Brisbane Reflections

January 12

Built Environment:

The building environment around Brisbane is booming with new construction of high rises and renovation of older buildings.  I have never seen so many buildings that have been through renovations for continued use along with adaptive reuse.  Even the government building that we passed looks extremely clean on the outside and really stood out just as much as some of Brisbane’s’ finest high rises.  I have also noticed that Brisbane, just like Sydney, take their water use very seriously.  In all the bathrooms in our apartment, for example, there is a sign saying to not take a shower more than 4 minutes and it also reminds you that you would turn the water off in between brushing your teeth.  I am very impressed by all the different ways Brisbane is contributing to making this planet more clean and green!

 

 

 

Natural Environment:

The natural environment is one of my favorite aspects of Brisbane and the surrounding areas of the city.  They have one park that spans about two to three miles along side the river that flows through the city.  It has a gigantic community pool in the middle of the park that you would have to see to really understand how big this pool is.  Also, right by the park is a public library which turned out to be one of the nicest libraries I have ever been to.  As shown below, Brisbane is extremely green with natural vegetation and really take pride in building the city around the environment instead of ripping out all of the natural vegetation like many US cities do.  They also have an incredible bike/running path that runs the entire span of the river shown below. 

 

Local Culture:

The local culture matched up along with the culture of Birmingham, AL.  The city was not as fast paced as Sydney which was nice considering I needed to get some research done for my thesis and catch up with a few blogs that I fell behind on.  The Culture, I would say, was extremely laid back and everyone seemed willing to help.  The bus drivers would go out of their way to explain to you which buses we needed to take to get to our destination and on the occasions where we ran out of money on our bus cards they waved us in and said “no worries” as we began worrying we wouldn’t have a way back home.  This warm and welcoming attitude was not just felt through the bus drivers but from everyone from businessmen and women to restaurant managers.  I felt very welcome here and it was a much-needed breath of fresh air.

Minority Culture:

The minority culture felt the same as in Sydney.  It, once again, was very hard to turn your head an not see someone of an Asian decent.  Again, most everywhere you looked it would be a sea of Caucasians along with a few Asians mixed in with them.  If you want a comparison it would be like walking around most places around the united states and if you could change the African American with Asians… that’s how the minority culture looks around here.  That is the most vivid image I can come up with right now and it actually hits the nail on the head in terms of visuals haha.

Conversation with a Native:

I met a lady that told me a lot about the culture in Brisbane and the sounding areas of the Gold Coast.  Her name is Zoe and we have spoken on the phone a few times even after I left the Gold Coast, where I met her.  She says that Brisbane is one of the most “chill” cities in Australia and how everyone is care free in terms of dealing with internationals trying to find their way around.  She did tell me that the Hells Angels (the biker club most known for their gang activity around the United States) have been extremely active in the Gold Coast and Brisbane area.  She told me that security has been increased throughout the city due to some uprising in gang crimes and this was very noticeable at the bar our group had drinks at when we visited the Gold Coast.  I look forward to continuing speaking with her and she is actually coming to the US within the next year… She has never been so I told her that I’d be more than willing to help her find her way around and to give some advice on places to visit!