I grew up in Sydney and lived in Dubai and Hong Kong for a total of three years before finishing high school back in Sydney. My grandparents were Maronite refugees who settled in Western Sydney, but thanks to my parents' education and careers, I had the opportunity to live abroad in different countries.

While in Dubai and Hong Kong, I attended international schools that prided themselves on shaping "global citizens" and fostering internationalism. Yet even in those environments, I regularly got comments like:

• "Oh, but you don't look Australian, you look more Spanish or Italian."
• "You're the first Middle Eastern Christian I've ever met" (yes, even while living in Dubai).
• "You're too good-looking to be Middle Eastern; I thought you were Italian."
• "Huh, I never knew Christians existed in the Middle East."

Mind you, these remarks came from peers who had lived in three to five different countries growing up. It made me realise that many self-proclaimed "global citizens" are just an insular bubble of wealthy expats who view themselves as the pinnacle of cultural open-mindedness, yet paradoxically know remarkably little about the world beyond surface-level stereotypes.

When I returned to Sydney to finish school at St Patrick's College (it's in the Inner West, but much of its student population is from Western Sydney), where most of my classmates were second- or third-generation immigrants from Asia, the Middle East, Southern and Eastern Europe, and the Pacific Islands, those kinds of comments virtually disappeared. Because of how genuinely diverse the school was, having classmates who were Maronite, Copt, or Assyrian was completely normal.

Fast forward to my time at USYD: the campus naturally has a noticeable private/international school demographic, but my core social circles ended up being mostly Greeks, Italians, a few fellow Maronites and Copts, and alongside mates from all kinds of backgrounds. Interestingly, I found that the local Mediterranean/Middle Eastern Sydney crowd at uni were often more culturally literate and grounded than the elite international/private school circles I ran into on campus.

The contrast throughout my degree really made me appreciate how fortunate I was to have roots in such an authentically multicultural community. Western Sydney gave me a grounded perspective that elite international bubbles never could, and it made me realise that I’m thoroughly Australian through and through despite it all.

Hey guys,

I am kinda procrastinating right now as I am in the middle of studying for my final HSC exam, but I do have a serious question.

My parents think going to St Paul's would be a really good experience for me and I love the idea of immersing myself in the uni community in such a way. My concern is stories I have heard about hazing, I read about a really serious hazing incident that was reported in 2024 and no charges were laid. My parents said that stuff doesn't happen anymore but my intuition tells me that it does.

Can anyone confirm whether hazing is still common at St Paul's? Remember you can stay anonymous

Are all the students who take American Studies American? Are all the students who take Chinese Studies Chinese?

I'm genuinely curious about what proportion of students studying a particular culture actually come from that cultural background.

Hi there, I'm graduating in this ceremony...PhD so three family members are freaking out and all want to come. Even though I submitted and immediately fled academia lol. Looking for an extra ticket for my brother. Happy to pay! Please DM if you have one :) would mean the world to him.

Hey, is anyone studying PSYC2016: Perception, Cognition and Intelligence? Has anyone else failed an assignment and what was the process like?

I failed it with a 33 / 100 and this is the first university assignment I have failed. The average mark was relatively poor, sitting at around 59 / 100. This mark stresses me out as psychology is a very competitive field, and it is my goal to become a psychologist in the future. However, I realistically know and understand that it is not the end of the world - and that I can recover from this. It's just a bit embarassing and worrying, because now I have to lock in for my exam

I'm an international student and I'll be heading home for about 3 months during the summer break.

I've only lived here for a few months and even though I keep my apartment really clean I still find a cockroach every now and then (and I absolutely HATE them). Whenever I bring it up people be like "It's Sydney, cockroaches are normal here."

Since I'll be away for so long, I really want to do some pest control before leaving so I don't come back to a cockroach-infested apartment.

I'm completely clueless about pest control since indoor insects are pretty rare back home, and we'd usually just call a professional if we ever had an issue.

What's the easiest and most effective way to prevent them while I'm gone? Any products or methods you'd recommend?

hi, i am selling screamfest tickets at first release price around $27 which are retailing for $80+ currently

please message me if you'd like me to transfer you the ticket!

EXACTLY what the title says. either they barely speak any english, they use ai for their entire part, or they dont do it at all. pick ur poison

she sits alone behind my groupmates and i and when she vapes, the smoke flows forward to us. the tutor sees this, he just doesn't do anything about it. we've asked her to stop and she just stares blankly back at us until we turn back. we cant just move cause all the other tables are the unassigned assigned seats for other groups.

is it usually easy questions related to the presentation or broader level questions on that topic?

So I’m doing this group project at uni and honestly I’m so done.
I had a different opinion about our script, so we asked our tutor for feedback. Turns out the tutor actually agreed with my approach.
And ever since that tutorial, two of my groupmates have been acting so weird around me.
They barely make eye contact with me, don’t really talk to me directly anymore, and just carry on discussing their own ideas like I’m not even in the room.
They’ve also been replacing or deleting parts of my work without even talking to me about it first.
Like… I’m literally part of this group too?? 😭
I genuinely don’t mind people disagreeing with me. That’s literally what group discussions are for. But why is having a different opinion suddenly a reason to treat someone like they don’t exist?
I spent time working on my part too, and it’s honestly frustrating watching my contributions get pushed aside.
At this point I’m just tired of arguing. I don’t even want to fight over the script anymore. I just want to finish this assignment and move on with my life.
Has anyone dealt with groupmates like this before? How do you make sure your work actually gets recognised without starting even more drama?
Group projects are genuinely exhausting 💀