Melbourne isn't like living in a foreign city

My name is Zhao Jing (Crystal is my English name) and I come from Henan in China. I have lived in Australia a little over a year now and moved here shortly after I finished my undergraduate degree. Like many other students, the main reasons I decided to study abroad were to improve my English, to meet the expectations of my parents and to enjoy a high quality education.

Regarding those students who don’t make it overseas, I believe most of them stay in China because of a lack of money and English skills. As for why I chose Australia, my brother was already living here and my parents encouraged me to join him. Do I believe that Chinese students are satisfied with their educational experience in Australia? Yes, I think they think it is OK. However, there is a consensus that living in Melbourne isn’t really like living in a foreign city at all.

I am living in Clayton at the moment. Personally, finding accommodation wasn’t that difficult but finding suitable housemates was extremely hard. Many people just don’t know how to communicate with other housemates or with their landlord and this causes problems. Apart from this, I find the expense of housing in Melbourne to be the biggest difficulty. In terms of my ideal circumstances, I would like to find a place near to Clayton campus that was reasonably priced and not too big.

In terms of safety, I can't say that I feel safe in Melbourne. I think people drive too fast and this makes me feel uncomfortable. Also, I have experienced being bothered on the street whilst out walking. However, the worst thing is a thief stole my credit card! I reported it to police but nothing really happened.