Melbourne In The Eyes of A Malaysian Student ( Part 1 : Finances )

When you finally find something cheap in Melbourne.

Cliche as it sounds, the year 2017 has flown by as we are now reaching the final month of the year. This has been a very big year for yours truly, signifying the first time I've spent nearly a year away from my precious hometown in 20 years of my life. 

Landing in the shores of Melbourne, I had some overblown expectations but safe to say, I was excited. The prospect of living in a foreign land filled me with wishful thoughts and possibly ridiculous fantasies that I shall not speak about.  

That was basically my state of mine, when I was 9 months younger. Fast forward 9 months later to the present, I guess it was naive of me to think in such a way. Yet I guess if I were to die, I would die as a wishful and naive dreamer despite the near certain embarrassment that comes with reality which would befall on me.

I guess this would be a good time to do some comparisons between what I expected in February 2017 (arriving in Melbourne) and what I eventually got at the end of the two semesters I experienced here. It's probably going to be a nice little time for me to laugh at myself as I count away the days to me finally whisking away on a flight back home.

I think I'll split this into a few sections since I have a lot to say about the topic. The first part of this series shall be about spending that cold-hard cash. Finances is probably one of the most intriguing things to talk about upon arriving in a new country. New currency to get used to, new mindset on what is cheap and what isn't and even trying to differentiate a dollar coin and a 2 dollar coin. 

FINANCES

What I expected : 

Stuff to be expensive of course. The strength of the Malaysian ringgit was pitiful compared to the Australian dollar. I had the initial options to either study in University of Adelaide and University of Melbourne. When in Malaysia, there were countless of  speeches clearly stating that the cost of living in Melbourne would be so much higher than Adelaide. But, then Melbourne had that irresistible aura about it being the ' most livable city' and all that. I was already imagining the tens of concerts I would go to (went to two and one of it was free). The number of nightclubs I would go to with my newly found friends (went to one). Funny old me even thought I could eat some luxurious Australian food (they don't really have their own food) like every few days. Buy some cool stuff that Malaysia would never have (meh, I guess you can get kangaroo balls?). Ride trams every day to places in Melbourne like a goddamn explorer ($8 minimum is bullshit). Ah, the power of youth. 

What I got :

For some context, my first ever meal in Melbourne was some Asian dish in Ricebar. Flipping through the menu for the first time delivered a sucker punch to the gut and that is no exaggeration. There was no meal that cost under $15 which mean my instincts initially led me to seriously considering a strategic retreat to the Dominos which was conveniently situated next door. Thinking of the unbearable shame, I eventually ordered fried rice at a cost of $18. To my fellow Malaysians, that's RM 56. That is a buffet-sized budget in Malaysia to give some sort of perspective. Safe to say, I didn't return to Ricebar on my own ever again ( fried rice was pretty delicious though). However, multiplying everything by 3 and a bit did stay with me throughout the first semester when contemplating on whether to spend money or not. Nothing truly signifies how expensive living abroad is than this difficult thought process. That long and painful process thankfully disappeared from my thoughts come Semester 2 since after all, ignorance is bliss. 

However, this meant I had to be on full cheapskate mode when in Melbourne which some might say, never left me anyway. I did a lot of things that I am still proud/embarrassed of which I deemed it to be somewhat necessary at the end of the day. Questionable things of course but I have (nearly) no regrets.

Good examples of these were :

1. Spending no more than $5 for lunch in university for one whole year. ( $3 7-11 lunch combos :') )

2. Hunted down for free lunch barbecues throughout uni (really proud of that)

3. Cooked food nearly every day (rare exceptions - hanging out with friends and exams)

4. Joined any clubs that offered frequent free stuff which by far outweighed their membership fees ( eg: Science Student Society and Singapore Student's Society)

5. Using all them online coupons!

6. Constantly price-checking between Coles, Woolies and Aldi.

7. NEVER ordering drinks when eating out. Get that free water jugs.

8. Domino's $5 pizzas can be split to multiple meals across multiple days. (half-laughing and half-crying)
9. Having like one haircut for one whole year that cost like $10.
10. Not paying for Internet and fully relying on the uni's WIFI (constant travelling to libraries at night).
11. MY GREATEST ACHIEVEMENT : Took all 200 plus pages of a textbook to avoid paying $100 dollars for a subject I would be taking for one semester. (that was a bad 8 hours of my life) 

Follow my advice, guys. It's NOT fine to be broke.

Advice :

1. Stock up on stationary in Malaysia. Co-op and Officeworks are a scam. You're welcome.

2. Cook a lot. You'll save much more money this way.

3. Find a nice and cheap place to stay. If possible, try to come to Melbourne earlier and visit potential places to stay. Don't go in blind like me. If you're looking to live near uni, a reasonable aim would be $200 to $ 350 a week. Getting a roommate would be ideal and cheaper.

4. Abuse the beautiful tram system in Melbourne. Only touch on when needed (i.e look out for those pesky Myki officers).

5. I did state that joining clubs are a great way of saving money (and making friends, I guess). But, ensure to not go join every club on clubs day because there is no way one can participate in multiple clubs at the same time. Absolute waste of money in the end of the day.

6. Internet's free and fast in university. Use it. Especially for textbooks. Be the pirate that society has forced us to be.

7. Subscribe to the newsletters of the supermarkets. Really good promotions at times.

8. There will always be something cheaper than what you found. Look online and chances are cheaper products are there to be found.
9. When packing for essentials to Australia, note that you should pack as little as possible because chances are you're probably not going to stay in the same place for very long. Makes moving out easier.
10. Kitchenware should be bought and not brought over. Relatively cheap here as long as you're not looking to be the next Masterchef or anything. 
11. Queen Vic is a glorious place to shop at. Wait till around 3pm to get all the cheap deals as the grocers will start trying to get rid of all their perishable goods.

12. Lastly, you could follow what I did in my above list. Not advisable for those with weak hearts and even weaker self-control. 

I'm pretty sure there's a few I've missed out but these tips and tricks are pretty much fool-proof in my opinion. The best thing about saving up money is it paves the way for spending elsewhere which is important for other parts of your life. If you're a fan of nightclubs and bars (personally not a fan but there's plenty of that here), saving up for that will make the insides of your wallet feel a bit more better ( beers are not cheap). 

Save up for concerts like these. Anyone can name the band?

Personally, I saved up most of my money so I could eat out with my friends every week or so and also on video games. Each to their own of course. 

In conclusion, spend with moderation. It's good to realize early on that for most of you the money  comes mainly from your parents, which should make you feel bad (if you have a conscience) when spending on stuff that doesn't matter. Not saying that you shouldn't spend outright, but don't go stupid like start smoking and shit like that (costs a fuck ton and harms everyone within a meter radius). 

With that, I bid you adieu.