"Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end..." - Semisonic
Right now I am turning the page of the best-selling autobiography of Matthew Wong (to be written sometime in the distant future) to reveal the start of a brand new chapter. People asked how I felt about moving onto something totally different and my answer was pretty much all of the above to a list of emotions like scared, excited, happy, sad, and anxious.
I was looking forward to riding in a Boeing 747 for the first time in my life. I'm not sure why but it felt more cramped than any other plane I've been on. The Los Angeles to Brisbane flight lasted about 13.5 hours and it was during the night so everyone was sleeping or tried to sleep for the majority of the flight. It was the first time in a while that I had an actual full meal on a flight. I guess that's the least they can do for you considering the cost of the flight. I did watch Miami Vice. I'd give it maybe a C+ rating. I fell asleep watching the second Pirates of the Caribbean flick. Other than having a chance to chat with my dad, the highlight of the flight was watching the sunrise above the clouds from 30,000 feet.
Thankfully, none of our luggage was lost. We were greeted at the airport by a UQ rep who then drove us to our temporary accommodations at Emmanuel College. They call their student residences "colleges". It was pretty ghetto with poor lighting and no fans or AC in the rooms. I'm glad that we only had to stay there for one night before we secured accommodations off campus. I'm currently in a 3 bedroom townhouse-like place that's about a 5-10 minute walk away from campus. One thing that still bothers me is how they drive on the wrong side of the road. It just looks so weird getting on a bus on the left side of the road.
Riding the bus/train/ferry system is a bit weird here. They have the routes all broken up into zones. The farther you travel, the more zones you cross and the more you have to pay. The buses and ferries will give you change for your
fare because it will depend on where you're going. This was a bit annoying because if you get a lineup of 10 people trying to get onto a bus and everyone is paying a unique fare, it takes a good 5 minutes to load the bus at that stop. It bothered me a lot but I guess that's just an example of the chillax mentality that everyone has here. Nobody is in a rush and everyone just takes their time. It took me 2 hours to get my cell phone plan setup at the store the other day.
The UQ campus is really nice. It has a nice mix of old and new looking buildings. One major difference is that it is so clean compared to the UofC. In fact, the entire city is so much cleaner than Calgary. These last couple days I've been visiting downtown Brisbane. Queen St. is packed with stores, restaurants and people. One thing I noticed was that anytime is the right time for booze. People were drinking at 11am at some of the coffee shops/bars. I guess it would be close to happy hour back in Calgary at that time. They even have this man-made beach at this South Bank area just across the river from downtown. Seemed kinda weird since a real beach like the Gold Coast is less than an hour train ride away.
Someone told me that they have been doing video-blogs and that sounds like a really efficient way of doing things. I might have to try it out and make use of You-Tube.
St. Lucia and BrisbaneLabels: Travel
