Arrival and O Week

Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Brisbane » St Lucia
February 27th 2009

Published: February 27th 2009

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Rob S

King's Room E26

Here's my room before I started to unpack.

Day 1, Tues Feb 17- The flight over here wasn’t too bad in general. I was able to sleep for about 7 of the 14 hr flight to Brisbane. It was a little bumpy at times but nothing to really complain about. I sat next to a friend of mine Dave Munn, and another kid I had known through Badminton gym class named James Doyle. It was really luck of the draw with seats and needless to say I lucked out. When we got off the plane we had to get through the Australian customs which took FOREVER. One girl’s luggage was lost and as of Friday still hadn’t arrived. To borrow one of Mike Tomlin’s favorite lines it was a classic case of “You reap what you sow” and needless to say Karma caught up with this girl a little bit. We all gathered and finally dispersed to the residential colleges on a bus. It’s extremely hot here. To the point it’s impossible to go outside without sweating until the night. Basically temperature wise it’s the 7th ring of hell. Once we arrived at King’s 3 of the seniors at the college met Me, Dave, and Matt and showed us

Views From the City Cat

Here are some pictures coming down the Brisbane River on the City Cat (the water taxi) heading to South Bank.

to our rooms. After about an hr we went down to the cafeteria and had our first Australian meal, lamb kabobs and grilled chicken kabobs. After lunch we headed to Toowong mall and bought some of the supplies we needed. Needless to say the first thing I headed for was a fan. An interesting tidbit on the mall, the escalators aren’t of the stairs variety, they are gentle slops up and down with no bumps so people can use shopping carts throughout the mall. I came back to the dorm and plugged in the fan, set up my room, and attempted to plug in my computer with the adaptor. POP went the outlet and it killed all the switches in my room, and it fried my charger. There wasn’t a whole lot I could do, so in an attempt to beat the jet lag, I went out with a bunch of people from DSON to the local pub the RE (Royal Exchange). We met a couple really funny Australians Desmond and Mitchell, and spent the night talking to them. We got back around 1 and went to bed.

Day 2 Wed Feb 18- Started at 930 and went to

Views From the City Cat

an orientation held by our Resident Director, Ann Wadsworth. She went over some basic stuff about Australia and the cultural differences (i.e. political incorrectness, differences in slang words, etc). Then we were visited by a representative from Talk Down Under, which is the telephone company we’re using while we’re here. We got that all squared away then caught the City Cat, the water taxi which goes into Brisbane. It was really a sight to see, and it beats any other way to travel in Brisbane which I have seen thus far. There’s a station on campus (although the campus is huge, so nothing is close). We got off of the City Cat and walked through what was basically a jungle. It led us to South Bank, which is the beach everyone goes to in Brisbane. It’s actually up a little bit from the river, but it’s really nice. We went to lunch at a restaurant, although we didn’t get to pick our dish. I ended up with a chicken/pasta type of an entrée which was actually pretty good. After that we wandered around South Bank for about 20 minutes until we took a bus tour of Brisbane. Thankfully it was

Views From the City Cat

air conditioned. The bus driver took us around the city, but the problem was with how fast he drove around we actually didn’t get to see a whole lot. He did take us up to a highpoint which looked out over the city which was pretty cool. Brisbane and the surrounding suburbs are huge. After the bus tour we all went back to campus and relaxed for awhile. We ate dinner and then some of us headed down to the Regatta, which is another bar/club type place. It was really crowded so James (a different James from the plane) and I headed to the RE again with some of the Australian kids from our college who we met. We got back around 1230 and went to bed.

