haha... dodo sucks... Use tpg FTW !!! My tpg is lightning quick, although cable might blow mine to smithereens...

Congrats for getting UniMelb medicine... fasten your seatbelts for 6 years of mugging and slugging.

Jot down every cent that you use everyday, do that immediately when you get home everyday... Keep all the receipts that you get.
And keep in mind that everything that you pay costs 3 times more expensive, so you will cringe and be thrifty.

Seriously, learn how to cook. Cooking your own meals will only cost you 15-20 AUD per week, while eating ONE meal outside will already suck 8-10 bucks from your wallet. Prepare a little extra for tomorrow's lunch instead of heading off to the cafe. Almost every one brings a lunchbox so don't feel ashamed. Microwave ovens and pantries are easily found.

Use your feet. Get a pair of good quality sneakers (from Msia of course, don't buy there) and walk whenever you could. It's good exercise too and the weather is great for walking. Lots of beautiful stuff and people too ( ) to see when you're on your feet.

Think like an auntie. You can't really haggle in Australia, but at least buy wisely whenever shopping for groceries. In Melbourne's Vic Market, different stalls sell the exact same stuff at different prices. It sounds stupid, but it's just the way it is... Scout first before paying. And shop at Aldi or Asian groceries whenever you can. Keep abreast of offers and deals from supermarkets like Safeway and IGA... when there's cheap tin food or milk cartons, grab 10 of them.

Reduce entertainment... if you're a clubbing kaki, too bad for you if you're not rich. Try to save on entertainment stuff like movies, go rent a DVD instead and share the costs with a bunch of friends. A movie costs around 10-12AUD while a DVD can go for 1 buck. If you still want to save that very penny, BT is your friend... just don't get caught.

In simple words, be a cheapskate... it sounds coarse and unrefined, but if your daddy doesn't print money, it's the best way to survive.
If your daddy prints money, you're gonna live like a king in Australia.

Obviously you don't need to live like a beggar, yet the conversion thingy must be kept in mind for all times. It's way too easy to overspend in Australia as the figures and numbers over there are quite small, hence very attractive for one to wave the cash. Almost everything goes for 1, 2 bucks in markets yet when you add up the total it can reach quite high numbers if you're not careful.

Necessities wise, by all means go ahead and buy them... these are things that you can't afford to be stingy.
Save a dollar a day, and by the end of the month you'll get enough for a movie or even two.

Not everyone can afford to work part time over in Australia, the timetables are freaking crazy (at least mine is).
But if you can find time to earn some spare cash it'll help your wallet a lot.

By the way, some one did mention the high interest savings account... That's a pretty good thing to do. What I normally do is to bank in the tuition fees, leave it alone and don't touch it, and wait for the interest to snowball. One can easily get at least AUD60-100+ (or even more) with a considerable amount of money in these accounts. This alone will contribute a big share towards the weekly food/transport costs.
Of course, you need to be able to bank in a considerable amount of money before you can reap the high interests.

190 per week.... in the city somemore... pretty good.
Can go DFO every week too if you're a shopping freak

By the way Jonathan... just read your blog regarding the train station flood... LOL !!

This post has been edited by StarGhazzer: Jan 12 2008, 01:36 AM

Electronics hehe... indeed... students usually sapu printer cartridges before returning to Australia. Comes in handy if you need to print loads of notes.

Fruits... I say bring mangoes. Lots of them. Big, juicy, sweet, yellow mangoes. The mangoes in Msia are seriously crap while imported ones costs over 10 ringgit for ONE. In Australia they can go as low as 3 for 5AUD or even lower. And buy timtams.... The timtams sold in Msia which are made in Indonesia are horrible.

41 degrees hehe... best thing to do if you don't have aircon is to hang around in the library... air con on full blast and no one's there
Or go to the beach and enjoy the water... Brighton's gorgeous, WAAAAYYYY better than the overrated St Kilda. Careful of the UV though, they scorch the skin like an inferno.

Not really expensive... get tpg for good and reliable deals, big companies like Telstra's Bigpond suck your wallet dry.

I'm using ADSL2 20GB for 50AUD per month, but there's 3 of us sharing so no worries here. As long as you don't download too many series or anime it's more than enough. I've never exceeded my quota even once, not even coming close. There's always at least 2, 3 GB left for me every month.

Dialup is going to kill you, seriously. Webpages nowadays are full of content that take ages to load... you'll cry with dialup. I'm speaking from experience as I did use dialup for the first month when I went over.

Don't skimp over broadband... it's a necessity unless you're living in your uni's library 24/7
Just share the costs with your housemates and you won't have to pay too much. If anything, don't go to cinemas or pubs and you'll save the cash for your broadband.

This post has been edited by StarGhazzer: Jan 14 2008, 11:20 AM

Lygon... lots of Italian chicks... no, food, I mean food !!

College Square is pretty expensive, but for first timers in Melbourne with no friends'/relatives' place to tumpang, colleges or hostels are pretty much your choice for the time being. Some of my friends do enjoy staying at CS, but some say it's a drab place/

The internet's quite bad... to be fair, it's bearable, but you're better off having your own line and ISP anyway.

I get 40kg via SIA
Students get good deals from SIA. Seriously.

Adapter... oh yeah. Best thing to do is to bring at least one, and don't forget to bring an extension socket.

Toiletries... if possible, get them in Msia and bring them across. Why pay AUD10 for a small bottle of shampoo when you only need to pay RM 10 back home? You'll probably need at least 3, 4 per year (if you bathe everyday, which you should !! Even in winter !!)... do the math. You save RM20 per bottle, so say 4 bottles will save you up to RM80... do this for every other toiletries and utilities and see how much yo usave.

I even pack dry food over to Melbourne, especially Nescafe, my eyeopener for the day. Why pay 12AUD when I can get it for RM 10? And since I have to cook my own meals, I try to bring as much as possible.... After all, I have 40kg

Books on the other hand, well it depends. If you really want to save, use the library. Most of the time brand new textbooks are pretty much useless since you'll probably use less than half the chapters. Be a library bug and snap the books ASAP or zap only the chapters you need. Of course, if you already know whatever books that is confirmed to be useful, it helps to bring it from Msia.

hm... maybe 30kg? not sure since my mum made the bookings, not me... have to check again. Apologies for wrong info if it's really 30kg

Not business class, just student ticket.

Hehe.... stationery is worth bringing. How heavy would a pack of pens and erasers be?

Don't forget pens are quite expensive over there, especially if you need to write a lot. And I mean A LOT.

For me I get too many free pens from pharmaceutical companies

The accent won't really be much of a problem. You'll get pretty used to it once you get there. If watching American dramas doesn't trouble you, then the Australian accent will be quite easy to pick up. In fact, you'll start to speak like them very soon. It's only those people with very heavy accents that might be a bit weird, especially those who come from rural areas. City dwellers are usually quite OK.

Hehe, I still find British accent more soothing to the ear... Aussie accent sounds too casual and "rough".

The issue of homesickness... Can't help you here, you just gotta live with it. It ain't that bad if you're going with a bunch of friends.

As for the questions, well Australia is relatively safe compared to our country, don't have to worry about rempits or snatch thieves even if you're walking alone at 12am. Just watch out for drunkards with a special mention to those whose footy team just lost a match

Malaysian community... not sure about Brisbane, but surely there will be a lot of South East Asian students around. Not a worry there.

China people... avoid stereotyping my friend, but sometimes it's unavoidable I must say. They're just foreign students like you and I are, no worries too.

"Will i improve my work if i study oversea if i work very to do?" This, I don't understand hehe... if you're talking about job opportunities after you graduate, well you'll probably attempt to find work in Australia since you're going to be trained here and you mentioned about the reluctance to return home. It's good experience basically, and living in a foreign country makes you think more. Sometimes I wonder how good our country will become if our people had the same first world mentality. We have the resources and the personnel, just that we lack a good mentality and a leadership with calibre. Bah, that's discussion for another day.

Enjoy your time overseas... It's an eyeopener more than anything else.

The Aussie slangs are indeed hard to pick up, unlike the accent. Accent != Slangs...
Nah, once you get the hang of it you'll really speak like them.
'No worries...', 'bloody...' and 'I reckon...' will come from your mouth far too often that you'll notice it.

Art and designs... the Aussies sense of art is a bit weird to be honest, especially in Melbourne where you'll find awkward-looking yet artistic sculptures and statues... At least they appreciate fine arts more than we do in our society.

Enjoy your time over there... you'll get used to it very soon.

More and more people coming to Melbourne.

1.5 weeks more for me before going back there... gotta enjoy kao kao for the remaining time.