First time in Sydney

Finally, I have arrived in the Kangaroo country!

My flight from Bali to Sydney took around 6 hours, I used Garuda Indonesia and was pretty disappointed by its services. The plane was supposed to depart on 23.30 PM but it was delayed for about 45 minutes, the food was very small (I was quite hungry the whole journey), so it was not the service I expected from a 5 star airline. Fortunately, we landed safely at Kingsford Airport.

The Sydney International Airport (Kingsford), and basically Australia in general, is pretty strict on its baggage regulation. Meat, nuts, and spices are prohibited and they will check it twice or even several times if it's possible. You will never know what things are allowed and not, so I would recommend you to just declare your baggage so that they can check it immediately (especially when you are not so sure about it), otherwise if you think that your baggage is fine (but then they find something irregular about it) you will be fined. 

Anyway, I live in Campsie, a quite diverse suburb in Sydney which is commonly known for its Asian population. At first I was worried that it was going to be far from my university, but I found out that it was not so bad. It takes me only 30 min (by train + walk) from my flat to the uni so I guess it's alright (especially compare to the journey I took from my house in Bandung to Unpad😃).

Park Street, Campsie

Campsie is amazing, I can find a lot of asian markets (chinese, indonesian, korean, indian, vietnamese, japanese) in this area, and the prices are surprisingly affordable. I can find fresh fruits and halal meat easily here. People in Sydney (so far) are very nice and warm. We can find people thanking the bus drivers every time they hop off the buses, and sometimes people would just wish you a nice day randomly on the street. Once I was lost in the area, and an australian man (around 70s) helped me to find my flat.

Campsie Center (there are libraries and a lot of modern markets inside).

My first month living in Sydney without my family was okay because I missed my son so much! It felt weird because I used to sleep and wake up next to him, drop and pick him up from his daycare but then we were just thousands of miles away. It was so hard for me because I was worried that he would feel lonely without me, and he would ask about me every day, but I had to be strong because my family believed that it was just for the best.
Anyway, several days after I arrived in Sydney I had to attend the orientation week for the international students at the University of Sydney. Unlike the orientation that we usually have in Indonesian universities, we only attended a formal welcoming ceremony where the uni representatives would introduce us to the uni environment, lecture buildings, cafetaria and cafes in campus, accomodation, etc.

Me, sipping a cup of latte in front of the Law School building.

To be honest I have never thought about loving this uni, and even Australia in general, because I always wanted to pursue my master's study in the UK or in the Netherlands. However, I was so lucky to be accepted in the University of Sydney, and surprisingly I turned out to be so mesmerized by the beauty of the campus and the amazing facilities and services the uni provided. No wonder they are always rated 5 stars by the QS.
I am still so surprised that apparently there are a lot of students from UK and the European countries who come all the way and study in Sydney uni, either as an exchange student or a full-time student, especially in law faculty. It is amazing to see how diverse Sydney uni is, and I am always so stunned everytime I have a conversation with the other law students because they just sound very intelligent and critical that it makes me want to improve myself to be better and better.
Anyway, that is all for today's post. Sorry that it took so long for me to write again, hopefully I can write more often in the future! 😀