Day 3 Thurs Feb 19- Started at 830 with a trip to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. This so far had been the highlight of the trip. The one bad thing was the heat was absolutely unbearable. It’s not even the heat so much as the humidity. It’s impossible to do anything without sweating. Literally. The Koala Sanctuary was great though, I got to “cuddle a Koala” and see all sorts of

Views From the City Cat

different animals. I saw a bunch of different birds and parrots, wombats, Tasmanian devils, kangaroos, wallabies, snakes and dingoes. The Steve Irwin Zoo is about a mile from here and will definitely be worth a trip. It was pretty funny how the handlers got the Koalas ready to be held. They’d put Eucalyptus by its mouth and when it started to munch they’d throw it on you. It was actually really heavy. For a pretty small animal it’s thick. Its fur is really wiry, and I’m lucky to say it didn’t go to the bathroom on me. They have a really large pen with about 150 kangaroos and wallabies and for a dollar you can buy food to feed them. I did, which was entertaining enough, although it was pretty gross because they basically just slobbered all over your hand. You could tell they’re pretty domesticated though because they’re extremely gentle when they take the food from you. I paled around most of the day with Kelly, Allison, and Emily. After the Koala Sanctuary we were taken to the Queen Street Mall in Brisbane. We got to pick a place to eat (I, along with a few others, picked this

Views From the City Cat

seafood stand in the middle. I got the fish and chips. It was pretty expensive, as is just about everything in Australia, but it was excellent.) After lunch we rendezvoused in the place where we had been dropped off and got the challenges for the scavenger hunt. For the scavenger hunt we split up into 2 teams and made our way through Brisbane taking pictures of the various tasks. It was brutal. Not so much that the tasks were daunting (basically visiting different sites and just taking pictures) but because it was unbelievably hot. We had a few good laughs, but after 9 of the 15 places we were supposed to go were finished we bowed out of the competition and hit the nearest bar. After a drink we headed back to the starting place and found out the other team quit after just 3 tasks. What did we win? Weight loss in the form of sweating after trekking around Brisbane all day. Rest assured a bunch of people went out that night. Had to keep the sleep schedule normal without the jetlag taking over.

Day 4 Fri Feb 20- Overall a pretty uneventful day. I went to Toowong

South Bank

Here's the jungle we first walked through in South Bank. Mikey and I were waiting for the Predator to jump out of the trees. It's a wild place here.

to get my computer fixed with Mikey and Kelly, Allison, and Emily met us there for lunch. They headed to South Bank but we had some more shopping to do. It was a good decision because the rain set in and it was a complete downpour. We made it on the bus just in time and Mikey and I ended up sitting at the Queensland bus stop for about an hour talking because we didn’t want our stuff to get drenched. Friday night I just went over to the International House to meet a few of Mikey’s new friends and hang out.

Day 5 Sat Feb 21- Move in day for the rest of the college. Finally there were other people in the college except for us and the RAs. The day itself was a basic move in day. I had been through it before. I turned in some paperwork, met the people on my floor, and basically just hung out. However, the infamous O (orientation) week was starting at 830. We really didn’t know what to expect, but we found out pretty quickly. At 830 all the freshman were gathered up and made to stand on the hill

South Bank

Here's the beach where everyone hangs out by the Brisbane River. It isn't river water, it's a big pool.

in our quad/courtyard area (we’re considered “freshers” because we’re new to King’s). We reported in board shorts and nothing else. After a short spiel, which was basically the RAs/Seniors trying to intimidate the new freshman with a series of chants and a lot of yelling, we made our way to the pool. We were told to try to make a whirlpool by swimming in 1 direction and then the other direction for awhile. They had the pool lit up by a parked car with its headlights on. Really intimidating, let me tell you. After that we were taken up into the common room of the college and everyone was to be given “fresher names.” A fresher name is what they call each other and the freshman. No one uses real names here for the most part in the college to address each other. In the mean time we had to fan the seniors with cardboard and they quizzed us on the “Sirs” names. When it got to my turn I was coined Seppo Seitz. Creative, I know. All of the American students are simply known as Seppo and then your last name. After the names were given out the Seniors

Overlook of Brisbane

Here was my desperate attempt on a bus tour traveling at about 60mph to get a picture of Brisbane from the overlook. Just wait, there's more.

gave us the rundown on the other colleges which house students. This part was hysterical. The most hated college and rival of King’s, St.John’s has college colors of brown and yellow. So I’m sure you can figure that one out. After the rundown of the different colleges, we were taken back out into the courtyard and we learned the King’s chant and a couple other songs. We were finally allowed to go to bed around 1130.

