On the beach, you'll find them there

This photo by Ross Thomson, appears under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 license.

This is the final part of my first interview with Jack. I have presented it in its original format, with Crystal's translation of my original questions left intact. Jack articulates some interesting ideas on how international students might be able to learn more about the lives of Melbourne locals and also offers some advice to newly arrived students.

Many international students find life in Melbourne to be quite boring, with not many social activities of interest. We’d like to hear your opinion on this matter?

In some ways this is true because we find it very difficult to become a part of the local social scene. What appears on the surface to be a friendly exchange of amenities does not necessarily signal that you have successfully integrated with local society. Sometimes this is a complex problem, incorporating cultural differences, language barriers and differences in habits and customs. However, if you want to resolve these issues there is only one way, and that is to stay here long enough. So for students who have just arrived, life can be very tough and lonely.

Have you ever attended any social activities or events in Melbourne, such as a sporting event, a music concert, a university club function or a church event?

As a matter of fact, I’d love to attend events like these but I wouldn’t have anyone to talk with. Normally the thought of going to something like that makes me quite nervous, after all I'm a stranger in a strange land. However I would probably adapt pretty quickly. A church meeting might be the best place for me.


Have you met any local Australian families or students?

The only family I’ve met were a Chinese family who immigrated to Australia around 20 years ago. We met on the plane trip to Australia. They sat down next to me and we chatted happily. The father had actually graduated from the university where I am about to commence my studies. After the plane landed they accompanied me to my new house and we have stayed in contact since then.

What do you feel is the greatest difficulty in adapting to life in Melbourne for international students?

Actually, the only real difficulty is the loneliness. Apart from this, most students find it relatively easy to adapt to life here.

If you could, what changes would you make to improve the quality of life for international students in Melbourne?

I feel that the Australian Government could establish more scholarships for overseas students. Also, I think we shouldn’t be viewed merely as consumers, give us more opportunities to contribute to society. For example, we could visit the homes of older local residents and do volunteer work. We don't expect young Australians will be that interested in making friends with overseas students, they are busy enjoying their own lives. Older people on the other hand are often just looking for someone to talk with.

Up until this point in time, what has been your best experience here in Melbourne?

I was walking along the beach at some bay, the name of which escapes me, picking up shells, enjoying the sun's rays and the gentle breeze. It felt so good. I thought to my self, this is truly living!


Overall, would you describe your experience of life in Melbourne as pleasant?

Yes, relatively pleasant. I find life here agreeable, the pace of life is very slow and I am free to do the things I want to do.

And you may find yourself in another part of the world

When I started this blog, I had several goals. One of them was learning more about the Chinese international student community. I feel that over the last couple of months, my interviews with students such as Xiu, Pei Pei, Jack, Crystal, Wei Jia and Neil have helped me gain a much clearer understanding of life in Melbourne for international students. To this end I have discovered that most students face big difficulties finding houses, securing jobs that pay a fair wage and attaining a sense of attachment to their new city. But from these stories of difficulty have also come both positive experiences and new ideas.

These ideas constitute the second goal for Soy Sauce. I hope that the discussions and ideas expressed here will play a part in improving how international students are welcomed by the city of Melbourne, and that with our help, those students who have chosen this city as their new home will be able to lead active, interesting and enjoyable lives filled with new experiences, new friends and the achievement of their scholastic and personal goals.

As our cities most valuable export industry, worth over $4 billion dollars to this state if the word on the street is anything to go by, we cannot afford to lose our reputation as a safe and welcoming city that provides a supportive and hospitable environment in which students from all over the world can chase their dreams.

More than this, as Australians we have come to pride our self on our ability to offer everybody a fair go, reveling in our status as a multicultural society that gives everyone a fair crack at achieving their full potential. But is this sense of being an open and friendly nation that offers all an equal playing field merely a myth? What are we really doing to make international students feel truly a part of life here? I hope that over time Soy Sauce will be able to devote more page space to good news stories than dwelling on the many problems faced by students here.

Finally, I had really hoped that through this blog I would be able to practice my Chinese. In this regard I have been quite lazy but recent submissions by Jack have really reinvigorated my love of this most interesting of languages. As a result, I would like to start posting some entries discussing some of the translation that goes on behind the scenes at Soy Sauce, posting up a word list to accompany some of the articles. The first one will focus on the most recent entry regarding Jack's work experiences in Melbourne. Also, it will include some discussion of the wonderfully worded survey questions which were so excellently translated by Crystal when this all began in November of last year.

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.

Introductions

The initial idea behind Soy Sauce was to bring together stories from Chinese students living in Melbourne. The next couple of entries introduce two such students. I have been lucky enough to teach both of them in the past and I asked them to be the first profiles on Soy Sauce because I had always found them to be very interested and insightful regarding the transition period all of us face when moving to another country.

Special thanks to Crystal who very kindly translated all of my original questions into Chinese and who has been very encouraging of this project from day one. Thanks also to Xiu who has sent me heaps of extremely engaging and honest material which I aim to upload over the next couple of days.

Even with just a couple of profiles ready to share, I can already see how Soy Sauce has the potential to be a positive force for change in the lives of international students in Melbourne. Through reflecting on the problems faced by these young people as they try their best to adjust to life away from home, we must look for new ways in which to make this experience not just meet their expectations, but exceed them. In the same way, by bringing together examples of positive housing, life and educational experiences, Soy Sauce hopes to act as a resource for those looking for some suggestions on how to make their new home a little bit more enjoyable.