quote:

Originally posted by Teknoscaper. the east coast is a shit hole! west is where its at!

I'm not sure what ur on about, but Melbourne is Australia's trance capital....

If you want trance come to Melbourne or Sydney, Perth has one or two headliners a year.

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Originally posted by Beemer the thing i've noticed most is that melb seems a lot more insular - lotsa melb ppl seem to forget that there actually is a world outside melb *lol* sydney-siders in general seem a tad more open to things beyond sydney.......i think it's probably a product of geography tho - melb is more isolated, and the closest cities to it are ummm, a tad crap (i was born in adelaide and i grew up in hobart, so i have a right to say that...hehehe), so i guess that's why melb ppl seem a bit melb-centric.....sydney just has a more 'worldly' feel to it......i guess if u really wanna immerse urself in one place i'd choose melb, but if that's not ur thing i'd choose syd........ probably gonna get flamed to pieces now - but, just giving my perspective as an 'outsider'

*grin*

i'm not too sure that's necessarily true. a lot of my friends, i included, are actually quite eager to get out of melbourne. i think very few ppl will think "melbourne" the best city, hence the centre of the universe [thats new york to me =)]. it is indeed a livable city, but because of it's relaxed, slow paced kind of lifestyle. on weekdays, melbourne city is virtually asleep already at 10pm. sydney is more worldly in that it is of a faster, busier pace.

but alccode, seeing you're from toronto having a rep of a cleaner new york, u'll probably want a contrast. if you've been to vancouver, melbourne is your equivalent in terms of lifestyle.

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Come to Melbourne and learn the "Shuffle"

Sydney cant dance!!

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Wow, thanks to all of you for your responses! Before I continue, I want to say that my intention is not to bring up a "Sydney versus Melbourne" or "which city is absolutely better" type of debate (or even flamewar, which happily is not the case) because you can't say such a thing about cities (or anything else for that matter).

I just need a little view on the different aspects of each city as seen from the perspective here, which is what I'm slowly getting. Thanks again.

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Originally posted by JayKuE i chose RMIT over melbourne uni as i read/heard that RMIT had a great computer science/IT department. Compared to other uni's, they taught you things that were very up-to-date, less theoretical based and definitely more practical. ... Melbourne Uni, on the other hand is no doubt a reputable uni. ... in terms of IT, during my decision time, the department seemed to lack in facilities, was very theory based and taught dinosaur languages. things have probably changed since then however.

I'm familiar with the name of RMIT actually -- I have a good book on PHP and MySQL written by two lecturers there, Laura Thomson and Luke Welling. The way you describe RMIT, seems to me to be very much like Waterloo here in Canada; very practical and less theory. That's very good, but it's too bad that RMIT is not available for exchange through the University of Toronto (where I'm at now).

As to Melbourne Uni. being theory-based, I'm not turned off particularly by that, and seeing as how UofT is also theory-based (for which its reputation is built), it would fit the bill nicely. Now, I don't know if Melbourne Uni.'s program is a *good* theory-based program or just *obsolete* and thus necessarily theory-based (not having to deal with new technologies etc.). I'll have to look into this further; I'd pursue it if it were the former, but not if it were the latter case.

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Master_Yoda Melbourne or Sydney in terms of dance scene are pretty much equal. But Melb is the pick.. "The worlds most livable city".. <-- No shit. In regards for unis. I only know for Melbourne.. Don't goto Melbourne Uni for anything IT. There are only two good faculties in Melboune Uni, Medicine and Law. R.M.I.T Uni, Monash Uni, Swinburne Uni are the ones you goto for all your IT courses.

Unfortunately the list of universities in my original post is not of my choice; those are the universities that are available through the exchange program at UofT. So if it's going to be Melbourne, it's going to have to be Melbourne Uni. I did look into the courses at Sydney, and they look interesting and comprehensive; I couldn't go wrong there.

One little intriguing detail -- in Toronto what we call "subjects" are "courses" in Sydney, and vice versa. Interesting!

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astroboy Go to Melbourne... The best city to live in, in Australia I reckon. I know people who have studied Comp Sci both at Melb Uni and rmit. RMIT is more practical, Melb Uni is more theoretical... Also for some reason Melbourne tends to be considered one of the more prestigious uni's around.

That's 2 counts for Melbourne Uni. being theoretical. If it's anything like UofT, it'll do. Also, I'll have to match up courses (er, subjects) from whatever university I end up going to with those here at UofT. And since UofT is a bit more theoretical from the outset, maybe Melbourne Uni. will provide a better "match".

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The lifestyle is awesome, I'll give it that. But the best place to start is the websites of the universities you're considering attending, You'll be able to find descriptions of all the subjects on offer start here: www.unimelb.edu.au

Thanks, I'll definitely be doing a lot of reading.

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InAcoma I can't comment on the whole study thing, coz IT aint my thing but as for the psy goes... melbourne seems like a pretty good option. The psy scene is not massive, but its quite big There are heaps of outdoor parties happening all of the time and the psy dj's do come out and play this yr there was infected mushroom, astrix and bamboo forest, hallucinogen, fractal glider, benza are playing in november along side others.

