School Me on Sydney, Australia

[HalveBlue]

Please tell me anything and everything that you know about Sydney.

I'm thinking about studying there, but I'm just trying to collect as much info as possible right now.

Any and all experiences, from layovers on the way to somewhere else to actually living there, are welcome.

Thanks.

[blackrms13]

I used to live there

compare to living in SoCal
general prices of food is slightly higher
less populated

the whole city is not that big, you can go from north to south within hour drive without traffic

RHD, meaning you can import JDM cars without too much of a problem...i was planning on that...but moved to US
fucking Skylines EVERYWHERE....its not a rare sight at all...haha, i started to miss seeing them on a daily basis once i moved to SoCal

downtown or as they call it "City" is pretty organized, I used to live next to Hyde Park

UTS is a pretty school AFAIK
UNSW is not bad either

definitely an awesome place to live at

and night view under the harbor bridge, around the opera house is sooo beautiful!

they have the best new year's eve fire work...haha

LMK what else u want to know

[HalveBlue]

Sweet!

Basically I'd be moving down there to study. The new GI Bill would cover the cost of all of my tuition and books, whatever remains is what I have to spend on housing, food, transportation, etc.

I'm still in the processing of calculating everything and checking requirements so nothing's even close to final yet.

Really, I'm interested in the culture and people of the city?

Are there certain neighborhoods to avoid?

Where do all the young people hang out?

I know Sydney is very multi-cultural, but are the people cliquey or do they intermingle?

Is the water at Bondi cold or warm enough to swim in?

How is public transport, or would I need a car to get around comfortably?

How are the cops?

Thanks for all the input.

[ZX88]

my favorite city. skylines, s15s all over the place. the hotel i was staying at on every saturday night there were a shit load of modified cars peeling out at like 2am in the middle of down town.

there are a shit ton of bars and clubs by the harbor/ opera area, the park is super awesome freaken bats and kaktoos flying around. you must go now! Sydney is like San Fransisco but i would say cleaner. out of all the places i went in Australia Sydeny was my favorite. be prepared in the summer to get raped by flys.


ugh i wish i could live there.....

[blackrms13]

^ hahahaaa the Flys... pisses me off

Sweet!

Basically I'd be moving down there to study. The new GI Bill would cover the cost of all of my tuition and books, whatever remains is what I have to spend on housing, food, transportation, etc.

I'm still in the processing of calculating everything and checking requirements so nothing's even close to final yet.

Really, I'm interested in the culture and people of the city?

Are there certain neighborhoods to avoid?

Where do all the young people hang out?

I know Sydney is very multi-cultural, but are the people cliquey or do they intermingle?

Is the water at Bondi cold or warm enough to swim in?

How is public transport, or would I need a car to get around comfortably?

How are the cops?

Thanks for all the input.
people are definitely very friendly there, well at least all the australians...hehe
i think there a big group of lebanese people that populate certain areas...duno where exactly..

around Chatswood is where all the Chinese/Asian hang out at
from chatswood all the way up to hornsby
i used to live in lindfield after i moved out of the Sydney CBD(downtwon), which is about 10min away from Chatswood

theres one street near the CBD area thats famous for all the rainbow flag thats on the street(if u know what im talkin about) and i heard at night its not exactly the place u want to go alone...

like u said its a multi-cultural city, i did not feel too much racism that went against me...

Bondi Beach is FUCKING BEAUTIFUL best beach ive EVER seen
u can swim there even during winter time...haha
that brings up another point, remember the season is the opposite to northern hemisphere, meaning right now its their summer time

public transport is awesome, the train system run from the airport all the way north to hornsby, and west to paramatta
buses are readily available and very on time
out side of that area, theres inter-city trains that u can take to go to alot of places
i used to travel daily between downtown and Chatswood(about 12km) daily to go to school

so a car is not a must...but definitely fun to have, because of all the JDM grey market imports
you can import ur own too

180sx, Silvia, GC8(actual STi models), Skyline, whatever u choose

[ZX88]

^ hahahaaa the Flys... pisses me off


people are definitely very friendly there, well at least all the australians...hehe
i think there a big group of lebanese people that populate certain areas...duno where exactly..

around Chatswood is where all the Chinese/Asian hang out at
from chatswood all the way up to hornsby
i used to live in lindfield after i moved out of the Sydney CBD(downtwon), which is about 10min away from Chatswood

theres one street near the CBD area thats famous for all the rainbow flag thats on the street(if u know what im talkin about) and i heard at night its not exactly the place u want to go alone...

like u said its a multi-cultural city, i did not feel too much racism that went against me...

Bondi Beach is FUCKING BEAUTIFUL best beach ive EVER seen
u can swim there even during winter time...haha
that brings up another point, remember the season is the opposite to northern hemisphere, meaning right now its their summer time

public transport is awesome, the train system run from the airport all the way north to hornsby, and west to paramatta
buses are readily available and very on time
out side of that area, theres inter-city trains that u can take to go to alot of places
i used to travel daily between downtown and Chatswood(about 12km) daily to go to school

yes one of the ting i liked was how easy it was to get to the city from the airport. i was suprised how efficient the public transportation infrastructure was. it reminded me alot like nyc except less dirty. crowed.

[cc4usmc]

Umm what new GI bill? Please PM me with details.. or a link. Thanks!

[HalveBlue]

Umm what new GI bill? Please PM me with details.. or a link. Thanks!

Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-9/11_Veterans_Educational_Assistance_Act_of_2008)

There ya go.

This thing really ups the education benefits for Servicemembers.

Basically:

-You get 36 months of benefits.
-You no longer have to spend the $1,200-1,800 to buy into the program.
-Benefits depend on how much AD since Sept. 11, 2001. You get a certain percentage for every active month up to a total of 36 months, at which point you are entitled to 36 months of full benefits.
-Rate are now based on the average, resident tuition for public schools within a state.
-Veterans will also receive a living stipend which will be equal to Single E-5 BAH for the ZIP of your school.
-You'll get a $1,000 books allowance every year.

All this is supposed to take effect by 1 August of 2009.

We'll see.

I have to contact the VA and figure out how they're going to compute all this for veterans studying overseas.

[RastaS14]

i've been interested in possibly moving here myself, so i'll be popping back in here periodically to read up on new posts.

question; how's the working class over there? compared to lets say, california-whats the cost of living like? is it straight forward and somewhat simple to gain residency and/or buy/rent a house/car?

[blackrms13]

i've been interested in possibly moving here myself, so i'll be popping back in here periodically to read up on new posts.

question; how's the working class over there? compared to lets say, california-whats the cost of living like? is it straight forward and somewhat simple to gain residency and/or buy/rent a house/car?
like i mentioned in previous post, cost of living is slightly higher compared to SoCal

Only takes 2 years to get Permanent Resident status

[S13SilviaGirl]

Sydney is the best place ever. But, expensive. Bondi Beach is the bomb shizzle. I think there are cheaper/better cities to study there in. BUT...the people are freakin awesome. There a a few Aussies on here...look em up! They are awesome people and are pretty helpful, just ask!

My fav part of syd. is the animal park. Freaking awesome. Great view of the city. Oh and the giant chess set in the park is pretty sweet too.