Life in Brisbane so far
I know, I know. It's been ages since I posted at Zephy, and there's been no word from me about how I'm doing in Aussie. No worries, people, I'm alive and kicking:)
It's 10.23pm now in Brisbane (Brisbane is 2hrs ahead of Singapore) and I'm in my room typing away on my laptop. The room is quite cool; it's winter at this time of the year. I've got the oil heater going at maximum heat but it doesn't help much. Oh well, I've more or less gotten used to the cold. Outside, it is quiet, save for the occasional hum of cars whizzing by the residential hall. I hear a door open, and then close. One of my neighbours must be back. Where she goes at night, I do not know, and I do not ask. This room is going to be my home away from home for the next few years.
I've been in Brisbane for nearly 2 weeks already, and I've pretty much gotten used to the new environment. Adapting to the new environment wasn't very difficult. For a while, my Mum was present to help me settle into life at university. I was glad she was around to assist with the tedious, difficult stuff like setting up a bank account, money etc. She and I explored the campus together, as well as some parts of Brisbane. On day 5, she left for home. Her absence made me acutely aware of the fact that I was truly on my own, and in a foreign country at that. Oh boy. To quote Emilia, I'm a big big girl in a big big world.
Thankfully, I've managed quite well so far. In fact, it's quite fun living on my own and being independent. It does get a little lonely at times though. Anyway, here are my thoughts on some aspects of life here:
The campus
My university campus is huge; so huge that is divided into 3 areas: St Lucia, Ipswich and Gatton. Most people, me included, stay on St Lucia. It's a pretty campus: there's the grand Great Court, the scenic UQ lake and if I walk all the way up north of the campus, a view of the river that cuts through Brisbane. My campus is quite well-facilitated too. There're little eateries here and there just in case we get bored of the food in our residential hall, a copying shop, phramacy, clinic, gift shop, hairdresser, several libraries, a few kindergardens and sports facilities. St Lucia really feels like a mini town, and we the students of St Lucia are the townspeople.
Brisbane
I haven't done that much travelling, but I did pop in at the central business district (CBD), West End as well as a nearby town called Toowong. Within Brisbane's CBD, is a tourist attraction called Queen's Street. That's the equivelant of Singapore's Orchard Road. Really happening place, with shops galore. Toowong is a quiet suburb, and a good place to go to for groceries and other stuff for the home. West End is famous for good food, and I was there with a bunch of people last night. It was quite an adventure, I've never gone on outings at night before. Anyway, we popped in at a whimsical, bohemian-themed coffee house called The Three Monkeys, where we bought snacks and crapped around for 2 hours. It seems quite popular, judging by the number of customers, among them a handful of UQ kids. I tell ya, last night was an awesome night.
The people
I must say, the Aussies are rather freindly and helpful people. I still remember quite clearly the time I stepped into the dining hall of my residential college. One of the lunch ladies smiled and asked if I was new. When I said yes, she proceeded to show me around the dining hall, taught me how to order my meals and explained the meal times. Then there was my first trip to the bank. The customer service assistant took pains to explain everything about my bank account clearly, ensuring that a finance-noob like me understood perfectly. I noticed the Aussies tended to smile more and are more willing to chat, quite unlike many a poker-faced Singaporean I've encountered. For now, though, I haven't made any Aussie freinds. I do have some Aussie acquintances, or people I know and have spoken to briefly,but not someone I'd call a friend. My circle of friends consists of Asians: Singaporeans, Malaysians, Chinese, Japanese and Korean. I hope to make friends with some Aussies when lessons start next week!
Orientation
Orientation in UQ is done quite differently from the schools I attended in Singapore. Instead of getting everybody to undergo a set of activities, we at UQ are given a whole range of Orientation activities to choose from, some of which are compulsory. We then plan our Orientation week by deciding what we would like to do on what day. Quite like an all-you-can-eat buffet. Orientation has been quite useful so far, but a little boring. Unlike the Singapore Orientations, there are no games or camps for the newbies. For the International Student Welcome, all the International students trooped into the UQ centre and attended a series of talks. Sian. But like I said, Orientation has been really helpful, even if it's a little boring. Most memorable of all is the Aussie, Aussie, Aussie.....Life Downunder session, a session on Australian culture. Very informative. So flip-flops in Aussie are called thongs? And an ankle-biter does not refer to a snake but a little kid? And Aussies sometimes call out to each other by hollering "KU-WEET!!!" (I don't know how to spell that).Weird, but very interesting. Oh and before I leave for summer vacation, I must be sure to try a lamington and a tim-tam. I've tried Vegemite already, that famous brown stuff that's the vegetable version of Marmite and is said to be a rich source of Vitamin B. It's ...... okay. Just that it has a rather salty aftertaste.
The internet download quota
I love UQ..... with the sole exception of it's internet download quota policy. Every student is given 400MB of download per month, which is renewed at the start of every month. 400MB is bloody pathetic. After using it to research school stuff, there's hardly enough to surf the net, use Skype, blog, watch videos etc etc etc. My Mum said the policy is to prevent students from downloading so much stuff and causing the school's bandwith to go haywire. Whatever. NUS in Singapore has no such policy and they managed perfectly fine. If NUS can do it, so can UQ. Ah well. We students love bitching about this policy, and exchange stories about how fast we use up our quota. A girl I know finished hers up in an amazing 2 days. She must've been skyping (with the webcam on), downloading several movies plus several anime series, watching videos on Youtube and surfing graphic heavy websites all at the same time. That's the only explanation I can think of. As for me, I'm now left with 23.57 MB. Luckily for us, we can expnad our download quota, by buying more of it. "You'll get used to the quota." A senior reassured me. "You mean, I'll eventually learn how to not exceed my 400MB quota?" I asked. "No," he drawled, "You'll get used to buying more gigabytes over and over again, and eventually, you don't feel any pain when you have to fork out cash."
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Yep, so that's how life has been for me so far. For now, life is pretty laidback and carefree. Lessons began next week and though I'm still in a holiday mood, I do look forward to starting my academic life. I'll blog more about life in Aussie next time. Till then, avagudday mates!
