Coffee and blogging

RNIS was invited by General Assembly and Allpress to this session. But it took us a while to write this due to Melbourne Marathon and other commitments that took us away from this blog!

This session took place in Allpress's coffee studio where participants tried their lovely coffees. Participants were also given a tour of their roasting warehouse where we saw the temperatures of their quality roasters go to 200C.

Allpress pride themselves on the quality of their coffee and they live and breathe it each day. Their guys are mostly from New Zealand. Here most of their coffee beans are from Brazil and are green before they are roasted. When they are roasted they smell chocolatey. Roasted the wrong way and they will smell bitter and burnt.

A good barista knows what they are doing and many of them take the time and knowledge to learn how to roast their own beans and make their own brews. Some of them like Axil goes on to do the world coffee championships. Axil came in second place.

A good site takes time to open and the cost and time to do the research. Most of the good sites in Melbourne are in the inner city area. In this area most people love a good brew in the morning. The barista gets up around 4am to make it to work and open by 7am. Most of the places shut by 3 or 4 in the afternoon.

Many thanks to General Assembly and Allpress for the invite and be sure to think about what the barista is going through before ranting online as online rants do hurt the business. The business and barista have worked very hard to please you and their aim is to please the people so that people will come again.

The 126 restaurant tips and how we are incorporating it here.

Earlier this year we were given a 126 restaurant tips guide by AGFA but we have been too busy with the Melbourne Marathon to really promote good practice.

On Social Media
We have Instagram, twitter and Facebook. Many restaurants these days try to promote their wares on social media which gives them a competitive edge. Most restaurants have Instagram and many well-known ones invite their bloggers out to share and like their dishes.

Some restaurants respond to negative criticism and ask for help which is the right thing to do for their business. The good business manages their customer reviews well on Zomato and Facebook and they follow their customers.
Email sales are a must for any good business.

Ambiance matters
For a restaurant to do well ambiance matters. People don't want to go to a dirty restaurant.

Costs and the Good food and wine show
Paying the correct wage is a must. If restaurants don't pay the correct wage then the staff are not happy and will want to work elsewhere.
The cost of the food reflects on the quality of it.
Buying good wine for most upmarket places is a must.

Business plan
Each restaurant should have a good business plan and one that is five years long. It needs to be really detailed down to the wire.

Other events and promotions
Successful businesses nowadays have a stall at the many local markets such as the farmer's markets. This is a good way to promote dishes to new customers. This is a great way to get new customers in the door.

Most cafes and restaurants are featured on Groupon, LivingSocial and the Entertainment book and you can buy one off us here. You can read about what we are doing to help the Salvos here.

Free Wi-Fi lands in the city courtesy of City of Melbourne

We talk about this new initiative by the Victorian Government aimed at connecting people.

There is now free wi-fi in the city thanks to the City of Melbourne and it is only 250 MB per day. This is great news for those looking to save money or needing it for other things such as rent. This is only a pilot project run by TPG and the Victorian Government which has spent $11 million dollars on it as part of an election promise.

Many students cannot afford a lot when it comes to living in Melbourne so this will be good news for them. It is in Bourke st mall and some places in Melbourne with more to come in the coming weeks.

The free wi-fi does not always work on my phone but when it does its good. Here you just go to your WI-FI connections and select Vicfreewifi. And then you need to accept the terms and conditions. The wi-fi is available in all places in the city as well as the underground stations.

Metro closes several key roads in the city

Metro closes several roads in the city for this upcoming project and we explain why and what the project is about.

Image courtesy of Metro Tunnel

Metro closes several key roads for motorists in the city but it will be worth it we promise. This will mean faster trains and more trains for the growing population. It was an election promise. The project costs $10.9 million to build over five years. Work has already begun around the RMIT city campus.

There will be five new underground stations in 2026 when the project is complete. These will be Arden, Domain,, Parkville, CBD North and south.

What will this mean for International students?
There will be a few new stations such as Parkville and Domain which might make getting to class a bit easier. It is about 9km of tunnel which means that some sections of the CBD will be closed. A part of St Kilda road is already closed but cyclists and joggers can still go through.

Many businesses on St Kilda Road are petitioning not to have the tunnel built on this road. But the Andrews government promises that it will be better as there will be more people wanting to get to South Yarra. They say that it will be better for the moving population.

Our reactions to Donald Trump

Our reactions to Donald Trump are mixed. Here is where we stand on him.

Donald Trump was recently elected as the US president and many people were unhappy about it. It was a close call as Hillary Clinton was just as popular.

Image courtesy of img.inhead.cz

Here we don't like Donald Trump. Nor do we hate him. He is just in between. But what he promises is more manufacturing jobs to be in the US due to their economic downfall. This can be bad for the Australian economy and might mean that jobs are lost. But it could be good for the US.

Getting rid of immigrants particularly illegal ones is great for countries like Australia. But we have mixed feelings about the US as it thrived on immigrants. There are too many illegal immigrants in Australia and too many fraudsters here and in the US.

As for sex we don't know much about it. But what we do know is that he can be too bossy and not many Australians like him for his bossiness.

Lets just wait and see what Donald Trump gets up to in 2017

UberX

Its good to try new things and I would highly recommend if you want a cheap and fast service. I.e if the train is cancelled and there is no other way home (if the bus does not run as they usually don't after a certain time)

Comparisson of costs by uber.com

This time my train was late and the bus went without me. I was going to call my housemate but instead I decided to try UberX after a few good reviews from colleagues and friends. Here ordering a cab online on your phone is really simple. You download the app (I'm surprised it works for Windows) and then you sign up. You are then asked to provide your credit card details. You pay for the cab on your credit card (not in the car but when you order) and they will take care of the rest.

They even tell you when its coming and who the driver is. They also will tell you what the car is (note it is not the standard black Uber car that I thought it was). My driver was pretty good. He was really friendly and knew where he was going. Nowadays cabs are very expensive and they will often take you to the wrong places.

His car was pretty clean not like some other taxi.

My trip from the station to home was $6.19 which was very good. My house is 2km's from the station but it was a very hot day and I didn't want to walk home.

Do try UberX whenever you need a cab really quickly. They don't take bookings which is good. You can download the app online.

Malaysian student allegedly spends more than she can afford

A Malaysian student spends more money than she can afford. Christina Jiaxin Lee (21 years old)  is from USyd in Sydney and was preparing to go home to Malaysia when she was caught by the authorities. We explain here

She was charged with dealing with the proceeds of crime which she knew that it was a huge glitch by Westpac.

Christina is an International student studying Chemical Engineering in USyd.

Christina. Image courtesy of smh.com.au

Christina had $4.6 million in overdraft by Westpac. This was accidental and she claimed that her parents gave her that money. But in actual fact this was Westpac's fault (as it was a banking error) and she should have paid it back. Instead she spent it on designer clothes and handbags from July 2014- July 2015

She was granted bail but failed to meet them as her boyfriend was a Malaysian national.

Now she will be going to court and maybe jailed. Her parents will pay it back when they come to Sydney in June. Initially they were not happy with her.

What we think
As students ourselves it is not fair that she had all this money. Moreover the money that she spent gives international students a bad name. The money was not even hers to begin with. Upon discovering the mistake she should have notified the bank.

Understand your limits
When you first sign up for your bank account make sure that you understand the limits. If you don't understand ask the bank. And if your parents will be sending you money make sure that you ask them how much and it should be in writing.

Whatever you can't afford, you shouldn't spend. And don't even think about spending other people's money as that is a crime.

If you notice anomalies in your bank account, notify the bank

On the spot penalty fares to be scrapped

Students as of next year there is no need to worry about the on the spot fines as there is a huge fine overhaul. We explain

In 2017 on the spot penalty fares will be scrapped. The on the spot fare is $75 without a valid ticket but now commuters will be given to explain and most people will be given warnings.

Myki by ptua.org.au

Under the new system commuters will be sent warning letters rather than fines of $223. Regular offenders will still get fined the same amount.

This is in response to many complaints made this year and last year about the MYKI system. There was a review done about this system earlier this year. Many people felt pressured to pay on the spot even if fare evading was not their intention. Many times the machine broke down or there was no way to top up. Many people do not live within a five minute walk to the nearest top up place.

Authorised officers will be given smartphones or tablets and will be able to access the passenger's travel history.

Other changes include the online top up time of 90 minutes instead of 24 hours.

Migrants scammed yet again

 Migrants are scammed yet again. We explain below

Image courtesy of australiaforrum.com

This time they are scammed by a Mr Prasad of SLV legal services. About 20 people were scammed in February 2016. Students could not sleep and were left penniless after they were scammed $17,000- $41,000 in fees. They never got any jobs or a visa. Most could not sleep after finding out that they were duped by this con man. Some were suicidal.

