Plans

 

Damn. So, this is where I’ll be going to school. This is where I’ll take my breaks and consider which theoretical approach I’ll use during counseling, study my ass off, and (likely) also where I’ll mull over the idea of getting a PhD.

Here's a bit of campus: this is the Great Court.

 

Through that, is the jungle of UQ

  

This, is on the way out of the psych building.

  

Holy crap: I get to go to school here. 

I got into Brisbane about noon on Tuesday, got in my apartment, and found my way to a coffee shop. My roommates seem like good guys, Mitch (Australian, 18 - who is at a movie), and A.nand (Indian, 28 - below), are sharing my 3-bedroom.

They’re good guys, and Mitch seems very concerned about my transition to Brisbane. He’s told me how to handle the buses, the trains, the cabs, the aborigines, and the tricky-shower. Mitch has lived in Brisbane all his life, and, is excited about getting started in school.

Let's take a walk through the new swamp (read: my apartment). 

This is the area across the street from the bus station...

 

Through the living room:

Onto the massive porch...

The view from the porch...

...and at night.

 

Moving, cross-continental:

From unpacking everything I own: 

 To unpacking everything I wanted - I really need to do laundry :-\

 

 This is the view from my own little balcony outside my room. 

I live in a very accessible city, trains and buses are everywhere. My apartment is right next to a train station, but apparently its only if I’m going downtown. I can hear the rumbling from the train outside my room it until it stops running at midnight. Its kind of a weird comforting sound - like there's always something going on. 

(me thinks that the feeling all grad students have, its like stress to the 8th power).

I live in a the part of town called Toowong, which is kind of the newer-student living area. Not quite built to suit the students, but, almost there. I’m about 20 minutes from the river, which has a ferry called the "city cat" that zig-zags its way from U.Q to downtown – I’m just far away from all of the stops. Brisbane is also packed with many different cultures – I’ve already seen like 47 Koreans, and, there’s a few Iranians sitting next to me.

…praise allah – brudder. (maybe I shouldn’t say that)

There is a coffee shop on every corner, a bank every 20 steps, a pharmacy every-other-store, and a bar every block. Its pretty nice right now – 80 in the shade, but, humidity makes it 90.

My apartment has one A/C in the living room – it doesn’t reach my room.

School is about a 15-minute bus ride, and this kick ass coffee shop is about 10 minutes down the road. Australia doesn’t do Iced-Coffee’s, but I’ve taught my good friend "Jonhno" at this place how to make an Iced-Americano, which got me through Korea.

My apartment has no plates, no blankets, no rugs, nothing to domesticate myself properly. So, no worries mother, I’ve found K-mart. Yes, the classy K-Mart is huge here and is in a massive office building. Unlike everything else, it’s pretty cheap. I bought a $3.00 20 oz Coke there. My coffee I’m drinking (all of 12 ounces) was $4.50.

Speaking of really expensive things...

Orientation is on Feb. 20th, and school starts the week after that. I'm taking 4 classes, and my projected graduation date is November of 2013. My visa expires in March of 2014, so, we'll just play this whole thing by ear.

I didn't realize it when I applied, that I was applying to such a great school - I didn't want to get into my own head when I was interviewed.

I feel absolutely privileged to come here. As if, I did well in my undergrad...got a 4.0, got a 1430 on the GRE, did well in adolescent psychology, and had this whole thing planned all along.

A plan that nothing to do with Korea, with Seton, with Florida State, and all the schools that told me I wasn't good enough to do what I did everyday at the hospital.

The challenge at UQ and beyond is palpable, but is also what makes this it so much more intense.

I cannot wait to start school, to prove those Bobcat, Cougar, & Seminole's (et. al) wrong.

Live High ya'll.