End of Orientation

Finished up 0-week today, we all went out to a water park which was awesome because it was ridiculously hot outside. Even now at night I am sitting in front of the fan, its still really warm out. Last night was a lot of fun, pretty much all of UQ went out to this toga party in downtown Toowong (they have such great city names here). We took the bus over and got there early at about 7, which was good because the line to get in was about 2 blocks long by 8:30. It was at this bar called the R.E. which is apparently a big student hangout. I hung out with the international people for awhile, and was listening to the band that was playing there (it was funny, they played all American cover songs from bands like Green Day or The Eagles), but then wandered around and met random people that were all really awesome. I met a guy that plays on the national water polo team for Australia, and also plays for their intramural league at UQ that I just signed up for. That should be interesting considering there are super beginners and national team players in the same games. Everyone else I talked to was really cool too. Other people have photos, and I will try to get them because there were some pretty great outfits. One guy dressed up as a transvestite toga-wearer with a rainbow wig and heavy makeup. He had a great transvestite accent too, it was very entertaining. It was probably one of the best parties I have ever been to, just a good vibe and I had a great time meeting all these new people. And who doesn't like to wear togas?

I really like the Australian people I have decided. They are all very positive, easygoing, and very friendly. They don't complain about things and they don't think they are too cool to do things that Americans would be embarrassed about, they just seem to have fun in whatever they are doing. They are all really easy to have conversations with about anything, everytime I have sat next to someone new on the bus or at a meal its like you have been good friends with them for awhile. It's interesting hanging out with them compared to the international kids. At our international meetings, people just keep bitching about the cafeteria system, how the internet works here (you have a 220 megabyte quota/month that gets eaten up on every website or application you use that streams anything over the net. One of the guys used it up in 30 minutes streaming TV on his computer.), or just random things that are not up to their standards of living in North America. They also were complaining that the Australians didnt get their sense of humor, which mainly consists of quoting family guy. I think they just need to suck it up and deal with it. I really do like the international people too, but it's just refreshing to go back to the Aussies that do not seem to really be bothered by anything.

We also went on a boat ride down the Brisbane River for another orientation activity, which was cool. I got to see the city at night which was neat, and it was Hawaiian themed so people wore a lot of funny stuff. We went by these cliffs that have been turned into a 24/7 rock climbing place with belay ropes and everything set up. They looked really neat, and were higher up than any rock wall I have ever seen, probably five stories tall? I'm not exactly sure. They were lit up and people were climbing all around. Tonight, there were a few local bands playing on campus for free, so I headed over with some people and we caught the last one. They were called Butterfingers and were cool. They played rap/reggae music and the singer had great lyrics. Some really hilarious stuff, and it was cool to listen to with the accent. Sortof reminded me of The Streets, but with more instruments. I'm going to try to pick up some of their music.

The pictures are of Brisbane at night, international kids at the Hawaiian boat event (that I can't seem to get right side up), and the rock wall on the bank of the river.