So this morning, I headed off early to campus to attend our Orientation Matriculation Ceremony. We were in the Great Hall of the Quadrangle building which is a grand Oxford-looking type collegiate building. From the front lawn, you can see the beautiful Sydney skyline as our playground. It really is an amazing sight.
During the ceremony, I sat next to Paula, a 24-year old from the US who has come here on full scholarship to do research–on what? The art of Basoon. She’s been playing basoon for 12 years and is doing her PhD here at the University of Sydney. So random, but hey, the Australian government seems to support her more than they want to support a young businessman like myself.
Anyhow, there were hundreds of students from different countries, so the MC called out all these countries where we would all stand. Once China was called, maybe 75% of the room stood up–China really is taking over–it’s amazing.
I met several people today, and everyone’s spread out with their housing. So, I’m rethinking my plan of being so close to the university–as my main thought was being close to there for usage of facilities. Unfortunately, graduate students are practically considered as the public, and we have to pay to use the gym facilities each use. Also, internet is limited to 6mb a day, so I feel I’m better off living somewhere where I’m able to have my luxuries of a gym/pool/internet and not have to worry about each time I enter. I hope to find housing soon!