Ashley Chen was one such student after paying $41,000 for no job and no visa. She was threatened by Prasad who said that he knows where she lives and she was suicidal. Other students were stressed out about losing their money.

Mr Prasad has been arrested by the Police and the Police are working with Immigration on this matter.

This visa scam is a concern for us as we want International students to have a good time in Melbourne and not waste any money. Unfortunately these things happen.  But there are always ways to avoid the scam, such as seeing a registered migration agent with a MARN (Migration Agent Reference Number). One such agency is the Education Migration Agents Service. This is a legal service which is based all around Australia.

Be careful of scams such as these. Students should use their university support services to assist them with finding a registered migration agent.

CAV has a new campaign for students

The Consumer Affairs Victoria has a new campaign on housing for students. Here we talk about this in more detail and what you can expect in the welcome desk information kits.

Consumer Affairs Victoria is a subdivision of Department of Justice. Here they assist renters with information about their rights. For years International students have been mistreated in their homestay or rental properties by unscrupulous landlords. For years they have advocated and fought for tenants rights.

Their new campaign is aimed at helping International students in their early tenancy stages such as living in Melbourne for the first time.

In order to make sure that they tell students about their rights they will update their online presence from time to time. They do have a Facebook page.

These info packs are distributed at the welcome days and in there are some information about the types of housing, checklist, your rights as a tenant etc.

Students say that this is a good idea as many students don't know about the types of housing and their rights when it comes to dodgy landlords.

Do check out the CAV site for more info on your rights.

Students are being underpaid in restaurants

It is that time of the year again and many students are looking for jobs. Many students would have just arrived with little or no money and will want to work. Here we report on some of the latest cases of underpayment

 Lately Fairfax and Meld have reported that students are being underpaid yet again.

Image: Creative commons via Meld Magazine

Particularly in Chinatown, students are being paid $8- $10. In some of the top end ones and the more popular ones such as Wagaya students are being paid $14 (as of last year). Student often don't know about their rights at work and they sometimes try to ask their boss. But the boss says no or fires them straight.

Being underpaid can sometimes gives students stress. And students don't need that stress during the semester. Their fees are high enough as it is. And then there is the food and other things like transport. 

Mamak is the latest one where it was reported that students were getting $8- $15 an hour and no overtime.

The Fair Work Ombudsman has a calculator in which you can check your wage entitlements. This is really easy to use and its important for students to know their rights when it comes to pay. You can also find out the minimum hourly pay here which is set by the national wage standards

MYKI: How not to be fined

Students there are some ways not to be caught and do the right thing. Many students have been caught for not having a valid MYKI. We give you tips on how to avoid being fined. 

The fine is now $75 (on the spot) or $223 fine which comes six weeks later. There are always some random inspections across the public transport network.

Be organised if you can
Get your myki from the many 7-11 stores or retail shops if you can. But if you have time you can buy it online. Buying it and topping up online takes about 24 hours. You could also set up auto top up but that's if you have enough money in your bank account.

With auto top you can choose a amount that you want. Make sure you can afford it.

Buy a pass
If you are going to uni for many days it works out much cheaper to get a pass. And if you do get the  tram you don't have to worry about touching on and off and getting confused. If the tram is really busy you don't have to worry about getting to a validator or getting fined just because you could not touch on or off.

One type of pass is the iUse pass. These are a yearly pass which is discounted for students living in Metropolitan Melbourne.

Have enough money for the fare
 On the PTV site you can check your fares for the places that you are going to.Most of the time you'll only just need zone 1 but sometimes you may go to other zones

Touch on properly and touch off if you have to
You don't need to touch off when on the tram as it just works out a default fare. But make sure that it is beeping and you hear the proper beep. Don't have your headphones on as you won't be able to hear it

Register your myki
Registering your myki online is free. By registering it you don't have to worry about losing your money or pass if you lose your myki. If you lose it, it is easier to apply for a refund. But it does take up to ten days for it to be processed.

Students don't get caught without a valid ticket. Make sure you remember to top up or buy a myki/pass

Guide: How to see a doctor in Australia

International students might sometimes get sick during their studies in Australia and might not know how to see the doctor.

Image courtesy of topnews.ae

Here are the steps.

