal... yet, the beer was bad, the accents were all wrong, it was daylight outside, and for some reason people wanted to take my picture, because apparently being an American was cool in this one strange dream-like moment.
Anyways, point of the story, is that Australia is excited for us, so rejoice! Because the rest of the world still respects our choices for the next 4 years.
Somehow I always imagined Australians would be upside down, but never tilted 90 degrees!
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