Go Abroad!

I absolutely loved going abroad, it definitely was the time of my life! Putting my entire experience of about 6 months into a paragraph or two is nearly impossible for me to do - I could talk about this for weeks. In short, I met so many great people from all over the world and since I have been back in the United States its been fun traveling to visit some of the people I met in Australia and even hosting a few Aussies at my home University!

I've also grown as a person which became more clear to me when I returned to my home University the following semester. After going abroad I am more independent and confident in nearly everything I do! This is because while I was abroad I was completely on my own which sounds easy but it was a bit overwhelming at first. I was in control of my money and had to maintain a budget to last me until I came home (nearly a whole 6 months!), I made my own flight arrangements - picked something that I wanted to do and went there. I even rented a car and learned how to drive on the other side of the road! And even simple things like learning how to take the city bus and go food shopping were all things I had to figure out how to do (Woolworths definitely was a life saver, a grocery store that delivers! I wish my home University had that!).

Overall experiencing life in another country was amazing. Everyday was exciting and something different I was always busy and thrilled about simple things that many of the locals take for granted. For example, walking to the beach was really interesting because I liked passing by houses and seeing how different they were to ones from my hometown and I loved riding the bus because I would be able to make small talk with locals and learn about a cool spot to see or event that was coming! And its even the same with everyday things like cars, street signs, buildings, clothing, foods - everything was new to me and I loved exploring!