Hi I'm a 21 year old asian guy who's spent half his life living in many different countries(mostly western and European). I've never really had any problems with racism while growing up in these different countries, but it was probably because I was sheltered, living in the better neighborhoods and attending private schools. I was pretty much oblivious to the fact that I was "different". However, a couple of months ago I decided to travel down to Australia, Perth for a week with a couple of my friends, and we were pretty much faced with racist remarks and subtle racist antagonism on a daily basis. This really shook our confidence and we even became quite reluctant to venture out to explore and avoided interacting too much with the locals.

I will be going down to Sydney in a years time to attend university, and this experience really had me quite worried about living in Australia and even getting a date while living there. I was just wondering how you guys would tackle this situation or if you have been in a similar situation, how you tackled it? Should I try to change or adapt things like my accent in order to fit in or is none of that going to matter?

look forward to hearing your input

I dont know Australia, i live in the south of the United States, where racism has always been around in some form. All i can say is, you shouldnt change who you are. There will always be stupid people out there. Learn to have thick skin and not let most of it just roll off you. Learn the culture and you will build your confidence back.

Me personally, i dont care for political correctness at all. So, i dont really pay much attention to racist commits cause im like who cares what anyone else says. Sometimes racist jokes are just funny even when they are about myself.

Yeah I'd go along with what Krular says; don't change yourself. Generally, most people are fine. I think when you're at uni this will certainly be the case - some of the "locals" might hold racist views, but these are usually just terrible people. Generally most unis have a more multicultural and accepting vibe, so you'll be fine.

I've only been to Melbourne, but might spend a few days in Sydney later on this year. As for Melbourne, it's been voted the best city in the world to live in, part of the reason being that it is the most culturally diverse city in Australia. Aside from the odd racist comment here and there, it was relatively scarce. Some of my friends in England come out with more "close to the knuckle" statements.

My understanding is that Sydney isn't too different. For tourism, it's the place to go in Australia, so the people there will most likely have "grown out" of most racism.

So I wouldn't worry about it, but if you do experience any, listen to the other guys and, if anything, play off the fact that you're different. People love different. If you've heard of Simple Pickup (a lot of stuff on youtube) 2 of the guys are Asian and they use it to their advantage.

Be like Jin when they use racism attacks on you. You gotta be smart.

Australia is definitely one of the tougher Anglo countries to game in. I notice people there are more proud and nationalistic when compared to Americans, Canadians, or British people.

Regardless I have known some Polynesians, Filipinos, and those type of guys who have hooked up with pretty blondes there so your chances aren't that bad. Gotta learn to roll with it man.

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I just come on here these days to give advice and read interesting threads. Gone are the days when I came to seek advice and validation.

You could have responded by saying "we came here in planes, your ancestors came in chains". Throw it back at them!