Right before I left for Australia I bought the most recent album of Compton based rapper Kendrick Lamar entitled "good kid, m.A.A.d. City". I have listened through it several times while here and have grown to enjoy it. Although Kendrick Lamar's music is often construed to promote Hedonistic tendencies, his music actually touches on much darker topics such as alcoholism, drug abuse, peer pressure, and gang violence. Now I know it doesn't really make sense for a 21 year white kid from Upstate New York to garner meaning from someone who grew up in the Southern Californian city known for its gangs and violence, but I suppose the quality of an artist is measured by their ability to relay a message.
Grandma, don't listen to this
I can't really say much about gang violence in Ithaca but alcohol and peer pressure you will certainly find in nearly every college town. And if D.A.R.E. taught me anything, these are the things that pose the biggest threat to my success in life. Actually that was the purpose of D.A.R.E. And I was awesome at it. But the drinking age in the US is 21 and generally college begins when you're 18. So as if there was an attempt to create the perfect storm of peer pressure, they made college students wait three years before they could legally drink in a culture that revolves around partying. But coming to Brisbane where the drinking age is 18 it's a completely different culture. Drinking is less of a taboo. It's not something you need to do in the privacy of a Frat Party.
Anyway, this past weekend was Slope Day at Cornell. For those who aren't familiar with Slope Day it's the last day of classes for the students and the school commemorates it by throwing a big concert on Libe Slope, Cornell's dominating geographical feature. Basically all of the students skip their classes (unless they have a lab) and start drinking at 8 in the morning and then proceed to continue drinking throughout day. This year Cornell brought aforementioned Kendrick Lamar to headline the show. I was disappointed to hear that the only year they bring in a musician I liked for Slope Day I happen to be in Australia. But I can't complain, I'm in Australia. So while my Cornellian counterparts drunkenly sang along to songs that scrutinizes alcoholism I had my own celebration Down Undah.
IN THE WILD
I went to the Zoo. And I know what you're thinking, "ART! You've already been to the Zoo!" Correct, but this isn't just ANY zoo. And I know what you'ver thinking, "ART! You said that about the last Zoo!" I know, Australia is really good at Zoo......ing. I went to the Australia Zoo on the Sunshine Coast, known for being the Zoo of the late Australian legend Steve Irwin. This experience was unique as well in that I went with my third cousins (I looked it up): Tegan, Jack, and Chelsea. I met up with Chelsea, Tegan, and Shan (Chelsea's boyfriend) to go see a rugby league game the night before and then drove up and stayed the night on the Sunshine Coast. Just a side note on the game: it was Brisbane Broncos vs. South Sydney Rabbitohs. The Rabbitohs won the game handly but more importantly the Rabbitohs are owned by actor Russell Crowe who is probably best known as lead singer of the Adult contemporary band "30 Odd Foot of Grunts".
Anyway, this was the first time I had met up with the Australian Benettis since I first arrived in Brisbane over three months ago. It was good to be back at the Williams' household. The chaos of the family is so consistent you have to question whether the family finds more comfort with the notion that their lives are always moving or that their lives will never stop moving. Did that make sense? I guess it doesn't matter. Since I had been there they had installed a new fireplace (which even they acknowledge gets very little use) and put up a mural of a side street in Melbourne which was so large that no matter where you stood in the room it looked like you were standing in the center of the street. Cathy told me some of Colin's plans for future renovations of the house and although Colin is the most soft spoken of the family members it's probably his restlessness in stasis that keeps the family in the postive motion.
Okay, back on track. After a morning of me privately doubting we would ever get to the Zoo, we got to the Zoo at around twelve. My general approach to Zoos is to walk around aimlessly until I'm convinced that I've seen everything in the park even if it's not worth seeing. Tegan, Jack, and Chelsea took the more level headed approach of getting a map and noting which demonstrations we should see. Australia Zoo is awesome. It's more of a traditional Zoo than the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary because it had animals from all over the world rather than from just Australia. There was also more of a focus on Crocodiles for obvious reasons. It's also enormous and still expanding.
 |
| Gleam of sunscreen on my forhead and a hat that no young Australian wears. Living the dream. |
 |
| *sigh*......crikey |
 | ||
This is what happens when nobody tells you to wash behind the ears.
