This is a picture from campus
Picture from the game
This is Mila-it was pouring
This is me-I match!
Sorry for the constant blog changes...I was having a lot of trouble with the other layout, so I'm hoping this makes things easier.
First things first, I FOUND AN APARTMENT and it is absolutely incredible. It has a wrap-around porch that has the most amazing view of the river and city. (Random fact I learned: the river has bull sharks in it?! YIKES!)
Now when I say amazing, this is amazing in contrast to what else is on campus. Some of the places we looked at were terrible. Because housing is in such high demand, all of the apartments/houses that are close to the St. Lucia campus cost WAY too much money. A standard apartment near campus is probably around 650-800 AUS/month. If this was Madison, the quality of these apartments would be worth like $200/month. All in all, I probably looked at over 20 places, called 50 and walked about 30 miles. We spent 4-5 hours everyday walking around Toowong, Taringa, St. Lucia, Auchenflower, West End, Dutton Park and Highgate Hill . Mila and I were talking today about how Australia seems so familiar to us already because we were forced to learn our way around so quickly. So I move in tomorrow-expect some pictures!
Last night, I went to my first soccer game. Brisbane's team, the Roars played NSW (New South Wales) in the semi-finals. The game was really fun, despite the rain. (It's been raining for 3 straight days). There was a group of 10 guys behind us (all shirtless and all Aussies) going nuts! They kept singing songs and yelling at the top of their lungs. At one point, they started singing about a "Queensland Player" and by player, they didn't mean soccer player. I was shocked that they were allowed to use such profane and crude language, especially since all the 7 year old boys in front of us were looking at them wide-eyed and laughing. The chaperone of the kids in front of us just shook her head, probably because she knew she would have some explaining to do in the car...
After the game, well all went out to the bar. It was awesome and super crowded. Unfortunately, since we weren't expecting to go out afterward, we were underdressed. Our attempt to get free drinks failed for the most part, but it was still a fun night.
Tonight is Valentine's night and we are going to Fredrick and Dave's place. (Fredrick is from Norway, Dave is from Canada). We are planning on going out to the bars in the city tonight. It will be my first time going to the city.
Hopefully I'll have some good pictures from the night!
I miss you!
Lauren