In the fall of my junior year, I had an incredibly rewarding semester in New York and was excited to flock to warmer weather and continue my happy streak in Sydney. I was excited to take Intro to Marketing, a major requirement, and was interested in learning about the Australian environment and media in my other classes. While shivering in New York’s cold, I reminded myself that next semester I could wander to the beach after class with my books and enjoy a much nicer study view. While Sydney is an incredibly entertaining city, it was not quite what I had imagined, and perhaps not the best-suited option for me.A major letdown for me was that the academics were not nearly as rigorous as I had hoped. Yes, I understand this is probably a blessing to most people, but I thrive when challenged in topics I am interested in and passionate about. The professors at NYU Sydney are very nice and lenient—they understand that academia is not a priority for us here so they are very accommodating. While class attendance is strict, you essentially just have to show up, and minimal work is required of you each week. Because classes only meet once a week, it’s easy to forget about what you have learned. I often don’t feel engaged in my classes, which, unfortunately, is a stark difference from my last semester in NYC. What was perhaps the biggest disappointment for me about Sydney was that the beaches are hard to get to. You can’t walk to one from the dorms or school. Rather, it requires around 30 minutes of public transportation. While Sydney is on the coast, it is mostly filled with harbors and bays; there aren’t very many beaches near the city side. Nonetheless, Sydney does have some great beaches and natural pools, and you will inevitably have enough down time to make the trek if you desire. To get an idea of exactly how far the beaches are, getting to the infamous Bondi Beach takes over 20 minutes by Uber, and 40 minutes via bus. The trains and buses in Sydney are quite clean, timely, and conveniently routed especially considering we live right next to a transportation hub, central station.

On the topic of location, the dorms are in an excellent part of town, particularly for us NYUSH kids, as it’s smack dab in the middle of Chinatown. Yes, that’s right, there are delicious Muslim noodles around the corner, KTV, bubble tea, and Asian supermarkets galore. With the largest population of Chinese immigrants in any city or country, they make a big deal about celebrating Chinese holidays here, which is really enjoyable.Sydney celebrates not just Chinese holidays, but other international holidays, social activism, and just generally has a constant flow of events and things to do around the city. On any given weekend, you have a number of options for festivals, fairs, markets, most of which are free. To list off a number of fun events I’ve been to, there’s Surry Hills or Glebe Markets, Sydney Cellar Door Wine Festival, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia ArtBar, Ben and Jerry’s Movie Sundae Sessions, Bumble Valentine’s Day Party, Sydney Korean Festival, Australian Open of Surfing, March Into Merivale Launch, Odesza concert, and Mardi Gras Festival. If I’m not chilling at fun events, you’ll most likely find me trying new restaurants, bars, and cafes. Sydney surprisingly has quite the creative food scene, and several instagrammable foods you wouldn’t find anywhere else. There is a constant flow of new places opening up, and each one is more tempting than the last. Sydney today is very international, so you are likely to find at least one restaurant that serves a cuisine you are looking for. If you want to stay in the loop with the newest local food venture, make sure you subscribe to Time Out Sydney, and there are several foodie instagram accounts you can follow (@fooddiarysyd, @jess.xv.v, @thefoodbros, @2hungryguys). Another great thing about Sydney is they offer a lot of lunch, dinner, and drink deals, so if you look hard enough, you’ll find a number of cheap eats on certain days. One thing I didn’t realize before coming here is they have different names for coffee styles, such as long black, flat white, etc. so make sure you know what you’re getting before you order!

To burn off all the calories I eat, I try to stay active by going to parks within the city, walk along the coast, or hike in the mountains and national parks. There are a number of gyms and fitness classes you can sign up for, but Sydney is blessed with plentiful green areas where you can be active. There’s also a small gym in the dorm that has the basics, minus my favorite, the elliptical. When I crave a change of pace and new scenery, I rent a car to get out of the city to camp, see faraway beaches, or climb waterfalls. If you have a driver’s license and are over 18, you can rent a car for a reasonable amount at Jucy Car Rentals, Wicked Campers, or Go Get. Road trips are a great way to get to know your friends better and potentially make new friends.For travel hungry study abroad students that want more than local trips, there are a number of popular destinations to travel to on a long weekend, school break, and national holidays: Bali, New Zealand, Tasmania, Uluru, Melbourne, Whitsundays, Byron Bay, and Great Barrier Reef to name a few. You can sign up for deals on plane tickets with Jetstar and Tigerair.

As for general lifestyle in Sydney, the locals are very friendly and helpful. Before coming here I had heard Australians were rude and aggressive, but I have yet to see a true Aussie bar fight. Their accents vary depending on where they are from, and sometimes I do have a hard time understanding and communicating with them. They also have a lot of slang and other words that differ from American speech, which can be confusing at first. Regarding daily costs, it is fairly reasonable as food and other services have similar prices to NYC, but with the current exchange rate, you can imagine as a big 30% off. It’s easy to blow through money, though, as public transportation, food, event tickets, and so forth tend to add up. An average school day at NYU Sydney:

30 minute walk from dorms to campus

Pick up lunch at nearby food courts in the CBD

Go to the beach with friends in the afternoon after class

Cook dinner (A hobby I want to get better at since I have time)

Watch a movie with a friend or do homework

An average weekend (i.e., Thursday-Sunday) at NYU Sydney:

Workout

Go to an “event” if not the beach

Study at a café or Surry Hills Library

Feel free to shoot me a short email if you have any questions about studying at NYU Sydney ([email protected]), and you can check out my Instagram (@sundaycheeks) to see the photo documentation of my semester here. Cheers mates!

This article was written by Sandra Kohn. Please send an email to [email protected] to get in touch. Photo Credits: Sandra Kohn