|
 |
| Cassowary. Like everything else in Australia these birds are dangerous with a history of attacking humans. |
 |
| The Crocoseum. We forwent seeing a demonstration here to hand feed the elephants. Still cool to see though. |
 |
| Tegan feeding a Kangaroo |
 |
| Chelsea feeding a Kangaroo. |
 |
| IT'S THE CIRCLLLLLLLE, THE CIRCLE OF LIIIIIIIIIIIIFE!!!!! Those rocks probably aren't real. |
 |
| From a distance it's difficult to tell what these are but on closer inspection you can see that they are striped horses and a couple of backhoes painted with spots. |
 |
| Cousins |
 |
| Cousins and giraffes. |
 |
| This picture does not give justice to the size of the Rhino. The zookeeper told us that the Rhino is really just a big baby and that they had to shoo away the Zebra that kept trying to eat the Rhino's food, which can be seen in the background. |
 |
| Kousins and Koals (Chelsea, Tegan, Jack) |
 |
| Supposedly this is a model of an actual crocodile. |
IN DA CLUB
When evening came the Williams (kids) invited me to "go out" with them. I guess it's not surprising that reserved old me has never hit the clubs but this was a new experience for me. This was me entering the wild. One of my goals for this study abroad trip was to step out of my comfort zone and since I had spent the morning doing something I was completely comfortable with it's important that I counter it was something I'm not comfortable with. And if the city on a Saturday night is my wilderness I guess the Williams clan is my Safari leader. I probably wouldn't have done something like this if I wasn't comfortable with them.
The first hurdle encountered in the expedition out was the realization that I had inadequate footwear. I suppose that'd be the same for a Safari but that's beside the point. I only have two pairs of shoes in Australia (and not in Australia): a sweet pair of Onizuka Tigers as seen in the above picture, and a pair of running shoes. Neither are allowed in clubs because apparently people who wear sneakers like to start fights and people who wear running shoes just don't have a sense of fashion. Despite by suggestion to just cover my shoes in duct tape Jack set out to get a proper pair for me. After trying to fit my clown feet into a number of Jack's shoes, he called Ben (the older of the two Williams boys) who was still at home and told him to bring a pair of Colin's shoes. Oh and a side thing that is really funny about the Williams...es is that they always party together. I suppose this is something more common in Australia than it would be in the U.S. because if you start drinking at 18 rather than 21 you are more likely to be drinking with your family. Anyway, I was set to wear the shoes of a man from my father's generation because they had more aesthetic appeal than any footwear I own in the world.
Now any respectable night out is preceded by a period of getting ready which for girls is a labor intensive process of choosing an outfit, putting on makeup, and getting hair perfect while for boys it's just drinking beer. My theory is that this 3 to 4 hours of prep time is the real reason people go out because it's the time you get to connect with friends, talk, and listen music you want to listen to. Before Tegan's friends and Ben arrived, who would be joining us on the night out, me and Jack sat out on the balcony and talked. In my previous blog I mentioned how Jack was something of a clown, which apparently the rest of his family didn't let him live down and I still stand by, but while talking I got to see some of the non-clown side of Jack. Jack works construction management for his Dad's company and he discussed how the job requires him to meld both creativity and practicality. Construction management is often seen as a job meant to bring engineers and architects back down to Earth but we probably don't see how much creative thinking goes into the job. My Uncle John also works in construction management yet my Aunt Eileen always describes him as the artist of the family. It's a job where you're required to know how to construct something and I think an artist is only limited by their ability to synthesize, so why leave all of the imagining to the architect or engineer who likely seriously lack some building capabilities? Jack talked about how architects tend to come up with weird and fantastic and cool designs that are completely impractical. To make something that's impractical work can require a lot of innovation. We also talked about the usual stuff: music, travel, culture. The regular "pre- hitting the clubs" topics. It's funny that this is where I saw Jack to be the most serious.
Once Tegan's friends arrived, which was a troup of about 5 very friendly Australian girls and one goofy American who was one of the girl's boyfriend, as well as Ben and his girlfriend, there was another round of talking, taking pictures, and you guessed it, drinking. It was nice to hear the conversations bouncing around the room. Ben was talking to everyone he could about his racing car. I had gone with him on a white-knuckle test ride earlier in the day. Suffice to say, the car moved...fast. It was obvious he was proud of it.
