Yes, you can still buy a sweet new ride AND dairy free-milk while unemployed and studying in a foreign country! Read on to learn how to ball out on a non-STEM co-op budget!
Transportation
Since I live off campus, I recently decided to purchase a bike to save money on Uber (There is no Uber Pool here, and fare is charged per minute, so it can get quite expensive if there’s lots of traffic). Also, I was a victim of an Uber scam similar to this one a few days ago (big yikes), so I haven’t been too keen on using it lately. I’m also obsessed with spin classes, but unfortunately they aren’t offered anywhere nearby, so I thought riding a real bike was the next best thing and perhaps a good way to challenge myself, because the bike is actually moving and I don’t have the luxuries of foul-smelling rental shoes or an instructor screaming at me to go faster. Initially, I considered renting a car, but decided it wouldn’t be worth it with the price of the rental itself, combined with insurance and additional fees due to my age. Also, I didn’t see myself successfully not causing accidents from re-learning to drive on the left side. I bought the bike for $109 AUD, which is about $78 in U.S. dollars, which is a pretty good deal considering I’ll be using it from now up until the end of April. I don’t know very much about bikes, so I didn’t do any research at all before going to the store. I just picked one that looked cool so the other kids at school would be jealous. This was a grave mistake, don’t do this. I didn’t expect it to be great by any means, since it was so cheap. However, it might be nice to be able to stop when I’m going down a hill, which this bicycle is not very capable of doing (I learned this while riding it back home from the shopping center which was almost exclusively downhill). Also, it sounds like a motorcycle. So I basically have to plan my trips in advance to ensure they involve no steep hills, or hills at all really, or heavy sidewalk traffic since it also barely stops on flat surfaces and I’ve almost ran over many an unsuspecting student walking with earphones in. It’s a small price to pay for being thrifty and eco-conscious. Additionally, although public transit isn’t as common here as it is in Boston, it’s still readily available and can be a better option than Uber, especially if you’re travelling alone. Interestingly, it’s charged by distance here rather than at a flat rate, which is great if you’re travelling a short distance. There’s also a student discount (yay!).
Shopping
I tried to bring as much as I could from home to avoid re-purchasing things I already own, but buying a few new things was inevitable. While exploring the mall, I wandered into a Kmart and I’ve been obsessed with it ever since! At first I was very wary because American Kmarts have a reputation for being unpleasant. But here, it’s completely different; it’s similar to Target, but has more reasonable prices, so I was able to purchase everything I needed (laundry basket, Tupperware, trash can, pillows, etc.) quite cheaply, so I won’t feel as bad about having to get rid of all of it once the semester is over. One thing I am so happy that I brought from home is sheets; for some reason basic sheet sets here cost nearly an entire year’s salary no matter what store you go to. If I had space in my luggage, I would have brought more things like soap, skincare products, and makeup since these things tend to cost significantly more here as well. For groceries, I’m a big fan of ALDI, as I’m a very big fan of the work they’ve done to make healthy food more accessible to individuals with lower incomes, and I’ve found that they have better prices and a bit more variety than the other grocery stores I’ve been to around here. Healthy food can, sometimes, get super expensive, but they have things like soymilk, produce, snacks, and dairy alternatives that are reasonably priced and very high-quality.
Housing
Although I do have a bit of regret (and FOMO) for not living in on-campus housing, I’m very happy with the place I’m living in during my time here. I looked at a variety of housing options, and was very satisfied with the amenities offered (pools, sauna, gym, grills) and the price. Although it depends heavily on the school, off-campus accommodation is typically more cost-effective, which is something I considered beforehand. The U.S. dollar is also very strong in Australia at the moment, which was a huge help as well. I have my own room in a two-story home in a very quiet and safe gated community, which was a nice and interesting change from living at Northeastern, where I always lived in a shared room in an apartment building. One of the main reasons I chose to live off-campus was to avoid the mandatory meal plan that comes with living in student housing, which, in hindsight, may have been nice because I don’t actually know how to cook at all, but it’s nice to have access to a full kitchen here in case I turn into Bobby Flay overnight. I went with one of the smaller rooms in the house, since it was a great value. Although my room is much smaller than the master bedrooms, I don’t mind since I don’t spend much time in it, and at the end of the day I have my own space, which is great since I don’t have to worry about disrupting someone since I go to bed late, or splitting closet space.
In addition to cost efficiency, living here has also allowed me to meet some really great new friends, since I live with three other girls who I had never met before and probably would not have ever crossed paths with if we didn’t live in the same house. While I love where I live and wouldn’t change it, it probably would have been a good idea to research the school culture a bit more before deciding. Since most upperclassmen at Northeastern live off-campus, I just assumed it would be that way here as well, when that’s really not true at all. I also thought that the school rate was excessive to pay for a bedroom with communal restrooms and no kitchen (and no pool!), but I think it’s more about paying for the overall experience itself and feeling more connected to the community on campus. I only live about 10 minutes away from the student housing though, so I’m able still able to visit friends who live there pretty quickly and easily.
