Brisbane

On Tuesday we arrived in Brisbane and were driven to our apartment. The group was split up into twos to room together with one other person, except Geoff and I. Geoff is living with two Australian guys, and I am living with two Australian girls. I was really nervous at first, but both of my roommates seem really nice, and I think that it will add so much more to the experience to be able to learn about Australia through the two of them.

Tuesday afternoon we all went to the grocery store to pick up a few items. It was incredibly difficult to shop, because we were all shocked at how expensive everything is! I spent nearly 10 minutes looking for a face lotion that was under $15. After an hour of shopping, we headed home to get used to our new apartment. We had originally planned to go out our first night in Brisbane, but we were all so exhausted we kept it pretty low key.

Wednesday was Lisa’s 21st birthday. We spent most of the morning figuring things out at our university, QUT, and getting out ID cards. We spent a bit exploring the city, and then picked up a few items we needed for our apartments. Wednesday night we went out to sushi, which was my first real sushi experience! I don’t eat seafood, but I ordered cucumber rolls and avocado rolls, and they were both delicious! A group of us decided to do sake bombs in celebration of Lisa’s birthday. It was my first sake bomb! Instead of going out that night, we decided to head up to Hunter and Donny’s room to play drinking games, rather than spending even more money at the bar. I think playing drinking games with boxed wine (the CHEAPEST alcohol you can get here) was probably a bad idea, as I had to deal with the consequences most of Thursday.

On Thursday I FINALLY got on the internet for a bit. There is a coffee shop next door to our building, and it is probably my best bet for getting online. The internet is very weak, and I haven’t been able to upload ANY pictures, not even to my blog. I am hoping to get that figured out soon. Thursday night the whole group grilled up on the rooftop of our apartment. We then took a trip to a man-made beach in the city, called Streets Beach. The pool is made with sand and truly looks like a real beach.

Friday I spent the day walking around the city with Mike, Vince, Geoff and Anthony to run a few errands. We ate lunch at a place called Magic Kebab with Kate and Chelsea, and it was SO good! After running errands, we came back to the apartment and went swimming in the pool on the rooftop of the apartment—coolest thing ever. During the night we went to the casino. It was the first time I had ever been to one, and it was quite the experience. We all felt pretty out of place at the beginning, but it turned out to be such a fun night. When we got back, a few of us stayed up talking, and I didn’t get to bed until nearly 4:30 am. I haven’t stayed up that late in a while!

I really think that Brisbane is the most incredible city I have ever been to. It is so clean! The casino has tons of colored lights, which makes the city look so cool when you’re standing on the opposite side of the river. There is a lot of incredible architecture here, something I didn’t expect. I never thought I'd love it here as much as I do!

Here is an album my friend Geoff has created: gallery.me.com/geoff.goral --The first portion of the photos under ‘Brisbane’ were taken from our rooftop—incredible, right?

I thought I would say a few things I have noticed about the country as I think of them…
1. EVERYTHING is more expensive. And I mean EVERYTHING. Magazines are around $8, Shampoo and conditioner is $7 or $8, any coffee drink can be $4-$7.
2. They don’t have ‘dollar menus’ ever. They just recently got $3 menus. McDonalds is yet another thing that is much more expensive. My normal meal that costs $2.50 at home was about $6 here.
3. Alcohol prices are also outrageous. You will be lucky to find any bottle under $30, and a 6 pack of beer can be near $25. Boxed wine is the cheapest choice.
4. The phrase ‘no worries’ is used constantly in this country. I have heard it hundreds of times in the last week and a half.
5. Staying out later is much more common here. A lot of bars are open until 5 am.
6. People can go ANYWHERE without shoes on! It is not uncommon to see people walking around the mall, grocery stores, or just around the city barefoot.
7. Target in Australia is an entirely different store. It is much more similar to a department store, and it is also much more expensive than the Target at home. It doesn’t seem to even sell the same clothing lines.
8. Instant coffee seems to be more popular in the household than brewed coffee
That's all I can think of now-!