What's Going On?

Someone once told me that only about 20 percent of college is learning how to do your job and that the other 80 percent is learning how to live your life.  When you think about it there are a lot of things you learn about life in college: living on your own, buying your own groceries, learning how to cook your own meals (or for me, getting better at making sandwiches).  But I think there a lot of psychological, social, and emotional hurtles you learn to deal with: leaving your parents, meeting new people, getting used to new places, coping with regular mustard rather than dijon.  One of the hurtles I've been dealing with is this feeling of "I have no idea what's going on".  This is something I've encountered a lot since I've entered college.  I mean, they probably could have named Linear Algebra "What are you talking about...Algebra".  I hate not knowing what's going on.  All of public school I felt like I knew what was going on and it was comforting.  It is disconcerting to have no direction, but as the great musician Marvin Gaye once said, "Oh, you know we've got to find a way/ To bring some understanding here today".  So I suppose that if college is just a class about life, then studying abroad is the immersion therapy portion of the class because I really have no idea what I'm doing.
                             
  

Okay, are you tired of hearing the philosophical ramblings of a 21 year old?  Me too.  Substitute that Nietszche for some Miche and take a bite out of my blog sandwich.  I'll talk about me not knowing what I'm doing in Brisbane.

I've been in Australia for about two weeks now and I've spent most of that time just wandering around. I found permanent housing in a suburb of Brisbane named Toowong.  It's in a share house with a bunch of different people.  It's a large and pretty nice house, although the kitchen is a bit gross.  I'm learning to cope with seeing geckos and cockroaches inside, which I guess is something most Australians are comfortable with?  The doors to the house are generally open to allow airflow so I live in constant fear of a taipan wandering into the house, one of the many reasons why the door and windows of my room are constantly shut.  My landlord claims to have seen a Huntsman spider, although Australians are known to inspire fear in unwitting Americans who are terrified of the Queensland fauna.  All of this combined with the fact that nobody is ever around and that the rooms are somewhat ill lit results in me being very jumpy when I go around the house.  It is all made up for by the house's enormous porch where I can sit out on at dusk doing a crossword and watch the Flying Foxes glide over the city.

*Word to the wise, do not look up flying foxes if you are afraid of bats.  Completely harmless.  Completely terrifying.

My room (only ever clean for when I'm taking pictures of it)

Porch where I spend most of my time.

Kitchen where I cook as fast as I can because it's gross

Living room to porch

Toowong is a nice suburb, although somewhat busier than what I'm used to.  There is a nice mall called Toowong Village, which is different from malls in the US because it includes a produce market, grocery store, and library, as well as other small stores.  I got a library card which is nice because Brisbane's library system is very extensive.  There are also some nice cafes in Toowong as well as a number of bars of restaurants that I haven't had the time to check out yet.

Last Saturday I walked into the Central Business District of Brisbane to just sort of walk around.  I really didn't go in with a plan because I just wanted to see what it was like.  Downtown Brisbane is a fairly easy place to get around in.  All of the architecture is pretty modern which is what I've found to be one of the most enjoyable things about Australia.  When I was walking around St. Lucia, which is the suburb where University of Queensland is located I was shocked to see how many cool and hip houses were just surrounding the school, which I think is somewhat of a far-cry from what it is at Cornell.

Typical architecture just in St. Lucia.  I just remembered Cayuga Heights but whatever.

Anyway, back in the city I found what could be equated to the Ithaca Commons of Brisbane, sans bong shops, and avec security (I had to look up the word avec).  The result was an absolute delight: bustling with people, open air restaurants, and a respectable amount of quality performers.
I spent the rest of my day looking at buildings, walking into shops, and taking pictures.  Brisbane is a pretty swell city.

George V, known for being played by Michael Gambon in "The King's Speech", who is known for playing Dumbledore.

Commons area in Brisbane which I can only imagine is named "The Ithaca Commons", but I may be wrong.

Cool thing

Treasury building which I later found out was a casino.

SOOO PRETTY, SPONSER ME FUJIFILM

I suppose the best cure for not knowing what's going on is experience.  This week was orientation for UQ, and although I have an extreme aversion to orientations since freshman year of college, this one wasn't that bad because I've learned since then.  I knew more about what was going on because I'd been through it before.  Orientation is just one big confusion festival.  Pressures to get involved and make friends.  Eh, just go at your own pace.    I'll write another blog once I do something else interesting.