Obscure Brisbane.

Thus far, I think my view of Brisbane-- and Australia in general-- has been obscure.

But let's pretend, if only for a moment, that I've come to Australia with no previous knowledge or notions about this large island of a country. Keep in mind everyone has been studying for finals, so I haven't met a ton of people outside of the house yet. Along with this, I've been observing mostly day-to-day experiences (meaning I haven't taken any crazy coast excursions or anything).

If I were to sum up Australia purely based on experience and the people I've befriended here, it would go something like this:

--People call dinner "tea" (and it's mega confusing!)
--They end sentences with "hey." A lot.
--They like to incorporate the word "heaps".
--There's lots of French people. And Asians.
--The toilets flush funny.
--They tend to not wear shoes, even in public places.
--They have absolutely no idea what rice krispie treats are but love them.
--They love art. And music.
--They don't know what a quesadilla is. And they can't say it right.
--They recycle and conserve.
--They drink tea like 3290 times a day.
--They really do say "G'Day Mate!"
--If they're low on food, they go dumpster diving.
--It's hot.
--They all have 4-minute timers in their showers because water is low.
--They love red wine.
--They wear all kinds of funky clothes.

That's my biased view so far. I'm happy it's mine to have.

Justin's been mostly studying, which has given me lots of time to get to know people in the house.

Yesterday was an artsy day. Steve, Shannon and I went to an empty warehouse (owned by Tom's dad) to make a darkroom out of one of the bathrooms. Shannon and a few of her art friends use the warehouse to do their work.

I got the chance to look at Shannon's work, which I was extremely impressed with. They were mostly realistic pictures of people composed of vibrant, mismatched colors.

The place used to be a fiberglass factory and it's exactly how I'd imagine the shell of an old warehouse to be. It's a big open crumbling space made of wood, decorated with rotting holes and art on the ground and walls.

One of the giant walls has a fence against it so that no one will go near what is growing on the wall. I'm not going to lie, I feared asbestos (EDIT: It's been checked for asbestos, there is none).

I was most shocked to learn that someone actually lives there. Shannon's friend Jack (he was out working at the time), a fellow artist who works at the nearby post office.


At night, many of us attended the 2high festival at the Brisbane Power house (an old power house thats now a bar/entertainment venue) by the river. Just before that, we stopped at an art gallery along the way, mostly because they were serving free drinks and everyone likes free. The festival was a mesh of art showcases, photography and music. All of the walls were decorated with original graffiti made by squatters over the 2 decades that the building was derelict. It was beautiful and I'm glad whoever restored the Powerhouse kept it.