A Place At Last

Well I finally have accommodation! It definitely has taken long enough too!

Back around December 20th, I decided that I should apply for accommodation in residence. There hadn't been any emails or brochures advising me on how or when to apply, but I decided I might as well apply, just in case I was up against the rest of the student body looking for accommodation

Around that time I also signed up for this easyroommate website and payed to become a premium member for a month for about $13. This allowed me to contact anyone and read their email, versus only contacting the premium members. I did get contact back from this site on a couple of occasions but nothing too promising.

Later in the new year, I decided to email the international accommodation people because the other international students had mentioned receiving an email telling them if they had been accepted for accommodation or not.  Although my accommodation was requested for a year and the others only a semester, I thought I should check if they had any information for me yet. Well they did, turns out I should have received the same email, which means I'm missing one more email!

After that, I seriously began looking for accommodation elsewhere since they said there would only be a low chance something would come up in the near future before I arrived. Signing up at one site because it looked like there was room led me to talking to a lady with accommodation 1/2 hour bus ride away. I also tried a gumtree website, similar to craigslist here. Finally one of my replies back from that easyroommate site looked useful.

At first I had a caps at $150 per week, although that never seemed to include electricity, internet or other bills and utilities. As well, their bus system isn't nearly as good as ours for a student, so the closer, the better. Their  bus pass is really just like a bus debit card, that subtracts the fare when swiped and has a cap at $4 a day, which can really add up! Our student bus pass valid any time, for any buses for one flat rate per semester is a way better deal. So by increasing my cap per weak, I found a place only a couple minutes walking distance away at a cost of $175 per week including bills/utilities and internet.

An internal view from the door

Another room shot-the bed is now a double bed

So those are some shots of what the place looks like. For me, it's also important to get a furnished room, since I wont be able to move/buy a lot of furniture.

The house also has a very nice view, a garden patch and deck. The kitchen is also rather nice too!

View of the Derwent River

I'll probably add pictures myself, when I get there, but for now this gives a bit of an idea of the place. Hobart definitely seems more expensive than some of the other place I thought about going to, but I can always get a part time job to supplement myself if need be... After all, only taking three classes might be boring!

Money Money Money! (must be funny/ in the rich man's world)

This was so exciting it warrants its own posting!

As my birthday happens to be this week, as per usual, a card from my Grandma and Uncle in England is expected. As well, as we seem to be good grandkids, my Uncle has been sending some of my Grandma's money to us. This year I was very thrilled to have been sent $100 Australian! Like us in Canada, Australians have 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 dollar bills.

Moola!

Elliot babysitting the cash

Did you know that Australian bills are made of a plastic polymer? I only recently had learned of this, and you can definitely tell they aren't made of paper or fibre like here. They also have really neat clear sections that you can pick out in the photos I've posted. These bills are obviously much harder to copy for counterfeiters, and they are more durable. Canadian bills sometime this year are also expected to be made of this same material...but I guess I'll have to wait until I come back before I can see what they'll look like.

Also exciting, for me anyway, is that a Facebook group for all the incoming international students was started by the UTAS coordinator. Discussions about where you're going, what you're taking and where you're staying among others are already full of responses. Its definitely thrilling to be able to hear and contact others who are just as excited as you. There seems to be many American students attending UTAS for the following semester, however I think most are only going to stay for one semester (and be extremely jealous of me staying for two!).

Almost There!

So much has happened and in a short time span as well. The only things I'm still waiting on are accommodation, and course scheduling. But first, the story of my VISA and booking the flight must be told.

So the last thing I knew, was that I was waiting for this CoE certificate (confirmation of enrollment-shows I've payed for the health coverage). Meanwhile, I had been looking at accommodation options and sending out emails here and there. As to date I'm still a little uncertain about where I'll end up, but the accommodations on campus seem likely, although a little more costly than what can be found elsewhere.

An interior shot of John Fisher College, one of the residence options at UTAS

Anyways, as I was getting anxious waiting, so on Wednesday, December 22, I decided to send an email back to the TRU coordinator, to ask if I should perhaps contact the university again. An automatic response came back almost right away saying that she'd be away until January 5th. This prompted me to contact the other student going to see how his planning was going. Then just a bit later that day our coordinator responded to say not to bother as they would probably be gone but she'd be checking the mail and that nothing had come in yet for me, but something had come in for the other student going. I found this a little odd, as I was quite sure I had payed before he had, but maybe they were delayed with my certificate for whatever reason, or that it was a different email entirely.

In the meantime, I relaxed slightly, and enjoyed my time with my siblings during our holiday break. I also continued scanning and searching accommodation websites, and applied for the residences at UTAS. Three days later, the other student responded to say that things seemed just as slow for him, and he hadn't applied for accommodation yet. This was kind of relieving to know I wasn't the only one, and that I was a bit ahead of the game in searching for accommodation.

However by the 27th, which was now three weeks since I had payed, and due to my mother's cajoling, I sent an email to the UTAS people. An automatic response back seemed to indicate that they also appeared to be away until the 4th of January. On the 31st, the other student sent me an email to say he thought he might actually have the receipt number. He gave me a description of where it could be found, but I couldn't find anything similar in my emails. I only had to wait a couple more days before the UTAS people were back at work and able to check into my request. In an email on January 4th, they sent me the CoE certificate, mentioning it had originally been sent on the 16th of December! (but definitely not to me!) That night around 1:00 am I applied online for my VISA. Imagine out pleased and surprised I was at receiving a VISA Grant Notification the next morning at around 11:30 am! Finally one thing turned out right!

Also later that day, the UTAS study abroad coordinator sent me the CoE as well, and said that it had been sent directly to the TRU coordinator on the 18th of December and contained some other information that I should get. So a letter was sent to the TRU coordinator in hopes the missing email could finally be forwarded to me. (Insert really annoyed, eye rolling face here) This was also the day I seriously looked into booking my flight, because now that I had my VISA (valid until March of next year) I was safe to book a flight. I found a great deal on the Canadian site, flightnetwork. I filled out all except the payment method, in order to determine the cost of the insurance options, but since I had to leave for work, that was all that I did. When I returned home, a $10 dollar discount promo code had been sent to my email, in hopes I would continue booking with them, and I did the next day!

For $1169.21, I'll be flying from Vancouver to LA (Air Canada) and then LA to Sydney and on to Melbourne (United). I scheduled a return flight for a couple weeks after the end of exams. I'll spend about a week in Melbourne with family before flying into Hobart right before Orientation starts. This flight was booked separately and one way, just because it was rather cheap in one direction, and I think I can get a better flight out closer to my leaving date.

As for my missing email...it remains missing! The TRU people sent me the very first email I had received (dated December 3rd and totally not the email I wanted) so I had to ask again for it, otherwise if they could just copy the other student's attachments and send them to me. I also asked the other student to do the same, which is probably what I should have just done in the first place!