University School fifth-grader Matthias Day had never spoken to an Australian before.

On Tuesday he did, as seven students from Manangatang P-12 College, in Manangatang, Australia, an institution similar to University School, visited and told of their culture and what they found unique about the United States.

“I think they’re very, very nice to us, and I pretty much never have spoken to an Australian person,” Day said shortly after watching a video presentation given by the visiting students. “I think it was really neat and I really didn’t know that they didn’t go to Outback (Steakhouse) or any other food restaurants that much.”

During the presentation’s question-and-answer-session, one University School student asked about how frequently the Australians dined at Outback. Outback is not a common place in Australia, where the real outback is, and going to restaurants was not that common either, the Manangatang students said.

Tuesday’s fifth-grade presentation was full of information the students of University School intently listened to, asking the Manangatang students question after question for nearly 20 minutes. Other students were given the presentation on Tuesday also, and the rest of the school will see it today.

The Australian students told of eating kangaroo meat occasionally, living on “small” farms consisting of 13,000 acres, driving on opposite sides of the road and eating lamb on holidays instead of ham and turkey.

Cheap prices for U.S. items is something the Australian students were not expecting, adding that gasoline was $6 per gallon in Australia.

“It’s much more cheaper here than it is in Australia,” one Manangatang student said.

The Manangatang students began their trip in California, visiting Disneyland and Universal Studios. The group also visited Washington and Arlington, Va. Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia also was a stop on their tour. After University School, the students will continue on to Biltmore, Charleston, S.C., and Nashville.

The group’s chaperone, Manangatang Vice President Daryll McMillan, has taken hundreds of students on trips to the United States since the early 1990s.

“One of the key purposes of this exchange program is for students to directly experience a different culture through immersion in that culture,” McMillan said. “And the home stay with host families is probably the main purpose behind the program, as well as visiting a number of cultural and historical sites and understanding the different cultural traditions of the United States, as well as making connections between the themes in United States history and Australian history.”

University School fifth-grader Brent Parker said he learned a lot about Australia. He even found out that Australians have the same video games Americans do.

“They were very good and they talked very well and they were very nice,” Parker said.

Parker was assured by the Manangatang students that Australia had Xbox 360s and Playstation 3s. He was anticipating the Manangatang students’ arrival “because I have never talked with an Australian person before.”

Manangatang ninth-grader Max Bruckmann was interested to learn the emphasis U.S. educators place on geometry in their high schools.

“I learned geometry; we don’t really do geometry,” Bruckmann said.

The United States was what he expected it to be, but he was amazed at the size of the country.

“It’s big,” he said. “Everything is big.”

Johannah Griffin, a 10th-grader at Manangatang, said one of the best parts of her experience in the United States was staying with her host family while in Johnson City. She said she now has more friends because of this trip.

“Oh, I love it and everyone that we’ve met has been so nice and friendly to us and helped us out when we didn’t really know what to do,” Griffin said. “It’s been great.”

University School students should get the opportunity to visit Australia later this year.