Two weeks in Brisbane – impressions

Two weeks just passed and it was a mix of everything. I’ve met great people, worked quite a lot and seen some of the city. Unfortunately also some bad things happened but let’s start with the good things.

Good things

Weather

It’s just awesome, always super warm, lots of sun, doesn’t rain much. You can sleep with an open window all night comfortably. Humidity is rather on the high side, but I don’t really mind. Although some people may complain.

Greenery

Brisbane has quite a low population density and because of that you see more greenery than concrete which is really nice and you can get some shade too.

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People

I find people really welcoming and friendly here. Complete strangers smile at you and often have a chit-chat on occasion. I’m not used to such an openness and had to learn to smile back and practice my small talk a bit. In Poland smiling at people can be received as : “hmm, he’s smiling at me, that’s strange. What he’s planning to do? Is he trying to con me\trick me somehow?”.

Emigration may be a lonely experience at first and those little things really help.

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Food

Cuisine here is a mix of every cuisine on earth so you can’t really get bored with it. Since there’s so many Asians around here you can get really good and authentic Asian food here. I’ve eaten out a bit (not much though since I’m still short on money) and I must say that you can’t go wrong with food.

Australia has a great climate to grow all sorts of fruits including exotic ones all year long. For fruit lovers like me it’s just paradise.

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Bad things

Well, there’s no perfect in this world so here’s also the bad things.

Sun is no joke

People are really conscious about UV dangers around here. My hosts have given me quite a lecture about that. People usually try to stay away of sun since you can get sunburned really quickly. I was inspecting quite a lot houses during the midday once and my sunscreen weared off and got sunburned.

Sprained my wrist 😦

Things get really pretty around here but sometimes they’re not practical. Footsteps are made in such a way that concrete is on the same level as lawn. Looks pretty but forms a slit between lawn and footstep (since concrete is higher that ground). My wheel got caught in this slit and I fell off my bike. Sprained my right wrist and almost busted my ribs. Bike is ok though and I still can code so it’s not that bad.

Things get expensive

Some things are about the same price as in Poland but usually they’re 2-3 times more expensive, especially food.

Mozzies will eat you up

Mosquitoes called mozzies here are just vicious. One day I was hanging my laundry outside just few hours after the sunset and got bitten like 4-5 times. Luckily most houses now have fly screens installed so you don’t see them indoors.