Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Brisbane: The City

Theoretically, we’ve been in the Brisbane area for about four weeks now, but this week is our first real introduction to “Brizvegas” – the art, food, music and eclectic corporate culture that lives in the downtown area of the city.

We’re recruiting at QUT, what Jake and I have decided is the “NYU” of Brissy, buzzing with ambitious engineers and commerce students who commute in from the city. The campus, and our lifestyle this week is a stark contrast to how spoiled we’ve been the last few weeks – instead of sunshine it’s been pouring rain, and Jake and I are part of the rat race of business suits every morning as we make our way into town. Shorts, umbrella and backpack full of flyers, we trek from our hotel in the outskirts of the city to the Central Train Station, then follow the crowd down through endless malls and shopping districts into the Botanical Gardens which marks the edge of campus. As predicted, our accommodation this week is back to budget – we’re staying at “The Snooze Inn: A Boutique Budget Accommodation” as the sign says in bright purple letters. It’s in a slightly seedy part of town – there are some night clubs, “peep show parlors” and a Chinatown down the road, but so nothing immediately unsafe or threatening. Our room is small and basic with a window out to an alleyway, two beds, a 6x6 foot bathroom and a mini-fridge, but it’s clean and has internet and air conditioning! So meets all of our basic needs. 
On a more exciting note, the weekend was a lot a fun – Friday night we met up with Liezl (friend,  former ISV recruiter), Lacey (her roommate) and a group of assorted friends for Korean BBQ. This was my first experience of the kind, and it was absolutely overwhelming. If you’ve never had Korean BBQ before then first: go out and try it. Second: make sure you bring someone who knows what they’re doing, or you could end up seriously burnt or with food poisoning. Lucky for me, half the table were Korean BBQ regulars, so our coal grill-embedded tables were pre-ordered and covered in plates of raw fish, seaweed, meat of indistinguishable kinds, piles of noodles, rice and a jelly-like substances that I assumed was made of seaweed.



Guy on right: MY HAIR IS COOLER THAN YOURS!!!!
Guy on left: Yea right mate, you wish

Getting a “doggy bag” at a nice restaurant is pretty taboo here in Australia, so we ate everything we could, but there was SO much food that even the twelve of us couldn’t finish it all! So after rolling ourselves out of the restaurant, we headed out to the town, and I finally discovered why Brisbane has the nickname of “Brizvegas.” We hopped between several places – one full of 18 year olds and ladies on a “hens night” (bachelorette party – here they dress up in crazy costumes and do a big scavenger hunt out on the town) and the second, a great venue with a live band outside, and a colorful mix of people. Most notably, we had a couple middle-aged men that were best described by our Australian friends as “bogans.” (Bogan = redneck.) As you can see, their haircuts were something of a Rastafarian mullet and reverse buzz cut, and they drunkenly took turns serenading us to the tune of “Living in the Land Down Under.” Also had a few interesting cat-call attempts – one guy grabbed the waist of my dress as I walked by, looked me in the eyes, and drunkenly slurred “I miss you.” (I ran.) Another did the classic “have you met my friend Joe?” *insert Joe sporting a rattail and sports jersey + popped collar.* Yiiiikes.
The night’s events carried into the early morning, and as a result, Jake and I decided that Sunday would be dedicated to sleeping in and visiting museums. Good choice.
Brisbane’s museums are well-known throughout Queensland, and for good reason – they were free on Sunday, and packed with cool things to check out. Below are a few pictures of my favorite exhibits, and some pieces that stuck with me. 

In this exhibit, you write your wish on a piece of paper, then take
a wish bracelet out of the hole and exchange it with the paper.
Some of the wishes were really cute: "I want a baby brother or sister"
"I wish I lived in Australia" and some were really sad, like
"I wish my dad would call more often" :(

A few examples of modern art...

SO much fun - as you walk in the museum, they have a slide from the 3rd to the 1st level!



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