Gochi

Gochi is in Crown and I read a few things from Escort and the Thief's blog about how good they were. Well for a start they were busy so that must be a good sign of good things to come. But if they were so busy I wonder why they allow for no table sharing. Certainly I would not have minded sharing a table and I even hinted to them about this

Well they do takeaway and dine in but dine is a bit more expensive. I know that Crown is a little bit on the pricey side, but why is it that dine is a little more expensive here?

For example the sushi bento is $18.50 to eat in, but takeaway is $16.50. I wonder why. The sushi bento didn't have much in it. It had 4 pieces of sushi, 3 nigiri, potato salad, chicken karriage and miso soup. The miso soup came after the box.

The other table complained that their food was too small and that they had to keep ordering more food. But then again I came at 7:30pm and they came a bit earlier say 7pm. My food didn't arrive until close to 8. If I am having a late dinner I don't like to eat too much.

The miso was stock standard and same as the potato salad. The chicken was nicely fried. Now normally I'm not a huge fan of meat but I was a little bit hungry. I would have thought that there was actual rice but no. They must have forgotten.

The sushi rice was really nice and had a nice amount of vinegar on it. But the fish was not fresh.

Rating: 10/20- poor meal, but good service. I wished that they were able to change my chicken for agedashi tofu instead. Most restaurants are happy to do this.

Oh well- maybe just for drinks then. :(

Students live in dodgy housing in the CBD

Every year thousands of students live in the city and some of them don't know how dodgy it can be.

Image courtesy of sourceable.net

Last year there was a fire in a Docklands apartment and all the students had to evacuate. Luckily no one died as many of the students had gone home for holidays. The fire started at 2am and the damage bill was huge. Now there are places in the city which house up to 14 people in one apartment in any given night. The landlord or body corporate does not care and wants the student's money.

There have been many safety concerns over these types of housing. In November 2014 there was an apartment fire in Docklands. It was found that there was a combustible container filled with cigarettes in the balcony area of one apartment which was to blame for the apartment fire. People leave things out on the balconies not knowing that they will catch fire.


What now?
This year alone there were several warnings at AFIS info day about a working smoke alarm. But still there are lots of dodgy houses in the city. North Melbourne has some great places.

CISA has been advocating for cheaper and safe housing near the unis

Recently there has been a report saying that student housing near the universities tend to be a lot more expensive and that will be covered in another post.

MyFitness Pal

As part of Bupa's best blog competition for 2015

International students often find it hard to understand how many calories are in food and how much they have consumed in a day. Here we talk about one such app and website which tells you everything

MyFitness Pal is a website that you can use to count your calories burnt and calories eaten. They also have a lot of tips for those trying to lose the weight.

The app from blog.myfitnesspal.com.au

It is relatively easy to use and its also an app. It is free for everyone.

Here you can sign up using Facebook and it is done in minutes. They also have some helpful tips for those that are starting out such as the recommended calorie intake of 1000-1200 cals for women and 1200-1400 cal for men. Or you can use kilojoules (whichever is the easiest for you).

The exercise part has the recommended goals and entering exercises is relatively easy. All you need to do is to select which exercises. There are two sections: cardiovascular and strength. If you know how many calories you burnt then you can enter your own.

There are forums to assist you along the way. You are not alone in this.

You can also set goals such as burn this many calories in a week and whatever else you have in mind.

Available now in Google Play and on their site

Health tips for winter

As part of Bupa's best blog competition for 2015

Students here are some health tips for winter.

As students we need to be healthy in winter and not get the dreaded cold. Here is how.

Get a flu shot
Flu shots are about $25-$30 but sometimes they can be done for free on campus. Usually if a flu shot is done on campus there will be ads all around campus. It will take about two weeks for your body to absorb all the antibiotics to protect you from the cold and the flu.

Cold vs Flu
A cold only affects the nose and the throat where as a flu affects the whole body making you feel tired and ill. A cold is only a minor thing and you'll be able to go about your daily business (but at a slower pace). With a flu it is more severe and you'd have to rest at home.

With a cold it can be cured by over the counter medications such as nasal sprays and throat lozenges. It won't cure you completely though. The only cure is enough sleep and water.  But if you are still sick within a week then it is best to see your doctor. This will set you back by $20 but you can claim it via your OHSC

Other tips:
* Avoid staying indoors all the time if you can. Do go outside when it is sunny.
* Get a good night's rest- 7-8 hours a night is ideal.
*  Exercise a lot- about 30-60 minutes per day is ideal
*  Try and stay away from those that have the flu.
*  Wash your hands everytime you go to the bathroom, pat dogs, outside etc. 

Windows Lumia and Amaysim

Thanks to Study Melbourne, Rewards Central and Amaysim RNIS did not have to pay. RNIS chose a Windows Lumia phone after careful research.

The sim card. Image courtesy of techgeek.com.au

Windows Lumia has been on the market for sometime now.

Amaysim is Optus's sibling company which means that you can have an Optus phone and then use Amaysim.Amaysim only sells the sim cards online and via their retailers. They don't sell phones though.

With Amaysim's website it was really easy to set up and sign up for their "Pay as you go" rate plan. There is no need to pay for the things that you don't use and the phone calls are pretty cheap. Also you can order and activate your sim and keep your old number. They will then send you the sim via mail.

The calls are cheap.; It is 12c per minute and the signals are good. It is 3G enabled.

With the phone though I ordered it via Harvey Norman and picked it up in store. Ordering online via the Harvey Norman site was really easy and points were credited to my Rewards central account. The points takes about 30-60 days to be credited to your account.You can choose between your Paypal or your credit accounts. Signing up is very quick and is done within seconds.

With Harvey Norman's Click and Collect it is really simple and quick. The order is usually processed within a few hours and you'll just need some photo ID and the order number to collect it.


Students do go with Amaysim as it is a lot cheaper and you can recharge whenever you want. They have all sorts of different plans to suit you