North Ryde has been great to me. The apartment we are in is a nice place. Smaller than a JU apartment they included basically the same things. The only real difference other than the size is these come fully furnished and have a whole kitchen full of utensils. The rooms are smaller also and there is one room that has two people occupying it. North Ryde is a business park basically with many offices and buildings. In the morning and between 5-6 traffic is crazy around where we live. You could go for a walk at any given time and see at least 10 people in corporate attire with a key card hanging from their neck or waist. There seem to be a lot of apartments around here that look just like any apartment complex back in the states. Down the road you can find some houses, they are all one floor and all look exactly the same. The only difference from houses back home is the style of roofing they use here. It looks like they just laid down some bricks on the roof. Down the road is a huge shopping centre that has anything in it that you could need. Almost exactly like the ones we have back home. I probably make the 5 minute walk to the Macquarie Centre almost daily. Right next to us is a bar/hotel/restaurant/casino/nightclub, so if you ever wanted a taste of any of those you could cross the street and be right in the thick of it. There are a few churches and elementary schools around. The churches are of all different religions and they and the schools are in the same style as ours here. I’d say you can compare North Ryde to Arlington with the only real difference being the business park aspect of it. I really liked being here in North Ryde and I’m really going to miss it.