No longer a beggar...

It took me a month just to find a place to settle down for the next 9 months. It is not that I am lazy to go look for a place. It is just that the housing market is Melbourne is too competitive. ZQ, YY and I have been diligently going for numerous inspections of properties and sending in stacks of application forms to get a place. None of our applications was successful. It was until YY asked an agent about how to increase our chances for application, then we knew the trick to it. Yasmin told me that she had to quote a higher rent than what was published in order to out-bid the rest of the applicants. The agent told us that we could include a cover letter and also offer to pay an upfront if 3 months' rent.

So we did that and VOILA~ We got a place! 5/3 Mary Street, North Melbourne 3051. And the place look like this!

These are the pictures taken from the website. I will take some pictures myself once I have finished unpacking and tidying everything up. The third picture above is my room, without a toilet since the en suite room has been given to Saskia for her privacy. Saskia is a Dutch PhD student in my laboratory and she was looking for a place as well. She doesn't mind staying with 3 guys, so here we are, in this luxurious looking apartment! 3 levels, 2 bedrooms on the 2nd level, 2 toilets, 1 living room, 1 kitchen, 1 study room on the ground floor and a garage!

Never in my life had I imagined that I can stay in such a luxurious apartment. This is totally like a dream to me! It was definitely worth the wait. Wish me luck for the rest of my 9 months of stay in Melbourne! Can't wait to go back home!