Going back to college

I didn’t realize that moving to Sydney would mean I would be returning to my college days. After two days of looking for a place to live and talking to others about their housing situations, we accepted the sad reality that we are going to not only have to share a room but also sleep in twin beds! The rental market is very competitive during the summer and rent is expensive. I didn’t think there was anywhere more expensive to live than San Francisco, but Sydney most definitely is.

We looked at 4 different places and ended up taking a room at Coogee Beach, which is just 10 miles south of Bondi Beach. We put down our deposit yesterday and are so relieved to have a home soon! We are renting one room in a 7-bedroom house. All rooms have two twin beds so there will be 14 of us in the house. The room is $380/week, so we pay $190 each per week. The house is furnished and has a washer/dryer and wireless access. We share the common areas and the bathroom has 4 showers. Yep, I am living in a frat house! The living situation is not ideal but our location is awesome! We live on Arden Street, the road that runs right in front of the beach and there are tons of buses that leave from Coogee. All I have to do is walk one block to the center of town and the main beach area and will be surrounded by hot surfer boys! The beach makes me so happy and plan to spend tons of time at the beach and hope to learn to surf soon.

I will probably try to get a job at a bar or restaurant in town so I can walk to work or I perhaps at Bondi Beach for a change of scenery. I plan to start applying the end of next week. I am taking the RSA class (Responsible Serving Associaton) on Wednesday, which is required in order to serve alcohol in a restaurant or bar. I also opened an Aussie bank account yesterday, now I just need to make some money to deposit into my account!

Yesterday, Friday (my blog is set to the Aussie time zone) was so much fun! We had our orientation class with Bunac and was overloaded with information. I found out that as of November 1st, I can now apply for a 12 month work visa in Australia! This is very tempting and I am afraid I may love Sydney a little too much already and won’t want to leave! I met more people in the Bunac program, and I already have 8 contacts in my cell phone! Lauren and I hung out with a really cool girl, Phoebe, who is from Sacramento and is also doing the program. She flew to Perth today to be with her Aussie boyfriend who she met at a hostel in Paris two years ago. We were so sad to she had to leave because we all had so much fun together! Phoebe has set me up on my first Aussie date with a friend of hers, who ironically lives at Coogee beach too. In a few weeks I will be meeting Andrew, the 29 year old Aussie doctor, stay tuned…

After orientation we decided to relax the rest of the day since we had been running around nonstop since we landed in OZ. The three of us along with 3 bottles of wine, hung out on the rooftop of the hostel where there is a pool and a sauna! As we looked out over the gorgeous city, we all agreed that we absolutely love Sydney and are so glad we came and feel lucky to have this opportunity! Later we got dinner at a really good Vietnamese restaurant and then hit the Irish Pub near our hostel where we met many fun locals.

We can’t move into my place until 11/27, so I guess I am stuck at the hostel for the next 10 days. Lauren and I did move into a room together with 2 others. The demographics of this hostel are all over the place. I have now lived with a 19 year old and a 55 year old! I may move into a 6 bedroom to save more money. This hostel is so big, it’s 8 stories high and sleeps 600 people. Even though it’s typical hostel living, I am having a lot of fun living here and meeting tons of cool peeps!

Be sure to click on my photos link (at the top of the site) as I will continue to upload all of my photos often.