Brisbane

It’s odd to be back in a city again. I’m not really a city person, and I miss how easy it used to be to slip away into the outdoors, but I enjoyed the three days we spent here. I bought a bus pass and downloaded the public transit app, which makes me feel very accomplished. I can get around the city like a real adult. Well, almost. They usually use cars. But close enough. It’s also been an interesting experience learning about how to explore a city. I’m used to visiting a place with a plan and a list of attractions to focus on. I’ve been learning from my friends about wandering around and seeing what you discover. My favorite part of that has been deciding where to eat. Brisbane is full of cool little restaurants, so we decide where to eat by walking down the street and deciding what looks good. Lebanese, Eritrean, Vietnamese, Greek, Japanese, all day breakfast, vegan…

It’s odd to be back on a university campus, and to be acting like a real student again. We were photographed for ID cards for library access, which felt very official. I checked out some books for my research project about the transportation of convicts to Australia 1788 – 1850. The UQ campus is beautiful. Near the bus terminal, there are several ponds surrounded by beautiful purple-blooming jacaranda trees and bunya pines. Very exciting, because we have one or two specimens of these on campus at home, too! Bunya bunya are native to Queensland, and seeing them where they belong was one of the things I was most hoping to see in Australia. (Yes, probably higher than kangaroos. Yes, I know, I’m weird.) The main quad is a lovely green space surrounded by sandstone-looking buildings with arcade walkways that also feel familiar. Lovely as campus is, I’ve spent a good deal of my time here in the library, getting work done. It’s amazing how much more productive I feel just sitting at a desk in a library as opposed to doing work in a tent or on the beach.