Day 6 Sun Feb 22- Day started at 5am with PT. I was definitely not a happy camper about that one. I went out and did the running, and then we came back, had 15 minutes to “freshen up” and then had to report into the quad grass area at the college. Unfortunately we have to wear a pair of shorts and a tshirt as a uniform during certain times, and we had to put the same uniform on after PT to go to breakfast. We were drenched in sweat. After breakfast we had another 15 minutes to get ready and put on closed toed shoes. We didn’t know what was going on, but as it turned out, we went paintballing as a

Overlook of Brisbane

This was going to be a good one until the 50 kph sign got in my way.

group. This was really fun. I did pretty well as I was only shot 3 times and knocked out about 15 of the other teams’ players during the course of the games. We were at the paintball arena from about 830-1130, and then we headed back to the college to eat lunch. We were again given about 20 minutes after lunch to change into swim trunks and to bring a towel. After our nice 20 minute break we headed down to the pool for a belly flop competition and then a obstacle course. The belly flop competition was fun and it was really funny, but the obstacle course was a little over the top. We were broken up into teams of about 20, and it began by throwing an empty keg into the pool and having everyone swim 1 length of the pool, after we got out (bringing the keg with us), we had to run up a hill, which was a road covered in rocks and debris, and then slide down a grass hill. After we all came down the grass hill we had to crawl through a mud pit as the “Sirs” hosed us down with water. After

King's College

Here's the crest on the front gate of my college.

we all got out of the mud pit we had to put the keg into a canoe and do some heavy lifting. The heavy lifting part came in because in the canoe sat 1 really really big sir and other sir. After making us go back and forth several times we had to run up another grass hill and at the top we were dumped on with flour. Upon arrival at the top we had to run into the college courtyard and do human wheel-barrels. After that we sprinted down back towards the pool where it was over. The winning team won with a time of 6:02. We finished at 6:06. It was disappointing, but at the same time I didn’t know we were going to be going to boot camp. We used a hose to rinse off and then we returned to our rooms for 45 minutes to shower and get ready to leave at 530. At 530 we left the college on buses and were taken Lawn Bowling. I had never heard of Lawn Bowling until that night, but basically it’s Bocce Ball on steroids. The “jack” or small white marker, is placed down the green a pretty

King's College

Here's the front of the college. Pretty nice, eh?

far distance. The ball itself that you throw is slightly bigger than a bocce ball but it is heavier on 1 side than the other. In order to get the ball close to the marker you have to be able to curve it. The game was pretty fun, and we were there a few hours. After we got back to the college we had to learn more songs, and we were informed we were to report in the morning in dress shoes, dress socks, boxers, and a shirt was optional. We also had to make a bow tie to wear and a flower to give one of the girls from Grace College. This is who we were meeting in the morning. I decided it was too much for me, so I wasn’t going to report in the morning. Nothing is mandatory, although it is strongly suggested you attend. Thanks but no thanks. After a day which started at 5am, we were finally dismissed at 1030pm.

