Information for International Students
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What's Adelaide like?
Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia has a population of 1.1 million population (June 2005), is the fifth largest city in Australia. It has a mediterranean climate, where most of the rain falls in the winter months. It is a coastal city situated on the Adelaide Plains between the Gulf St. Vincent and the Mount Lofty Ranges. The dimension of the city is slim, running north to south. From the coast to the hills is about only about 20 km, but the city stretches across 90 km from north to south. To find more information about Adelaide take a look at the following web sites:
| Adelaide City Council | Adelaide City Council web site, you can find out the latest information of what's happening in Adelaide, images of city building, attractions and links to other useful information. |
| Adelaide on Wikipedia | Adelaide on Wikipedia, this is maintained thru the public contribution and provides information such as demographics, economy, education, culture, infrastructure ... etc. |
| South Australia Tourism Website | The official site of the South Australian tourism commission. You can find valuable information such as maps, transportation and information packs. |
Where is Adelaide?
You can use this map here to have a feel of where Australia/Adelaide is, in relation to where you are. To get some idea of how far Adelaide is, the table below shows the distance between Adelaide and other city in kilo-meters If your city is not in the table below, use this City Distance Tool to find out.
| Anaheim | Auckland | Brisbane | Hong Kong | Jakarta | Kuala Lumpur | Kuching | London | Melbourne | Perth | Seoul | Singapore | Sydney | Tokyo |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13194 | 3248 | 1599 | 6871 | 4567 | 5728 | 5015 | 16278 | 654 | 2136 | 8157 | 5415 | 1163 | 7862 |
What's the weather like?
Australia’s seasons follow the sequence: spring (Sep – Nov), summer (Dec – Feb), autumn (Mar – May) and winter (Jun – Aug). The temperature can vary quite differently throughout the year. Adelaide can get pretty cold, wet and windy in winter (Jun-Aug) and pretty hot and drought during summer (Dec-Feb). Adelaide does not snow during the winter but may have hail in odd times.Weather in Adelaide is briefly summarized as data below:
| Season | Max Temp. | Min Temp. | Mean Temp. | Earliest Sunrise | Latest Sunset |
| Summer (Dec-Feb) | 40 | 25 | 30 | 5:50am | 8:30pm |
| Winter (Jun-Aug) | 16 | 5 | 15 | 7:15am | 5:15pm |
Also, you may like to know that Adelaide is in the GMT+09:30 timezone and have 1 hour daylight saving during summer. In other word, its time is normally 1 hour and 30 minutes faster than most of the south/east asia countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, HK, Taiwan... etc. And would be 2 hour and 30 minutes faster during the daylight saving months of the year.
How do I get there?
There isn't many direct flights into Adelaide if you are coming from overseas. Most likely you would have to transit in either Singapore or Kuala Lumpur, or transit thru a domestic flight from Melbourne, Sydney or Brisbane. Visit Adelaide Airport to find out the operators, flight information, or to have a feel of the Adelaide Airport and they even a webcam of the terminal!
What are the studying options?
Adelaide is home to campuses of all three of South Australia's universities. The University of Adelaide is a member of the Group of Eight and was founded in 1874, making it the third-oldest university in Australia. It has five campuses in the Adelaide area; one being its primary campus on North Terrace and another being the National Wine Centre. The University of South Australia was formed in 1991 from a merger between the South Australian Institute of Technology and the South Australian Colleges of Advanced Education. Four of its five campuses are located in Adelaide, with two in the CBD itself. Flinders University, located in Bedford Park is named after British navigator and explorer Matthew Flinders and was founded in 1966. It is a mid-sized institution with a medical school at the adjacent Flinders Medical Centre. Leading US private university Carnegie Mellon is to establish two Adelaide campuses in 2006 offering both Australian and US degrees. The Heinz School will specialise in IT and government management and be based in Victoria Square, while another campus at Light Square will specialise in new media and entertainment. (source: Wikipedia)
If you are interested in pre-university colleges: Eynesbury College | Bradford College
Another good source of information about studying in Adelaide is the Study Adelaide web site.
Where should I stay?
While there are many accommodation options available in and around Adelaide, and Adelaide might not seem to be a big city. You are encouraged to stay close to the saints who are living in Adelaide. So when you search for accommodation please keep in mind that most of the saints in Adelaide either living in the city or in the south west direction of Adelaide city. Suburbs such as Glandor, Kurralta Park, Plympton, Plympton Park, South Plympton are where most of the saints living. Other suburbs near south of city such as Goodwood, Unley, Highgate and Wayville are also very convenient. The map below shows the south west end of the Adelaide city, the blue circle is where most of the saints are staying. You can use this tool to find out where about a place or use the WhereIs web site.
Click here to enlarge the image.
There are many different types of accommodation options available, from hostels, residential colleges, service apartments, private rental and university accommodation. We encourage you to get in touch with the responsible brothers here in Adelaide first before arranging your accommodation. As we do have a Sister's house and there could be other saints who are looking to share accommodation.
If you choose to stay by yourself or accommodating with other saints in Adelaide is not available, you can use this two links to the university web sites to find more information on accommodation : Adelaide University | Uni SA Or you can use this two web site to help you find the rental or sharing accommodation: Domain | RealEstate And you can find a guide to renting from Study Adelaide website to know all about renting.
We recommend the following hostels where it is close to city and saints have previously stayed in and with positive feedback:
We also recommend you NOT to stay in the following places, there are either very far from where all the saints are staying or where saints have previously stay in but with negative feedback:
- Hosanna Heights
What's the cost of living like?
Here are a couple of good article that talks about the Cost of Living in Adelaide:To give you a bit more idea:
- Instant noodles cost between $0.40-$1.00, a packet of Mee Goreng is about $0.40.
- A meal in China Town, in the City, cost between $6.00-$7.50
- A 375ml can of Coca Cola from the vending machine is $1.50
- Doing your own grocery $30 to $40 per week should be enough
- To live in or around the city area the lower end of rental cost estimation is around $90 for sharing unfurnished accommodation (excluding electricity, gas and phone) to $150 per week for hostel type accommodation which includes meals and basic furniture. If you live in the suburbs, then sharing an unfurnished house is around $70.
- Sharing electricity, gas, phone, broadband could cost you around $5 per week per item.
You can find the exchange rate from your local bank or from www.xe.com web site
What should I bring?
Adelaide can get pretty cold in winter(Jun-Aug) and pretty hot during summer (Dec-Feb). If you are arriving in spring(Sept-Nov) or autumn(Mar-May), it is recommended to prepare enough clothing for both cold and warm weather. If you are going to live in Adelaide for a while, you will need some summer clothes (t-shirts, shorts, skirts/dresses, light-weight trousers) and some warmer clothes for winter (winter coat, jeans, jumpers/sweaters and scarf). You can buy any extra clothing you may need in Adelaide, but it is recommended to bring enough clothing before come to Adelaide.
How do I call home?
The cheapest way to call home is using computer. Programs such as MSN Messenger, Yahoo IM, Skype. Some software will even allow you to call a normal phone at your country. If you are not familiar with computer, there are plenty of prepaid phone cards around the place. To get an idea of how much would it cost to call home using prepaid phone card, check out www.phonecardselector.com.au
What should I look out for?
Australian Customs Services - Look under travellers section, then information for traveller section, you will find information such as what you can not bring into Australia and Duty Free Concession.
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