"not massive but quite big"? Based on that list I'd say massive! In Toronto, the psy scene is a joke. The last big name that was here (or was supposed to come) was Space Tribe, but he couldn't make it over here due to the massive blackout that happened at the time. Incidentally, is Ollie Wisdom from Melbourne? Melbourne seems to be getting a good treatment of Space Tribe parties from the schedule on their website.

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Beemer sydney just has a more 'worldly' feel to it......i guess if u really wanna immerse urself in one place i'd choose melb, but if that's not ur thing i'd choose syd........

Well Toronto is also supposed to be a "worldly" city, with huge diversity. So a little change would be good.

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eRRaTiK solution: as you have 3rd and 4th year to go (if no fourth you could do a postgrad or masters)... spend one year in each city and sample both =] then again, no matter where you end up you could always organise a trip to the other city during your uni break

Haha great suggestion, but I probably can't do two years due to money issues and also I'd like to do a year more at UofT as there are certain courses that I want/need to take.

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JayKuE it is indeed a livable city, but because of it's relaxed, slow paced kind of lifestyle. on weekdays, melbourne city is virtually asleep already at 10pm. sydney is more worldly in that it is of a faster, busier pace. but alccode, seeing you're from toronto having a rep of a cleaner new york, u'll probably want a contrast. if you've been to vancouver, melbourne is your equivalent in terms of lifestyle.

Yes, you've nailed it right on the head! Getting a taste of a different lifestyle is also what I'm looking for. Especially as I'm a little sick of the rat-race attitude prevalent in the Toronto/New York/urban North American-type city. I'm more fit for a "relaxed, slow paced kind of lifestyle."

--------------

Now, forgive my ignorance, but I found out that at Sydney Uni., the school year starts in March and ends in November (IIRC). Is this true everywhere in Australia (I am assuming yes)? I totally forgot about the whole "reversed seasons" thing! In that case, I can either do my year this upcoming March (2004), or I could go the following year (2005). Actually it would have to be 2005, because it's probably too late to apply now, to leave in a few months. Also, it seems to me that it's too early to study a year abroad now, because I'm only halfway through second year! Hmmm, but there are many senior-level courses at UofT that I definitely want to take, and having my "second and a half" year at an Australian university wouldn't be too terrible in terms of the curriculum, because worldwide I assume the first few years of any computer science program are similar (the fundamentals being the same). I'll have to look into this.

Of course, nothing is decided yet, but I am well on my way of getting an idea of the options etc. Thanks again for everyone's advice.

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Originally posted by Alccode Now, forgive my ignorance, but I found out that at Sydney Uni., the school year starts in March and ends in November (IIRC). Is this true everywhere in Australia (I am assuming yes)?

The Australian school and Uni semesters always start in March and finish in November.

I have heard a few not so nice things of late about Melb Uni, especially from a friend of mine who did her Honours degree there in chemistry. She is starting her PhD next year but decided to go elsewhere.

2c worth
BJeT

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quote:

Originally posted by Anomyst Come to Melbourne and learn the "Shuffle" Sydney cant dance!!

melbourne people dress funny... and they smell :P


haha

I have a friend who does IT at Sydney Uni. He says its very theoretical and I know he is very interested in AI and has done courses on AI there. UNSW and sydney are both good universities. Sydney Uni has a new little appartment complex nearby which is students only and a lot of international students stay there, has its own shopping area etc, very nice if you like that kinda thing

The trance scene in Sydney is decent but when it comes to big events, Melbourne *usually* get better internationals, cheaper. The promoters in Sydney are crap.

Sydney has better weather and much better touristy type stuff. and better beaches

Hello Alccode,

Another fellow Canadian here studying in Australia. I'm in Perth however, where the trance scene is quite pathetic, but I just want to give you couple opinions.

Melbourne or Sydney - depends on what kind/type of cities you like. I've been to both, and they're both really nice but I definitely prefer Melbourne over Sydney. I think no matter where you end up, you HAVE TO travel around the east coast (Perth is absolutely gorgeous BUT if you don't have $$$ i guess it's ok not to come over here).

With semesters here in Australia, I had to take half a year off in between my Canadian semester and my Australian semester because everything here starts in late February/early March for my course. However, look into if you can do your courses starting in second semester here (from July-November), and go for a year from July-June (July-November and March-June) instead of March-November. This will save you some time and some universities/departments let you enrol in 2nd semester instead of the first semester.

This will coincide with the north American system better, and you're left with 2.5 months over Christmas/summer to work and travel around!

Anyhow, best of luck & I'm sure you will enjoy Melbourne or Sydney no matter which one you choose!

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Originally posted by Zerotonin I'm not sure what ur on about, but Melbourne is Australia's trance capital.... If you want trance come to Melbourne or Sydney, Perth has one or two headliners a year.

er dickhead? who actually bases where they wanna live on the amount of trance headliners come each year?

you're a tool

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quote:

Originally posted by Teknoscaper. er dickhead? who actually bases where they wanna live on the amount of trance headliners come each year? you're a tool

Firstly, I was actually answering Alccode's question.

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Originally posted by Alccode Right now I'm considering Melbourne and Sydney. Basically what I'd like to ask is (a) "where is the trance scene,"

Secondly, I was joking about the headliners.

Thirdly, Fuckin chew me arsehole.

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Last edited by Zerotonin on Oct-20-2003 at 16:25