Newtown, Broadway and Sydney University Village

When I arrived at SYD and passed through customs, I went to the University Arrival Desk and proceeded to a shuttle bus that would take me to Sydney University Village.

First off, it was cold. People were in hats, coats and scarves and I was in capris and a t-shirt. Brrr…

I met some other international students on their way to temporary accommodations. Lauren from BC and a really cute Mexican girl – both going to University of New South Wales. I met a guy from Holland, one from Texas and a girl from Hong Kong. We chatted on the bus. I was the only one with prepared permanent accommodations. So despite things not being perfect, I’m glad I’m not in a hostel right now wondering where I will be living for the next few months.

I arrived at Sydney University Village. Nice place. The grounds are beautiful. My roommates are super nice and friendly. The two girls, Ali is from Canberra and Sasha is from Russia. Both have been very kind and have helped me settle in and answered all my questions. Cameron and Sam are the two guys living here – also cool. The place is roomy and confortable - I like it. It gets cold at night, so right now I'm using Ali's heater while she visites Canberra for the next 2 weeks... I'll need to buy one. It's cold!

My room.
The living room
My apartment is on the left.

The Village green

I hooked up the internet and got my access cards. I’m disappointed that I can’t use webcam and Skype since I’m on the University network and it’s behind a firewall. I’m accessing the internet through a proxy. I need to figure out how to get around this and if I can’t, I’ll pay extra for another internet service provide. If you are reading this and know how to get around this little issue of mine, email me ASAP and hook it up! Anyway, I took that little bit of news quite hard when I realized I wouldn’t be able to chat for free and see my family and David… but we’ll work through it. For now, we’re getting a great deal of talk time on phone cards. Can’t complain when it’s roughly 2 cents per minute to chat on pretty much the opposite end of the world.

I also went to Broadway and did some grocery and essentials shopping. Another fantastic building… I should take pictures of the inside. The architecture is very interesting. I caught a bus back and finished settling in.

Broadway Shopping Centre - it has everything!

Today, I walked around Newtown which is the suburb close to the residence. It’s a funky little ‘burb (but more like an area of the big city… I don’t think it’s a suburb in our sense of the word... like Mississauga is to Toronto. I think it’s more like a Chinatown, Cabbage town, or Little Italy). In particular, Newtown is full of students and is know for their gay and lesbian community. Just walking around the streets was fun. I got lost for a bit. Very quaint and has an ‘old world European’ feeling to it.

Walking along King St (the main street in Newtown)

The homesickness has passed for now and I’m slowly getting really excited for all the fun things the city has to offer. I should be heading downtown and to the harbour by the end of the week. I’m looking forward to it.