The moment you get off on that plane from your home country - you’d definitely start feeling a little nervous, happy and a ton of mixed feelings right? Today in this blog, I’m going to talk to you about what are the best things you must do in the first week in Australia as an International Student.

1. Get comfortable with your accommodation

As an international student, you must have booked your temporary accommodation with University, or you must have friends/family or you must have got shared accommodation. Have a good night’s sleep because jet lag is real! Understand the numbers such as bond and rent once you reach there. 

2. Explore

Once that’s done, start exploring the city - any city that you’re living in. Understanding your surroundings, public transport in and around that area, supermarkets and stores that are closer to you so that you can go and easily purchase all the essentials. Once that’s done, purchasing your travel card is important - the first month I’ve decided to take a month pass so that I can travel and explore the city easily without any additional costs. If you are landing in Melbourne for example like me, I took a 30-day myki pass so that I can travel via bus, tram & train and later I felt a 30-day pass was unnecessary.

3. Phone plan

Awesome so once the essentials are done, getting yourself a sim card with the right phone plan is crucial. You can choose either prepaid or postpaid. I personally took a postpaid vodafone sim that got me 1000 mins of International calls, unlimited phone and messages in Australia and finally 50GB of data for around 25$/month on a discounted rate. Usually such providers have great discounts for International Students - so take advantage of that!

4. Bank account

I highly suggest you to get some cash from your home country so that it is handy for you before you get your part-time job and so you can purchase some of the essentials. Some of the big banks here are ANZ, Commonwealth, Westpac, NAB etc - choose your bank wisely and based upon which bank you choose your documents might vary. However, having your student visa document, passport is crucial as they serve as a form of verification. I opened my bank account in LaTrobe University campus because back then there was a branch located in the campus itself. 

5. Exploring University

If you land in Australia before your O-week, then it is highly suggestable to go to your university and explore. For example, I reached 3-4 days before O-week and I went to the university, spent some time in the Uni library and so on! Download the apps that are required for you to navigate your campus.

6. TFN

Apply for your TFN number! TFN is nothing but Tax File Number. This number acts as an identifier and if you are willing to work here in Australia, having a TFN is mandatory. So before you go ahead and apply for jobs, this is something you must acquire!