As of today, I've been in Australia for nine days (and loving every minute of it). The University of Wollongong, or "uni" as the Aussie's say, is about a ten minute bus ride from where I live. Different than Colgate, no uni students live on campus; most people live in residential colleges several minutes away from campus. I live in Campus East (CE), which is home to approximately 600 UOW students, ranging from first years to seniors (althouhg it's mostly first and second years). Aussie students refer to themselves as "first years," "second years," etc. because not everyone stays for four years. There are several programs at UOW that require five years of study. Within CE, there are six different areas: Hospital, the Yard, Alcatraz, Slums, Trenchtown, and self-catered (I don't know if this area has an actual name). I live in the Yard; each suite (or flat) has five single rooms connected by a common room, which has a table with wrap-around seating, a sink, a mini-fridge, and cupboard space. Currently, I only have three roommates because one hasn't arrived. Their names are Ehsan, Carly, and Pat--Carly and Pat are from Australia and Ehsan is from Iran. Each building has an RA and my RA's name is Neil; he's absolutely wonderful (although it's weird to be a resident instead of an RA!). As for my Colgate study group, thirteen of us are living in Campus East and two people are living in Weerona College (a residential college similar to Campus East but in a different part of Wollonong). Colgate students are not roommates, but we may live in the same buildings as one another.
Each building has its own laundry facility, including two washers, two dryers, a sink, and a clothesline to line-dry clothes. Each and dry costs $1 each--a better price than Colgate! Regarding costs here, the basic rule of thumb is that EVERYTHING is more expensive than comparative products in the U.S. We have to pay for internet ($150 for six months), gym memberships ($58 per month), and printing on campus. Hygiene products, such as shampoo, conditioner, etc. is generally around the same price, as well as most clothes.
Within Campus East, there is a large main building, which is home to the main office, the dining hall, and a game room, and a projector room. The dining facilities are much different than the all-you-can-eat Frank dining hall at Colgate. We all have meal cards with $1500 for the semester. Each meal costs a different amount, depending on what/how much food you get. Breakfast is usually around $3, lunch is usually around $4, and dinner usually costs $4.50 or $5. The food is very similar to food found in the states. Breakfast usually consists of pancakes, hard boiled eggs, home fries, bacon, cereal, toast, apples, etc. For lunch, salads and sandwiches are served, in addition to several hot food items, such as lasagna, nachos, fish, chicken schnitzel (basically a huge chicken pattie), spaghetti, or fries. Dinner usually consists of salad, rice (accompanied by a liquid-based substance to put on top, such as curry chicken), fruit salad, fish (again), chicken, garlic bread, meatballs, etc.
Because CE is more than walking distance from uni and Wollonong, I have to take a (free!) shuttle bus everywhere. There are two buses: 55A (runs anti-clockwise in the route loop) and 55C (runs clockwise). From CE, Bus A goes to uni and Bus C runs to Wollongong. Earlier this week I had to purchase basic living necessities, such as a blanket, sheets, a mirror, clothes hangers, tape, etc. so I took the bus in to Wollongong to the outdoor shopping center. Five full bags later, I had to make the treck back to Campus East. Speaking on buying things for my room, I will never take for granted again living one hour away from school! I now realize how difficult it is to be an international student--I felt like a lone traveler with only two suitcases to my name as I walked in to my flat. I had nothing to sleep with the first night, so I used a sweatshirt as a pillow and slept under the mattress cover that was provided by UOW. Rough life. I've been slowly building up free posters and other objects to put on my brick walls so they don't look so bare!
CE is literally a three-minute walk to the beach--miles of golden sand and the blue Pacific Ocean. I've gone there three times now. Yesterday I inadvertently forgot to put sun block on the back of my legs and they got really burned--I will never forget again. Since being here, I've learned there is a hole in the ozone above Australia, so those UVA and UVB rays come down full force! People generally go to the beach for about two or three hours at a time. Going to the beach is not an all-day event like it is back in CNY. I guess this is because the beach is so close and students usually have gaps of a few hours between classes to hit up the beach.
No comments:
Post a Comment