to the initil question...
I have crazy weeks too, and i live at home, but home is over 1 1/2 hours away from uni, wither by public transport, or by braving the traffic.
So i have 30+ hours per week contact, then 15+ hours per week travelling (soon to be extended by 10 mins in each direction, cheers to city rail) and i work Sundays, occasional saturdays, and full time in the holidays at a boarding kennel and at Uni.
Its fricking hard and i would not reccommend it to anyone at all! I could probably just afford to live in a share house near uni, if i was stingy, but then i would have to quit my job (as it would be 2hours travel to it each weekend) and find a new one, with the same problems all you guys have of finding a flexible employer that pays well. And its much of a muchness in terms of the time i would then have to spend cleaning, cooking, grocery shopping, etc etc compared to what i do at home.
But i am worried about 4th year, when i have to move down to Camden, and then 5th year when i have to quit my job, move out and support myself while working full time and not getting paid as an intern. So i dont want to spend my savings keeping me afloat now when i will need them more in 4th and 5th years.
So with my lists of Pros and Cons, both moving out and staying at home kind of suck, and the only thing keeping me at home are my job (which i love) and my proximity to my boyfriend. And also the fear of being lonely moving from my busy crazy house full of people to a small flat etc with only one or two others.
And Textbooks too.... thats an extra approx $1000 per year that i would have to come up with... from where i dont know....
I wouldnt mind a live-in position, but its the same issues, quitting my job, leaving my bf, and my family, and having to watch every single dollar i spend, not being able to splurge on the movies etc.
I would love to live in College, or the Village, but in Syd its soooo expensive, even with youth allowance and working, i would have to give every cent i earned to pay the cost.
In short, being a student with high contact hours sort of sucks... i'm off to buy a lottery ticket!
