Lauren's Exchange to University of Victoria | Canada
All my life I have had a dream to visit Canada. Thanks to the study abroad program I was able to not only visit Canada, but I was fortunate enough to be able to live there for just short of a year. When I think of travelling or visiting a country, I think about seeing all the main sites, the ones that make a place famous. You generally move from one site to the next, and from one city to the next. And then you come home with these amazing photos and memories of sites that you have seen. But study abroad gave a whole new meaning to travelling for me. I was welcomed into a country, a university and homes of now very close friends that I could practically call family.
I began my journey by travelling to Victoria, and moving onto the University of Victoria campus. Where I chose to stay in the “Cluster” housing option which was an apartment style, with 4 bedrooms, general living area with a kitchen, a shared shower and two bathrooms. I met two friendly Canadians and another international student who was from Austria. At first, we were all shy in getting to know each other, but by the end of semester, we didn’t have long enough to spend together.
Not only did the university enable me to make amazing friends from all over the world through buddy programs, international student meetings and general classes. The university offered me an entire new insight to my degree and what I could pursue. My classes provided a new perspective on how I can apply my degree to other places in the world which made me fall in love with what I do, making me want to one day go back to Canada to work.
I was very fortunate to go on a 5-week trip visiting many places in Canada and the USA. I travelled from the West Coast to the East coast visiting; Seattle, San Francisco, Yosemite National Park, Las Vegas, Vancouver for Christmas, Alaska where I snow shoed to a glacial lake, to Banff for skiing on New Year’s, to Yellowknife to see the magically Northern Lights, to Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City to get a taste of the French-Canadian culture, and to New York City and Washington DC. Along the way I made some amazing friends from all over the world, and not surprisingly a lot of fellow Australians.
After my semester travelling I was very privileged to be invited to live with some friends, until June, enabling me to extend my stay a further 5 months. I was definitely not ready to the leave the amazing country side and friends that Canada offered me. In my final months of staying in Canada I went on some amazing hikes around Victoria and I even learnt to surf in a beautiful spot named Tofino.
Every day, since I have been back from Australia, I have put into practice the life skills that I learnt by travelling and living in Canada by myself. I keep into with all my friends who I one day hope to be able to show Australia. I fell in love with Canada, and one day I hope to live there again. I could not have had a more amazing time travelling to Canada, if it wasn’t for the study abroad program at Murdoch University. I cannot stress enough, how amazing of an opportunity study abroad is. It will completely change your outlook on life, it is definitely a must!
- Lauren studied abroad at the University of Victoria in Canada
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