Life as a student (First Six Months)

Hi stranger!
Hope you’re doing great today! If you’ve just found this website, there’s a good chance you’re going through some of the same problems I once faced. First of all—hang tight. Life isn’t easy for any of us. Poor people dream about a roof over their heads and a warm meal, while some rich people dream about good health, genuine relationships, and real friends.

But you know what? Cheers, my friend. Life as a university/college student (dang!... America, why can’t you just use the word university) is no easier than anyone else’s life.

If you’re from a rich background—cheers. You’ll still have a slightly bumpy road ahead of you. But before you start to cry, just take a breath and look around at what other roads look like. You’ll see how some students from poor backgrounds navigate their student life through rough, bumpy roads filled with potholes and other crap.

I still remember my first day in Melbourne. I was at the airport and had to wait in a queue for almost two hours to pass through immigration. Then my SIM card activation went horribly wrong. Somehow, I managed to settle down at a distant relative’s place, thinking, “Finally, I can have some peace and quiet.” I thought they might let me stay for around a month so I could adjust to this new life and find a decent room to rent. But they wanted me to move out in two weeks. I panicked, and without knowing much, I started looking for rooms.

Finally, I found one and moved in that very same night. Then I got a job early in the morning in Melbourne CBD. Since I wasn’t driving at the time, I woke up at 3:30 a.m. every day and walked 1.5 km to the railway station to catch the 5:00 a.m. train to the CBD.

After a couple of weeks, I lost my wallet—and someone tried to use my debit card. I canceled it through my banking app as soon as I realized it was missing, so the thief only managed to get $10 AUD as overdraft (which I later got refunded by the bank).

(Captured by Diary of Kevin at Tesselaar Tulip Festival in Silvan, Victoria, Australia)

Three months after arriving in Melbourne, I bought a car from one of my workmates. Around that time, I got a job in the civil construction field. We worked on civil construction and technical tasks for NBN Australia (NBN is the national broadband provider in Australia and is often considered one of the failed government projects).

I worked and studied so hard—day and night—that I eventually lost my social life. But in early November, I received my trimester results from Deakin University, and finally, my hard work had paid off.

During my semester break, I picked up more work and also tried to reconnect with my social life. Around the same time, I was planning to move to South Australia and start my second semester at the University of South Australia (UniSA). I secured a seat at UniSA thanks to my results at Deakin, and I also received a scholarship based on my performance.

After around six months, on the 9th of February 2024, I moved to Adelaide. I drove from Melbourne to Adelaide—over 800 km—and arrived safe and sound.

Just like that, I started my life from scratch again.