Leticia's Exchange to Northern Arizona University | USA
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore, Dream, Discover”. I thought that I knew what this quote by Mark Twain was before, but it is only now after my exchange experience that I do.
I left Perth, Australia on the 9th of January making a pit stop in Singapore to visit my parents for a day (also to pick up my mum, because she didn’t want to miss out on a girls getaway to Los Angeles, California). When I arrived in America I was so excited, very exhausted, but overall, so excited! Customs took us a good hour or two, as one of my mum’s bags didn’t arrive and was still in Tokyo, Japan. On the plus side the nice guy let me take my Vegemite and Milo in (I don’t think he knew I was Australian...). It really hit me that I was in America when all I heard around me were American accents! When we finally walked out of those airport doors, I couldn’t believe that I was finally here!
Going around Los Angeles with my mum was awesome! Lights, Camera, Action! As Film Production is my degree, it was always a dream of mine to come to LA and see all of the iconic sites where your favourite films and television shows are filmed. So of course I had to drag my mum along onto a Warner Brother’s Studio Tours. I got to go into the Ellen DeGeneres Show soundstage, see where scenes of Friends were filmed and so much more! It was incredible! I was in town for one of Hollywood’s most glamorous nights, The Golden Globes (I tried to get a glimpse of Leo DiCaprio, but unfortunately did not), We stayed at Santa Monica Pier, visited Venice Beach, ate heaps of food from the Farmer’s Market and did a bit of shopping along Third Street Promenade!
When our three day girl’s getaway was finally over, my mum dropped me at the domestic airport in LA and for the amount of times I have had to say goodbye to her at the airport before, I was really sad to say goodbye.
I didn’t really know what to expect when I arrived into Flagstaff, Arizona. First of all I didn’t expect for there to be snow covering the town, I thought that it would just be on the mountain where people skied and snowboarded. But I was wrong. Especially when the vehicle that I and another Aussie exchange student, Mitch, was picked up in had been bogged in snow. So we had to shovel our way through the snow to eventually get the car out of the car park!
I was super excited for the first day of orientation at NAU and finally getting to meet all of the other study abroad students. We got up for our orientation at 7:30am and I don’t think I have ever been that cold in my entire life! It was minus 13°C outside and that is when I realised, how could I not have thought for there to be snow on the ground. Luckily I was prepared and brought two huge suitcases, with one and a half of those suitcases full of winter gear. At orientation we got split up into different groups to look around NAU and oh my was it a huge campus! I was trying to take in where everything was, but I had no idea. Lucky I eventually made friends with Lucy, because she was an exchange student from the semester before, that was staying on for another semester and she showed a few of us newbies around the campus again.
I would have to say that the best and most memorable experience had to be the people I met and all of the adventures that we went on together. The people that you meet on exchange just make the whole experience so worthwhile. Kelly, Connor, Lucy, Sophia, Haley, Amber, Ben, Mitch, Ryan, Timo, Jamie, Lang, Jeremy and Ola will honestly all be my friends for life. Even though 80% of us were Australians, 10% British and 10% American, I wouldn’t change the friends I made. We all loved going on adventures pretty much every weekend. Whether it was to Las Vegas or the Grand Canyon, chasing waterfalls in Arizona, hiking in Sedona, visiting Phoenix, snowboarding down the Arizona Snowball, going on nights out ‘Downtown’ and attending all of these crazy music festivals. It was honestly such a blast!
Not only has exchange given me the opportunity to make lifelong friends, but it has also given me a personal growth. Firstly, for my education in Film Production, how NAU expanded my knowledge about things I hadn’t learnt at Murdoch and gave me a deeper insight into my course. I thought that I may be repeating some things within my course, but there was something always new to learn. The different equipment used for filming compared to Murdoch, has made me feel more confident and the theory that I have learnt at NAU, especially to do with avant-garde film, has broadened my perspective for my course more. Secondly, exchange gave me the chance to experience the American way of life, or “college life”.
Eating at the “Hot-Spot” every day and using “Dining Dollars” for my meals was nothing I had experienced before and was such a cool system for a University to have. Living at a University I have done before at UWA’s housing (St Catherine’s), but this was different. Living at Gabaldon Hall at NAU was like living at a real American Dormitory that you see in the movies. My bed was high off the ground like a bunk bed and the room didn’t have much character to it and luckily I only had to share a bathroom with three other girls. BUT! I made it work and I wouldn’t change a thing.
Last, but not least, studying abroad gave me the opportunity to travel around the United States, which seemed so out of reach before! I got to visit pretty much all of Arizona, Nevada (Las Vegas and Area 51), California (Los Angeles and San Francisco) and I also got to visit my friend Donny in Washington (Seattle), as he did exchange in Perth, Australia, two years ago!
I would say that I feel more confident and independent as a person after my Study Abroad experience. I would highly recommend it to anyone!
- Leticia studied abroad at Northern Arizona University in Arizona, USA
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