Instead of buying a new simcard when I was in Amsterdam, I just bought a $20 throw-away Nokia phone for emergencies. While that worked really well for me there, I quickly realized that it wouldn’t work for me here. In Amsterdam, the main way that everyone communicated was over the app Whatsapp. That meant that I could keep my American phone on airplane mode for the whole trip and just communicate over wifi.
However, the main mode of communication in Sydney, much like in the States, is texting. Not many people use Facebook messenger or Whatsapp to talk to each other, it’s all over texting. So I knew that I’d have to get an actual Australian sim card. Most of my friends here bought phone contracts that go for 5 or 6 months, but I knew that I didn’t need a whole plan. So, I bought a pay-as-you go plan. They charge me 10 cents per text, 10 cents per minute of phone conversation, and a certain amount per megabyte of data that I use.
This works better for me because I am very good about connecting to wifi, and therefore I don’t need to use data–I only turn it on if I’m lost and need to figure out where to go or if I need to text my parents and I don’t have wifi. I’ve gone through around $30 so far, and that’s including one night when I went out and left my data on for 15 hours on accident. Overall, it depends on how reliant on data you are, but this option is much cheaper for me.
At the Urbanest I’m staying at, they offer 20 gigabytes of wifi each month for free. Once you run out, which everyone does, your connection slows down immensely. If you want to avoid this, you have to buy 25 more gigabytes for $20. However, they also have 3 computers in the lobby that have free wifi, which means you can go down and do your homework without sucking up your internet. There’s not much in the ways of technology other than that though, you have to go onto campus or to a print shop if you want to print something.
The technology adaptation has been a little difficult for me–mostly the limited wifi. I’m definitely not used to that, but I’m learning.
I saw this in a bathroom at an Irish pub on St. Patrick’s day. I’ve been relatively unimpressed with Sydney’s environmental progress so far, but they have some great advertisements against trash.
This is yet again another beach I went to. It’s shark beach, and the posts you can see in the image actually hold a net up around the water. There’s lots of boats that pass nearby though, so I’m doubtful how many sharks there are around.
