The University of Sydney and your Russian Ranger Tim

[tim]

Gidday, mates!

My long way to Australia is almost completed - now I'm a PhD candidate at the University of Sydney, leaving Russia in a week or two. Everyone promised me beer - beware!  >:D

Jokes aside, if you know some accomodation to rent near the University - please, drop a line. I'll provide any personal information if required.

Also, there are some other questions:
• what mobile operator would you suggest for a student?
• do you have some unused bicycle to sell me?
• have you laptop to sell (starting from 1GHz and 256 MB)?

All comments and advises are warmly welcomed!

[veebee]

WHA ???           WOOOOOOOHOOOO !!!!   

Absolutely amazing Tim ! that is by far the best news I have heard for a long time !

Dont know about others, but I will have a bit of a look around in the newspapers etc here and see what I can find for you.

I have my old dell Inspiron which my son has been using - you are welcome to it as a warming gift to Australia ! (1.6 Ghz - 512 Mb RAM )

there are lots of mobile phone companies around with some good offers, you need to decide if you wish to pay a monthly "cap" (starting from $19 per month) or have a "prepaid" system where you pay for "credit" , and then "recharge" when it is used up (only lasts for usually 1 to 2 months).

Have to get ready for our garage sale..... but I'mm gonna be smiling ALL day now !



WELCOME TO AUSTRALIA TIM !

[Rob]

That's great news Tim , I was beginning to think you'd given up on the idea of coming to Australia.
If you were only an occasional mobile user I was going to suggest Vodafone pay as you go. You have no contract & pay a flat rate of 1c per second. I've been on that plan for about 10 years and only pay a couple of dollars a month. Unfortunately I can't find it on the website now so they mustn't be offering it to new customers. In the city I think you should get good coverage with any provider so it's just a matter of choosing a plan that suits your usage. The three main providers are http://store.vodafone.com.au/mobile-phone-plans.aspx http://www.telstra.com.au/mobile/plans/ & http://www.optus.com.au/home/index.html there are also a host of smaller companies if you want to search.

[BF]

  Tim, that's really fantastic news!  Glad that you finally made it!  

Regarding finding a place to live, Sydney Uni has an accommodation service to help new students to find a place to live.  There is a section specifically aimed at international students. Have a look at http://www.usyd.edu.au/current_students/accommodation/international_students.shtml

For mobile phone plans you can compare some of the cheapest available plans on this page: http://mobile-phones.smh.com.au/MobilePhones/Refine?t=e82eb731-7ebc-4fd1-8bd2-a41fdc1e3e40

For bikes (or anything else cheap) I would suggest http://www.ebay.com.au once you arrive.

Hope you will enjoy Australia!

edit: oh, and for beer I'll be able to make plenty of good recommendations! biggrin

[teemac]

G'day Tim - Long time no hear.

Glad you finally got all the red tape sorted out. 

Welcome to Oz and hope you enjoy it.

[Wang Solutions]

Great news Tim! Like the others I was wondering if you had given up on the idea. Best wishes with it all, and good to see you back on the boards too.

Congratulations. 

[daveandton]

Strewth cobber, we'd nearly given up on you getting here. Glad to see it's finally happening and keep us posted on how you're going
Dave

[Dingo]

Haven't heard from you in a while Tim, great that you got a spot at Uni.  Hope everything works out for you in Aust.   

[Mike Mitchell]

Well done Tim! Unlike the others, I am aware it takes a long time to get access to Australia so I hadn't given up hope. Well done again!!

@All others: The Immigration department's own documentation says "up to 72 weeks" and that does not include checks with other government departments such as ASIO and Centrelink.

[daveandton]

You're not saying it's quicker to jump on a boat and try your luck are you Mike
Dave

[Mike Mitchell]

You're not saying it's quicker to jump on a boat and try your luck are you Mike
Dave

Hell no! That would put one more illegal between my wife and her immigration!!   

[tim]

Guys, you are as kind and optimistic as usual! 

Especially Veebee :) Dude, I don't want to leave your son without the laptop, he probably needs it for education or something! Your enthusiasm is overwhelming, I'll be smiling all the week :)

Thank you all for the links to mobile providers, I gonna spend some time in try to find something appropriate.

BF - the accommodation service of the University requires my UniKey login to search the database, I'll try to ask them for the login-password pair. Anyway, thanks for the tip.

I want to note that I was hired to write distiributed computing software which models complex biochemical soil processes. It's very possible that we'll establish new boinc project with time. Now guess what team will officially support it ;-)

:aus1:

[Wang Solutions]

  

[veebee]

Tim, I just bought the kids a "new" laptop each from an onlione auction, so the Dell Inspiron is yours if you want it.

The hinge on the screen is a little "wonky" (new Aussie word for you..!) but everything works fine.

And the prospect of an official BOINC project happening in Australia... "run" by one of our own ... COOL !

[tim]

O'kay, guys, I'm here in Sydney. What a wonderful place! I'm so amazed!

I landed on Friday morning, came to the Uni, passed the formal procedures, found my superviser and spent the weekend with him and his family. Participated in a barbecue party, took some photos of a high-school soccer match and even swam in the ocean for a while.

Today in the evening I'm moving into a rented room in Bankstown, Brancourt ave 94.

So, Veebee - I wanna meet you and if you haven't changed your mind get the laptop :) But don't expect that my English skills are very good - you guys are so fluent that sometimes I hardly can catch a word :)

Guys! I want to say that your support helped me very much. You were the first Australians I had ever met and that was very good experience. Dreams come true if you want them badly!

:aus1: