James’ travelog

I’ve managed to find accommodation just a stone’s throw away from the campus I spoke about in the previous post. A very girlish throw actually, as it’s simply across the street! I moved in yesterday, after 3 nights of sleeping in a 14-bed hostel dorm on busy King Street. The place is a bit comparable to the good old Weesperflat, only this building is brand new and the facilities are much better. :p

I’ve been hunting for a place to live in Melbourne since I arrived. The most commonly available housing option is a shared house, i.e. living with other students. The Union House on campus has a accommodation board where people can list their available places. So after buying myself an Ozzie SIM-card, I went there and starting calling around and making appointments, along with herds of other new students. In this manner I’ve been walking all over town and caught a glimpse of student life of local students. The coolest place I visited was just opposite of Edinburgh gardens: a church on the outside, but a very spacious house on the inside with the only thing betraying that it’s not a normal house being the tall glass-in-lead stained glass windows.

Obviously I would have LOVED to live there, but then I came across UniLodge to which a German girl - who arrived to Oz on the same plane as myself - pointed me. For about 300 EUR a month you get a very decent furnished room, communal kitchen and bathroom, and all bills included. Regarding price and location, this was in both respects the best deal I came across. The only disadvantage is that most tenants are international students like myself, which makes it so much easier to get caught in the ‘international social circle’. But then again, I reckon I’ll be spending most of my time outside anyway.

This entry was posted by James on Saturday, February 18th, 2006 at 7:03 am and is filed under Australia. You can skip to the end and leave a response.