I’m going to slip a pleasant, cheerful message into the piles of irate and indignant complaints I dare say The News is sent on a regular basis. Having been a visitor from Australia to Northeastern this past week, I’ve been enjoying a little look at your extravagant college lives here in Boston. Consequently, I feel like you ought to know and appreciate your idiosyncrasies, both great and confusing, as observed by a foreigner.

I’m going to start with the cups – those blue and red ones you can buy at Wollaston’s. For you, they’re just your casual, everyday cups. For us, they are beacons of light; they embody the sort of wild, rocking American college debauchery we can only imagine. In Australia, these cups are nothing but a myth. They are a distant dream, conjuring up images of “Mean Girls” and the last three seasons of “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch.” I know a girl who ordered red cups online for her 18th birthday party as a “special treat” – this is the sort of pull we Australians feel towards your ubiquitous “Solo Cups.” Imagine my glee upon seeing them in action, in real life, being used as pawns in beer pong. It was pretty great – thank you for this, Northeastern.

I’m not going to lie, the cups were kind of the highlight; but Boston has provided me with a raft of other great (and delicious) experiences too. Bagels are pretty cool, and I like your exterior fire escapes. The severe cold is kind of lame, but I feel like it’s kind of worth it for that sweet feeling of relief you get when you make it into the warm and comforting embrace of the T. The loud whooping of inebriated students is even kind of pleasant after a while.

Northeastern, you are weirdly stereotypical, what with your red cups and college-branded sweatshirts, but this has only endeared you to me. I will drink a steaming mug of tea in your honor when I return to the Motherland.

– Michelle Garrett is a third-year English major at the University of Sydney in Australia, visiting friends on her break.