The
Monash Student Association (MSA) was great with organizing regular events, both
in the beginning of the semester and throughout it! They have a membership (for
a low fee), which will give you a huuge discount for when you’re going on some
of their events. They also have a facebook page for their international student
section, so definitely check it out! https://www.facebook.com/monashoverseasandexchangeclub/
.
The uni
also offers a gym facility, however as I never attended any classes on campus I
can’t tell you about the gym’s quality. I worked out a bit at the local gym by
the Burnet, however the overall gym memberships are a bit pricey. You can check
out local gyms by googling for them, or by asking your other exchange buddies
and/or lab mates!
As for
making new friends – that’s something certainly guaranteed! Being new in town I
felt a bit shy at first not having a stable ground. However, very quickly I
became eager to reach out to people and befriended many of them. I met most of
my buddies at home, but I also bonded really well with another exchange student
at my lab, other students at the institute and some people that I met during the
Monash events.
One
thing that Melbourne can definitely guarantee you with is tons of entertainment!
It’s a multicultural and metropolitan city with tons of sides to it! It has its
modern skyscraper city-like CBD (central business district), cool hipster
suburbs (check out places like Fitzroy and Brunswick) and ethnic neighborhoods
such as the Greek Oakleigh, Italian Carlton and East Asian Box Hill. Even if
you stay in town throughout the whole semester you will find new things to do.
There
are many beaches and nature spots to see around the city, such as St Kilda Beach,
Brighton Beach, Danedong mountain ranges
- I recommend going on the historical Puffing Billy train (http://puffingbilly.com.au/en/) or the 1000 steps hike (http://www.dandenongrangespoint.com.au/attractions/1000-steps/
).
There
are plenty of things to do around the state of Vitoria as well, and one portal
for cheap trips I can recommend to you is a facebook group called New To
Melbourne (https://www.facebook.com/NewToMelb/
). I’ve personally done a couple of weekend trips with them and enjoyed them
all! Just so you don’t miss out, the
places worth checking out include: Great Ocean Road, Philipp Island,
Healesville Sanctuary, the Grampians and the Wilsons Premotory.
If you
wanna get out of the state, I recommend flying with budget airlines such as
JetStar and Tiger Air.