Okay I never went to UTS but my boyfriend did and I've used their library a lot and am familiar with the area so I'm just going to give you some things to know in no particular order.
Most Australian students don't live on campus. Many live at home or in sharehouses so the campus culture isn't the same as in the US. I lived in private on campus accomodation at Sydney Uni which is nearby for a year and found it really expensive. I also noticed that a lot of American students stayed there and formed a clique that seemingly hardly associated with anyone else and went out to party every night. I'm actually American myself but it seemed like a waste of their exchange trip to only hang out with Americans.
Right around UTS it might be hard to find affordable accomodation that's not super dodgy. A lot of places seem reasonably priced but then when you look closer they're wanting you to share a room with three other people or something.
Chippendale is a nice suburb close to UTS and you may be able to find something there or in Ultimo if you look on flatmates.com.au but a lot of people live further away in what's known as the Inner West, ie suburbs like Glebe, Annandale, Leichhardt, Newtown, Stanmore, Erskineville, Marrickville, Petersham, Lewisham, Dulwich Hill, McDonaldtown, Eveleigh. You would then be commuting in by train or bus like everyone else. The pros are it would potentially be more affordable and more of the "real" Australian experience. The cons are you would have to arrange temporary accomodation at a hostel while you looked for a flat which is stressful and time consuming, and might be challenging if you've never lived outside of a dorm.
If the money is not an issue then either Uni owned accomodation (if UTS has that, I don't know) or privately owned student accomodation near to the Uni would be your best option.
The main thing to understand though is that it's not like an American Uni where everyone is there all the time hanging out. People come in in the morning, go to class and hang out, maybe go out for a drink after, and then leave the area to go home or go to a place where there's a lot of bars like Newtown. People don't hang out at their Uni on the weekends or at night generally, they go elsewhere in the city.