A Night Out in The Valley

Last night, Aliey hosted a BBQ on the rooftop of our apartment in celebration of her birthday. She bought 15 kgs of sausages, tons of chips and pop for everyone to eat. Diana even brought chocolate dipped strawberries! Num! A majority of the gang from our apartment building came, along with many of Aliey's dental school friends. We enjoyed a few hours of good weather before it started to sprinkle, and after two hours of standing in the sprinkling rain, we made our way in to 603 (Mikey and Vince's room).

After having a few drinks, we made our way out for the night. We headed to Fortitude Valley, or 'The Valley' as locals call it, which is a suburb of central Brisbane, just a two stop train ride away. It is well known for it's huge nightclubs. Because a few people were not dressed properly (i'll get back to that), we were only able to get into a couple of bars. We made the best of it, and ended up having an excellent night, with a little excitement from a bar fight, singing and dancing for hours, and finally making our way home around 3:00am. I am still surprised at how fast my nights here really do go! I am usually ready for bed at midnight, and all of a sudden it's almost morning!







Dress in Australia is SO entirely different than it is back in the states, or at least what I am used to. It is not that they dress differently, but everyone dresses up ALL the time! The girls are constantly looking like I would dress for a nice dinner, and they're just headed to Uni or shopping around Queen Street. You absolutely never see ANYONE headed to class in sweats, and you never find girls walking around in gym shorts and t-shirts. Guys also dress a lot nicer. It is common to see them wearing tighter jeans, nice shoes and a polo. Dressing up comes hugely into play when going out. Many clubs or bars around the city are very picky about what people are wearing. You are not allowed to wear flip flops, and guys must wear dress shoes, and, depending on the place, a button down shirt. Last night, because a friend was wearing a simple black collared t-shirt, not a button down shirt, this wasn't dressy enough, and we were unable to get into certain bars! Definitely a change from wearing jeans, dunks and a t-shirt to bars around the UMN campus!

A few more things:
Hungry Jacks = the Australian equivalence of Burger King. It really is the exact same store, with a different name. Same logo, same Whopper menu, just called something different.
Paying with a credit card is much different as well. You are always asked ‘credit, checking, or savings’ and then are asked ‘signature or pin’. They hold on to your card until after you sign the receipt and really compare how they look. I am so used to just scribbling out a signature because back home they barely check!
Ice Block = Popsicle