Step 1: Finding a GP
Some International may not have friends or family in Melbourne, so what I suggest is looking at the University's list of doctors near or on campus. Each uni is different.
But if you do have family or friends then ask for the recommendation.

Step 2: Making the appointment
Each appointment lasts about 10-20 mins long, but you could be waiting in the waiting room for a while as there are others as well all waiting to see the doctor and there are usually 5-6 doctors in the surgery.  I suggest that if you have other things that you need to do that day come earlier in the morning just after they have opened. Most surgeries open around 8:30am or 9am.

Do call the clinic to make the appointment. When you call them ask about their fees and whether or not they are a member of your OSHC. If they are they can ask the provider to pay the costs.

Step 3: Preparation
Don't be late to your appointment because if you are then you may have to pay extra costs. Write down a list of things you would like to ask them.

Don't forget the Special Consideration form if you want to ask the uni for an extension or deferred exams. Do bring your ID and your OHSC card


Step 4: Seeing the GP
Talk to them about your concerns and your medication. Ask them to sign the Special consideration form if you have. Ask them for the medical certificate.

Pay the fees at reception when you are done.

Step 5: After the doctor.
Get your medicines from the chemist. If your doctor has made a referral follow up on that. If your doctor has declared that you need Special consideration during the exam or any other time, hand your form into the Special consideration unit on your campus.

Students and franchisees being underpaid at 7-11

A new report by Fairfax media and the ombudsman shwo that employees are being underpaid yet again by 7-11. The head office earns a lot of money but the franchises have nothing.


Last year there were raids and the stores owner Sundarakumar, admitted to the wage fraud underpaying International students in Melbourne's CBD. He also admitted to falsifying records and making the students work 80 hours a week in breach of their conditions.

In fact International students work at night and they are paid around $10 an hour. There is a lot of shoplifting going on at night and the workers are forced to take that money out of their pay check.

There are 620 stores all over Australia and the head office gets a massive 57% of the profits earned for each store. Its founder Ross Withers lives in the Yarra Valley in a very expensive house. They also have a property in Brighton

Is the current business model and the cheap things viable?
The answer is no. There is store survelliance in every corner of the shop in which head office can see what the employees get up to. The franchises can't do their own thing. In our eyes this is not on. In the end everyone knows about the underpayment and will never shop there again. Many franchises have already closed up shop due to bad debt.

Our response
This is not a new issue for 7-11. It has happened many times before and we urge you to stop shopping at 7-11 even if it is just for $1 coffee or a $2 sandwich. It is just not worth it. This is the reason why we stay away from these convenience stores.

CISA said that students need to be aware of their rights and that is correct. We have shared this on Facebook and found that people like this and shared as well.

Over the weekend RNIS went to the Melbourne International student conference and one of the issues was student exploitation. Phil Honeywood from IEAA said that exploitation was unfortunate. It has to stop now and it can start with 7-11.

Our Dilemma helps solves problems

As part of Bupa's best blog competition for 2015


Our Dilemma is a site which helps solve problems by providing solutions. We talk about the newest site developed by Lauren Hughes.

Many International students have problems in Australia whether it would be homesickness or financial problems. Our dilemma is a free site which students post their problems online and then people give solutions. This is the first step to getting help with your problems.

We had posted about a problem with homesickness and we got quite a few answers such as calling Lifeline and talking with the uni counsellor. Funnily enough RMIT does have such a service and we tried to use it but they were full. It was a two week waiting period. In the end we joined some student clubs and societies and that took away some of our homesickness.

Concerns with the information
Our Dilemma has some house rules and they expect everyone to follow those. As for others sharing the information it is not allowed as it is against the Privacy Act.

Image courtesy of Huffingtonpost on Facebook

Points
There are points given for the question asked and the answers given. For each question asked it is 200 points and each answer given it is 100 points.

What is in it for me?
Nothing in monetary value. But there will always be some helpful suggestions to your problems and you can help with their problems if you know how to.

The information that you post on this site is anonymous.

Students do check out the site and do feel free to post questions and answers online.

Cost of living: what you need to know

Students it is now easier to find out the costs of living in Melbourne with this useful guide.

The guys from Insider guides have released a new guide for International students to find out how much it costs to live in Melbourne.

Image from Insider Guides

The guide was really easy to use and it was divided into five parts. The guys included the hidden extras such as gym membership, car registration and other things such as going to the pubs which universities do not tell them. Students can work out the full cost of studying in Australia beyond the $18,610. The $18,610 is the money that Immigration requires the student to show before they arrive in Melbourne.

