I am leaving for Australia for my studies in about 4 months. So I'm slowly doing all my preparations for my departure. Very stressful. I'm so worried I might forget something.

1. I have applied for my study leave, and am waiting for it to be processed. Hopefully, I get the leave approved by end September. The leave, assuming that I get it, will start from Dec 28, which means I get an extra 3 days of leave as compared to my other colleagues. I'm probably going to leave Singapore Jan 5th 08.

2. I have sent out my letter of acceptance to my university. And paid my first sem fees of freaking $11,000.

3. I need to go for a medical check up for application of my Student Visa.

4. I need to apply for my Visa. Troublesome process. I need to do this earliest 8 weeks before departure. That makes it end October.

5. I have applied for my hostel in Australia. I'm now waiting for my referee forms to come in and the Principal of the hostel to interview me, to make sure I'm a normal Asian girl who will not seduce hot Australian students ala Annabel Chong before I'm confirmed a place in the hostel. (Hahahahahaha)

6. I need to arrange for someone from UWA to pick me up from the airport when I get there cos I'm going there all on my own.

7. I need to make sure my financial committments at home are settled before I leave. (Monthly insurance, monthly house instalments, urgh...)

8. I need to buy my air tickets to Australia.

9. I need to buy a lap top.

Hmm..That's a lot of things....

Anyway, I was looking through the UWA website and I was browsing through the different residential hostels they had. It's costly to live in a hostel! About Aus$10, ooo for a full academic year there. And the Aussie dollars is so bloody high right now!!!

This includes food, lodging, inernet access, etc but...$10,000! That's daylight robbery. I was talking to my mom and was asking her if I should stay in a hostel for 1 sem, then rent a room outside for the next sem. But she got all paranoid cos she said it's not safe and said she would rather I spend that extra money on lodging and be safe and fed than save a few hundred dollars but live in unfamiliar surroundings.

I guess that makes sense. Anyway, the hostels are right opposite the university itself so I guess I'll save on transport cost. And cos I don't drive, living away from campus does not make sense cos it means I will have to commute by public transport and we all know that Austraian public transport system is shit.

So I've narrowed down my hostel choices to these 2. Check them out.

Currie Hall. This is the front of the hall. My first choice of hall cos they serve halal food. And they cost the lowest. Looks nice doesn't it?

One of the rooms in Currie Hall. It looks a bit...run down, but nothing that a chirpy looking bed sheet and decorations in the room can't fix. :) I'm there to study, not to live in comfort.


My 2nd option, Trinity College. Very nice also. I love the greenery of the hostels.



One of the rooms at Trinity. This one looks good but costs a little more I think.


In the meantime, while waiting for the reply from the hostels, I'm going to start buying things which I will need to bring over when I'm there. Very stressful cos I'm doing it all on my own. But very exciting as well. :) I can't wait to be a student again.