MC Odd

So, I recently moved back to New Zealand, after two and a half years living in the awesome Melbourne, Australia.
This was a hard choice for me, because in spite of all my whinging, I really love that city, and I really love Australia (still, someone needs to turn down that thermostat). Unfortunately, I wanted to go to university, but doing so in AU with a NZ passport is complicated.



Basically, up until 2001, being a NZ citizen effectively made you an AU citizen. After fulfilling the residency requirement of two years, you could get HECS (AU's student loan program), healthcare, benefits (unemployment, student living costs and such), pension, the works. This all changed in 2001 though, and anyone who arrived in the country is now only eligible for healthcare, HECS, and superannuation.

What does this mean for me? No student living allowance. I can still get HECS to pay for the uni fees themselves, but I have to completely support myself; which would mean full-time work or near enough (at least 30 hours a week) while doing full-time study; or studying part time, which turns a three-year Bachelor degree into a six year, and that's before post-grad.

After a LOT of weighing up options and trying to find loopholes in the system, my only choice was to either stay in AU and don't go to school, or come back to NZ to do uni, which I chose to do. Aside from school, there are some other benefits to coming back; I'm closer to family, which is obviously a good thing, especially with a one-year-old nephew whose life I want to be a part of.
Wellington was really the only option for me as far as where to live, I don't consider any other city in NZ livable. As another bonus, two of my best friends live here: Charlie I have known for maybe six or seven years, who I met playing an online card game called Triple Triad; and Will, who I've known for almost thirteen years, since Year 4 at Owairoa Primary School in Auckland.


So here I am.
After some complications with my uni application (they pretty much just fucked me over: I got denied entry for not completing an online entrance test that they said they emailed me, but never did. I highly recommend NOT trying to apply for college from overseas), I enrolled last-minute at the Wellington Institute of Technology for a one-year Diploma of Health Psychology. Completing this will give me guaranteed entrance into a BA (Psych) next year, as well as having some credits cross over; so it effetcively counts as a partial first year.
This also means I have a year to decide if this is what I want to do. If I decide "no", I still have a diploma under my belt, instead of just a year's worth of student loan with zip to show for it.

I'm currently staying on Charlie/Alice's (his girlfriend) living room floor, and we're moving into a three-bedroom place next weekend. We only need two bedrooms, but this one was cheaper than all the two bedroom places anyway, as well as being cat friendly. Alice is super stoked because now she will have a dedicated art space in the spare room. There's also a yard, which is shared with the neighbours but still nice, proper washing lines, a barbecue (not that I can afford steak), HUGE rooms, aside from the spare room, and one of the neighbours has a pet rabbit.

All in all, life in NZ should be good. I must admit to being very homesick though. I miss all my friends over in Aussieland, and going to Melbourne Storm games, and groceries not costing zillions of dollars.
But once I find a job, NZ should be alright, for now.