Now the two Williams girls, Tegan and Chelsea, have been ever present in this narrative but I have yet to describe them. Tegan, the older of the two, is probably the most adventurous of the Williams. She is the only one who doesn't work for the family's company instead choosing a path in medical research. She also recently spent 18 months in England working, a trip I view as taking a lot of guts to go off on. Jack has expressed his awe at Tegan's ability to drink him under the table, an ability I saw the previous night at the rugby game when after several beers she was still able to outpace Chelsea, Shan, and I on the way to the train station. So Tegan is hardcore. And Chelsea is sweet. Chelsea is the Williams child where characteristics of their mother shine through the most; generous, thoughtful, caring. Despite being the yougest of the siblings she displayed the highest level of responsiblity, which corresponded with the highest level of apparent sobriety. But that responsibility wasn't only seen during the night out but througout the day where she also drove us all around, bought us ice cream, and generally had a plan for what would happen next. This isn't to say that Tegan wasn't thoughtful either. They both made sure I was comfortable with the idea of going out, that I wasn't drinking anything I didn't want to drink, and that I was having fun. Tegan reminded me often that they were glad that I went out with them and Chelsea made sure I didn't need anything. That will always be appreciated. I also had my first shot ever with the two Williams girls, which coincidently Tegan later admitted was the last thing she remembered from the night. Well I remember, and I blogged the whole thing.
So FINALLY we were "going out". The nightlife district of Brisbane is in a suburb called Fortitude Valley, and let me tell you, there is nothing fortifying about it. The first bar we went to was an odd place that smelled distinctly of vomit and alcohol. The floors were sticky which was weird because it was carpeted and I couldn't help but feel bad for Colin because now his shoes smelled like stale beer on the outside and my feet on the inside. All of the walls were adorned with family photos which I thought was really odd and there was one guy playing pop songs on an electric-acoustic guitar with a swarm of people trying to dance. It's hard to dance to an acoustic guitar.
After a bit we moved onto the next place which was a bit nicer. Like too nice. Like "Ohhh, this is why I can't wear running shoes" nice. It was also packed to the point where you are compelled to raise your hands above your head and shout "NO TOUCHING!" But I didn't. It's hard to dance in a place where you can hardly move.
The final place we went to was a spot I had heard all of the Williams kids talk about, with descriptions ranging from "a dungeon" to "the diviest dive". It was called the Bowler Bar and it lived up to the expectations. It was the kind of place that James Bond would go to kill someone. Or that bar where Neo meets Trinity in the Matrix. Alas, I am not the One (or am I?), and I had no secret mission purpose for being there.
But it was good for dancing which, contrary to popular belief, I am terrible at. But it's fun. Dancing, aside from spending time with friends, would be the only thing about going out that appeals to me. I think dancing is meant to be a brilliant display of courage, but a lot of the time it's reduced to some anonymous primal act.
The Bowler Bar played electric dance music, was basically a dungeon, and was very dark. We were there for a while. At about 1 AM I started thinking we'd be leaving soon. I figured I could wait out everyone else. At 1:30 I began worrying about my sleep cycle. And at 2 I decide to just go home. I told Tegan and Chelsea I was heading out. Chelsea made sure I knew how to get home. Before I left I asked her when they were planning on leaving. She said they usually leave around 5. Good thing I didn't wait them out.
So what am I trying to say about alcohol and peer pressure? I don't know. I'm not from Compton. My life has been pretty vanilla. And I'm sure most of my readers don't need me to impart wisdom on them about drinking responsibly and making their own choices (Grandma, if the ladies down at St. Francis Xavier are encouraging you to go vandalize the Methodist Church JUST SAY NO). What I really took away from my night in the Fortitude Valley is that having good friends is what's important to a healthy social life. And I know that may seem obivous but the magnitude of its importance may not be realized. Good friends allow for a comfort in the choices you make, like going home before 5AM or not drinking too much. Good friends allow for exciting conversation. Good friends allow for exhuberant dancing. Good friends allow for a feeling of belonging even if you're 12,000 miles away from your comfort zone.
No comments:
Post a Comment