In actual fact the cost of living in Melbourne is $31,000 per year.

Also this tool shows the support services that students can expect to receive whilst in Melbourne. They will email you the recommendations and it is worth checking them out. So far they have emailed us two.

But there will be more in the coming months.

The cost of living calculator is only available to students studying in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth. You can check it out here.

Le Cordon Bleu set to open in Melbourne

A culinary school will be open soon in Melbourne. We explain.

Le Cordon Bleu is one of the world's greatest culinary schools which has great success. It is based in Sydney  and Adelaide but now it will have a campus opened in Melbourne. Melbourne is the culinary capital of Australia.

They will feature at this year's Melbourne Food and Wine festival in a bid for people to win scholarships and promote their campus. The move to Melbourne was only natural for them.

And the fees for the course is the same as the domestic students so Internationals don't need to pay high fees. The only con is that it is far away from the city, near Moorabbin station out in zone 2.

These are the courses that will be offered in Melbourne to prepare students for the workforce:

• Advanced Diploma of Hospitality (Commercial Cookery) or (Pâtisserie)
• Grand Diplôme
• Diplôme de Cuisine - Certificate III in Commercial Cookery
• Diplôme de Pâtisserie - Certificate III in Pâtisserie

To apply and to find out more do check out their website.

MyStory

Study Melbourne has introduced a new tool to help students to find out more about Melbourne. We explain this new and innovative tool

MyStory is an online tool offered by Study Melbourne to showcase what studying in Melbourne will be like. It took the Study Melbourne team many hours and days to work on this and they produced a great result.

The story features Melbourne Uni and Melbourne's laneaways and arcades. Online you can choose your lifestyle and studies such as Undergraduate and which type of housing you live in. The game is really fun to play. You also get to chose where you want to go in the city and how you want to travel.

The aims of this is to help students and parents relieve the pressure and stresses of studying in Melbourne. Every year there are about 150,000 new International student enrolments

MyStory is a good starting tool for prospective students wishing to go to university here and considering it. You can visit the study Melbourne site to access this.

Telstra unleashes their free wi-fi in the city

There is now free wi-fi in the city of Melbourne thanks to Telstra and their 4G network.  RNIS had a chance to try their wifi out and here are the results

The WI-FI is for everyone that studies, works or lives in CBD and you don't need any phone credit or be a Telstra customer. You just simply connect to it on your phone. But you have to have a smartphone or tablet.


The wifi is rather slow and problematic at first. You go to your phone's/iPad wifi settings. You have to select Free Telstra Public Wi-fi and then like other wi-fi's agree to the terms and conditions. And then off you go.

It kept dropping out at first. But after that it wasn't too bad. After a few days passed it seemed to work well in Melbourne Central

I tried it at the movies: it didn't work so well. It kept dropping out.

Students when you are in the city you can use the free Wi-Fi. The free wi-fi is available in most places.

What to do if you have a late fine

Students did you get your fine late? Not at all? Or forgot to pay it? Well here is our guide to paying it (the public transport fine) when it is past the due date

This is for PTV's (Public Transport Victoria)  fines which some students cannot pay by the due date due to financial hardship. Usually PTV gives students about a month to pay the $217 fine for not having a valid ticket. Sometimes students cannot afford the public transport expenses as they have to pay the rent and the exorbitant fees.

" With that fine I could not afford to eat for one month. Rent is already a huge sum taken out of bank account (direct debit). My employer only pays $10-$15 an hour cash in hand." says a Chinese student from RMIT.

In a recent meeting with CISA, they said that many students cannot afford to pay the fine and often they pay it late. We talk about ways to try and avoid having late payment fees.

Payment plan
A payment plan is a plan where you pay a little bit as you go. But you have to come to sort of an agreement as to how much to pay within a certain amount of time. You may be able to get one for university fees and other things. Its a good idea to talk to the university early and don't leave this til the last minute

Note: PTV and the Department of Transport and Infrastructure does not do this but they usually grant an extension (see below)

Negotiate a new date for when the payment is due
PTV usually grants an extension of 90 days to pay if you request it. You usually have to do this in writing though and they will email you back the new date. Again do email them early.

What are the consequence if I don't pay?
You'll be taken to court. Also your property may be seized and you may go to jail.

Luckily though for this Chinese student he did manage to get the 90 day extension to pay it.