Righto! Time for an update!
Just got back on Sunday from a week's vacation to find things have gotten...interesting online and at home as well. Firstly--the good news: while I was away, my exam results arrived. Joy of joys, I passed. Two years of undergraduate physics under my belt, two more to go. Yes.
All things considered, had a great time in Australia. Brisbane, to be precise. It's a pretty city, undergoing a boom phase right now, so there was a lot of construction going on. The oldest part of the city, where the financial district is in the 21st century, is snuggled in a curve of a river. One of the oldest buildings in the city is still there--a store for the original penal colony, built by convicts some time after the city was founded in 1824. There's also a few, slightly newer Victorian buildings scattered around the area. Directly across the river from the city center there's an arts center and some parkland. Along the river for several kilometers on either side are residential districts, mostly of the rich variety--a lot of them have their own docks on the river, and you just know a hill or cliff overlooking a river has to be prime real estate. There are shopping districts inside the financial district proper, as well as further north in a valley, including the city's Chinatown (in the middle of which stands a glitzy, faux-oriental mid-90's shopping mall, an eyesore if I ever saw one...).
What struck me about the city was how...low-density it all seemed. Outside the city center, it seems almost impossible to find a building over five stories. Even in the Fortitude Valley shopping district, most of the the buildings barely top three stories, at best. And, unlike London, they're not all crammed up against each other as well. Seems almost...bucolic, to be honest. Then again, this is coming from a guy who's only ever lived in Singapore or London--two of the more high-density cities around.
Food was great--fresh, very fresh, and in greater variety than is available here in Singapore. Even the seafood. Especially the seafood. And it was nice to be able to eat strawberries that were actually sweet, instead of the sour ones we usually get here. Mm.
Also took a trip down to the Gold Coast. Weird place. Lots of fancy hotels, plus a horde of high-rise apartment buildings. From afar, it looks like any other city with a lot of tall buildings. It's when you get closer and realise that they're all condominiums that it starts looking odd. A skyline like New York's, but only for people to live in, not work in. They were building an even taller building when I was there--this one's supposed to be eighty stories tall, the tallest residential building in the world.
I'm not one for sun, surf and sand, myself, so I can't say anything about what I thought of them.
Anyway, back now. Time to get started on completing chapter 2 of Sara. Oh, and just as I was composing this post, someone called with a job offer for summer work.
Ah, joy. It's gonna be a busy week.
All things considered, had a great time in Australia. Brisbane, to be precise. It's a pretty city, undergoing a boom phase right now, so there was a lot of construction going on. The oldest part of the city, where the financial district is in the 21st century, is snuggled in a curve of a river. One of the oldest buildings in the city is still there--a store for the original penal colony, built by convicts some time after the city was founded in 1824. There's also a few, slightly newer Victorian buildings scattered around the area. Directly across the river from the city center there's an arts center and some parkland. Along the river for several kilometers on either side are residential districts, mostly of the rich variety--a lot of them have their own docks on the river, and you just know a hill or cliff overlooking a river has to be prime real estate. There are shopping districts inside the financial district proper, as well as further north in a valley, including the city's Chinatown (in the middle of which stands a glitzy, faux-oriental mid-90's shopping mall, an eyesore if I ever saw one...).
What struck me about the city was how...low-density it all seemed. Outside the city center, it seems almost impossible to find a building over five stories. Even in the Fortitude Valley shopping district, most of the the buildings barely top three stories, at best. And, unlike London, they're not all crammed up against each other as well. Seems almost...bucolic, to be honest. Then again, this is coming from a guy who's only ever lived in Singapore or London--two of the more high-density cities around.
Food was great--fresh, very fresh, and in greater variety than is available here in Singapore. Even the seafood. Especially the seafood. And it was nice to be able to eat strawberries that were actually sweet, instead of the sour ones we usually get here. Mm.
Also took a trip down to the Gold Coast. Weird place. Lots of fancy hotels, plus a horde of high-rise apartment buildings. From afar, it looks like any other city with a lot of tall buildings. It's when you get closer and realise that they're all condominiums that it starts looking odd. A skyline like New York's, but only for people to live in, not work in. They were building an even taller building when I was there--this one's supposed to be eighty stories tall, the tallest residential building in the world.
I'm not one for sun, surf and sand, myself, so I can't say anything about what I thought of them.
Anyway, back now. Time to get started on completing chapter 2 of Sara. Oh, and just as I was composing this post, someone called with a job offer for summer work.
Ah, joy. It's gonna be a busy week.