Nightmare in Melbourne

Well it's about time I updated. On the 1st of February, I arrived in Melbourne. Cold shivering and not knowing where exactly to go, me and a friend, Jon just decided to get our pick up service to send us to Global Village student accommodation. We were not looking for a long term place but rather a place to live in while we hunt for apartments. The rent was about $800 per week for a 2 bedroom apartment which was priced ridiculously high! Apparently they only give lower rent to people who stay longer term. If we sign a contract to live there for 6 months, we'll pay about $360 per week. You see the difference? We decided not to take it but had nowhere else to go.

For me I could always stick with my initial plan which was to bunk in with Edna while doing my house hunting. But I can't possibly leave Jon right? He supposedly cancelled his accommodation because 'I told him to' according to him. I made it entirely clear that he should only cancel when we get global.

Luckily for us we had a saviour and to this date he still is my saviour. I met this guy Jake from the pre-departure seminar provided by IDP Singapore. He was the President of the Student Association of Singapore in Victoria. He told me that if I had no way out, I could get a key from his friend Ching since we will arrive 12 hours earlier than him. We could crash at his apartment which was empty because his housemates moved out.

I've been busy looking for a decent apartment here and the rental rates are ridiculous. Apartment hunting is really tough in Melbourne. Back home, the real estate agents try to lease out apartments as soon as they can but over here, we have to literally hunt the agents down! So here's how it works, these real estate agents don't get paid on a commission basis, they are on payroll! So why work so hard if you're going to get paid anyway? I can just take my own sweet time to lease out the apartments. Who's to blame? I mean they're humans afterall right? The system is seriously screwed.