What was difficult was meeting people and getting involved. Everyone is friendly on the surface but no one seemed to reach out more than that, and it took a while to find a group that caters to international visitors. Certainly here at the University of Queensland, anyway, there isn't such a well-established network and system for finding and helping internationals, as there is in Champaign-Urbana. I can now see, by comparison, that what we have in C-U is really wonderful, and that what we can offer our foreign visitors is so beneficial. Cosmo club, and IHC, for example, really do fill a need that foreign visitors have, really do reach out and try to make the visitors feel welcome.
The lonely, unconnected feeling we had for around the first 6 weeks was not pleasant. We were actively looking for things to do without finding anything. Imagine what it must feel like for visitors who don't speak the language and are shy? Anyway, we've found a group called the Brisbane Council for International Students. It's run by the Brisbane City Council and various volunteer groups and is for any foreign person here. They have a building in the city, given by the city council, which apparently is used by all kinds of international and ethnic groups, so it sounds promising. Nat and I plan to go to their next meeting this week.