Philipp in Melbourne
Table of Contents
Overall Thoughts & Feelings
Melbourne is a great city mostly ranked as one of the most livable cities in the world. The city is much bigger than Vienna and infamous for its food scene because you can basically find every cuisine of any country. Uni starts at the end of September and goes until December, you basically arrive in spring and the days are getting longer and warmer. Nevertheless, I would still recommend bringing a rain jacket and warm clothes. The public transportation system is in my opinion not as good as in Vienna but there are tons of trams, you can even take them to go to the beach.
Expenses
- Rent: 1000€/ month
- Grocery: I did not write down everything I spent on grocery because it would have made me cry, a cheap bread at Aldi costs 5€, and the only cheap food was Avocados which were 1€
- Eating out: the minimum price of a burger I would say was 10-15€, however, there were a lot of sushi places around Melbourne that were reasonably priced
- Going out: Alcohol is very expensive in Australia, the cheapest beer in a pub costs 8€, there were some cheap clubs like “the workers club” that were relatively cheap.
- Trips: Renting a car costs ca 50€ per day; Flights to Sydney or Tasmania are around 100-200€, Uluru is more expensive with ca 400-500€
In general, pretty much everything in Australia is way more expensive than in Austria.
Accommodation
I lived in a dorm right next to the university (4 min walk) in Carlton. The name of the accommodation was Unilodge and was 1000€/month. Since the semester is just 3 months long it is quite challenging to find a place. The neighborhood is next to the CBD where all the bars, restaurants, shops, and skyscrapers are. My dorm was quite modern.
Studies
There was not really a campus life because I had MBA classes, and these were in the evening or at weekends so no students were at uni at these times. It is quite similar to WU where you go to classes and later meet with your friends. It was quite common to meet with your group members from a class after your project in a pub.
I took 1 weekly class over 10 weeks and 3 intensive courses that were just 5 days spread out over 2 weekends. All courses were quite easy, and the workload was just right. I had no exams, just sometimes quizzes which were super easy. All courses were interesting, and the profs engaged a lot with the class. Their presentation skills were top.
Classes I took:
- Managerial Judgment (weekly classes, the topic was biases and a little bit of ethics, the prof is highly skilled in presenting and gave great examples of the different biases all the time)
- Digital Product Management (intensive course, the topic was product management with a focus on SaaS, the prof worked at Google, Microsoft and eBay)
- Innovation (intensive course, the topic was innovation, the prof was the best I had, it was never boring because you had to build a startup in your group)
- Leading in Transformational Times (intensive course, the topic was strategy, the prof studied at MIT and Harvard, therefore participation was important to him)
Events
The university did not organize any events, but my dorm did, such as Lasertag or nights out.
There were only 4 other exchange students, so we organized trips altogether. We went to the Great Ocean Road and Tasmania and met almost daily in Melbourne.
Places to Visit
I went to Ulur, Sydney, and Tasmania. In Victoria, which is the federal state where Melbourne is located, the Great Ocean Road and the Yarra National Park are great places to visit.
Country & City Vibes
Everyone was super polite and friendly. If it seemed like I struggled with something, strangers came up to me and helped me (eg. setting up my tent). It was easy to talk to people because everyone was interested and open to talk to.
Melbourne’s public transportation system is heavily based on trams and there was a stop every 150 m. Thus, it could take a while to use the tram. If you live close to uni you can walk everywhere tho because most things are happening in CBD. The city is super safe.
Visa
If you are Austrian and probably EU citizen and stay less than 90 days, you can stay on a tourist Visa. The tourist visa is basically free. If you want to stay longer you have to apply for a student visa which costs several hundred euros. It takes a while to fill out all the forms but once you send everything online, the processing time is only a week.