Day 7 Mon Feb 23- I skipped the morning festivities with the Grace Girls and woke up at about 730. Our group had an international student orientation at 845 until 3 in the afternoon

King's College

Here's what I see when I walk out onto my balcony. This is the courtyard (quad) where a lot of O week went on. The famed hill we lined up on is just off to the right behind the trees.

with the University of Queensland. This session brought together all of the international students who are currently at UQ. I found out only 2 of the 7 Dickinson kids in King’s went to the function in the morning with Grace. We had talked the night before about it but I wasn’t exactly sure what most of the others were going to do. At the international student session I ran into some of the Dson kids who are at other colleges and found out their orientation weeks weren’t nearly as intense as ours. No surprise there. After part 1 of the orientation let out at 11 I decided I wasn’t going to go to the other parts of the orientation (I had run into Ann Wadsworth, the lady in charge of us, and she said it was everything we already knew.) I paled around with Matt and Dave, 2 kids in King’s with me, and a few of the girls on our trip for a couple hours. Around 130 we decided to head back to King’s. The guys were at an ice skating rink with Grace College so I basically had the afternoon to myself. I did some laundry and when

King's College

If I walk about 10 rooms down on the balcony this is what I see: the river

the guys got back we were told we had to dress in “bush gear” for a party with Grace College that night. I borrowed a flannel looking type shirt from Dave Munn and we headed to eat dinner with the Grace girls and then go to a party. Dinner was really good, they grilled us steaks and we made our own steak sandwiches. I met a lot of nice people and the night was really fun. The party ended at about 11. I purposely didn’t really drink because I figured the next morning would come early.

Day 8 Tues Feb 24- 445am comes and we’re woken up for PT. How are we woken up? Well, they blast a heavy metal song outside and then run up and down the halls screaming and banging on doors. We went for a run, had to do suicides, then sprints, then for another run back. It was pretty brutal. After we got back and went to breakfast the Dson kids ducked out because we had to leave for a tour of the XXXX (four-ex) Ale House Brewery tour. The Brewery itself was pretty neat, and we learned the history of beer in Australia,

King's College

Here's the view I have of the river directly out of my room.

but the best part came at the end. At the beginning of the tour we received a yellow card with 4 x’s at the bottom. At the end of the tour we found out these four x’s allowed us to have free beer in the bar and restaurant at the end of the tour. I tried 1 beer, named XXX Sparkling Pale, which is only produced in that brewery and is only distributed around Queensland on special occasions. It’s the only place in the world to drink it. I had a calamari dish for lunch and after awhile everyone headed back to their respective colleges to continue with O week. The rest of the King’s guys were in the city, and when they got back we found out what the night was going to hold for us. We found out we had a party with Deuschene College (all girls) and St. John’s College (Coed and our big rival). The theme was “punk”. I don’t exactly own punk clothing, but I threw together an outfit that worked. The funny part was what occurred before dinner. There is a small grass hill in front of Deuschene College and all of the King’s

Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary

Here's a big lizard just outside of the entrance of the Sanctuary. These things were everywhere and would politely walk down the left side of the sidewalk in the sanctuary past you.

guys lined up on the hill and we were told to hold the hill at all costs from St. John’s. I ended up in the front row locking arms with the people next to me. We were told to scream the chant, “Go home Jabbers, go home” whenever St. John’s showed us. I was ready for some scene out of Braveheart. As it turns out St. John’s lined up about 15 feet away and screamed at us while we screamed at them until we were told to stop. We had “held” the hill because we were louder. In the past we were told after that St. John’s indeed did try to physically take the hill but last year it got too violent and it was outlawed. I wasn’t too worried, we had the high-ground. Because we held the hill we were allowed to meet the Deuschene girls first. Woohoo! It would have felt a lot better had we actually did hold the ground instead of being handed it, oh well. We ate dinner with some of the girls from Deuschene and some of the guys and girls from St. John’s until we made our way to the party. The party

Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary

Here's the Brisbane River just outside the Koala Sanctuary.

was a lot of fun. It started at about 7 and I came back to my room around 930. I was just exhausted. I went to bed by 10.

