Eleisha's Exchange to University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire | USA
Leaving my family and friends behind and jetting off to a completely new country was filled with many mixed emotions and new experiences. Flying in a plane bigger than I’d ever seen and sleeping in an American airport due to cancelled flights was the start of the most amazing journey I have yet to experience. After a few mishaps I was greeted by my host friend in my new home for the coming 4 months. Within a week of being in Eau Claire, Wisconsin I had met people from all over the globe in the exact same position as myself. I moved into my dorm room and met a whole new group of people. Orientation week began; we explored the university, took trips downtown, learnt how to use the bus system, realised there was WIFI, EVERYWHERE! (Even on the buses), played beach volleyball and basketball and lots of little ‘icebreaker’ games. As the weeks went by and friendships grew stronger I began to fall in love with the small city and all of the people that lived there.
The ‘caf’ (cafeteria) started out great and it become somewhat of a ‘hangout’ spot where we would spend hours talking and laughing hysterically. The food was good to start; endless amounts of it... lots of fried stuff, donuts for breakfast :O and Mac and cheese all the time! But every now and then I just craved a home cooked meal and some fresh veggies. Thankfully the dorms had kitchens and I was able to make some friends who would have me over for home cooked meals. Thanks to our peer guides, who became very close friends, we figured out pretty quickly that there were lots of fun things to do on the infamous Water St. And around downtown - Wednesday nights – Mug Club, Thursday nights – salsa, Weekends – breakfast at Racys, exploring the farmers markets and watching the College team play football. We were introduced to ‘floating’ which is sitting in a tube with a big group of friends floating down the Chippewa River, unfortunately we were only able to do this a few time before it got cold. (Really, really cold!)
The weather when we arrived was perfect, beautiful sunny days with mild humidity and a very comfortable temperature at nightfall. After about 4 weeks, the days became cooler – think Melbourne’s winter. We entered fall and it was without a doubt one of the most beautiful acts of nature I’ve ever seen. The leaves on trees everywhere turned into vibrant yellows, oranges and reds and made for forests that looked like rainbows. As fall progressed, so too did the cooler weather. By early October I was worried about what I had gotten myself into, I was struggling through the days and shivering non-stop. Little did I know it was going to get sooo much colder! By the end of October we were averaging temperatures that sat around 1 – 8[Symbol]C and into November it dropped well below zero. By this time, thankfully, with the help of my local friends I had brought some clothing more suited to this weather. I would wear a minimum of five layers and was still cold. Getting to classes became a race only to begin sweating as soon as you get inside a building because the heating is kept so high everywhere. Thanksgiving came around and saw the lowest temperature I experienced whilst over there. (-21[Symbol]C air-temp, -35[Symbol]C with wind-chill) This also came with a warning for frost bite and a maximum of 10minutes outside at a time!!!
Whilst the winter was somewhat awful it came with another one of Mother Nature’s most magnificent shows – SNOW! Having never seen snow before in my life I was in absolute awe the first time it snowed. I woke up on Monday feeling tired and not ready for another school week to begin, only to look out of window and see everything covered in snow. I was beyond exciting and even woke my roommate up to tell her what I had just witnessed. This was one aspect of winter I never seemed to get ‘sick of’, unlike the American’s and Europeans who enjoyed it for the first few weeks and that was about it. I could sit and watch snow fall all day and be completely content. Of course, as soon as we could, we went and built snowman’s and snow angels and had snowball fights (they actually hurt!)
I was fortunate enough to be granted many wonderful opportunities and adventures including rock climbing, kayaking and weekend trips. These trips wouldn’t have been possible without the wonderful team from the Environmental Adventure Centre. They organise weekend events and getaways to some amazing places around the Midwest and provide you with everything you could possibly need including a delicious trail mix called ‘gorp’. I also got to experience a short fun-filled trip to Cancun, Mexico; explore the Midwest of America; visit Miami and experience college life in all of its glory. I couldn’t mention college life without mentioning homecoming. The movies are almost spot on when it comes to this. There are nominated parties to be crowned king and Queen the weekend before homecoming, parades, non-stop parties and of course a rival football game. It was a weekend filled with school pride and so much fun!
My study abroad really was the semester of a lifetime and I feel beyond privileged to have gained lifelong friends that I still manage to speak with on a weekly basis. Exchange took me out of my comfort zone and allowed me to better understand myself and the person I wanted to be. I could not be more thankful for the opportunity and highly recommend it for anyone that is open to it.
- Eleisha studied abroad at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Clare in the USA
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