Day 9- Web Feb 25- Wednesday was the big “Market Day” at the UQ campus. This is when all of the clubs and organizations on campus got together and set up booths and tried to have people join them. It was a lot of fun to walk around and talk to people and check out the clubs but none of them were really for me. Basically if you aren’t a born again Christian, an Asian, or a greenie there’s no clubs here for you. It was perfectly fine with me because like I said, just walking around was fun. We had a hiatus from O week during this time so the freshman could check out all the clubs. In the evening instead of doing a swing dance with Women’s College, we decided to go to a play called Dead Cats Don’t Bounce. It was a small production and consisted of only 4 people, but it was very well done and enjoyable. After the play we went out to the Down

Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary

Here's 1 of the flying foxes up close and personal. They are really neat to see fly by the hundreds around at night.

Under Bar in downtown Brisbane and had a great time. It was $8 jugs (pitchers) so we all loaded up and just had fun the rest of the night. We got back pretty late and promptly put notes on our door which said, “Seppos had a big night last night, not attending PT 26/2”

Day 10 Thurs Feb 26- We all woke up with the sound of loud music but no one got out of bed. The “sirs” decided because we didn’t go to PT in the morning that we shouldn’t be allowed to go to the Wet N Wild Water Park with the rest of the group. We were fine with this because if you’ve been to 1 water park you’ve been to them all, and as it turns out while it was fun, we really didn’t miss much. The “sirs” gave the freshmen a big spiel how we didn’t deserve to go to the water park with them because we didn’t go to PT, but the freshmen thought the notes on our doors were really funny. We all just did our own thing that day and then had a party with Women’s College that evening which we

Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary

Here's another picture. It's hard to put into a photo how big these things really are. This wasn't even a big one. They aren't bats. They're dogs...with wings.

all attended. It w as fun, but with the extremes of O week we were all pretty tired. I left around 11 and went to bed knowing I’d have to get up for PT to go to the beach on Friday.

Day 11 Fri Feb 27- We all were awoken with the screaming loud music at 630am (we slept in) and made our way downstairs for PT. When we got there though we were delighted to be told to go change and get ready to go to the beach. I grabbed my stuff (sunscreen, sunglasses, wallet, towel, water bottle) and we went to pick up the Grace College girls for breakfast. We brought them back to King’s and had breakfast and then loaded up on buses to head to the beach. Malulaboo I think it was called. It was really really nice at the beach. The water was the perfect temperature and the waves were big enough to body surf but not big enough to be dangerous. We did have a casualty though. Javier (a kid in our group) broke his big toe playing football with us on the beach. He just made a bad step and SNAP. It

Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary

Here's a bird. I forget what it's called. But they fly around like Robins do in the states.

was gross and completely obvious it was broken by the way it was bent. We felt bad for him. One of the Sirs took him to the hospital and we haven’t seen him since. I’m sure we’ll all check up on him tomorrow. He hasn’t been in his room yet so we’re assuming he isn’t back. Anyway, we went to a really good fish n chips place on the beach for lunch and I bought an Australian flag beach towel. The one downside for all of us? We all got fried. I reapplied sunscreen twice and still got burnt. It isn’t unmanageable but its definitely unpleasant. After our formal dinner of the evening officially ending O week, I headed down to Coles, which is one of the big grocery store chains. I went into the skincare/soap area and started looking for something to help ease the burn. It was really funny because this older Australian guy was stocking shelves and noticed me looking and helped me look. He was really funny and was going on how nothing is going to help it and how Australians have been dealing with that problem for centuries. He even went to go get another

Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary

Here's the beginning of a ton of pictures of koalas. They don't do a whole lot. But I was fascinated by them.

lady in the store to help us look and the best we came up with was calamine, which he said he used as a kid. It works well enough because they didn’t have any of the good stuff and the lady recommended I go to the “chemist” to get something else. My burn isn’t that bad so it helps. We had a big toga party tonight but I decided not go because A) I’m tired and B) I didn’t want to get my bed sheets covered in booze and sweat. There’s plenty of nights to party so I’m not really worried about sitting one out. It’s about 10pm here and I’m probably going to be in bed by 11. I am glad O week is over, but we have had some good laughs, and not many people in the states can go back in life and say they’re a Kingsman in Australia.

Additional photos below

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